Best guitar for beginners under $200.00

mrbolde
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Fri Apr 24, 2009 5:55 am

I am a beginner at this whole guitar thing and had no idea what to look for when shopping for a guitar. I went to the local shop and the guy took the time to play a few guitars in my price range. I ended up buying a Peavey Briarwood DR1. Have any of you played this guitar and what do you think about it. I have to say I am very pleased with it. The tone is very rich and the highs are nice and crisp. I guess the question is, Did I make a good purchase? What do you think is the best guitar on the market under $200.00?

Thanks for your comments
Mike B.


richardk
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Fri Apr 24, 2009 6:39 am

If you like the sound and feel, you've definitely made a good purchase. I don't think there's such a thing as "the best guitar" in any given price-range. As long as the guitar doesn't fall apart, it comes down to personal taste.


AcousticAl
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Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:55 pm

I've got a Yamaha F310. Cost about $130 CDN and does the job just fine for me.. at least until I'm half as good as Neil!

Al Image


Jimmer
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Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:43 am

For under $200 any guitar that sounds and plays OK is good enough. My first guitar was a Yamaha FG335 I got in 1984 for around $100. As with most plywood Yamahas the sound was boxy and the action was high and clunky. BUT, it served me well (I even took lessons from Neil with it!) for 10 years until I "graduated" to a Martin D35. I still have the Yamaha but it sits in its case in my garage. Now the D35 mostly sits in its case (in my house however) since I replaced it with a Martin 000-28EC.

Anyways, enjoy the guitar you've got--you never forget your first guitar, or your first lover. But unlike my first lover, my first guitar is still around! :P


quincy451
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Tue May 05, 2009 5:39 pm

The beginner has to obsticles to avoid.

1) buying an expensive guitar and only playing for a few weeks. Examples of
this would be any guitar say 2k and above. Yea you can resell such guitars
and get most of not all of what you peid for them. But it is a waste of resources.

2) buying a cheap guitar say $200 or under. Only to find out. They are frustrated and
the guitar sounds like crap no matter how much practice they give it.

But if you bought a under #200 guitar and you like it and enjoy it. Your set...just play it and be happy.

Now later on as you get deeper into things you may one a different sound that requires a new guitar. Then look around for advice.

My first guitar that I still have was a yahama C-40...and I was at first frustrated with it. I got buzzing all over the place with it. The high strings sounded like crap. The intentuation was off.

My solution. A new seet of strings and more practice. I have since gotten better and made my peice with it. The strings did nothing for the laminate top. It is still laminate. Nor for my desire for a steel strnig guitar.

So I did go with a Jasmine S34C by Takamine, and I like it. It is very bright. Almost too bright for my tastes. I am currently having fits getting used to the fact the neck is .5 inches less from top to bottom so the strings are closer together than the C-40. But I went ahead and ordered new strings Elxir Extra Lights with a PloyWeb coating to dead'n it a bit and make it more comfortable to play. Yea it also has the laminate top...someday I will get away from laminate tops as solid tops do have generally better tone. But not for a while.

Thnking of getting a Alverez AJ60SC12. Yea a 12 string. That guitar as a wonderful resonance to my ear.


alan_va
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Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:06 pm

I bought a Fender "Acoustic Pack" at Guitar Center. It contained the model DG-8S. Solid spruce top, mahogany sides and back, low action. I replaced the original strings with a set of D'Addario EXP10 Extra Light strings to be kind to my puny left hand fingertips. It has a nice rounded sound and it plays better than I do. ;-)

This is one data point only. I don't know if others made to the same spec sound as good. I just know I'm very satisfied with this one.


BigBear
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Sun Jun 07, 2009 3:15 pm

This is a frequent topic as new players join the forum. Look though some of the General Guitar threads to find much more on this subject.

For me there is no "best" guitar but suitable guitars have a couple key features:

1. Solid top and sides, no laminates if possible. Never on the top.

2. An adjustable truss rod through the neck. Most cheap guitars have really terrible "actions", the distance from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string. If you have an adjustable truss rod a repair shop can straighten the neck if needed and lower the action while eliminating buzzing.

I believe more beginners quit the quitar due to the pain and difficulty of poor actions than any other cause. The guitar is supposed to be fun and if it hurts and is too hard to play why bother? If you have a less expensive guitar at least spend the money to have the neck straightened and action adjusted. It's worth the price of gold.

3. Put light strings on it, no larger than 0.12 gauge on the high E. 0.11 or even 0.10 are better. Yes, heavier strings often sound better but they are much harder to play and take building up some hand strength and callouses. Do yourself a favor and go light!

Happy playin'


alan_va
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Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:56 pm

Thanks for your clearly selected words.

You hit on the attributes I was looking for when I bought my DG-8S. Changing out the strings was an inexpensive solution for getting frustrated at not building up callouses fast enough.

At the time I bought this starter guitar, I had never played a single chord. So, I had the Guitar Center salesman test mine out there in the store. It sounded gorgeous to my ears, so it was mine. I couldn't play, but I could HEAR, and I knew what I liked.

[There may be some universal truism hiding in there, somewhere.]

Note to all guitar stores: Hire people that can play really pretty music.

Best of luck.


map4242
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Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:32 pm

BigBear wrote:
I believe more beginners quit the quitar due to the pain and difficulty of poor actions than any other cause. The guitar is supposed to be fun and if it hurts and is too hard to play why bother? If you have a less expensive guitar at least spend the money to have the neck straightened and action adjusted. It's worth the price of gold.
I tried to learn to play the guitar twice much earlier in my life and quit for this very reason. There would be a guitar sitting in the corner, no-one played, so I tried. I didn't know anything about the action setup, and I'm sure the strings had never been changed in many years.

This time, determined to succeed, I bought a guitar that I knew was better than what I had tried to learn on before. Not great, but I consider the US$500 well invested.

Mark


BigBear
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Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:43 pm

map4242 wrote:


I tried to learn to play the guitar twice much earlier in my life and quit for this very reason. There would be a guitar sitting in the corner, no-one played, so I tried. I didn't know anything about the action setup, and I'm sure the strings had never been changed in many years.

This time, determined to succeed, I bought a guitar that I knew was better than what I had tried to learn on before. Not great, but I consider the US$500 well invested.
I also believe that if you make a serious investment in your instrument you will be less likely to throw it in the corner and let it collect dust. All my guitars are way better than I can justify but playing them is so much fun somedays I just can't put them down!


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