How To Choose A Good Acoustic Guitar
As a beginning guitarist, have you ever thought of quitting your guitar? Why your guitar sounds bad no matter how good you squeeze the fretboard? Why your fretting fingers can’t stay longer on the fretboard without having pain?
Some people think that a budget acoustic guitar is good enough for beginners because if they decide to quit they don’t lose much money. This maybe half true but sometimes people forget that beginning guitarists often stop playing because they feel they can’t take the pain anymore without realizing that they picked up the wrong axes.
If you are thinking of buying a budget guitar make sure it meets the criteria below:
Check for warped guitar neck. Press one string at the first and 12th fret and look at the gap between the string and the frets on the fretboard. You should see a little tiny gap only between them.
The next important thing is to find a guitar within your budget that has a good playability. Good playability means it should feel comfortable in your hand. Getting a right guitar will help eliminating the unnecessary muscle tension because the strings tension is softer. You should be able to play any chords on the fretboard at any place without sore fingers.
To find out an acoustic guitar with good playability you should measure the action. Take a measurement from the bottom of the thickest string to the top of the 12th fret. Ideally 3mm to 4mm distance is needed. For beginners this action setting will help a lot because it decreases the strings tension.
The other important thing to check is intonation. Good intonation means you will get any note at any place on the fretboard tuned right. Have you experienced out of tuned notes when you press your fretboard but when played open chords the pitch is perfectly fine? This is a good example of bad intonation. If you can’t tell the difference between good and bad tuning you can always use a guitar tuner.
Should you are interested in budget guitar it’s a good idea to ask somebody experienced to accompany you to the guitar store and ask him/her to pick some for you to test. From those preselected guitars find one that is most comfortable with you. Don’t be fooled by the guitar coating or any aesthetic factors that can mislead you.
A budget guitar that meets the basic criteria above is worth buying. With very limited budget you can’t expect much but you won’t get a crap guitar either if you follow this guideline correctly.
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