[Closed] Guitars, are they like bikes...

Can he play already? How old is he?

My lad started from scratch with lessons at school on a £30 3/4 acoustic from the local music shop. Got a full size acoustic now handed down from my wife, but he hits it quite hard making some horrible reverberations. Will be getting him something better when he gets to Grade 4.

Got a second hand electric from the same shop for £50. Washburn WN14 iirc.

He’s 15 and full sized. He can’t play so it’s a bit of a gamble.
We’re North Oxfordshire

He wants electro acoustic

Why electro acoustic? Realistically is he going to be plugging it into an amp at any point in time?

£100 is Stagg/ Encore territory. Not quite the equivalent of a supermarket BSO but not great.

£50 more gets you into entry level Fender/Ibanez and it's quite a big step up from the level below

Much better value in 2nd hand but it's a lottery as to how well they've been looked after, and acoustic repairs aren't usually easy or cheap.

BB, no idea why he wants that.
Okay that is Exactly what I was thinking, up the budget a bit to get something a bit better.

I bought a £200 Fender for my first guitar four and a half years ago. It's got a lovely sound and people that come around who can actually play it properly always comment how nice it is. I've got a cheaper Corte on loan at the moment and whilst the fret is easier to move around on the sound is rubbish in comparison with the Fender.

Cant go wrong with the squier bullets for an electric, they are around £100 new, trickier to get a good cheap amp that does not sound like a fart in a jam jar

Cant go wrong with the squier bullets for an electric, they are around £100 new, trickier to get a good cheap amp that does not sound like a fart in a jam jar

Agree. An electric is typically easier to play and more fun but guess there is a reason for an acoustic. Adding the electro part for £100 makes it harder to get one for £100 and it will be a gamble whether it is any good or not.

Up the budget a bit and get something like a used Yamaha APX which would be easier to play and likely to be built well.

more expensive guitars will be easier to play and sound nicer.  Imagine the diffence between a bso and even the most basic 'decent' bike and the same applies but fortunately the price ranges are different.  I got a brand new acoustic with nylon strings for my daughter for about 150(EUR) and it plays very well indeed (a Hudson) but i had to try a few to find it.  200GBP would be a nice price point for an electro acoustic starter.   It helps a lot to have someone to help you go round shops who can play but my experience last time was that they were all not too bad and certainly better than 30 years ago when I was last looking.

I recently bought a bass guitar so I could learn it and play along with my lad who is getting rather good at drums and guitar. His guitar teacher recommended Harley Benton which is the in house brand of Thomann (a huge German music online retailer). I don’t have the expertise to tell you how they compare to other brands but there are lots of glowing YouTube reviews for them so maybe worth a look.

Worth buying new? - there's loads of decent guitars for sale on Gumtree, ebay and Facebook.
Facebook's good cos Marketplace is local and you can go check stuff out.
(Yes, like bikes, but less likely to be nicked 😉 )

The diminishing returns point on guitars is around £1200. It’s well over double that for an enduro bike.

Why a kid would want an electro acoustic is beyond me, but each to their own.

JP

Thanks all, he has come home from school with a guitar his friend has leant him.
If he sticks with it I’ll get him something a bit nicer than super basic.

As asked above - does he really need an electro acoustic for now? A reasonable acoustic guitar can be had for a decent price but once you get to electro acoustics any deficiencies in the sonics of the guitar become massively obvious when you plug them in. It will depend on what you like the sound of but the truth is that a lot of the cheap electro acoustics sound exactly that: Cheap. And not very nice. Although I have not heard it in person this is likely to be a very nice sounding acoustic guitar and not a bad price Nice little Yamaha. It will feel nice to play and sound very nice. Mrs BC has one similar (but is like 40 years older) and it really is a beautiful little number that has a lovely tone and plays really nicely. I don't care so much for their electro acoustics though as they tend to sound a bit "hard" and brittle to me.

Why a kid would want an electro acoustic is beyond me

This x1000.

He's a teenager, he should want an electric and a stonking great amp. Have a word. 😉

You can get very nice electro acoustics new for £200 ish.

One brand to be aware of is Cort - they make many guitars for other companies in the under £1000 market and from experience are exceptional value for money.

I've not seen a dodgy Yamaha either, but I've seen many dodgy £200 acoustics from bigger brands.

A good local shop is invaluable.
Our's is Pro Solo in Burnley - http://www.prosolo.co.uk.
The owner sets up every single guitar he sells and rejects instruments that aren't up to scratch. The big box shifters will not do this.
A good set up is usually around £50 and makes a huuuuuge difference. Worth bearing in mind when comparing prices.

Why a kid would want an electro acoustic is beyond me

Because of the moistness emanating from the mostly female audience at an Ed Sheeran gig, at a guess. 🙂

It appears to be, my parents were up recently and dad came over and said if he carked it not to let my mum sell his new guitar as it was worth waaaay more than he'd admitted to and it had a CITES certificate it needed to be sold with.

