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Buying Your First Electric Guitar? Here Are Some Top Tips

By John King

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 04Sep2011
Word count: 951
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There's no doubt about it, the quality of low-cost starter electric guitars is way better than it used to be. Having said that, there are things to look for when purchasing a budget, first electric guitar for either yourself or maybe your son or daughter.

Budget electric guitars very often follow the popular designs of the more expensive models. These generally fall into two categories which are either: single cutaway like the traditional Les Paul design, or the double cutaway like a classic Stratocaster model. It's well worth trying out both styles as some guitarists feel more comfortable with the natural curves and lines of a double cutaway guitar, and others will just have to have a Les Paul style, just like Jimmy Page and Slash.

Whilst undoubtedly you get much more for your money than in the past, there are certain areas that you'll definitely want to cast your eye over before committing to a purchase. To keep the price down, corners obviously have to be cut but some manufacturers will cut more corners than others.

The first thing to check is whether or not any sharp edges have been left along the fret board. Quite often the frets are not filed and polished as well as they might be which can lead to sore fingers when moving your hand up and down the fret board.

Another area to look at will be the machine heads, also known as the tuners. If these are cheaply made and flimsy you will struggle to keep your guitar in tune which will be a nightmare. Turn the machine heads to see if they feel sloppy or loose.

Now you'll want to check those all-important guitar pickups. Once again, these will obviously be made on a budget but some will definitely sound better than others. The Les Paul style single cutaway guitar will have humbucker pickups (fatter sound) and the double cutaway Stratocaster style will have single coil pickups (thinner, twangy sound). Play your test guitars through an amplifier and use your ears, you will soon know whether or not a particular guitar sounds cheap and nasty.

One final area to look at is the general finish of the guitar. Do things fit properly and is there a very dodgy paint job?

If you take into consideration the few points listed above there is every possibility that your first, budget electric guitar can be a very presentable first instrument. Don't be afraid to try lots of different makes and styles, this is the only way you'll really know what you want.

The author works in the design industry and is a very keen guitarist. To improve any starter model to a far more professional sounding instrument he highly recommends new humbucker or single coil guitar pickups from Tub Guitar Pickups.

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