Advice on Guitars

[HSVGTSCoupe]

I have no musical talent wotsoever so naturally am lost when it comes to the challenge of buying the missus a beginner’s acoustic guitar and lesson book for chrissy! I can rock out almost any classic on the air guitar but come up well short now I need to get the real deal. What does the collective genius of the PH massive recommend? There is a music store in Abingdon where I live, should I go there or are there better options on the interwebby thing? How many fun tickets should I expect to be parting with?
Thanks in advance

[arfur]

Buy a Yamaha ... about 60-70 quid will be fine. The sound will be nice enough

[bga]

Yamaha are good but if you are buying new then you can't beat a Crafter for value around the £120 mark.

[AdeTuono]

If you want to put her off, buy her a really cheap one. If you want to encourage her, buy a better one. £150-£200 is a good mark for a starter. Cheap ones will have crap tuning stability, an action that'll cut her fingers like cheesewire, and will sound crap. As said above, Crafter do a decent starter. Yamaha are perfectly good, but you do need to spend a couple of hundred (IMO).

[wasted years]

There's a music store in Abingdon that's still open??!!

[Nimbus]

I think the music store in Abingdon shut about 2 months ago ?
unless they've got a new place ?

Your leaving it a bit tight on time now, but I'd give these guys a call

http://www.guitars.co.uk/acatalog/Catalogue_Acoust...
http://www.guitars.co.uk/

There are also fairly good shops in Oxford, Wallingford, or in Reading, all worth a visit too.

I think you need be looking at £150ish, dont go to cheap...

[shadowninja]

AdeTuono said:

If you want to put her off, buy her a really cheap one. If you want to encourage her, buy a better one. £150-£200 is a good mark for a starter. Cheap ones will have crap tuning stability, an action that'll cut her fingers like cheesewire, and will sound crap. As said above, Crafter do a decent starter. Yamaha are perfectly good, but you do need to spend a couple of hundred (IMO).

[arfur]

shadowninja said:

AdeTuono said:

If you want to put her off, buy her a really cheap one. If you want to encourage her, buy a better one. £150-£200 is a good mark for a starter. Cheap ones will have crap tuning stability, an action that'll cut her fingers like cheesewire, and will sound crap. As said above, Crafter do a decent starter. Yamaha are perfectly good, but you do need to spend a couple of hundred (IMO).

I tried out a few at that price range when my son was looking to go accoustic as well as electric. I didnt think there was 100+£ extra in the sound or the build tbh. Maybe it's just me .. :-/

[gbbird]

Classical guitars are easier on the fingers when beginning. Cna pick up decent ones for about £150, many are much cheaper than that so worth trying a few out.

As for a book, i have just bought the other half the Guitar For Dummies book. Never used it myself, but i have read reviews on it and flicked through it's pages, and it seems to tick all the boxes.

[HSVGTSCoupe]

Thanks for the advice guys - as usual, PH never fails to come through with the info

Nimbus said:

Your leaving it a bit tight on time now

Maaate... anything before 4pm Chrissy eve is plenty of time for a bloke to do his shopping!

Nimbus said:

I think the music store in Abingdon shut about 2 months ago ?
unless they've got a new place ?

shows how often I walk the 100m into town then!!

[ganglandboss]

gbbird said:

Classical guitars are easier on the fingers when beginning.

Agreed, but they are not idealy suited to contempory styles and sound a but naff when strummed.

Another vote for the Yammy here! You get a lot for a very reasonable ammount.

Does she want to play acoustic though? Electrics are easier to play and a half decent one is actually usually cheaper than a half decent acoustic.

Don't scrimp on a cheap guitar as a beginner will find the nasty action (height of strings of fingerboard) really hard work.

[-DeaDLocK-]

If you can master my heavy-gauge cheese wire MDF one-inch action guitar that I got when I first started 10 years ago, something with the playability like a Taylor will just melt in your hands and everything in between will be a piece of piss. But even next to the Larrivee and Martin, the plywood beater still has my heart. It's a sentimental thing.

But seriously, heed the advice, and go for a decent guitar. If you have the money to spend, get a low-end Taylor. I don't like the Taylor "sound", personally, but they are far easier to play than anything else I've tried and they flatter even the most useless player (important for a beginner).

[shadowninja]

arfur said:

shadowninja said:

AdeTuono said:

If you want to put her off, buy her a really cheap one. If you want to encourage her, buy a better one. £150-£200 is a good mark for a starter. Cheap ones will have crap tuning stability, an action that'll cut her fingers like cheesewire, and will sound crap. As said above, Crafter do a decent starter. Yamaha are perfectly good, but you do need to spend a couple of hundred (IMO).

I tried out a few at that price range when my son was looking to go accoustic as well as electric. I didnt think there was 100+£ extra in the sound or the build tbh. Maybe it's just me .. :-/

It's the action that can make the difference, though.

[Bob Loblaw]

I started off with a Yamaha F310 (I think?) and to be honest it was pretty bad. Guitars around the £200 mark by the likes of tanglewood and washburn really are so much better

or stretch to 300 and get a Martin, http://www.thomann.de/gb/martin_guitars_dx1r.htm

Edited by Bob Loblaw on Monday 10th December 09:28

[dave_s13]

I got a Washburn about 4 years ago. Ebay - £100 it's been perfect for what I use it for (mainly ornamental).

A Taylor might be a bit pricey for a first one won't it???


Longshot but anyone know of a decent book that'll make me sound like Newton Faulkner?

ps....I realise this is impossible but any books out there (with tab) that are of a similar ilk?

Edited by dave_s13 on Monday 10th December 09:28

[Bob Loblaw]

Oh, and avoid Fender acoustics like the plague!

[HSVGTSCoupe]

as I said.. I know jack shite about guitars;

hows this one look?

[merc_man]

If it's true that the music shop in Abingdon has closed down that's a real shame as I bought my Yamaha acoustic (first guitar) from there around three years ago. Very friendly staff and full of useful advice.

Stick with something that's not too expensive (no more than £250) and that has an easy action (the amount of strength required to press down the strings. You'll still get raw fingers at the start though!). Also, buy a half decent electronic tuner.

Most importanly, get the missus to join a local class for beginners. It's much easier to learn that way than from a book. Some adult education schemes will run a beginners guitar group and it's reasonably priced.

[Bob Loblaw]

HSVGTSCoupe said:

as I said.. I know jack shite about guitars;

hows this one look?

Thats solid wood (not laminated) which is a major plus, and they really are top quality guitars. Takamine are better known for their electro-acoustics (acoustic guitars you can plug into amplifiers) and it's said that they don't have quite the same level of acoustic sound quality as Martin or Taylor etc, but they are very very solid and dependable, and they're good value, especially at that price (think of them as the Honda of the acoustic guitar world!)

I've got a Takamine NP-75 and I love it

Edited by Bob Loblaw on Monday 10th December 09:51

Edited by Bob Loblaw on Monday 10th December 09:52

[fido]

arfur said:

Buy a Yamaha ... about 60-70 quid will be fine. The sound will be nice enough

Ditto - Yamaha's will do everything you want; great value guitars. (plug: and my Yamaha AP5X electro-accoustic is available for £150 if you fancy a drive to Surrey .. cough)