Rusty, he sounds good, def have a look.

any deficiencies in the sonics of the guitar become massively obvious

I can just see a teenaged beginner guitarist just weeping with anguish.

jkomo

Member

Rusty, he sounds good, def have a look.

No worries, always nice to recommend local shops. Paul is very well respected locally, friendly and a mine of info for new players.

If your local you're lad is welcome to come and try a few acoustics - a neighbour has the £200 Cort and it's lovely.
I have a secondhand LAG (£180) from there and my wife has a Faith she bought new from Paul too.

Might give him an idea of what he finds comfortable.

Guitars, are they like bikes..

worse, i've got 8 guitars and only 4 bikes!

This also looks like it could be quite nice..
I'd look for one with at least a real wood top (referred to as solid wood) , as opposed to laminated.

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/190504343223008--fender-cd-60s-all-mahogany-wn

Start by asking what music he listens too and likes and wants to play... if he doesnt get passionate about it he will give up after 5 mins

Start with what motivates him and work back to.the guitar type.

If it is metal or jimi hendrix or amything played on.an electric get him one...

Cheap fender squirer elec guitar plus an i rig (google it) and some headphones (irig plus the app gets him untold effects and amps v cheaply)

Or if acoustic is his bag get him a sigma, its a chinese real wood martin copy and 75 _200 quid will get you an incredible guitar (i am 43 have been playing for 20 years and have had proper martins worth 3k and struggle to justify anything other than a sigma)

Example https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264654143684

Cheers All
I’ve no idea about the electro acoustic thing.
He wants one though. TBH if he gets off his Xbox and starts strumming I’ll buy him whatever he wants.

Maybe he wants an electro acoustic so he can plug it into his Xbox to use Rocksmith?

My post got lost somehow.

If he's assuming that an electro-acoustic is a halfway house between electric and acoustic - it's not. It's an acoustic with a pickup so you can amplify it for gigs, if you plug it in it's nothing like an electric to play or listen to.

Avoid nylon strings - they are for classical guitars which are a bit niche. They make really cheap guitars in the classical format because the nylon strings have less tension and they can make the guitar cheaply. But the fretboard is wider which can make it hard to do chords and it sounds like a classical guitar which is unlikely to satisfy his wishes.

Yamaha used to be the go-to acoustic when I was a kid, not sure if they still are.

YOU CAN GET REAL BARGAINS SECOND HAND - people get one then never play - face book market place is good.
get a well known brand
find a local fettler, a good set up doesnt cost much and makes a MASSIVE diference to how well a guitar plays

Avoid nylon strings – they are for classical guitars which are a bit niche

I'll inform Willie Nelson... Then I'll let the jazz/flamenco/latin crowd know.

I love my dads nylon strung Suzuki it sounds fantastic and i don't play classical.

Nylon strings also make it much easier when you are starting to get a good sound out. You don't need to go for a fretboard as wide as a classical but it does mean you might end up buying another with steel string later if he sticks with it.

Thanks all, he has come home from school with a guitar his friend has leant him.
If he sticks with it I’ll get him something a bit nicer than super basic.

That is the best approach. What sort of guitar has he borrowed?

I'm no good, having also just taken it up (and bass as well so don't know why I'm feeling qualified to discuss!)

But just like bikes, until you've ridden a good one you don't know what a good one's like / how bad a bad one is.

Let him noodle about on a loan one for a bit to find his feet before deciding - but then go into a shop with a good selection, and try some out. As i say I'm also new to this but I had a go on a £1000 Fender (so top of the point at which diminishing returns really starts to come in according to JP who knows his stuff from other guitar threads) and it was just 'wow!'

I couldn't afford it but at least then I had a better idea what I should be aiming for, and ended up spending £350

And when starting out it is more about whether you actually like to play guitar. Once you have the hang of a few chords, can play a few tunes etc,. and if that gives you enjoyment and eagerness to keep learning and improving.

Once you get past that then you will probably have a better idea of what you want in a guitar (how you want it to sound, how thick the neck is, what type of strings you prefer etc,.) as just assuming a more expensive guitar will be better for you it not always the right way of looking at it.

I have played bass (and a bit of guitar now and again) for 20 years and know exactly what I want from a bass. It doesn't need to be expensive but it needs to have the right strings and the right neck. The bass I play cost me £100 second hand and a further £50 to get it exactly how I want it...

Then I’ll let the jazz/flamenco/latin crowd know.

Like I said, niche 🙂

I have a really nice Yamaha nylon electro-acoustic (¿how's that for niche?). It has a 'fusion' neck with a spritely 48mm nut.

Apparently as used by Rodriguez y Gabriela...

Cheaper versions are available.

Or keep yer blinkers firmly in place (never trust a grown man with a Captain America outfit I say...)

Oh, yeah, they are like bike I guess (n+1). 9 at last count (geetars I mean...)