How to Buy an Acoustic Guitar

To a beginner, the stress of buying an acoustic guitar often starts with which brand guitar to buy but may also continue long into the area of learning to play. Even though acoustic guitars may look alike, they are quite different with the types and qualities of wood used to make the guitar as well as the varied levels of care and attention of how the guitar was assembled.

An acoustic guitar may have either high or low “action”, referring to the string distance from the fretboard. When it comes to a guitar’s “action”, too low of action will cause a buzz against the frets, while a guitar with too high of action will require the guitarist to exert too much string pressure in order to get a clean sound. Another thing to keep in mind, when looking for an acoustic guitar, is that acoustic guitars also make use of two types of strings-nylon and steel. For a beginner, the ideal acoustic guitar should have low enough of action as to not cause fret buzz, while using nylon strings to aid in breaking in a new guitar player’s soft fingertips.

A new guitar buyer should bear in mind two details when looking into buying a new guitar, their own budget and the fact that there is really no such thing as a bargain when buying a new guitar. So if you do buy a new acoustic guitar be sure that you get a warranty for this newly bought valuable item.

Of course the body should be without dings or cracks in the wood, because as you should understand, any kind of damage or deterioration in the form of splitting wood will not heal by itself. These dings or cracks will mean later repairs, including any splits found around the screws that hold the machine heads in at the top of the guitar’s neck.

Be sure to also check that the guitar’s lacquer is free from chips and worn patches, as well as, checking to see if the neck of the guitar is not bowed. To check the guitar neck, hold the guitar at eye level with the fat part of the guitar against your cheek, the neck should be straight when you sight along the neck.

Once you are done inspecting the physical condition of the guitar, you should try playing a few chords at different places along the fretboard. You can be sure that during your physical inspection you didn’t miss any twisting of the guitar neck, if you or a person you brought to help you with your guitar purchase can play bar chords right up the guitar neck without sounding out of tune.

The two parts that hold all the string tension can be found between the machine heads and the bridge of the guitar. Make sure you don’t get mislead by others when it comes to tuning, a decent guitar can be tuned easily without the machine heads resisting your efforts to turn them. Also be sure that the bridge is firmly attached to the guitar’s body and that it is without cracks.