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{{Buyer's Guide Crumbs|2}}
There are numerous concerns you should have when choosing a guitar, such as...
== A Note on Warranties ==
== Build Quality ==
Build quality is everything. Consider a guitar with a warped neck. It will not intonate properly - after tuning the open strings you'll find the fretted notes are out-of-tune. Or consider a guitar whose neck is not firmly connected to the body. It will move and keep going out of tune. Build quality relates to the guitar's durability as well.
Usually, the build quality should be apparent based on the other aspects below. It would be rare to find a guitar that looks, sounds, and feels great but has a poor build quality.
Guitar manufacturers stake their reputation on their build quality. The bigger companies usually use a different brand name to market their cheaper, generally-lower-quality lines. For example, the big names like Fender and Gibson have Squier and Epiphone lines, respectively. That said, even the big names can produce duds. Most guitars are factory-built, many in foreign factories. Quality assurance is lacking. It's best to give any guitar you want to buy a good look over - make sure there are no chips, warping, glaring knots in the wood grain, loose parts, rattling, or any other defects.
Play the guitar all over the neck - '''make sure no frets produce rattling or mysteriously fade out instead of sustaining'''. A guitar's build quality will determine if the guitar itself has strange resonances or nulls that cause some notes to ring into overtones or fade out prematurely.
Used guitars can make for good bargains; but if you're not sure how to check if the guitar has any defects, you may want to buy a new guitar. These will have a better return policy with the store you purchased it from, plus have a 3 month - 1 year manufacturer's warranty you can honor if you later discover some non-obvious defect.
== Playability ==
A guitar is no good if you can't play it. Unfortunately, this is not the easiest thing to test, especially in a store. '''Stores are often notorious for allowing guitars to sit in the demo room without being properly set up and/or being out-of-tune'''. So if you grab it off the shelf, it may be impossible or difficult to play, or it may get lots of fret buzz or even have strings that are fretting out. Sometimes they'll even have broken or missing strings. If you are seriously interested in buying that guitar, take it to a salesperson, tell them you are really interested in it but not in its current condition. They usually work on commission and will try to help you as best they can, provided you convince them you are serious about making a purchase. They can definitely tune it up for you (which is often near-impossible to do in a noisy guitar store) and maybe even give it a setup job. Even if they don't give it a full setup, they should be willing to at least adjust the action.
===Fretting Out===
A good guitar should ''not'' fret out anywhere - this is where the string literally ''cannot'' sustain due to hitting a higher fret. A little fret buzz is expected, depending on string gauge and action; but it shouldn't sustain over the life of the note. Test notes on the entire fretboard - low and high frets, low and high strings. It's common for frets around 2-6 to get more fret buzz than higher frets - this can usually be evened out by adjusting the truss rod.
Don't just check each fret. Try bends as well - depending on the instrument's setup and fretboard radius, some notes may fret out on bends, revealing fret leveling issues. Of course, if all the bends are fretting out, it may simply be a setup issue, requiring a truss rod or bridge height adjustment.
===Fret Finish===
===Fretboard Radius===
Neck radius is the curvature of the frets and fretboard. The fretboard is not completely flat, but has a slight curve to it. The more curve it has, the easier it is to make barre chords; but it can be more difficult to play fast leads. Many electrics use a compound radius where the radius is lower (more curve) on the low frets by the nut and gets larger (less curve) as the fretboard gets closer to the bridge.
One thing to note about the radius is that necks with a smaller radius and low action can be prone to fretting out (choking) on bends, particularly in the middle of the fretboard. A guitar built for shredding with low action tends to have large radius (flat fretboard).
===Neck Size/Shape===
===Neck Finish===
Luckily this is something you can change if you need to, but given the option it's easier to buy the guitar that needs no modifications. The neck finish is important because it affects easily you shift positions up and down the neck. I like an unfinished neck, sanded with increasing grits to be as smooth as a baby's butt. Often guitar manufacturers will paint the neck or finish it with a clear-coat. This leaves the neck with higher friction and a little sticky (it's subtle but enough to affect your play). You can always sand it down yourself, but it's quite difficult to completely remove the finish, and this can look ugly especially if painted a color that stands out against the wood's natural color.
=== Neck Heel/Joint ===
There are a variety of neck heel designs. The most comfortable depends on the player, but is more than likely a ''neck-through'' design, which has no joint at all, as the neck and center of the body are made of the same piece of wood. Others can sometimes interfere with playing the higher frets. Most manufacturers now use some kind of low-profile heel designed to be smaller and rounder than early guitar designs.
