WTF: What do you look for when you buy a new guitar?

What do you look for in purchasing a new guitar?

  • Total voters
    6
Modern Saint

Modern Saint

Starve your Fear, Feed your Dream!
What do you look for when purchasing a new guitar?

All the threads I have seen concentrate on price and brand. Usually details are a second thought after the first two mentioned above. Now we have HIAR with his advice column so I decided to through a poll out there as well. However this poll is geared towards several multiple factors in guitar buying. The idea is just to see what the commonalities are that Weiner's really look for in the multiple variable of the guitar.

Please note that you can choose multiple choices in the poll.
 
Last edited:
this is a difficult question for me because each of my instruments is very different from the other. so i don't necessarily look for anything that's in those definable categories. to me, the most important things are balance, resonance, and neck contour. everything else is defined by "what is the guitar going for?".
 
Being in the position where I have all the guitars that I really need...

I look for brand and price first, then finish and style secondly.

I won't buy a guitar now unless it's something that's a great bargain and that I don't mind holding on to if I can't flip it immediately.
 
I didnt see the poll on my phone, I was thinking we need a thread on what you look for in a guitar meaning how and what to look for when picking out a guitar.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
this is a difficult question for me because each of my instruments is very different from the other. so i don't necessarily look for anything that's in those definable categories. to me, the most important things are balance, resonance, and neck contour. everything else is defined by "what is the guitar going for?".
Click to expand...

Those are great factors HIAR, however as you know not everyone does that. For me those are factors that usually follow the above mentioned details. They actually have pass the prerequisites before I get to balance, resonance and neck contour. Once the prerequisites are met, then the three factors come into play. It took me 15 years before I found a Les Paul I actually liked and then couldn't buy it because the owner wouldn't sell it. Took another 11 years after before I bought my first Les Paul - that is a combined 26 years before I bought my first Les Paul because of the three factors you mentioned.
 
For me I just need to connect with it. I usually don't shop for guitars as much as end up with them.
 
telecaster911 said:
I didnt see the poll on my phone, I was thinking we need a thread on what you look for in a guitar meaning how and what to look for when picking out a guitar.
Click to expand...

I was still working on it when the post went up. For some reason polls are done after the thread has been posted. I also like HIAR's comments as well. I wish that there could have been more choices than 10. This would probably be one of the rare threads that use them all.
 
Modern Saint said:
Those are great factors HIAR, however as you know not everyone does that. For me those are factors that usually follow the above mentioned details. They actually have pass the prerequisites before I get to balance, resonance and neck contour. Once the prerequisites are met, then the three factors come into play. It took me 15 years before I found a Les Paul I actually liked and then couldn't buy it because the owner wouldn't sell it. Took another 11 years after before I bought my first Les Paul - that is a combined 26 years before I bought my first Les Paul because of the three factors you mentioned.
Click to expand...

upon further thought, i will say that price is definitely a factor. there are certain things i simply won't pay for. i don't own a Ric 12 string because i see no reason to spend more than $300 on a guitar i'm going to play once every 2 months, if that. so instead, i own a Danelectro. same goes for my bass, baritone, and classical. i don't need a "professional grade instrument" if i'm not going to use them in "professional settings". but they still have to adhere to my above criteria. .
 
Neck feel and if it can do something my current guitars cannot are my big drive, with neck feel the most important. Of course, appearance is a part of it as well. If a guitar feels good, does something cool, and looks good, I'd give it a go. Then price comes into play, and I kind of roll it around in my head if I have to buy it or not. Same general theme for a 200 or 2000 dollar guitar.
 
Last edited:
For electric its got to be American and name brand, style wise any of the popular ones will do

For acoustic, if I was in the States it would be American or S. American, but over here I'll buy no matter where it is made
 
Most of the time, I walk into a store expecting to buy a particular guitar, based on one or more of the poll options...but end up walking out with another one that just "speaks" to me.
 
Hmmm... I have never bought a new guitar, other than the SX, which was an experiment... What I look for in a build is quality parts...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top