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A Good guitar?
George Harrison said his first “good” guitar was a 1957 Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet, he bought preowned. It accompanied him as his prime instrument through the Beatles rise to fame stage in Liverpool at the Cavern, and early performances in the USA. He moved on to other guitars like the Rickenbackers, Fenders, Gibsons, Epiphone, and other model Gretsch etc, and eventually gave his Gretsch Duo Jet away as a gift in the early 60s. A couple of decades later he reacquired that original DuoJet guitar he rose to fame with, and used it again later in his solo career and remains in his estate to this day. It is said to be his favorite sentimental guitar. It must have indeed been a “good” guitar for George to embrace it like he did so many years later, like an old friend.
A question here for all the musicians and guitarists. In you experience, today, at what price point would you say you can acquire a “good” guitar, one that can pretty much deliver everything you will ever need, and not fall short on you musically? Provide some examples. Maybe a good acoustic guitar, and a good electric. This is of course very subjective, but would be interested in hearing everyone’s personal opinion, which I think would be valuable for many of us less musically savvy people like myself if we decide to one day get into guitar.
It appears as with many things, the more you spend on something the better it gets, but to a certain point, where the performance to cost curve starts to plateau, and then beyond that your money goes into price of admission for a brand name, stature, luxury, precious materials etc…. Not that the most expensive guitars don’t perform any better than lower cost ones, but is there a price point where the linear correlation of more dollar gets you more performance and quality, starts to flatten out, and the next hundred or thousand dollars only gets you marginal improvement in performance and quality? With fountain pens that plateau starts at about $200, although a Lamy can write as good as a $1000 pen. With watches, I think at around $700 to $1100 is the sweet spot for a good mechanical watch and after that it is luxury and status quo. In performance cars, today I would say at about $120K it starts to level off with many great performance cars like the Corvette, Nissan GTR, BMW M3/M6s etc falling in the $60 to $120K range, but beyond that you can spend a whole lot more for only marginal performance increase, and you start paying for the exotic stature.
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18 Replies
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Hi Jung,
If you’re starting out then I reckon something like a Squier Strat, Yamaha Pacifica, or Epiphone if you are a Gibson fan would be a good start. I’m not sure what country you’re in but something around the 200 pound or 300 US dollars would be great to start at.
Cheap guitars are so much better these days.
For an amp you can’t go wrong with a Boss Katana for a learner. Plenty of sounds in there to keep you occupied and have fun with. I have one at home that I play around with from time to time.
I’m not really up with acoustics but again something from the brands above would be fine.
The most important thing with a beginner guitar is get one that you love the looks of. When you see it sitting in the corner of your lounge room you want it to beckon you to come over, pick it up and play it. That will make learning much easier.
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Lol.. Darryl… For a minute… You sounded like something my 2nd oldest bro would say as he is a self taught guitarist mostly ( well he did take a few lessons privately to improve upon back in the day in his teens…. Blues music is his thing but he does like rock classics of Clapton, Stevie Ray, George Harrison, Chet Atkins, etc to name a few… Because /Thanks to/ of him, my liking guitars exist. .. Only I’ll never be able to play as I’ve explained on here before… I do not have the hand/eye co-ordination skills to pull it off, while I can’t read music hardly at all… It’s the correlation of brain seeing how to play then applying it is what I cannot do… Someone else on here understands what I have. I understand instructional books/hear/video of how it’s done, I just can’t physically get my brain/hands-fingers/eyes to go in sync to accomplish playing. Also my wee fingers don’t help matters either, shirt/kinda stubby and short arms too. Though I have no issues with tambourine or percussion type instruments, and I can singvsomewhat decent… That’s probably why I’m best to stick with singing and playing tambourine/percussion type instruments… Although I can do humdinger “air-guutaring/drumming”, no problem… Lol… ??????
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Hi Jung;
I don’t believe there is a single price for a good guitar. It also depends on whether you are considering an acoustic or an electric guitar and what kind of sound you want. I would say the low priced good acoustic or A/E is around $800 or $900 for, say a Takamine. A low end Martin, DX-1, is around $600 and I had one that sounded every bit as good as my more expensive D-35. A J series Gibson, though, is likely over $2000. And, well, I just don’t do Taylor’s……so no comment there. Also, Martins have a more mellow sound while Gibsons are kinda ‘tinny” sounding….it depends on your taste there.