== Tone ==
== Aesthetics ==
Aesthetics typically refers to the body/headstock shape, fretboard wood, inlays, finish, hardware color/finish, control layout, and binding.
===Body/Headstock Shape===
This is the main thing you see when you first see a guitar, besides the finish color. Guitars come in all kinds of different shapes, with various pickguard and face designs. Here's a list of the most common shapes/styles:
* B.C. Rich
** Warlock
** Mockingbird
* [http://www.deanguitars.com/ Dean]
** [http://www.deanguitars.com/subcategory?series=ml_series ML (Dimebag)]
* [http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars.html Ernie Ball/Music Man]
** [http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/the-majesty.html Majesty]
** [http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/axis-bfr.html Axis]
** [http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/jp13.html John Petrucci]
** [http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/steve-morse.html Steve Morse]
** [http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/armada-mm90.html Armada]
** [http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/silhouette.html Silhouette]
** [http://www.music-man.com/instruments/guitars/luke.html Luke]
* [http://www.espguitars.com/guitars ESP]
** [http://www.espguitars.com/products?categories=eclipse-series-guitars-3 Eclipse]
** [http://www.espguitars.com/products?categories=frx-series-guitars-2 FRX]
** [http://www.espguitars.com/products?categories=horizon-series-guitars-3 Horizon]
** [http://www.espguitars.com/products?categories=m-series-guitars M-Series]
** [http://www.espguitars.com/products?categories=mystique-series-guitars Mystique]
* [http://www.evhgear.com/ EVH]
** [http://www.evhgear.com/gear/?section=guitars&series=Wolfgang%C2%AE%20USA Wolfgang]
** [http://www.evhgear.com/gear/subpage/?partno=5107902528 Striped]
* [http://www.fender.com/guitars/ Fender]
** [http://www.fender.com/guitars/jazzmaster/ Jazzmaster]
** [http://www.fender.com/guitars/stratocaster/ Stratocaster]
** [http://www.fender.com/guitars/jaguar/ Jaguar]
** [http://www.fender.com/guitars/telecaster/ Telecaster]
** [http://www.fender.com/guitars/mustang/ Mustang]
* [http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars.aspx Gibson]
** [http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Explorer.aspx Explorer]
** [http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Flying-V.aspx Flying V]
** [http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul.aspx Les Paul]
** [http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Firebird.aspx Firebird]
** [http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/SG.aspx SG]
* [http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/u_eg_top14.php?year=2014&cat_id=1 Ibanez]
** [http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/u_eg_series_pre.php?year=2014&cat_id=1&series_id=3 S-Series]
** [http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/u_eg_series_pre.php?year=2014&cat_id=1&series_id=1 RG-Series]
** [http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/u_eg_series_pre.php?year=2014&cat_id=1&series_id=2 RGD Series]
** [http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/u_eg_series_pre.php?year=2014&cat_id=1&series_id=31 Iceman]
** [http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/u_eg_sig_series14.php?year=2014&cat_id=1&series_id=22 Jem]
* [http://www.jacksonguitars.com/guitars/ Jackson]
** [http://www.jacksonguitars.com/guitars/kelly/ Kelly]
** [http://www.jacksonguitars.com/guitars/dinky/ Dinky]
** [http://www.jacksonguitars.com/guitars/rhoads/ Randy Rhoads V]
** [http://www.jacksonguitars.com/guitars/king-v/ King V]
** [http://www.jacksonguitars.com/guitars/soloist/ Soloist]
** [http://www.jacksonguitars.com/guitars/warrior/ Warrior]
* [http://peavey.com/products/index.cfm/category/523/Instruments Peavey]
** [http://peavey.com/products/index.cfm/item/738/116780/Power%26nbsp%3BSlide%26trade%3B%26nbsp%3BBlack PowerSlide]
* [http://www.prsguitars.com/ Paul Reed Smith]
** [http://www.prsguitars.com/s2series/ S2 Series]
Besides the sillouhette, also pay attention to the "top". This is really the ''face'' of the body - the part facing the audience. Some bodies use a rounded top to give the guitar a more 3-D look, which I find appealing.
===Fretboard Wood===
Fretboards typically come in 3 types of wood:
* Maple (Tan)
* Rosewood (Dark Red/Brown)
* Ebony (Black)
Maple can also be quilted, birdseye, or some other special kind of maple, where the woodgrain presents different patterns.
Rosewood has various shades of color and woodgrain patterns depending on the exact kind of rosewood used.
Ebony typically has no noticeable woodgrain pattern that is visible at a distance. It just looks black.
