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Need tips on buying a cheap electric guitar


Belch

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A female friend of mine who has small hands wants to learn how to play the guitar. Since we live in different countries, I can't go with her, and I'm finding that my attempts to explain certain things fall short. She went to the guitar store yesterday, but the guitar sales dude was making things worse by confusing scale length with number of frets. Then my trying to explain the differences in humbuckers and single coils didn't go much better because she kept confusing distortion with what kinds of pickups. It's confusing for her, and difficult for me.

 

I come here hoping to find some help. Not just in explaining how to examine a cheap (200 to 400ish) electric guitar to a total newb, and how to examine a neck for warpage, but how to explain via text things that I am finding very difficult to explain in words that only guitarists can understand. I mean, how do you explain how to check for mechanical defects like poorly installed frets to somebody that doesn't know what a fret is? (She managed to figure out that they are the shiny steel things on the neck. I then confused the issue by pointing out that they usually aren't made out of steel).

 

Her basic desire is to play foo fighter songs, as well as sound and "shred" like satriani. A big task, but I'm sure you guys are up to it.

 

p.s. why doesn't musicians friend ship outside of the united states?

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Squire standard strat with a humbucker. Next.

 

Yes, that's one that she found on her own trying to figure it out. The problem isn't just grunting and pointing to a wall of chinese squiers, but how to examine a cheap guitar for defects in workmanship. Plus, the squiers are 25.5 which adds another layer of difficulty for somebody with very small hands.

 

but to your idea, I showed her some videos of children playing full scale guitars, so she's willing to give that a go.

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Yeah, I mentioned the epiphone les pauls to her, but it was like trying to convince a kid that socks are the best christmas present ever.

 

I should add that it's not choosing the guitar that is perfect for her, so much as explaining how to buy a cheap guitar that I need help with. I find my experience with guitars is actually hurting things. I get too technical, and for somebody that was, until yesterday, was asking me "do humpickers have distortion?", I find myself constantly getting a bit too technical.

 

Hell, I've got an awesome grassroots les paul special clone that I would give her, but she doesn't like the color.

 

It's not choosing the guitar so much as an explanation that can make sense to somebody that doesn't know anything about guitars on how to buy a good guitar. I can point to epiphones and squiers (although I'm not a fan of chinese squiers) all day, but how to explain how to tell a good guitar from a lemon. For cheap guitars, this is the difference between a "go to guitar" no matter how good you are, and something that will put a beginner off forever.

 

and I'm finding my experience with guitars difficult to overcome. I get too technical which ends up in confusion.

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Ibanez S series or a used RG.

Or perhaps one of the DRG (Daisy rock guitars) designed for women by women.

How to check for a warp, simple: tell her to hold the low E string down at the first fret, and the last fret, the bigger the gap between string and fretboard, the bigger the NO in buying that guitar. Have her run his fingers along the side of the neck. If she feels sharp ends on the frets, another no. Look at the finish of the guitar. Should be smooth, with no obvious bumps or ripples. Mostly, play it. How does the neck feel in her hand? How does it sound, both with clean or with distortion? Does it feel right against her body? It's all subjective, I know, but those things matter.

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I would offer her the following advice: Try to ignore, to some extent things like colour, shape etc, and get a sense of the important things like how comfortable is the neck for me and my style; do the controls and hardware work well and will the guitar get in the right ball park for the sounds I want, etc.

 

One of the coolest things to see is a person playing very well on a relatively unusual/uncommon instrument.

 

For me the best relatively 'cheap' but vey consistently good guitars are the Squier Classic Vibe range... but this is probably not the kind of thing she wants. The CV50 tele (the white one) is a beast.

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