How to choose a good classical guitar?

Do you want to choose a good classical guitar to start learning? If you are planning to start your adventure with a classical guitar or thinking about changing your instrument and at the same time you do not have enough experience in guitars selection and checking before buying, then welcome to our guide for buying a classical guitar.

Choose a good guitar

Is it worth buying excellent classical guitars for aspiring guitarists?

Now lets briefly discuss a rather controversial issue. Is a completely fresh beginner guitarist really needed a good instrument? At first glance, the answer is simple: the higher class – the better choice. Many have seen when at school guitar competitions young, not skilful students were given very good instruments and did not know what to do with them.

Finally, it turned out that adaptation to their chipper guitars with short and narrow sound turns into the losses in a flood of sounds. They don’t use the much wider dynamic possibilities of high class guitars. An instrument that is normally good for ordinary musician is not the perfect solution for those, who is just biting the guitar.

Of course, you can not agree with this opinion, saying that the better the guitar, the better and faster progress in the play. Needless to say, the opposite situation (i.e. a good musician and a bad guitar) is much less interesting.

Good classical guitar – how to choose one?

Do Expensive Guitars Worth It?

As already mentioned, at the training stage (primary music school, high school, music academy, etc.) changings the guitar several times recommended. And every time the instrument should get better. Anyone who wants the guitar to serve him only for a simple accompaniment to singing should be satisfied with a middle-class guitar, which must be tuned properly. A higher level of guitar skill will require the purchase of a more expensive instrument. The most money-consuming tool is an electric guitar. On the other hand, a classical guitar cannot boast of such a varied sound.

So how to buy a classical guitar?

The best advice is not to go shopping for a guitar alone. Instead take with you at least one experienced guitarist. As well, it is also important to listen the guitar from a distance – this sound will be heard later by others at concerts. Thus, a good test drive of a guitar requires a large room. In some good stores, customers have a special, muted room at their disposal to check the purchased instrument very accurately. Take advantage of this and don’t go to a small shop to buy a guitar.

Finally, feel free to chat with the shop assistants and ask them questions. Don’t forget, that you are making an expensive purchase with your own money. Take your time. The store should allow buyers make a calm and balanced purchase.

How to choose excellent guitar

It is important that each guitar should be inspected very scrupulously and checked on visible or weakly visible damage, cracks, splintered elements, etc. Always look along the neck against the light to see whether it straight or has body irregularities.

Sound check should be started with tuning check, which means paying special attention to whether the guitar you want to buy tunes well in various (especially high) frequencies. If the guitar doesn’t tune well, ask somebody to do it for you. After tuning the strings to the correct height for a some time (usually in stores they are not well stretched, so it takes some time for them to form), it is necessary to check whether the octaves of each string on the XII fret sounds clean.

In case of each string on the XII fret sounds dirty, better ask for another guitar. Sometimes it’s the guitar itself, but sometimes the bad strings are to blame. It happens that among generally well-tuned octaves one or two strings are slightly crazy. In this case, they must be replaced for better quality strings of a good brand. It happens that only onу string to blame for the bad sound – this happens even in the best sets. How to be sure, that the problem is with the guitar or with the strings? The best solution is to ask the shopping assistant. If he claims that the strings are to blame, ask him to change them and check the guitar again.

Check each individual note throughout the fingerboard to find muted resonances (“wolf notes”) and resonant absorptions (“holes”). Do this by both muting the rest of the strings and leaving them open to distinguish between the resonance of the strings and the resonance of the guitar, but don’t waste too much time on this. These resonant phenomena are unavoidable, but they should not reach the level of interference.

 

Check the balance between the lower and higher frets and make sure that the guitar does not ” die ” in the high treble (above the 12th fret). And the most important thing. Play well-known pieces so you don’t focus on playing, but just listen to the sound. Pieces should be as diverse as possible: there should be polyphony and monophonic melodies, chords, slow and fast passages and various scales. Remember that any guitar will sound good in E major. Pay attention to the extent to which the guitar allows you to implement complex musical compositions.

You also need some feeling when choosing a guitar

Sooner or later during sound check, there comes a moment when it is difficult to understand how the guitar actually sounds. At this point, you need to focus on how you feel just holding the guitar in your hands – could you spend many hours with it face to face? The same goes for aesthetics – you won’t be happy with the guitar if you don’t like to look at the guitar.

How about custom guitars?

Special workshops are widespread in the market offering the custom-made guitars. Despite the richness on guitars market: cheap and expensive, new and used, with classic and original shapes – serial production cannot satisfy all tastes and needs. Custom-made guitar is an opportunity to realize all your fantasies and get an exclusive or standard, but your own instrument.

Custom-made guitar has it’s own excellence:

• Any material to choose from: selected wood of all types, special adhesives and coatings;

• Unlimited configurations of shapes, structures, fittings and electronics;

• The ability to make a guitar “by hand” – considering the anatomical features and playing style;

• Unique appearance;

• Full range of pickups and accessories;

• Individual approach to every customer;

• Possibility of alterations and completion of the finished tool;

Sounds impressive. But there are two significant drawbacks to custom-made guitars: the high cost and the need to be an experienced musician. The price of a custom guitar can be 10 or more times the average price on the market. But even paying this amount, you may not feel the difference if you are not an experienced guitarist. It will take many years before a beginner guitarist really needs a custom guitar and knows how to make and use it.