Opinions on starter/learner guitars

Owen

I'm giving lessons tonight for the first time in years to one of my Mother's neighbour's kids. He seems enthusiastic, and in anticipation of it, he gave me the guitar they had in the house to setup and restring.

Only problem is it seems to be one of these things you'd get in Smyth's toys. Strings were about an inch away from the fretboard at the neck/body join, neck was bent (No trussrod in there either), and the crappiest frets I've seen in a long time. Did my best, straightened out the neck (Don't ask how), put lighter gauge strings on to prevent it happening again, and sorted out the bridge and nut to get the action as low as possible without buzzing/fouling.

Only problem is, it's still a heap of junk. I'm playing guitar 15 years, violin 29. My hands are pretty used to pushing strings down, but on this thing, I get fatigued after 5 minutes. The fretboard is still very very wide, and having to stretch your fingers so much isn't simple, and it sounds like crap too.

I mentioned it to his parents that they should consider either getting him a good acoustic, or a half good electric. He's a teenager, probably might get bored of playing this guitar in 3 months, but if he had something half decent, he'd stick with it. Like learning to drive, if you had to do it in an old fiesta with no power steering, heavy clutch, windows that fog up and no performance, you'd find it hard to get enthusiastic about it. I think the same applies here.

I just wonder how many people tried to learn guitar, and blamed themselves for not being able when if they had maybe a better instrument they'd at least find it easier to get to grips with the basics and feel more confident as a result. I'm not talking about spending thousands, but maybe 3/400 euro on a decent starter setup.

Thoughts?

quicklickpaddy

I teach guitar in a primary school and you should see some of the guitars these lads bring in. You can tune every string perfectly but because the guitar is a toy as opposed to a genuine guitar, if you strum even an open chord it sounds horribly out of tune just because the intonation is so bad.

No, you definitely do not need to fork out 3/400. The cheapest acoustic on adverts will do it for you. As long as it is a guitar, not a toy. Just so it can stand a chance of staying in relatively good tune, actually produce a recognisable note and if he is a teenager - it being full sized would also be important.

Teaching with the Smyths guitars is a nightmare. You honestly have to completely ignore your musical ear and go purely by what you see their fingers do because even if they are playing it right, you can't tell by the sound - those guitars are that bad

claiva

You can pick up a very good solid top acoustic for around €100 these days.
I've a Walden solid spruce top and laminate back and sides that I bought a couple of years back for this price. I'm still using it and although I am now looking for a step up in class, its a lot of guitar for what I paid.
I got it in Music Maker in Dublin.

bad2dabone

http://www.thomann.de/ie/fender_squier_sa105_sb.htm

58 euros!!

dunno if it's a heap of dung but there's one on the way to my nephew for christmas.

quicklickpaddy

Yeah should be handy enough!

My favourite guitar at the moment is my cheapest... A Squire strat that I modded a bit. Squire's are fairly well built, just ya have to get the right one. They've been great and shite, varying from guitar to guitar.

Although that sound sample is hilarious. Compressed ta fook! It's not gonna sound like that when ya get it! Although, my previous point still stands. As long as it's a purpose built guitar it's perfect. The acoustic I have cost me about 120 second hand (mind you I don't play much acoustic) but it more than gets the job done!

Irish Guitarist

I had an Aria acoustic about seven years ago. It had a solid top and cost €299. It had an incredibly low action but had no fret buzz. It was the easiest playing acoustic I've ever had. I sold it years ago and I've regretted it ever since.

Pdfile

i started on SX cheap=o's for a few years then moved onto LTD's and epiphone electrics and never looked back, despite these being rather affordable...

decent enough sound for the money and build quality is good. :cool: