Making a Guitar Purchase
You’ve been looking for a new guitar and one finally caught your eye. You take it off the rack, look at the front, look at the back….no scratches or dings. You like the color. You plug it in (or not, if it’s an acoustic) and play it for a while. You like it and you think you want to buy it.
Now the buying pressure starts…hmmmm….is there something you’re not thinking of, something you should be checking, something you should be asking the salesperson? The answer is YES! There are lots of things you should pay attention to when buying a guitar.
I have a core belief that all guitars can play great. I don’t care whether the instrument is a Fender Custom Shop or a Fender knock-off. The latter can play just as well as the former. It may not be able to achieve the same tonal qualities because of the materials used to manufacture it, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t feel good. It doesn’t mean you should have to compromise on playability. Both guitars should come alive in your hands. You should want to play more because the guitar is not limiting your ability or enjoyment.
This is the first article in a series to help you to better understand various aspects of guitar setup and repair. Although I’ll hopefully teach you things along the way, this is not meant to be an instructional series. There are plenty of great DVDs, books, and schools for that. What I really want to achieve is to provide players at all levels with the necessary understanding of setup and repair so that you can know your instrument better and be confident in your dealings with retailers, guitar techs, and other musicians.
In this article, I want to start with the absolute minimal information you need to know about guitar setup to make a smart purchase decision on a new guitar. This applies equally whether the guitar you are buying is $200 or $5000.
So, you like the guitar you are holding, but now what?
Once you’ve selected a guitar, the responsibility becomes yours to make sure that the guitar is up to, at least, a minimum setup standard and to your liking. After all, you are making the purchase decision.
Industry opinion varies about what the consumer should expect out of a guitar at purchase. We’re going to cover this in more depth in future articles, including talking with industry executives on the topic. But, no matter what the price, no matter what the guitar, new or used, I believe every guitar buyer has the right to expect three things:
• that everything on the guitar works,
• that every note can be played clearly, and
• that the instrument can play in tune.
In addition to running thru your favorite riffs, here’s a ritual that you should go thru when trying out a guitar for purchase.
1) Test every knob, switch, and jack on the instrument and make sure that everything “works”. By “works”, I mean that even at the basic level, you should notice some difference in the sound. Pickup switches should cycle thru different pickup configurations, make sure you can hear the difference. Make sure the sound doesn’t diminish drastically when you move from pickup to pickup. Volume and tone knobs should work. Make sure the tuning pegs all function smoothly. Don’t be afraid to throw the guitar wildly out of tune to check out the tuning pegs. I’m about to give you a great reason for asking for a tuner anyway.
2) Make sure all of the notes play without buzzing. . Test EVERY FRET ON EVERY STRING!!! That’s right – one, two, three four / one, two, three four, all the way up every fret on every string. Listen for buzzing. For you shredders out there, this isn’t a time to show off your speed. Play each note slowly and listen carefully for buzzing. The guitar should be able to make clear notes on all strings on all frets, whether you ever intend playing on that fret or not. Note that for electric guitars, this should be done thru an amp. Guitars will often make acoustic buzzing noise that doesn’t not carry thru to the amp.
3) Make sure the guitar plays in tune. Many of you reading this probably just scoffed at me, but you would be surprised at how many guitars don’t play in tune when they arrive at the store. To play in tune, the guitar must be set up such that the correct string length (the distance between the nut and the saddle) exists for each string. OK, so there are a lot of other factors, but I’m confident that the vast majority of manufacturers are pretty darn accurate at spacing frets and putting a generally acceptable guitar together so I don’t want to get too far into the ether here.
With regard to playing in tune, the setup part comes in making sure that the guitar nut and saddle have been properly adjusted. Here’s an easy procedure to follow when you make your purchase. First, ask for a guitar tuner. If the salesperson offers to tune it for you, politely thank him but insist on the tuner, and make sure it is a good tuner that indicates if the note is slightly out of tune. Most tuners do this by showing an indication of the number of cents (1/100th of a half-tone) that the note is either sharp or flat.
First, tune the guitar as you normally would. Then, check the tuning at the first fret. What you will often find is that while the open note is in tune, the first fret note is sharp, and many times it isn’t even close. I’ve seen brand new, expensive guitars in stores where the first fret note is as much as 50 cents sharp. Folks, that’s half way to the next fret!
If you do find that the first fret is out of tune, it generally means that the nut has not been cut correctly and needs to be adjusted. If it is within 10 cents, that’s not a major issue, unless you are buying an expensive instrument. But, in any case, don’t get distressed if the guitar you’ve selected exhibits this problem. It is no big deal and should take a tech around 10 minutes to correct. It does not mean that there are fundamental issues with the guitar or that it is some how defective. It only needs an adjustment.
Also, check the intonation by making sure that the notes at the 12th fret and the 19th fret are in tune. You might try playing both harmonics and the fretted note for extra clarity. The majority of you who do check intonation may use the 12th fret and that’s fine, but most techs that I know are also using the 19th. As with the first fret, if these notes are out of tune, a tech can correct the issue with a simple saddle adjustment.
This entire ritual can be executed in less than 10 minutes, so there’s no reason not to make this effort before you hand over your hard-earned cash. If you do find an issue, you have every right to demand that it be fixed before purchase. If a retailer will not even make the effort to take this small step, I’d suggest that it is not a retailer that deserves your business. Any reputable dealer will offer to have their tech take a look at the issue. Once the tech realizes that their customer noticed the problem, they will likely do a good job fixing it because they know they are dealing with an educated buyer.
It is important to make these checks BEFORE purchasing your new guitar. Once the money is handed over, the store can always make the argument that the guitar was good enough for you to buy in the first place. Bad behavior, certainly, but why risk having to go through such a hassle?
Hopefully, many of you are now checking your most recent guitar purchases and, if so, many of you are probably disappointed right now because your guitars are not in tune at the first fret. Again, no big deal, it’s a minor adjustment. If you bought your guitar recently, the shop should still fix it. If not, you’re looking at a relatively inexpensive adjustment. If you have a number of guitars, you may want to invest in a set of nut files and an instructional tape and tackle this yourself, but for most people, it’s easier and cheaper to have a professional do it.
by Jim Basara – Guitar Affair
