What's a good place to buy my first electric guitar in New York City?
January 25, 2019 1:36 PM Subscribe
What's a great shop with great people in New York city that will help me figure out what electric guitar I want to buy?
I'm looking to buy what is essentially my first electric guitar — started with electric when I was young but it never sparked, played acoustic on and off for years, then got rightly obsessed last year and been playing and singing every day ever since. So I know my strummy strum and some finger pickin and such, but I really want an electric now, to try some different things out.
I've been super intimidated by a lot of the places I've walked into, and have yet to have anybody ask if they can help me. This seems pretty standard for instrument stores? I've done Guitar Center, and the ease of just grabbing a guitar and playing around with it is great, but I can only sort of get enough volume and isolation to hear what's going on with the different instruments. And I still feel pretty intimidated by all the shredders around me!
My budget is anything south of $1K, basically. Need an amp, too.
So: any great guitar shops to recommend? I'd love to hear that there's some spot that is beginner-friendly with great staff who will help me try things out and think through things! Or any other general tips would be much appreciated, too.
I'm looking to buy what is essentially my first electric guitar — started with electric when I was young but it never sparked, played acoustic on and off for years, then got rightly obsessed last year and been playing and singing every day ever since. So I know my strummy strum and some finger pickin and such, but I really want an electric now, to try some different things out.
I've been super intimidated by a lot of the places I've walked into, and have yet to have anybody ask if they can help me. This seems pretty standard for instrument stores? I've done Guitar Center, and the ease of just grabbing a guitar and playing around with it is great, but I can only sort of get enough volume and isolation to hear what's going on with the different instruments. And I still feel pretty intimidated by all the shredders around me!
My budget is anything south of $1K, basically. Need an amp, too.
So: any great guitar shops to recommend? I'd love to hear that there's some spot that is beginner-friendly with great staff who will help me try things out and think through things! Or any other general tips would be much appreciated, too.
Play a bunch of them at Guitar Center. You don't need anyone selling you anything — you just need to play a bunch so you can see what feels better, and GC is good for that. They have a bunch of different popular brands, and, quote often, sales people who really aren't that knowledgable who also don't really care. Their apathy is your gain!
And go on a week day if you want to avoid the shredders.
They carry Fenders. In your budget, you'll want to look at the Mexican-made stuff and the Squiers (Fender's entry-level line which are still really good). Fenders are generally longer scale guitars. Stratocasters, telecasters, and jazzmasters have a 25.5" scale (the length of the strings). Stratocasters and Jazzmasters have rounded edges on the body that are really comfortable against your body. Telecasters have more squared edges and are less comfortable, but don't sound like the previous two.
Gibsons are generally out of your price range, but Epiphone is their lower-end line and they great guitars. Gibsons/epiphones are shorter scale guitars (24.75" — not a huge difference =, but it really feels a lot different). Play some Les Pauls. They can be a bit heavy and not super comfortable to play, but sound a lot fatter than most Fenders (which isn't necessarily an advantage. Check out an SG. A similar sound in a thinner body. Check out some hollow bodies (like a Casino) for a totally different sound.
They carry Ibanez, too. Ibanez makes a lot of guitars similar to Fenders, often with more of "heavy metal" look, but they also ones that are similar to Gibsons, and some real nice hollow bodies.
There are minute differences in sound even between different models of the same guitar, but in general (and I do mean in general), I think there are four main electric guitars, and pretty much everything is a copy of those, or is heavily influenced by them. This are (in my book) the Stratocaster, the Telecaster, the Les Paul, and a hollow body, like a Casino. If you play each of those four guitars and twist the knobs and flip the switches, you'll get a good idea of how virtually every other guitar out there feels and sounds (again generally speaking).
So if you decide you love the sound of a Les Paul, but it's not comfortable to play or too heavy, then you can say to the salesperson that you like the sound but want to try something that feels different, and hopefully you'll be pointed to things like the SG, the some of the Ibanezes, or a Fender Jaguar, which is like a Jazzmaster but with a shorter neck and gibson-like pickups.
Are there any guitarists whose sound you particularly like or are influenced by? Play some of those guitars. I certainly wouldn't suggest getting something just because someone famous plays it, but there's nothing wrong getting something because it inspires you.
There are TONS of videos on youtube that will let you hear how various guitars sound, but of course, the player, the microphone, the amp, and effects all affect the sound.
As far as amps go, Fender's Mustang amps are a sweet deal for the money. They have digital models of a bunch of famous Fender amps so you can get a bunch of different sounds.
The short answer to your question: play a bunch of stuff, get advice from people you trust (not salespeople), and get something that feels good and inspires you to play.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:42 PM on January 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
And go on a week day if you want to avoid the shredders.
They carry Fenders. In your budget, you'll want to look at the Mexican-made stuff and the Squiers (Fender's entry-level line which are still really good). Fenders are generally longer scale guitars. Stratocasters, telecasters, and jazzmasters have a 25.5" scale (the length of the strings). Stratocasters and Jazzmasters have rounded edges on the body that are really comfortable against your body. Telecasters have more squared edges and are less comfortable, but don't sound like the previous two.
Gibsons are generally out of your price range, but Epiphone is their lower-end line and they great guitars. Gibsons/epiphones are shorter scale guitars (24.75" — not a huge difference =, but it really feels a lot different). Play some Les Pauls. They can be a bit heavy and not super comfortable to play, but sound a lot fatter than most Fenders (which isn't necessarily an advantage. Check out an SG. A similar sound in a thinner body. Check out some hollow bodies (like a Casino) for a totally different sound.
