If you were buying your first guitar today, what would you get?

[Jamolay]

The hard part in buying a first guitar (aside from knowing little about guitars and not having skill to try out on them) is not knowing how likely you are to keep it up and succeed.

Spending a $1000 and not sticking with it is tough for some budgets.

On the other hand, it is very important to find a good enough guitar to enjoy playing at the not too easy beginning. I suspect lots of promising musician are lost after struggling with a lousy cheap beginner guitar. Beginners also don’t know enough to know what the problem with some cheap instruments may be.

I spent about $350 on a use Art and Lutherie which was nice enough, although eventually I didn’t love the sound and upgraded to a $700 used Larrivee OM-2, which I absolutely love and want to pick up and play.

If I play another few years successfully, I will probably upgrade again and by then will have a formed idea of what I want (it may just be my OM-2, but I’ll need more than one guitar…).

I would probably recommend the used Yamaha for $200-300 or so with a plan to upgrade after about 6-12 months.

Unless you mess it up, you should be able to get similar money on a resale for the upgrade. I only lost $50 reselling mine and that was only because I discounted it for a friend.

[zombywoof]

When I started out in the early-1960s I did not know a good guitar from a can of tuna. I just knew I wanted one. In terms of my first "good" guitar I would probably go for the same one I did back then - a Harmony Sovereign H1260. While I can now lay out a whole lot more cash on a guitar than I had back in the day a half a century down the line I am still playing the Harmony.

[rllink]

That is a hard question because that means I don't play guitar, don't know that much about them and I want to start. Putting myself back at the beginning I'll say a mahogany GS Mini would be a good choice.

[Stonehauler]

under 500....probably a nice Yamaha, or Takamine, maybe an Alvarez. However, if you are budgeting in for a setup, case/gig bag, new strings, etc....then an Alvarez maxing out at 300 bucks and 200 bucks for setup and accessories.

Under 1k. Probably a Yamaha transacoustic, Taylor 100 series, or a Breedlove. Again, saving room for setup/strings/etc.

Above that, nothing as this is a first guitar.

[mischultz]

I bought my daughter a Taylor Big Baby for her birthday this year. I know how much folks love the Eastmans (and rightly) but the neck shape and shallower body depth make this a clear number one for me, maybe even up to 1000. Probably shifting to Furch north of 1000 for similar ergonomic reasons.

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by Gdjjr

My Martin 00015M without question, in the more than 1000 category

I'd probably go that way too, after a long internal struggle whether to start out with an 000-15m or an 000-18. As a new guitarist today, I'd probably be as fundamentally cheap as I was back in 1973 when I bought my first good guitar, a Guild D-25, which was half the price of the D-18 I really wanted. (The D-18 was $490, the D-25 was $240 back then.)

[donlyn]

If you were buying your first guitar today, what would you get?


Seems to imply that I'd have all the knowledge I have now, at least about my taste in guitars. So I will presume that to be the case.

So I'll take Guitars for under $1000, Alex.

I would get the last one I got.

Id est, an Epiphone Inspired-By-Gibson spruce topped solid-wood maple sunburst J-200 Jumbo for $800.
And a set of Elixir PB HD Lights as a throw-in.

My first acoustic was a dread of dubious parentage, and had no problem size-wise with it. Later joined by a black Gibson Les Paul Custom of the 2-pick-up variety. And still later the dread was gone and replaced by an EKO Ranger XII 12 string. Now we're cooking.

Fast forwarding about 15 years, I got my then second acoustic six string, a brand new 1985 Gibson J-200 spruce/rosewood Jumbo. Off to the races.

Don
.

[TBman]

Knowing what I know now, I would spend maybe $1,000 on a decent used guitar and make sure the setup was good. I sort of did that when I started playing again back at the turn of the century, but I bought a few other guitars too.

I did manage to buy my Larrivee OM-05 used from Guitar Center and that was probably one of my smarter purchases. Did I over pay for it? From a retail point of view, probably, but I have had it now for about 13 years and I've gotten more than my monies worth from it.

