Some good news about beginner electric guitars, is that there are a lot of very reasonably priced entry level electric guitars.For the most part, they're made out of fairly decent woods, and are capable of producing a reasonable sound.
Now I know, some beginner electric guitars are nothing more than mass produced junk, but here again, there is some good news.Many well respected guitar companies offer cheap beginner guitars as an inexpensive alternative to their higher end products.However, they're faced with a dilemma or two.
1. If they make their beginner range of guitars too low quality, they risk their reputation.
2. If they make them too well, they become their own worst competition.
The solution is somewhere in the middle, so they make them well enough to be considered good quality instruments, and they make them well enough to compete with other manufacturers offering the same kind of electric guitar at a similar price.
We'll get back to that first question “Is your beginner electric guitar a lemon?” in a little while.
I'd like to give you some things to consider before you judge too harshly.
I may just have the solution, and you may just have an excellent beginner electric guitar, or even an excellent guitar for any skill level.
Whether you're buying your first electric guitar, or just looking at alternatives to what you've got, there are some things that any new guitar needs to have done to it.It bothers me when I read bad reviews of cheap beginners electric guitars, when I know that the guitar in question is in fact a lovely instrument.The problem with these reviews are that they are either done by:
1. A beginner guitarist, who hasn't yet learned to set the guitar up properly, or the correct way to string and tune a guitar, or
2. A guitarist who's been playing the guitar for a little while, wants to play heavy rock on the guitar, but has the wrong guitar for the job.
3. A guitarist who hasn't had the good fortune of being friends with a professional luthier (That's a guy who builds guitars).
So, Is your beginner electric guitar a lemon?If your guitar is made out of decent wood, you're in luck. Half of your tone comes from the wood.Here are the most commonly used good woods – There are others, but the chances of finding them on a beginners electric guitar is very rare.Alder, maple, mahogany, basswood, and agathis.
My favorite woods for good guitar tone are mahogany, alder and maple.
So if you've got decent wood on your guitar, here's the next thing to do.Take it to a luthier or guitar technician and have him do the following to it:
1. Level and crown the frets - this will virtually eliminate fret buzz, although you might still hear a little with the guitar unplugged, especially on the lower strings.
2. Set the intonation (that's setting the bridge so that the strings are in tune all the way up the neck)
3. He may want to adjust the pickups so they sound more balanced, but that's usually a minor consideration.
For people with single coil guitarsSingle coil pickups have a strong tendency to pick up mains hum and various other electrical interference. This is just a sad fact, but there is a solution.By the way, this isn't an indication of poor quality in a guitar – Fender Stratocasters are famous for this, anyway, here's the fix.
Place tin foil in all the guitars body cavities, even on the bottom side of the scratchplate, and make sure that it's connected to the guitars earth wire.This should reduce the hum drastically, especially if the tin foil creates a sealed containment of all the electrical components.For people with stratocasters or similar style guitars, who want to play heavier rock guitar, I would suggest getting a humbucking pickup that fits into a single coil space.These are referred to as hotrails.You could buy a whole set of them and place them on the guitar, as they're also hum resistant.
If your guitar won't stay in tuneHere's a short checklist of things to try when your guitar won't stay in tune.
1. Always tune up to the desired note and not down. If you have to lower the pitch of the string then go down past the note you want and tune up from there. This helps tighten the string around the post again, as opposed to just loosening it.
2. When you put new strings on the guitar, try and keep the number of windings down to 3. This means less slippage, and it's way less hassle to string up.
3. Always stretch new strings after you've put them on. They do need to stretch. You can do this by fretting the string at the 12th fret and gently tugging outward between the bridge and 12th fret. You may have to do this a few times for each string, as well as expect it to still go out of tune a few times before the strings actually settle.
4. Make sure the guitars intonation is set correctly and that the strings aren't too high off the neck. In either scenario the guitar will never be properly in tune.
5. If the strings on the guitar are old and worn, they won't play in tune. Old guitar strings are overstretched and don't behave the same as new strings.
So, maybe your beginners electric guitar is actually a peach.If you'd like to know which electric guitar I recommend for a beginner, you can visit my beginners electric guitar page here.I even made a few recordings so you can hear what I'm talking about.