===Inlays===
The fretboard typically has mother of pearl or black (for maple fretboards) inlays. Usually these are simple dots; however, some manufacturers use different designs such as shark tooth, shark fin, skull & crossbones, rectangles, trapezoids, or custom shapes/designs. Some even use no inlays for a very clean look, or only put one inlay on the 12th fret. It's worth taking the time to view the different variations to determine if one really strikes a chord with you.
===Finish===
Most finishes are glossy - they reflect light very well and tend to shine, like a new car. The finish might be a simple clear-coat, so the natural color and wood-grain of the body wood is visible. Or the wood may be stained and then clear-coated. Traditionally, this is a ''hot'' color like red that still has a natural wood feel; but it doesn't have to be - there are blue, green, purple, and other staining options available. Another option is a flat color. And yet another is a sparkle option, which can range from an exorbitant glittery look to a suble sandy look.
Within all these options, the guitar may be sunbursted, where the color fades darker towards the edges. Or the guitar may have two colors, with one color masked, so there's stripes or a similar pattern from one color on top the other.
Some finishes are ''flat'' - as in, not glossy.
== Features ==
Here some various "extra" features you may want.
* '''Piezo Pickup''' - Uses vibrational, not magnetic, sensors in the bridge to get a more acoustic-sounding output.
* '''Hexaphonic Pickup''' - Independent sensor for each string. This is usually for a pickup to output [[MIDI]] data, so you can have different strings trigger different MIDI instruments.
* '''Sustainiac''' - This is a special kind of pickup that actually works in reverse - inducing the signal in the string for infinite sustain and musical-sounding (harmonic) feedback.
* '''LED Inlays''' - There are just inlays that can be switched on to light up in the dark.
* '''Luminescent Paint''' - Glow in the dark paint
* '''Swirl Paint''' - Uses techniques to separate different colors of paints and apply them to create a swirling, random pattern. See [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3dm-FzI-EQ this video] for an example.
* '''Evertune Bridge''' - A complex bridge that can prevent your guitar from going out of tune and quickly switch to alternate tunings
* '''Fanned Frets''' - Some guitars are built with different scales for all the strings, where the thicker strings have a longer distance from nut to bridge than the thinner strings. Usually found on 7/8 string or baritone guitars, they get the longer scale which is associated with better pitch and tonal properties for the thicker strings, but the shorter scale which allows for better bending on the thinner strings.
* '''Scalloped Fretboard''' - Some fretboards feature what looks like dremeled out parts of the fretboard between higher frets - this ensures your fingers don't hit the fretboard during bends.
* '''All Access Neck Joints''' - There are various methods to improve the comfort and ease of playing higher frets. Neck joints were originally just rectangular blocks of wood that were not too comfortable. New designs reduce the size of the neck joint wood, smooth it, and/or angle it, all to increase comfort.
* '''Floating Bridge''' - A floating bridge does not press against the body, but "floats" against a set of posts. The tension between the strings and the bear claw springs keeps it balanced and pressed against the posts. This allows you to pull the whammy bar up to raise the pitch in addition to diving, and let's you seamlessly transition from pulling up to pushing down. Very useful for vibrato on chords, flutters, and other whammy bar techniques.
* '''Trem Stabilizers''' - These are usually double-hinge type devices that go in the bear claw cavity. They are designed to help force a guitar with a floating bridge to stay in tune better; however, they often hurt the seamless transition of moving the whammy bar through the "zero" (resting) position.
== Pickups ==
This is a big topic, so I've devoted [[Choosing Pickups | a whole page]] to it!
== Hardware ==
===Tuners===
====Material====
Some claim the material the tuners are made of (brass, aluminum, etc.) have an impact on tone, but I've heard contrary opinions. I'd be more concerned about durability, although I think most modern tuners should be pretty reliable.
==== Quality ====
Cheap guitars often have cheap hardware, including tuners, pickups, and bridges. With cheap tuners, you may not stay in tune as well as with quality tuners.
====Locking====
Locking tuners (or a locking nut) are essential for guitars with tremelo systems that allow whammy bar dive-bombs until the strings are completely slacked. They prevent the loose strings from unwinding around the tuning peg, which can cause the string to slip off the peg completely or rewind differently than before changing the tuning.
Beyond that, locking tuners are not essential, although they may be preferable. They have a lower profile than regular tuners and make changing strings quicker and easier.
===Bridge===
====Material====
====Type: Fixed vs. Floating vs. Dive Only ====
====Brand/Quality====
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{{Gear Crumbs|2}}
{{Buyer's Guide Crumbs|2}}
[[Category:Guitar]]
[[Category:Gear]]
[[Category:Setup]]
[[Category:Tuners]]
[[Category:Bridges]]
[[Category:Electronics]]
[[Category:Pickups]]