It’s a bit of a balancing act though - too crappy a first guitar - a ‘child’s guitar’ - and they’ll never learn because they are pieces of ■■■■. Also - it will fall to pieces. The action will be so high that it will kill their fingers and be unplayable. And it will never stay in tune. So it may be worth teaching your kid to take care of a half-decent first guitar in the mid-range, and you can use it to travel with. A used one would be the go here, because it will get dinged up. You could pick up a used Taylor GS or Martin LX1 for about $500. Nice little thing to play around with. A Yamaha JR1 FG you may pick up for under $200 new. I rate Yamis - and this one is not a child’s ‘toy’ - it will get you around at a pinch. I wouldn’t go below this level for a child to be honest.
Love Takamines. Beautiful sound.
There are some pretty affordable Yamahas that play surprisingly well. You could learn on a whole lot worse.
I had a 3/4 size Essex semi acoustic. It was cheap but wasn’t too horrible.
Turned that into a Cole Clark fat lady. That changed everything. Everything sounded a million times better. It made playing so much more enjoyable.
My babies:
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Fender Standard Stratocaster and Fender Standard Telecaster
Gibson Explorer
It has been interesting to see Epiphone come in with some high end models. The Beatles Casino reissue and the Joe Bonamassa signature ES 335 are priced well above normal.
The Explorer living up to its name, I see
Yeah, that’s the Yamaha I was thinking of. Whatever I get him, I will have a play of it first to make sure it’s of a decent standard. Maybe even a nylon string/classical to get started, I will have a chat to my teacher. I’d expect to pay a few hundred. Certainly nothing from Kmart or JB-hi fi.
I was quite happy with my Cort acoustic for a lot of years. In fact, after I left/lost my guitar in the park across the road (my mate and I were still drinking/rocking out the morning after a big night so she booted us to the park and I was a bit forgetful) I went straight out and bought the same model again.
I like having a cheaper guitar lying around so I don’t have to be too precious. If the kids or a mate who don’t know what they are doing want to have a play they can use the cheap one (Cort), and if I’m going to a party or the beach etc then I don’t really want to take something worth a couple of grand that I might not want to hold on to the whole time.
That’s a pretty serious collection, very nice.
The only issue there, is although nylons are a lot easier on the fingers - they are also spread quite a bit further apart and may be difficult for small hands.
Fair point.
Anyone here know much about early 90’s Japanese Fender strats? Almost bought one through Gumtree today but when I inspected it I realised I didn’t really know what to look for.
The guitar itself was in pretty poor condition (scratches/dings/chips/dust) and while the neck felt good the pickups sounded ok-ish at best through the admittedly tiny old Samick amp they had, and I was a bit spooked that it might not be legit.
It didn’t say Made In Japan near the serial # at the base of the neck, only on the front of the headstock, and where I expected it to say “contour body” it seemed to be rubbed off, or maybe a sticker had been put there and later peeled off…
There was no stamp on the neck plate (not that there always is), and no spring cover/plate (not sure if that would have had a Fender stamp anyway) no fender branding on the bridge or tuning heads (upon further research I realise the Gotoh tuners were probably stock at the time). Access to the truss rod was near the neck pickup rather than the headstock.
So basically I realised I didn’t really know anything about 90’s Japanese fenders, and after playing for a few minutes I just couldn’t get excited enough to part with their asking price of $700.
Hard to know what it really sounds like unless you play it through a half decent amp. I admit to knowing nothing about ■■■ strats either, but if it didn’t excite you at all then I suggest keep looking as they’re hardly rare
J.a.p is banned, lol
It probably was legit, and I’m sure it would’ve sounded better through my amp since I know how to control it a bit.
I’m used to buying through stores where they set you up and you can mess around for half an hour or longer and really get to know the guitar and they can answer any questions.
I’m this case I was at a family home and I’d been emailing the son to buy his guitar but he was overseas and his Dad was selling it for him and didn’t know too much.
In any case, I don’t really need another guitar and in my mind, Fender or not, it wasn’t going to fill any hole in my life just leave a $700 hole in my wallet.
Are you buying as an investment, or to play it?
Because if it’s the latter - really - if it feels good, plays nice and you like it - just buy it. If you are investing - well - I could expand, but you’re a hell of a lot better investing elsewhere, I reckon.
How much you looking to spend? I picked up a Taylor GS Mahogany Mini for $800 , apparently the non mahogany for $400 is pretty much the same. Smaller body & scale, decent sound and the bag is excellent. I’d have loved to have begun on this beauty.
Man, does everyone on Blitz play guitar???
Nah, only the blokes
I’ve got a '93 Strat, Floyd Rose special. It has two single coils up front and a double humbucker. FR tremolo, all factory fitted. It’s a Japanese model.
It’s a great guitar. Picked it up at cashy’s about 12 year’s ago with original hard case for 300 bucks.
Daylight robbery.
Heh, I was hard up 15 or so years ago, wanted to borrow a couple hundred from those carnts, wouldn’t give me more than 100 for my US tele. Told them there was no way I wasn’t coming back for it. Scum of the earth those ■■■■■■ (good for you though, at some poor farkers expense).