For electric a Gretsch Jet can go as low as $600…….around $700 for a decent Strat or Tele…..Gibson’s are expensive….the SG is likely around $1500, the ES Gibson’s are over $2,000, the LPs used to be very expensive but for some reason Gibson has downgraded the more recent LPs……..but still a downgraded LP is going to cost around $1,500…..prior to this year or last LPs were approaching $3,000 and customers kinda complained. But, each of these guitars have different sounds…..Fenders are thinner sounding and Gibsons are fuller sounding. A Rick costs at least $1500 depending on model and 6 or 12 string. Ricks are very smooth sounding and you would be straining some to get it to do hard RnR like a Fender or a Gibson.
Again I don’t think there is a good, single answer to this one. It is up to the person. I had a Washburn acoustic that was around $400 and it sounded great to me…..I have others a little more expensive and they sound good, too.
Mike
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I’m of the opinion that if you’re looking for a guitar, go out and interview as many as you can. One of them will speak to you and that’s the one to to start with (there’s a lot of truth to the “Baby Mine” video). Example – I have 2 Casinos. One is a 2004 Korean made “standard” model (modified with a Bigsby vibrato). The other is a 2010 Elite. I hardly ever play the Elite. It sounds better according to most people, plays smoother, but it just doesn’t feel “right”. The Standard does and I make better music with it – by that metric it’s a “better” guitar.
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Jung, what a question. I think I can spend 2 decades answering this. This year alone, I bought 3 guitars (naughty boy, it’s just GAS). I’ve been gravitating to the acoustics lately. There are a ton of options. I visit a big store every now and then, to see what’s new, and I have to say that the new guitars coming out of China are very cheap and surprisingly good. Though there are caveats.
Acoustics
You’ve got steel strings and nylon strings. Then you have the option amplification with a variety of mics (piezo, etc.). Body shapes of all types. Solid wood or laminated (probably the biggest difference) One of the guitars I got this year I picked up at Goodwill for $120. I know a bit of what I’m looking at, but it’s a great sounding guitar. A vintage “Harmony” 1970 made in the USA all solid wood (Spruce top and Mahogany back). Most acoustic guitars these days are laminated and that takes a hit on the sound. The back not so much, but the top to me has to be solid, and preferably spruce. The key for any guitar is a good setup.
Epiphone came out with a line of “Masterbilt” (no, I didn’t misspell it) which seem very nice. I just bought one, should get it this week. All solid woods, spruce top and rosewood back. For me rosewood sounds better than mahogany or maple. Maple is a much brighter sound, while rosewood give a warm balanced sound. Mahogany is warm, but not as balanced, You can get one of these for about $400 used. $700 new. I’ll let you know when I get it.
I picked up a nylon electro-acoustic for a friend at Guitar center last year, can’t remember the brand now, but I remember been impressed at the sound (checked quite a few first, though) for the $250 cost.
As for electrics, I’ll leave that for another day.
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Well, I would invest in what I could afford…. ???
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Jung, though to really address your question, back in the day a “good” guitar was expensive, unlike today where machines make most of the parts. Many of those “cheap” guitars back then were “guaranteed not to crack” and most likely did soon enough. With their grueling schedule in Germany, The Beatles certainly needed better guitars. England had a ban on imports from the US back then, so Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, Rickenbacker were not available in stores. John got his Rickenbacker in Hamburg, while George got his Gretsch (his first “good” guitar) from a guy who had bought it in NY.
What is interesting is a price comparison. George paid about £75 for his Gretsch, used from a cab driver. The average yearly pay was £800. A loaf of white bread was about 4p. The average house price was £2,670. Exchange rate was $2.8 USD for each £1.
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Thanks so much everyone for your very detailed responses, really enjoyed reading them all and learned a lot. For myself, I would probably start with an acoustic, the thought I could take it with me and play it anywhere is appealing. Probably then look in the $300 to $600 range, got to look good, made of rosewood (I just like rosewood – and if it gives a more warm and balanced sound, I’m all in!), and important to try them, but for me it will be more holding and feeling it as I won’t know how to play at first. Epiphone and Martin seems to be recommended the most, but who knows if it looks good and speaks to me, that will be it.
Tomas, interesting about George’s Gretsch Duo Jet cost him a month salary when he bought it used. It certainly ended up being worth every hard earned pound for him. For electric, well I think a Gretsch Duo Jet or red Rickenbacker 350 or 360 would have to be it, whatever the cost! 🙂 I saw a beautiful light blue Duo Jet at the music store here the other day.
