{"id":974,"date":"2020-06-11T19:49:13","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T00:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/?p=974"},"modified":"2020-06-11T19:50:42","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T00:50:42","slug":"what-makes-a-high-quality-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/what-makes-a-high-quality-guitar\/","title":{"rendered":"What Makes A High Quality Guitar “High Quality”? Acoustic or Electric"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Guitars range in price from $50 to $50,000+, so what’s all the fuss about? Is it worth shelling out all the money for a guitar with a cool graphic? Why are some guitars so expensive? What is it about them that makes them “high quality”? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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High quality guitars are made with better materials and are built with smaller error tolerances, with the action of the guitar aligned optimally to avoid buzzing or any other unwanted sound artifacts. Quality electric guitars have higher quality electronics.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Action? Tolerances? What are we talking about here? Read on to find out more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Makes a Quality Guitar?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is not as simple of a question as it sounds–the first question is what type of guitar are you looking at? Let’s break down both types of guitars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Makes a Quality Acoustic Guitar?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whether you’re looking for a Classical guitar or a steel-string acoustic guitar, there are some shared characteristics <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solid Hardware<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of the most important<\/strong> distinguishing factors of a high quality acoustic guitar is its hardware.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a lot of components to a guitar, from the bridge, to the string pegs to the tuning pegs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuning Pegs are on head of the guitar<\/strong> and they are twisted to change the tightness of the strings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An example of a tuning system<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These seem like an unimportant part of the guitar, but they are actually extremely important<\/strong>. One of the biggest problems with low-quality guitars is that the strings go out of tune easily. One of the biggest reasons for this is the tuning system.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A high-quality guitar’s tuning system is solid<\/strong>, and will stay in the position that you set the strings to for weeks at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cheap guitar tuning system will go out of tune within a couple minutes of playing–no exaggeration. The gears skip while tuning, or they they simply slide out of their position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the easiest ways to spot a cheap guitar. If the tuning system doesn’t feel solid, then the guitar is not high quality. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Properly Actioned<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Don’t know what “action<\/strong>” means on a guitar? Make sure to check out the section below<\/a> as it’s an important concept to understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One easy way to tell if a guitar is low-quality or not is to try playing it. A guitar with bad action <\/strong>is difficult to play–you have to mash the strings to get them to reach their frets and in general it’s a poor playing experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is however a little controversial, since many argue that every guitar regardless of quality should be attended to by a professional luthier. It’s rare in many guitarists minds that a guitar has proper action right out of the box. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, that being said, another point of quality is how easy it is to action the guitar. If a guitar is high-quality, then the “actioning” system responds well and your guitar is able to be adjusted, easily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A low quality guitar can be difficult, if not impossible, to “action” properly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Properly Arched Guitar Neck<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This is a bit unfair since even the most high quality guitars need maintenance and attention. However, if you’re looking at a line-up of guitars and you are assessing each guitar’s quality, then the arch of the guitar neck <\/strong>is an important thing to look at. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term for the arch of the guitar neck is often called relief<\/strong>. To be specific, the concave arch of the guitar neck is called relief, and the convex arch of the guitar neck is either negative relief or bowed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Guitar neck relief<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Generally, it’s normal for a a guitar to have a slight relief<\/strong>. Meaning the neck of the guitar is slightly curved inwards. (If you are holding the guitar and playing it, the neck is slightly curved towards you). This slight relief is what prevents the strings from buzzing against the frets while being played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the guitar neck curve can be adjusted via the truss rod, it’s not a good sign if there’s excessive bow or curve in the neck. If the tightening or the loosening of the truss rod does not impact the curve of the neck as it should, your guitar is not in good shape. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Properly Leveled Frets<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I discovered this problem for the first time playing a friend’s guitar they found off of Amazon for less than $100. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s actually a very precise process to lay out the frets so that they are all at an appropriate height so you can play each note on the guitar distinctly without buzzing. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this cheap guitar, one of the frets is too high, which meant when you tried to play the note higher, the note wouldn’t sound because the string was still on the adjacent fret!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quality guitar <\/strong>will allow you to play each individual fret and note without issues or buzzing. All the frets are leveled in such a way to allow for clean playing. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better Wood<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This is where things get very subjective. The actual type of wood may not be the best indicator that a guitar is of high quality. <\/strong> The workmanship of the wood may make all the difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of fancier woods you’ll see on more expensive guitars:<\/p>\n\n\n\n