Cheap Guitars
People always question why this guitar costs so little and that guitar cost so much? It’s just the old same story; why does this car cost less than that car, this pair of shoes cost more than that pair of shoes.
The answer is always down to quality, quality of materials and component parts contained in the guitar, and then quality of workmanship in the assembly or manufacture process. With guitars the quality of the wood used for the guitar body and neck does really have an effect on the price; each and every component of the guitar can be sourced at cheaper or dearer prices, add to this the level of quality control over its assembly, good quality control with attention to tiny details makes for a great quality guitar but with a high price tag.
Not everybody can afford or warrant an expensive guitar, especially perhaps for their first guitar, so cheap guitars have their place in the food chain just the same as expensive ones. Many experienced guitar players speak with loving affection of that first guitar whatever the price this was the one that got their playing on course.
Nowadays cheap doesn’t just mean bad, the cheaper guitars are getting better each year, prices have fallen a little and some automation in the cutting and manufacturing process have enabled the manufacturers to make guitars for a lower price add to that some element of retail competition, special offers etc and we have reasonable quality cheap guitars.
Budget allowing some of the important things to check when you buy cheap guitars this includes used cheap guitars are:
Check the action- the action refers to the amount of pressure you need to apply with your fingers to the string when creating a note, a guitar can have high or low action, a high action requires more pressure and can be painful a low action is much better.
Check the neck is straight and the strings run parallel to it, there must be no bend in the neck however slight.
If it’s a used guitar check for scratches, dents etc especially if it’s an acoustic model make sure it has no effect on the sound it creates.
The tuners and machine heads can be an area the manufacturers cut corners if possible ask about the quality of tuners fitted to the guitar.
Check the quality of the pickups this goes without saying for an electric guitar plug it into an amp and play the guitar, if it’s an acoustic with pickup make sure your check it out with and without the use of the amp you do need to like the sound it makes, so take your time, play some chords and scales if you can, this is your chance to check it out before the purchase is made.
Check for fret buzz this is when you play a note and it vibrates against the frets, try different frets on all the strings especially the bass strings, some cheap guitars experience fret buzz it’s not the end of the world but it’s best to choose a guitar with as little as possible if you can.
All this aside your life will be better with a guitar in it. It doesn’t matter if it’s an expensive guitar or a cheap guitar the important element it to have the guitar and get practicing and enjoy every moment whatever age you are.
On Stage XCG4 
