Who should buy a beginner electric guitar?
Although acoustic guitars have become a bit more popular lately, electric guitars are still the most prominent instrument in rock music and a major component in many R&B, pop and jazz groups. If you want to play in a band, maybe you need an electric guitar. If you want to play melodies and solos, electric guitars are often better for fast fingers and can stand out from other instruments in a group.
Electric guitars are also appealing to adults who are young and want to get their instruments back on hand. Fortunately, highly efficient and affordable overseas production has created a new generation of cheap guitars that sound and play much like the more expensive models. Twenty years ago, very few cheap guitars were really worth playing. We also discovered in our article "The best E-Guitar amplifier for beginners" that there are some very nice amplifiers for under 100 euros so that an adult can come back to play with. price under 300 euros.
This is how we found the tools for our test
Anyone who has recently looked at the guitar market knows that both the number of brands and models offered by major manufacturers has increased. At Squier (Fender) and Epiphone alone, you'll find about 20 different models for under 200 euros, according to which different color options aren't even included. If you include newer brands (some of which only appear on Amazon), you might end up with more than 50 different models - too many to test them all. As we have learned from our ukulelele tests, it will be difficult to pay attention to everyone if you have more than ten instruments to test.
I started with an old friend, Ken Korman, guitarist of The O-Pines from New Orleans and a true fan of both expensive and cheap guitars. He gave me some good advice on what models have been on the market in recent years and which ones we should consider. An exhibition by the National Association of Music Traders (NAMM) in Los Angeles in January gave me more insight.
Followed by Amazon, Sweetwater, Musician's Friend and other online instrument providers to see what's available for purchase. After finding some promising models under $ 200, I decided to put this as our top price limit. We don't mean that the more expensive models aren't worth the extra pay - just the models proposed here are more than enough to get beginners on the right track.
I visited six music stores in Los Angeles to try as many guitars as possible (more than 60, including many variations of different models). I want an idea of price performance ratio and quality evaluation. I made a list of the most promising models and contacted the manufacturers to request samples. In some cases, manufacturers have replaced my recommendations with models they think are more suitable for this article - with my consent, of course.
We also individually tested a smaller group of guitars with a length scale (distance from the saddle on the top of the neck to the bridge supporting strings on the body) within 22 inches - most electric guitars are 24.75 to 25.5 inches long. The models are more comfortable for children, among other things, because they are particularly suitable for small hands. Size is also welcomed by many adults because it makes traveling much easier.
So we tested it
Since most electric guitars offer far more setup options than Classical Guitars
setting up electric guitars is also more important. There is not much tuning on an acoustic guitar. We decided that John and I would try the electric guitar as soon as it was extracted; with their normal chains and factory settings then hire an expert to set them up with the strings from "Ernie Regular Slinky Ball" from 0.010 to 0.4646 - for decades, this was one of The most popular string set for electric guitars, our setup technician is called Avishay Shabat, who heads the Guitar Groomer repair shop in Woodland Hills (California) and also produces his own series of products. under the brand Shabat Guitars.
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