Now I know, some beginner electric guitars are nothing more than mass produced junk, but here again, there is some good news.Many well respected guitar companies offer cheap beginner guitars as an inexpensive alternative to their higher end products.However, they're faced with a dilemma or two.
1. If they make their beginner range of guitars too low quality, they risk their reputation.
2. If they make them too well, they become their own worst competition.
The solution is somewhere in the middle, so they make them well enough to be considered good quality instruments, and they make them well enough to compete with other manufacturers offering the same kind of electric guitar at a similar price.
We'll get back to that first question “Is your beginner electric guitar a lemon?” in a little while.
I'd like to give you some things to consider before you judge too harshly.
I may just have the solution, and you may just have an excellent beginner electric guitar, or even an excellent guitar for any skill level.
Whether you're buying your first electric guitar, or just looking at alternatives to what you've got, there are some things that any new guitar needs to have done to it.It bothers me when I read bad reviews of cheap beginners electric guitars, when I know that the guitar in question is in fact a lovely instrument.The problem with these reviews are that they are either done by:
1. A beginner guitarist, who hasn't yet learned to set the guitar up properly, or the correct way to string and tune a guitar, or
2. A guitarist who's been playing the guitar for a little while, wants to play heavy rock on the guitar, but has the wrong guitar for the job.
3. A guitarist who hasn't had the good fortune of being friends with a professional luthier (That's a guy who builds guitars).
So, Is your beginner electric guitar a lemon?If your guitar is made out of decent wood, you're in luck. Half of your tone comes from the wood.Here are the most commonly used good woods – There are others, but the chances of finding them on a beginners electric guitar is very rare.Alder, maple, mahogany, basswood, and agathis.
My favorite woods for good guitar tone are mahogany, alder and maple.
So if you've got decent wood on your guitar, here's the next thing to do.Take it to a luthier or guitar technician and have him do the following to it:
1. Level and crown the frets - this will virtually eliminate fret buzz, although you might still hear a little with the guitar unplugged, especially on the lower strings.
2. Set the intonation (that's setting the bridge so that the strings are in tune all the way up the neck)
3. He may want to adjust the pickups so they sound more balanced, but that's usually a minor consideration.
For people with single coil guitarsSingle coil pickups have a strong tendency to pick up mains hum and various other electrical interference. This is just a sad fact, but there is a solution.By the way, this isn't an indication of poor quality in a guitar – Fender Stratocasters are famous for this, anyway, here's the fix.
Place tin foil in all the guitars body cavities, even on the bottom side of the scratchplate, and make sure that it's connected to the guitars earth wire.This should reduce the hum drastically, especially if the tin foil creates a sealed containment of all the electrical components.For people with stratocasters or similar style guitars, who want to play heavier rock guitar, I would suggest getting a humbucking pickup that fits into a single coil space.These are referred to as hotrails.You could buy a whole set of them and place them on the guitar, as they're also hum resistant.
If your guitar won't stay in tuneHere's a short checklist of things to try when your guitar won't stay in tune.
1. Always tune up to the desired note and not down. If you have to lower the pitch of the string then go down past the note you want and tune up from there. This helps tighten the string around the post again, as opposed to just loosening it.
2. When you put new strings on the guitar, try and keep the number of windings down to 3. This means less slippage, and it's way less hassle to string up.
3. Always stretch new strings after you've put them on. They do need to stretch. You can do this by fretting the string at the 12th fret and gently tugging outward between the bridge and 12th fret. You may have to do this a few times for each string, as well as expect it to still go out of tune a few times before the strings actually settle.
4. Make sure the guitars intonation is set correctly and that the strings aren't too high off the neck. In either scenario the guitar will never be properly in tune.
5. If the strings on the guitar are old and worn, they won't play in tune. Old guitar strings are overstretched and don't behave the same as new strings.
So, maybe your beginners electric guitar is actually a peach.If you'd like to know which electric guitar I recommend for a beginner, you can visit my beginners electric guitar page here.I even made a few recordings so you can hear what I'm talking about.
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