[geeks] i refuse to spend the entire day infront of a computer

[Michael Conlen]

> -----Original Message-----
>
> On Sat, Apr 13, 2002 at 05:27:06PM -0700, Peter L. Wargo wrote:
> > We (Chan, her mom, and I) went out and celebrated Thai New Year
> > (Songkran) by eating at our favorite Thai place, then went to
> the Guitar
> > Shop to look for my birthday present.  We're going to go back tomorrow
> > for some one-on-one, as I want to make sure I get some pro advice.  (My
> > birthday present from both of them is an electric guitar, amp, and
> > lessons.)
>
> Go with one of the cheap ($100-150ish) Stratocaster copies (Squier Strat,
> if I remember correctly), and one of the small Marshall stack practice
> amps.  Get an electronic tuner, 2-3 sets of strings, and a
> *string winder*.

On the other hand, you could decide how much your willing to spend. I'd be
prepared to spend at least $300-$400 on a guitar. The amp I can't say how
much for a decent sounding amp because I never seem to be able to get
anywhere near anything less then 1200, but I'm a tube nut. You can get
decent sound for much less... ...but here comes the importat parts

Play lots of guitars, lots of different ones, and look for these two key
things

Does is feel nice to play. Sure your going to have some problems playing
some chords early on and will have to build hand strength and technique, but
it shouldn't kill you to play either. You will find that some guitars play
more easily then others. You should be able to play notes up and down the
neck on all the strings. Fine one you feel somewhat comfortable with. If
your guitar doesn't play easily your going to find yourself not wanting to
play it much and different guitars are more easy/less easy to play.

Does it sound nice to listen to. Guitars sound different and so do the amps.
Take the Gibson ES 135 with vintage humbucking pickups on a Mesa Boogie tube
amp versus the Rickenbacker 12 string semihollow with a Roland JC-120. They
are completly different guitars and amps and have completly different
sounds. I love both of these but wouldn't want to play the jazz stuff I'd
like to play on the Gibson on the Rick and the nice strumming on the Rick
just doesn't sound the same on the Gibson. What do *you* want to play? It
should sound decent on the guitar and amp you buy... ...you should *enjoy*
listening to it. If it sounds like crap your not going to want to play as
much.

Now, I don't suguest you walk over to the Gibson I mentioned and start
playing it with a tube amp... ...unless you have *really*really* nice
friends... ...it's like 4k retail for the combo... ...look in your price
range, find something that feels nice and sounds good. It would help to know
what kind of music you want to play and some idea of the sound you want, but
take Bill's other advice and stick to the guitar and amp for now, the
effects will come later. The person at the guitar store should be able to
direct you to something that's going to give you the kinda sound you want.

Once you find the kind of guitar you want by the sound and the feel you
should take a look at a few things. Is the neck straight. Hold the guitar
face up and look down the neck from the bottom of the guitar and make sure
there's no obvious bending in the neck or twisting. The frets and strings
should all have nice straight lines with respect to each other (though the
strings get closer together as they reach the top of the neck) You should be
able to see easily if the neck is twisted or bent. You should also play each
string all the way down the neck at each fret while plugged in to make sure
that it sounds good at each position. If it's a 24 fret neck you might not
get *all* the way down, but if the fret spacing is big enough for your
fingers you should be able to play it. It may help to have someone who's
played guitar with you who will know the difference between fret buzz
because the neck is messed up or it's not setup well versus fret buzz
because it's really really hard to hold the strings down though if it's
buzzing because of high action (which makes it hard to play) you may
consider another guitar not because it's a bad guitar but because it's
harder to play. If the action is a little high the person at the guitar
store may be able to set it up with a lower action, but don't expect
miracles. Someone who has played for a while can check this pretty easily.

It would be nice to say "if you buy a gibson you will get a good quality
guitar" but it's simply not true, mostly because there's nothing Gibson can
do about the guiatar once it's left the factory. I saw a amazing Gibson
(described above) that I had to find someone to unlock a special room to get
access to play it once that had a messed up neck. It was as if someone put
heavy strings on it without doing a proper setup and the neck was bent up at
the end. It almost made me cry. (thicker strings have more tension, so
there's a little rod in the neck called the truss rod which can adjust the
neck to counter the changed tension from the strings. My guitar has two...
...ugh it's a pain).

Some things to ask for while your there... ...a few sets of strings, the
winder and the tuner, as well as some sort of traveling case. The quality of
the case will depend on how much you spend and how much you will travel with
it, but you should get *something*... ...and you should make them give it to
you, unless there's some sort of super sale going on. When you buy it you
should have them change the strings and do a setup on the guitar for you.
Whatever happens don't pay retail unless the guitar really is cheap. In fact
you may want to think about a used guitar. You can get a great guitar at a
much better price, but if you do *please* take someone who knows how to look
at a guitar with you. I wouldn't even trust myself to make a final desicion
on a used guitar without someone else I know just looking it over to make
sure I don't miss anything.

So the point of all this? See if there's someone you know who can help you
out. I had someone who's played guitar forever help me out and he helped me
find an amazing acoustic for the price. It's easy to play, sounds amazing
and everyone is commenting on how nice it sounds (without knowning how
little I spent). I had no idea what I was looking at/listening to and he
showed me the difference, helped me hear the difference, and we found a
great guitar and he helped me get the hardshell case, strings, setup, tuner
and winder with it but if you don't have someone to go with this stuff
should help (if not confuse) you. Also people on the guitar news groups and
mailing lists have always been helpfull and friendly.

Happy plucking.

--
Groove On Dude
Michael Conlen
Obfuscated Networking
meconlen at obfuscated.net