Factors to consider when choosing a guitar: How to choose a good guitar
Since the good guitars are made by hand and with so many variables there is much to consider. Even after you have narrowed down your search to a particular type of guitar there is a tremendous amount of difference from guitar to guitar even in the same model.
ELECTRIC GUITAR CONSIDERATIONS:
Are you going to play rock or country? It is hard to beat a Les Paul for rock and roll, and hard to beat a Telecaster for country. What is just about impossible is to have one guitar do it all. Eventually you will want one of each. I suggest that if you are only going to have one electric guitar to get a Fender Stratocaster. Affordable and versatile the 'Strat' was the first choice for Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and many others. It is the sound most hear on famous recordings. OK, so now you have decided on a Stratocaster. Do I want rosewood fret board or maple? The fret board material will definitely influence the sound of the guitar. While rosewood is warmer in sound, maple cuts thru the overall mix of the band with a brighter tone. Eventually you will want one of each. The more 'classic Strat tone' is a maple fretboard. Fender currently has over seventy five different maple fret board Stratocasters available at this time. Which one do I want? Ideally you will want a make in the USA top of the line model. The top of the line Stratocasters have a nitro cellulose lacquer finish that allows the wood to breathe and age naturally. The sound improves as the guitar gets older. Most modern guitars are made with a poly urethane space age finish that while resistant to scratches and dings tends to seal the wood and have an adverse effect on the tone. Much like wrapping your guitar surface in rubber bands. In the old days ALL good instruments had the nitro finish. Now to get one you have to spend some money. Nitro takes weeks to dry and cure. Thin multiple layers can take months to complete one guitar. Poly dries in less than one hour.
I consider that if I am going to dedicate the rest of my life to a guitar it will be the best and not the cheapest. Fortunately great guitars are not that expensive!
Neck size is a big factor. There are many different size necks to fit every hand. Some like a big fat neck that fills their hand with wood. This adds a lot of tone, sustain, and stability to the sound. Even though I have large hands I prefer a small thin neck. You will just need to try many and see which size you like. Go to your local Guitar Shop and try as many as they will let you play. Make sure the neck is comfortable to you when you first pick up the guitar. Don't think an uncomfortable neck will feel better later. First impressions matter on a guitar neck I have found. Flame or Birds Eye maple look cool but add little to tone or playability. I prefer flame maple because it looks so good.
Fret board radius is a big deal. Fender believes that your fret finger is curved naturally and so should the fret board. Fender uses a 7.5" radius and is super comfy for open chords but not great for bends above the 12th fret. Gibson uses a flatter 12" radius and can achieve much lower string height for easier and less fatiguing playing. Compound radius is a good compromise where the radius at the first fret is 9" and 12" at the 15th fret in a gradually more flattened radius.
Fret size is another important issue on my guitars. The older vintage guitars had a very thin fret wire. Thin frets are very accurate for intonation, but not so good for bends. Most players prefer a larger Gibson style fret. With larger frets bends are more easily accomplished because the strings are sliding on the steel fret rather than the wood finger board. This is a tuff call since all size frets have their merits. I like tall medium jumbo frets with the lowest action possible without any frets buzzing.
Nut material is critical for tone, intonation, and tuning. Bone is a popular choice. Petrified mammoth tusk, brass, and artificial materials like Tusq are also tone enhancing. Most of my guitars have bone or Tusq because they are a self lubricating material and sound the best to my ear.
If possible a one piece body is better than a two piece body. It will cost a lot more but you will have a better chance at superior tone with the one piece body. Fender charges a premium for a guitar that you can see the grain thru the finish because they have to use good wood. On a solid opaque color you can hide a lot of imperfections or a three piece body. In the early days Fender only made sunburst (yellow fading out to black on the edges) and if you ordered a custom color (which was the same colors GM, Ford, and Cadillac used on their cars) they would spray the custom color over the sunburst. Occasionally you will find a custom color guitar and you can see the sunburst finish peeking out from a wear spot. Custom color Stratocasters command a premium because they are much harder to find. Many modern made Stratocasters use a universal rout in the pickup cavity to accommodate different pick up configurations. Even some of the new "high end" Strats have a considerable amount of wood removed from the body. The vintage Strats had MUCH less wood removed for a superior sound. Only enough wood was removed to have the electronics fit tightly. How the wood is finished is a HUGE factor. In the old days guitars were finished with nitrocellulose lacquer. A long and hazardous process. Multiple coats needed long drying times. Then they invented poly urethane. A water based finish that would dry in less than one hour! Space age finish that would never crack like a nitro finish. It also never breathes and the wood never ages and develops character.
A big factor to consider after all the above is the acoustic properties of the guitar. Depending on the density and tone properties of the wood, the fit between body and neck, and tone qualities of the neck, frets, and nut all add to the sound. Play the guitar unplugged and see how loud it is. Check for resonance (or vibration) in the wood. This is where the differences in guitars REALLY show. The better the guitar is acoustically the better it will be plugged in.
Pickups transfer the sound to the amp. Pickups can make or break the guitar. Luckily we can swap pickups easily. In the early days pickups were not very 'hot' at around 5.7k ohm. As music got hotter thru the sixties and seventies so did Fender pickups. A very hot pickup would read over 7k ohm. I like pickups to be hot, but not that hot. A real good pickup for Stratocasters is the Van Zandt Blues Model or Vintage Plus. A fairly recent improvement to the single coil set up has been the use of RWRP (reverse wound reverse polarity) that when used with another single coil pickup you can get a Humbucker effect that will remove most or all of the hum associated with single coil pickups. Once you have tried RWRP you will NEVER go back. The better the pick up the better the sound. You will need at least Custom Shop or better to get the sound you want.
Tone controls is another area where the cheap guitars REALLY scrimp. Thin wire and cheap components rob the signal from the pickups to the amp. Heavy duty potentiometers, switch, and wire for the best tone.
Intonation is adjustable but some guitars intonate better than others. Intonation is when the notes are in tune on every fret and every string. The fit between the body and the neck effect everything from intonation to sustain.
I think another big factor is age of the guitar. New guitars are not stable. The wood still moves. Twenty year old guitars have stabilized. They sound better, much easier to tune, and stay in tune longer. All the locking tuners, nuts, blocked bridges in the world will not help green wood stay in tune.
Another important factor to me is the investment potential of the piece. The only way I can justify paying so much money is to know that the investment will only increase in value and I can enjoy it the whole time. In the past five years since the stock market has gone flat guitars have doubled in price with no end in sight. Some guitars will never appreciate. You won't live long enough to see a new guitar go up in value. A new guitar is an expenditure. A used guitar is as good as gold. A guitar is only worth what it is worth used.
Finding a guitar that has all of these things is a real hunt. Not all guitars are created equally. Make sure the guitar you buy makes you VERY happy.
Here are the kind of GUITARS that I like.
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