When buying a guitar or any other musical instrument, one should always keep in mind that instrument companies function on the same profit principles as other businesses. If guitar manufacturers can sell consumers a cheaper quality product at a higher price they will. Fortunately the market principle of competition hinders their ability to do this but only to the informed consumer. Thus, the consumer must inform himself to ensure that the quality of the guitar he buys is equivalent to the price he has paid for it.

Name Brands

When buying their first guitar, most people end up buying name brand guitars and this is usually a good choice. A name brand will provide you with a certain guarantee of quality and they will usually repair or replace an instrument if it proves to be defective. The following will explain the situation in the current name brand guitar market.

A Short History of the Mass Produced Budget Guitar Industry

Twenty to thirty years ago must budget beginners guitar were made of poor materials, poorly constructed and difficult to play. Many older players remember the horrible instruments they begun on. It is very important for a beginner student to have a guitar that is easy to play. Difficult to play instruments have caused a great number of people who may otherwise have become proficient guitarist to quit the instrument. Many players who learned on guitars before the mid 70s and early 80s progressed as musicians despite their first instrument not because of it. Fortunately the situation is much different today.

The first major change was the entry of asian manufacturers, such as Yamaha, into the industry. These companies were able to mass produce instruments which while still being made of cheaper material were nevertheless well constructed, durable and easy to play. These manufacturers also discovered the principle that most first time buyers do not know what to look for in a guitar so if it looks nice and appears reasonably well constructed they will buy it. These guitars were a big improvement over the earlier beginner instruments. However, they still lacked one of the most important elements which was sound quality. The beginner student no longer had to struggle to play the instrument but it still sounded like a cheap instrument. This is due to the use of laminated wood and the thick finishes applied to the guitar. Laminate is durable but does not resonate as well as solid wood and the thick finishes add to the appearance of the guitar but also dampen the vibrations of the guitar top which are so important to sound production. Thus, these guitars are ideal for a guitar that will be used in difficult situations (campfires, parties, children) but are not ideal for someone who desires a beautiful sounding instrument and is willing to take care of it.

The first major company to take sound production in lower end guitars seriously was the Canadian company, Godin (LaPatrie, Norman, Seagull, Art & Lutherie, Simon & Patrick). Other large guitar companies such as Martin did produce instruments that were designed with sound production in mind but at a price well beyond that which the average beginner was willing to pay. Godin decided to attempt to put some of the characteristics of a good sounding guitar into lower models. It did this by determining which elements were essential to the sound quality of the instrument and integrating them into its guitars while removing those elements that had primarily a visual purpose. The two key elements were the use of solid tops in most of their guitars and the use of a thin finish. They were aided in this purpose by access to a large supply of wood in Canada which they could obtain more cheaply than many foreign firms. It can not be emphasized enough the difference in sound quality between a solid top and laminate top guitar. While a poorly designed solid top guitar can still sound bad, a laminate guitar will never produce the tone possible on a well designed solid top guitar as the wood does not have the ability to vibrate in the same manner as a solid top. The thin finish does not protect the instrument as well as they thicker finishes used by the Asian manufacturers but it allows the top to vibrate properly which is crucial in creating a beautiful tone. Such guitars are not rugged instruments ideal for campfires but if you are willing to take care of them are far superior to the many brands that still manufacture laminate guitars with a thick finish. As Godin guitars became larger and won a significant share of the market, the other manufacturers had to react and improve their own brands. In the last five years I have noticed a definite improvement in the guitars produced by many of Godin's competitors and they have also started to offer solid top guitars at lower price levels than previously. I still have not tried a competitor's guitar that in my opinion equals the price/quality standard that Godin has achieved but they are certainly doing their best to narrow the gap.

No Name Brands

Some stores carry guitars which they commision themselves from factories usually in Asia. In principle there is nothing wrong with this practice if there is sufficient quality control. In practice this is seldom the case. The majority of guitars of this category that I have encountered have had problems and were either made of poor materials, poorly constructed or both. The stores that sell such guitars also do not back them up to the extent of those stores that sell name brand guitars. Such stores often advertise sales with large discounts. Since the store is the actual producer of the brand they are able to set the manufacturers suggested retail price themselves. A store advertising a sale of a name brand instrument has to legally adhere to the MSRP when advertising sales but the no name brand retailers are under no such obligation. Thus, they can take a guitar worth $300 and state that the MSRP is $1000 and that it is 60% off at $400.

How do you tell if a guitar is a name brand or no name brand guitar? Some no name brands will carry the name of the store and are thus easy to distinguish. Many will carry a name made up by the store. The easiest way to see if a guitar is a no name brand is to search for it on the internet. A name brand guitar manufacturer will have its own website and in addition there will be a great deal of other information about its guitars on the net including reviews. Very few no name manufacturers have their own website and information about the guitars is often difficult to find. There is one type of exception to the rule of staying away from store brands. This is when a store actually commissions a well known manufacturer to make a guitar under the store name. An example here in Quebec is the Archambault chain of music stores which has a line of guitars under its own name that is made for it by Godin. This type of guitar will usually state somewhere in small print on the label who it is manufactured by.

Box Store and Televison Guitars

Large discount retailers often sell beginner level guitars. Unfortunately these guitars are often of very poor quality, comparable to the poor quality beginners guitars of 30 years ago. The same holds true of guitars bought through television marketing. Despite the claims of quality by the host, many of these guitars will be unplayable within a year. This is a type of guitar I would completely stay away from as they will not last and will cause needless frustration for a beginning guitarist.

Conclusion

Guitars are very affordable compared to most other instruments. For $300 CDN you can buy a decent guitar that for many people will be all they will ever need. It is much wiser to spend $300 on a guitar that will last and you will be happy with than $150 on a guitar that will frustrate you, hinder your learning of the instrument and need repairs after a short time. Unless you know a great deal of information about buying guitars, stick to buying the name brands and try to inform yourself as much as possible about their merits and demerits.

The Fate of a Cheap Guitar

The guitar below was a cheap guitar that one of my students had. At one lesson he pulled it out of its case and it was in the condition pictured below. It would have cost more to fix it than the guitar was worth so he ended up having to buy a new guitar.