The Muted Bravado of a SMG

Beginner Guitar and Amp shopping guide

I'm gonna spend the rest of the day studying up on guitar electronics. Hopefully by the end of my MC i should be able to do any kind of basic guitar repair and replacement. Then i can really pimp up my guitars, baby.

Only thing is, how am I gonna go pick up the hardware I need? Bummer. But at least my theoretical knowledge will be A-OK.

Some of my friends wanna go buy a guitar and an amp. So lets talk about beginner guitars and amps.

An easy way would be to buy a guitar and amp set. Offhand, I know theres a Fender Squire Set, an Ibanez set and a BC Rich set. Elaboration below.

DISCLAIMER: All my info may be outdated cos I haven't had much time to keep my hand in the music scene.

What makes a good electric guitar, good? Many many factors, really. Ignoring the shape of the guitar, be it Stratocaster, Les Paul, Telecaster, Flying-V, whatever. The pickups are the big thing, the brand, the quality, but stock pickups are usually what you get. How well the guitar is put together is another, how tight is built, how well its wired. The type of wood for the fingerboard, and the guitar body too, it affects the sound somewhat and affects the feel hugely.

But if you're just looking for a beginner guitar, whats the most important things to look out for? Basically I'm assuming you don't play that well. So just make sure that you like the feel of the guitar. Ask the shopowner to recommend you a nice simple guitar thats easy to maintain. This is very important. Don't go blowing a load of cash on a guitar that you'll need to bring back to the shop every 2 months to set up again. Then, look at the guitar closely, make sure all the contact surfaces, like fingerboard to neck, or the pegs or something, they're tight and not falling apart. If they are, don't get it, cos things will probably get worse over time. Or if you really want the guitar, you can probably get a break off the price.

Now to guitar shops.

There are a few guitar shops I'm familier with.. Yamaha's Music Plaza is quite prominent.. and Swee Lee is a big player of course, at Bras Basah Plaza and at Aljunied. Then at Parklane Mall (not Park Mall) theres Sinamex, Guitar Gallery, and if I recall correctly, DM Gear. Peace Centre has City Music. Peninsular Plaza has Dan's Music, and Davis Guitar. And a bunch of other players like Luther, etc.

But I'm just going to talk about the places I'm familier with. If you guys know anything I don't, please email me and tell me.

Anyway. Sinamex, Luther, some of the small players, they don't stock much electrics so not much of a choice.

Some places like DM Gear and Dan's and some other tiny shops.. In my humble opinion, the stuff they stock there.. some may look good, but thats just it, it -looks- good. Prices are cheap, yes, but you pay for what you get, and I haven't yet found anything decent there.

I suggest you go to the following places:

Music Plaza. Easiest too access cos there are nice branches at shopping malls, and the flagship store is at Plaza Singapura. Most of the guitars they sell are, of course, Yamaha. And yamaha guitars are generally quite brilliant. Relatively cheap, and very good for the price. Can't go far wrong with the Yamaha Pacifica series. Downside? You're playing a Yamaha. Not too cool. But hard to go wrong, really. I think there may be a Yamaha amp and guitar set. Shouldn't be too bad. Not great, but definitely passable.

Davis Guitar at basement 1 of Peninsular Plaza. Some of the guitars there are a little dodgy. And they sell supercheap guitars there too. Supercheap means supercrap so don't fall for it. Ask the old man (or his very cute daughter) for some help, and they'll prob recommend you something good. Just make sure they know you're looking for something easy to maintain. They don't really mark up the prices much so you probably won't get ripped off. Warning though, beware of the lady boss or the guy. Their knowledge seems slightly dodgy, last time I was there. This is where the BC Rich amp and guitar set is sold. Not a great deal, cos you're paying for brand name and the shape of the guitar (its wild.) but if you go for the rock thing, why not. If I remember right they sell a lot of Vantages there. Vantage is a small asian brand, thats relatively decent. You can get a cheap Vantage amp there that should be quite decent for a beginner.

City Music. Really nice people here that can help you out quite a lot. Haven't been there awhile, but I know they don't mark up prices very much. Cheap guitars I like from there are the Craftsman guitars (I should know, I've got two). They are very playable, and pretty cheap. Don't sound that great, but you can change the pickups and its definitely fine after that. Just make sure that you don't get the display pieces. Try to get the guy to pick out a nice one for you, not just the first piece he passes to you.

Swee Lee. Ahh, the great Swee Lee. They have whats probably the largest shops with the most guitars. And they have the sole dealership for many many big guitar brands. So, they can afford to mark up prices like CRAZY. And oh my, they definitely do. Don't bother coming here unless you have cash to blow. But anyway. Good, not-so-cheap beginner guitars there, definitely try Ibanez. Ibanez amps are pretty decent too. Or if you have the money, an Epiphone Les Paul is not bad. Avoid Fender Squires like hell though, they quite suck. And the baby Fender amp blows.

Bottom line? Go Swee Lee and Yamaha to get a feel of the guitars and amps you can get. Then go Davis or City Music. Then go home and think about it, and get whatever you like best thats within our budget. I would suggest buying from Davis and City Music. You can even try to haggle for a discount, but I doubt they'll give it cos like I said, they don't mark up prices that much.

Just remember to buy a gigbag, a strap and a cable. And maybe some picks. Or you'll feel stupid when you get home.

Of course, your safest bet is to go with a friend who knows what they're doing. But if you just keep in mind some of the stuff I said above, you shouldn't really get ripped off.

Oh yea, one important thing. Try out the guitar you're interested in, on the amplifier you're interested in, using a cheap cable in your price range. Not in some big ass mother amp stack, cos it'll make any guitar sound better. You'll be surprised.

FINAL DISCLAIMER: Don't come complaining to me if you got ripped off or your amp died or my advice made you buy what you thought was a guitar but turned out to be a large deformed trout. I'm just trying to help, alright? Feel free to email me if you have any furthur questions. Ciao!

posted by Đirestraits @ 5:02 pm