Things to know before buying an acoustic guitar

Things to know before buying an acoustic guitar

    If you are looking for an acoustic guitar you will undoubtedly run into a plethora of options and variables  so Things you need to know so that you can make the most informed decision when buying your acoustic guitar

Begin with guitars body style.

     This is one of the first variables you are going to run into when you shopping for an acoustic guitar. You will want a small body guitar, do you want a medium or do you want a large-size guitar.

Smaller body guitar style have less and a more focused tone whereas larger body guitar style have more bass and a lot more volume to offer. So each brand has a small, medium and large body guitar style. Tone wood impact the sound of the guitar greatly between the top, back and sides we are looking at potentially two maybe three different species of wood now tone wood shape the sound of the guitar. For example if you have a top made of spruce it is going to add clarity and articulation to the sound if you have a top made of cedar it’s going to add some bass response and warm it up a little bit a morepoceous wood will feature a warmer sound and maybe have a little bit more warmth in the bass. Whereas a denser wood will reflect the tone more readily and be perceived as more articulate and have more of an edge to

Neck profile and nut width

    Other variables you will need to consider when selecting an acoustic guitar depending on your playing style and your comfort level certain neck profile will feel great whereas others might feel completely foreign to you the same goes for nut width a wider nut width is great for finger style whereas for strumming and playing basic chords it might not be the best match. So try different neck profiles from vintage style to a more modern profile and try different nut width one eleven sixteenth one in ¾, one in five eight

Bridge style and fingerboard are two options that are often overlooked when considering an acoustic guitar. Let’s me explain why they are so important. Fingerboard material you are going to run into evany and rosewood both of these wood have through the test of time. Basically prove that they are great fingerboard wood but they feel a little bit different. Evany has a much smoother feel great for bending notes great for just overall comfort and rosewood is a little bit more gritty it has a little bit more resistance to bending notes and has a totally different feel under your left hand. I recommend trying out both materials you will notice a difference in feel often time the same material used on the fingerboard will be the same material used on the bridge. So if you have a rosewood fingerboard it will most likely be a rosewood bridge now the material on the bridge is not necessarily as important as the style of the bridge. You are going to deal with two basic styles, one’s going to be a vintage style which usually has a saddle cut through the entire bridge or a more modern style which usually has what they call a drop-in saddle or a trough cut saddle.

   So this is important because if you are planning on adding a pickup and you want to add an under saddle pickup the more modern style bridge will be a better fit it will hold the pickup in place better and you will get a better contact the vintagestyle bridge is not a great match for an underside pickup. Because you will able to see the ends and frankly they are kind of a pain in the butt to install

How does the guitar look:

   This seems like a very simple question and one that’s obvious however it’s one question you need to ask yourself. Do you like the simple look? Do you like the inlaid look ? This is a question you need to consider because it’s going to affect the price if you like the simple look chances are that guitar will be less expensive than something that has inlay and abalone all over. It’s not good or bad it does not even affect the tone in some cases but it will affect the price and it’s something you need to consider.

Electronics

    You are buying an acoustic guitar because it sounds good acoustically but you have to ask yourself the question do I need a pickup. If you are plugging in or going to a gig and you plan on plugging in a lot  you are going to want to maybe look at a guitar that has a pre-installed pickup. Now if you are just buying a guitar for personal enjoyment or maybe studio use the pickup not such an issue. But let me say this pickup shouldn’t be a deal breaker you can always get a pickup added later on first and foremost buy an acoustic guitar because it sounds good not plugged in.

The Tuning Machines

      The tuning machines of an acoustic guitar are often overlooked and quite honestly underappreciated it. We really think about how much work those things do they do quite a bit so this is definitely an option you need to consider so I will give you some quick variations of tuners you will encounter and why you might pick one over the other. First and foremost we are going to have a modern-style tuner versus a vintage style tuner. Vintage style tuner are most commonly open gear meaning if you look at the back of the headstock you can see the gear of the tuner on the modern end of the spectrum we have closed gear tuners which looking at the back of the headstock you won’t see any gears at all. 

They are fully closed another thing you will run into is gear ratio this means how many times the actual tuner button needs to rotate so that the tuner stem itself rotates one full revolution a common gear ratio is fourteen to one meaning fourteen turns of the tuner means the tuner stem rotates one time. The higher the gear ratio the smoother the tuner.

    Set - up and playability

        Do you believe it acoustic guitars can be modified and can be tweaked what’s  hanging on the showroom wall is a good example of ninety percent of what the guitar can offer but as a guitar grows older it’s going to tatally change a little bit and it’s setup and playablility are going to change the good thing to know is that these can be tweaked you can get a guitar set up to have higher action lower action make it easier to fret make it sound a little bit more articulate make it sound a little bit more basic but when selecting an acoustic guitar always make sure that the guitar feels good, make sure it frets easily, make sure it doesn’t buzz. If it does it need to be set up If you like the sound of guitar but don’t like the way it plays ask for it to be set up a basic setup consist of three basic things: Truss rod which adjust the relief or the bow in the neck string height at the saddle which impacts playability and string height at the nut which also impacts playability. When you have your guitar in for a basic setup you can actually choose to upgrade the nut and saddle material you can upgrade it to bone, tusk or even fossilize ivory. These material will affect the guitars tone and affect how it reacts if you want a brighter tone bone or ivory are a great choice. If you want a more dull tone or if you are having a pickup installed tusk is a great option Now you are armed with all you need to know to start shopping for an acoustic guitar.


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