They carry Ibanez, too. Ibanez makes a lot of guitars similar to Fenders, often with more of "heavy metal" look, but they also ones that are similar to Gibsons, and some real nice hollow bodies.
There are minute differences in sound even between different models of the same guitar, but in general (and I do mean in general), I think there are four main electric guitars, and pretty much everything is a copy of those, or is heavily influenced by them. This are (in my book) the Stratocaster, the Telecaster, the Les Paul, and a hollow body, like a Casino. If you play each of those four guitars and twist the knobs and flip the switches, you'll get a good idea of how virtually every other guitar out there feels and sounds (again generally speaking).
So if you decide you love the sound of a Les Paul, but it's not comfortable to play or too heavy, then you can say to the salesperson that you like the sound but want to try something that feels different, and hopefully you'll be pointed to things like the SG, the some of the Ibanezes, or a Fender Jaguar, which is like a Jazzmaster but with a shorter neck and gibson-like pickups.
Are there any guitarists whose sound you particularly like or are influenced by? Play some of those guitars. I certainly wouldn't suggest getting something just because someone famous plays it, but there's nothing wrong getting something because it inspires you.
There are TONS of videos on youtube that will let you hear how various guitars sound, but of course, the player, the microphone, the amp, and effects all affect the sound.
As far as amps go, Fender's Mustang amps are a sweet deal for the money. They have digital models of a bunch of famous Fender amps so you can get a bunch of different sounds.
The short answer to your question: play a bunch of stuff, get advice from people you trust (not salespeople), and get something that feels good and inspires you to play.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:42 PM on January 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Excellent and useful thoughts all around. Thanks y'all!
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:02 PM on January 26, 2019
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:02 PM on January 26, 2019
Response by poster: I picked up the Fender Mustang GT 40 (which looks to be the new version of the numbered Mustangs?) and am very excited about it. It'll give me a ton of room to just play with sounds and find what I dig, which is just what I need right now. So thank you all for that rec!
Definitely looking into the lower cost Teles, like the 'Classic Vibe', and sniffing around some Les Paul style things, too. I'll hit up a Sam Ash this week and see if what I can get my hands on.
Thanks y'all for clearing my mind on this! I'm feeling very prepared now. I was getting stuck in a YouTube hole of shreddogs and gearheads, thinking that some things matter that probably don't (reminds me of some of those same rabbit holes I would get stuck in when I was getting into digital photography … oy, the allure of Gear!).
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:37 PM on January 27, 2019
Definitely looking into the lower cost Teles, like the 'Classic Vibe', and sniffing around some Les Paul style things, too. I'll hit up a Sam Ash this week and see if what I can get my hands on.
Thanks y'all for clearing my mind on this! I'm feeling very prepared now. I was getting stuck in a YouTube hole of shreddogs and gearheads, thinking that some things matter that probably don't (reminds me of some of those same rabbit holes I would get stuck in when I was getting into digital photography … oy, the allure of Gear!).
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:37 PM on January 27, 2019
Response by poster: Jumping back in here to say that while I haven't pulled the trigger on any guitar yet, the Sam Ash on 34th was a really great experience! Friendly folks, and helpful. Definitely got a bit of a commission vibe that I had to push against (fella kept handing me more expensive guitars and I had to stand my ground), but general vibes were way positive and I'll be returning for sure. Night/day from guitar center. So thanks for that rec spitbull!
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:38 AM on January 30, 2019
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:38 AM on January 30, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
Two of my (favorite) guitars I got from the Guitar Center on 14th St. A Gibson SG for $400 and a $1200 Breedlove acoustic which they sold for $800 because it was a floor model and I had made sad poor 10th grader puppy dog eyes at them for... 4 consecutive visits? Over the course of several months? Something like that. My (single, schoolteacher) mother wasn't entirely thrilled at paying $800, but I was really serious about music, and it was a great deal. A lot has changed since I got those instruments – namely, many years have passed. But I went there more recently when I was shopping for bass amps (aka the one I ultimately got at Rudy's) and they were happy to let me play. No way around the shredders though, aside from bringing headphones to run the amp through... not great. Not to be defeatist, but the guitar shred culture is one of the main reasons that I quit guitar and switched to bass after 10 years of playing :/
Craigslist (particularly in NYC) is not a bad option, if you feel comfortable inspecting an instrument in a starbucks or something. Admittedly a longer shot from what you're looking for, but it is an option. I got a super cheap beater bass for $100 off Craigslist when I was toying with switching to bass but had pissed off all the shops by continuously revisiting them. I don't regret it, I still have it, and it's been nice to have an instrument that I don't have to worry about trashing.
This is a schlep, but I once spent 2 hours on public transit trekking to a shop in NJ – "Guitars 'n Jazz" because they sold Eastman guitars and I had been laughed at for bringing my (dreadnaught acoustic) Breedlove to big band practice. I didn't end up buying one because I hadn't planned for it to take that long and only had 15 minutes to look around, but the guy there was really nice. Maybe because he pitied me for spending so long on the train for nothing. I liked him.
I've heard good things about Matt Umanov guitars, but the one time I tried to go there it was closed. Sidenote: that was also the time that I wore rollerblades out of the house, onto the metro north, through grand central, down 5th ave and around all the side streets to the shop, without anyone saying anything. First and last time that's ever happened to me. As I rollerbladed away sadly, a pigeon pooped on my coat. I decided it wasn't the right place for me and have never been back since then. But it's probably fine.
posted by =d.b= at 5:28 PM on January 25, 2019 [3 favorites]