[HANASHIR:4805] Re: Guitar Advice

[Ethan Leigh Bueno de Mesquita <mesquita...>]

Hi,

Just thought I'd put in my two cents about first guitars. I agree with
everything that has been said regarding steel vs. nylon string guitars. A
kid who wants to play classical should start on a classical guitar,
otherwise it seems like steel string makes the most sense (especially
given the smaller neck size).  

What I wanted to write about was what I consider the most important, but
neglected, area of buying an inexpensive guitar, which is the tuning
machines. In buying an inexpensive laminated guitar (some of whihc sound
good but none of which sound really beautiful and none of which will end
up a persons "life-long guitar if they get serious about the instrument) I
think the most important question is how will it facilitate the young
guitarists growth as an instrumentalist. There is nothing (in my opinion)
more frustrating to a young musician with limited experience on the
instrument and ears that are still learning to hear intonation clearly,
than a guitar which is constantly slipping out of tune and so will either 
sound bad or must be retuned over and over again. This, unfortunatley, is
the case with almost all inexpensive guitars. But, there may be some
inexpensive guitars out there with decent tuning machines or
(if you have a guitar store you trust) it may be possible to buy an
inexpensive guitar and replace the tuning machines with better ones
(Grovers) for a relatively small cost. Just someting to think about in
addition to sound and price when evaluating student guitars.  

best,

Ethan Bueno de Mesquita
mesquita (at) fas(dot)harvard(dot)edu

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