[PeterM]

500...Yamaha
1000...Used Larrivee
1500...used Martin or a new Larrivee
2000...Martin

00, 000, or OM sizes

[FrankHudson]

Implied in the question (as it'd be hard to separate out even if it wasn't) is "knowing what I do now."

I would likely seek out and expect to buy used. Not that I wouldn't turn away a good deal on a new one, but pristine condition and pride of somehow being the first owner were and are low on my priorities. I'd certainly budget for a good setup. I'd probably shop, just as I would now already owning guitars, because who knows what I'd find. This last part Wade probably assumes we wouldn't do, as the spirit of the thread's question is more at "Hey, I'm an experienced player, so given that what from my experience would I select if magically starting again?"

So, if I understand the spirit of the question correctly, my answer up to perhaps the top rung would be an earlier model Seagull Folk. Magically, in this scenario, I know I love the neck, I know it can handle much of what I play soundwise, and other that the ability to "Willie Nelson/Trigger" the soft cedar top I know it's durable. Nearer the top rungs of Wade's starting out prices, I'd consider a good basic OM/000/00 sized guitar. I'm attracted to what I see and hear about some Eastmans, but I've never played one of their flat top guitars, so I can't choose them from experience. For overall range of sounds and the wider nut spacing I'd lean to my Martin 000-17 over my 00-15.

I might also cheat and say that I'd need to stay under the rungs of the price ladder so that I can also afford a 12-string.

[Shortfinger]

Originally Posted by hubcapsc

A used D-18...

-Mike

The OP stated a cap at $2,000. Of the many dozen used D-18s on Reverb, only a couple are even near that number, and those are gonna need a trip to the shop.

Look and see for yourself.

[KevinH]

What a great question! I'm assuming you meant knowing what we know now. In that case, I'd buy used.

$500: probably a Yamaha GC
$1000 and $2000: a Taylor 322 or a Martin 00

[RLetson]

Strange exercise, since I've been buying guitars since 1961 or so, when I acquired a used Kay 6100 for (I think) $75 ($696 in 2021 dollars). Six years later, I bought my first really good guitar, a new Guild D-40 that I still have, for $250 ($2076 2021 equivalent).

The strangeness comes from the 76-year-old me (who, like Frank Hudson above, now knows a great deal about guitars) being limited to a $500 budget. On the other hand, entry-level and budget guitars are much, much better than they were in 1961. For example, I now know how good a Seagull can sound, just as I know that you still have to play a bunch to find what me-now would consider a real keeper. (That was true 60 years ago, too, but there was a lot less to choose from then.)

Now I'd just go to my favorite local stores (which include Willie's American Guitars, Fret Central, and the Homestead Pickin' Parlor in the Twin Cities) and try everything in my price range. Interestingly enough, Willie's recently had a restored 1960s Harmony Old Kraftsman that looks a lot like my old Kay--for $499. Also a '75 Artist Award for $6K. . . .

[jseth]

I would go for one of the Breedlove Organic Series or the Alvarez Masterworks models, either a Concerto size or a dreadnought - the new slope-shouldered dread from Alvarez is very, very nice, priced just below a $ Grand.

There are a LOT of really nice guitars being made now for those price points, Wade. Far more than when I was a kid and bought my first "real" guitar, a 1967 Guild D-40. Didn't have the money for a Martin D-18, wasn't willing to wait and save up another $100 or so, so bought that Guild for $267.32 (funny how some numbers just stick in our memories, ain't it!).

Don't know the inflation-conversion factors, but I've got to think that the same amount in today's dollars would be more like $1,000-$1500?

One can get a LOT of guitar for $500-$1000 these days...

[rmoretti49]

Some of you have said that you would skip the under $500 range and wait until you could afford something better. With respect, I disagree. I think it is far more important to get started on an inexpensive guitar than to wait, as long as the inexpensive guitar has good playability. The Yamahas are great candidates, but so is the Farida OT22.