Monday, December 2, 2013

Buying Your First Steel String Acoustic Guitar - Materials Guide

This article discusses some of the finer points in buying your first steel string acoustic guitar, such as the materials and hardware. Using this information will help you to make the right choice. An earlier article discusses the basics of buying your first steel string acoustic guitar. Just to recap: Buy the best quality guitar you can afford. Get one with a solid Cedar top. I recommend getting something of slightly lighter weight construction and suitable for light strings. Choose a size/style of guitar suited to your physique and seated posture. I also covered a few things you don't need: a cutaway, electronics or mother of pearl or abalone trimmings. Take an experienced guitarist with similar tastes to you along whenever you try out any guitars you're interested in. And finally, when you're ready to buy, I recommend you make sure you get a case and stand to protect your instrument from mishaps. Let's look at the materials and hardware used for steel string acoustic guitars.You should get one with a solid top - this means the soundboard of the guitar is made from solid timber rather than laminated. The soundboard contributes significantly to the characteristic sound of the instrument, and using solid timber is preferred for better quality sounds. Cedar is my first choice, it has a great tone suited to a variety of styles. Spruce is another popular wood with a somewhat brighter sound than Cedar. The drawback of Spruce for beginners is that it suits a more physical playing style and requires picking the strings harder which is something that comes with the confidence you'll develop over time, but may not suit you at the beginner stage. Guitars with soundboards made from other woods such as Koa or Mahogany are available but less commonplace - you'll just have to try them to see if you like their sound.The back and sides will ideally also be solid but it's OK to choose a laminate here because the difference won't affect the sound as much as it will in the case of the soundboard. It should save you some money if they're laminated. Popular woods are Mahogany or Rosewood and sometimes Cherry, Koa or Walnut, and any of these are fine so if you like one over the others because of the sound or look then go for it.For the neck either Mahogany or Maple are great choices. Mahogany is a popular neck wood that will contribute to a great sound especially with some mid range character. Be aware that it can be split or damaged more easily than some other woods. Maple is known for a brighter sound and is more durable although you may find it more difficult to find acoustic instruments that use it for the neck wood. The Fretboard (and bridge) will ideally be Rosewood - please don't use endangered species such as Ebony, Honduras Mahogany and Brazilian Rosewood (unlikely on a lower priced instrument anyway, but just so you know).Quality tuning machines (aka machine heads) will help you tune the guitar more easily and keep it in tune better. They should feel smooth and precise in use and use durable higher quality materials. Sealed construction is also a plus. Reputable brands include Gotoh, Grover, Schaller and Sperzel. These companies produce aftermarket tuning machines as well as providing original equipment to many guitar manufacturers and luthiers.The nut and bridge saddle will often be plastic on less expensive instruments. Graphtek make a synthetic material called Tusq which is well respected and used by many manufacturers and luthiers on their instruments. Bone is also a great alternative to the cheaper plastic materials used for these parts. You can get a better nut and bridge saddle fitted later if your instrument doesn't come with them stock.It will also help to choose a guitar suited to using lighter gauge strings. Gauges 0.010 to 0.050 should be the heaviest you use as a beginner, and there are some sets with even lighter low strings made by most string companies including D'Addario, Cleartone, DR, and Thomastik Infeld. Any guitar body style smaller than a dreadnought should be fine, and a dreadnought should be OK too especially if you're a bigger or more physical person. Lighter gauge strings will make it easier to play when the instrument is set up correctly for them, and you will find this a big help in learning to play guitar.

Nic Fox is an avid musician and graphic designer. For some more guitar related info visit my blog at fretboardsecrets.blogspot.com/. If you're into graphic design, photography or new media you may be interested in some of my work shown at http:/

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