I’m happy to hear that these days there are good instruments at pretty much any price point that one can afford. 🙂
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Hi Jung;
One last two cents worth. For the acoustic I would be remiss if I didn’t mention again a Takmine……but for the Tak the models are really good at about the $800 range. Also, the entry level Martins $500-$600 would be very good guitar. One of my Martins was an entry level mode DX-1 and to me it sounded every bit as good as my D-35……well maybe not as good but it was dependable and had that distinctive Martin sound.
Also, one more word on the electric side……Godin guitars…..5th avenue model….costs around $900 but it is a good mellow sounding electric. It is hollow bodied and it is sound-wise along the lines of a Rick…except Ricks tend to have a smoother sound. Mike.
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Jung, You know that line from Harry Potter, “The wand chooses the wizard”? This is how it is with guitars. Feel what you are drawn to, what you’d like to have on your lap for hours.
My first guitar when I moved to the US was a $400 Takamine which still hangs next to the expensive Gibsons. It sounds great, better than many other Takamine I’ve tried, and that’s the trick, what feels yours when you put it on your lap. I’d suggest going in to a big store, like Guitar Centre a few times seeing all they have and taking it in, before you buy one.
Having said that I have a couple of recommendations:
a) Epiphone EJ-200SCE: This is one of Mona’s favorite guitars. Spruce and maple. A well made one of these will sound very good, and it’s under $500
b) Epiphone Inspired by 1964 Texan: This is a new version of the guitar Paul used on Yesterday and still uses it in concert today. Peter Frampton has used it a lot too. Spruce and Mahogany. It’s all solid woods and for under $450. Don’t be afraid of looking at the used ones they might have.
Check out the rosewood ones as well, see how you feel/hear them.
As for electrics, I’d suggest look at the Casinos. I have a Casino made in Korea that sounds and plays fabulously. It’s a hollow-body so you can play it unplugged and still enjoy it.
As for the Duo Jet, if you don’t want to fork out the $2.5K check out the Electromatic counterpart that Gretsch makes: G5230T Electromatic Jet with Bigsby or without. That’s about $550.
Last but not least, a good setup makes all the difference. Have a knowledgeable person do a good setup and the guitar will sound and feel much much better.
Hopefully you have some food for thought!
BTW, my Masterbilt is still “in transit”. It seems it took a detour to Memphis. Maybe the ghost of Elvis wanted to check it out?
Tomás
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I’ll add in, don’t overlook Alvarez guitars – the Artist and Masterworks series guitars are a fabulous deal for the money. I have several friends the prefer my ($300 when I bought it) AD-60 model over their Martin D-28’s. If you need artist names – Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Ani DeFranco, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Carlos Santana all use Alvarez acoustics. Paul McCartney has used them in the past, although I haven’t seen him use one on stage in a few years.
But, as everyone has said, get out and play them (including different individuals of the same model), one guitar will speak to you and that’s the one you want to take home regardless of whether it’s at the high or low end of your budget.
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I like the Traveler ones since I’ve seen someone I know has one, (don’t ask me about model it is)… It’s compact and practical to take with you… Sounds good too…
I’m of the.. “If it feels right from getgo and it’s Purple, then I’d consider buying it if I could afford to” idea…. And if I could play to begin with…. Lol
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Takmine, Godin, Epiphones, Alvarez, Travelers…will note these guitars. Sounds like, at the end of the day, it’s the one that speaks to you when you go out and try many, and looks damn good too! “The wand chooses the wizard”. So much sound advice here, thanks again all!
“If it feels right from get go and it’s Purple, then I’d consider buying it..” LOL, love it Jacki!
BTW, Tomas did your Masterbilt arrive?
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Jung;
Are you going to tell us what you decided or are you still in the research phase?
Mike
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Mike, the day I do decide to get a guitar, it will be an acoustic to start, and I have list of brands to look for thanks to everyone’s advice here. Good thing is, there is a great music store in town with what looks like a pretty good acoustic guitar section. I will go see and handle some and see which one speaks to me in the $300 to $500 budget.
Maybe it will be an Epiphone EJ-200SCE (one of Mona’s fave guitars :), or if one day I get into guitars enough to consider an electric, a Gretsch G6128T (Duo Jet) for sure, just like Lisa’s and a red Rickenbacker 350v63! 🙂 🙂 . Funny I did an EBAY search yesterday on some guitars, and now I am getting emails from EBAY with recommedations on good deals on Gretsch guitars! LOL. Maybe that day might come sooner than expected! 🙂
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