choosing a guitar

Q: How do I choose a guitar?

1. Choose from guitars which fit your budget.

• Ask about price at the outset and admit being on a budget that's a bit lower than what you're actually willing to pay.
• Ask about what makes a guitar cheaper or more expensive, especially if they're from the same manufacturer.
  

2. Choose a guitar that looks good to you.

• Choose a color and shape that suits your personality and playing style.

3. Check for intonation.

• Tune it perfectly. See Tuning.
• Play scales. See Scales. They should sound perfect.
  
• Play an open string and then play it while pressing at the 12th fret. They should sound exactly one octave apart.

4. Check for buzzing.

• Play each string at each fret.
• The string should not buzz against the next fret.
• Some shops file the frets if you tell them about buzzing problems. But this sometimes causes the frets to have sharp edges which may damage your strings and injure your fingers.

5. Check for sound and response.

• Play the guitar as loud and as soft as you can.
• Strum a chord. Play some notes.
  
• Play vibrato. Play harmonics.
• They should sound like your CDs and MP3s or better.
  
• Don't be deceived by the shop's acoustics. Your guitar may sound deafening in an enclosed room but puny in any other place.
• My co-teacher Mr. Pavia told me that his friend told him that sounding boards with fine wood grain sound good. I heard it for myself on the mid-priced guitar he bought his sons, my students, MJ and Tito.

6. Choose the one with the 'magic'.

My Yamaha CG-80 A was actually the display guitar. It has a small scar on the fretboard which it already had when I bought it. The store people brought me a new guitar but it just didn't sound or feel as good. So I went for imperfect but 'magical'.

Right now, it still looks almost as good as new. I've used it on the Hangad recordings and still use it every Sunday when I play at Mass. There might be something to that 'the wand chooses the wizard' thing in Harry Potter.