Purchasing a guitar online

I seem to go through phases where guitars are concerned trying to find one that I truly fall in love with, to do this of course you have to play the instrument, spend time learning every curve of its body and each sweet spot on its neck.

Sometimes you can just tell if a guitar is for you or not after the first few chords or notes and buying can often be a minefield for those who have little or no knowledge of guitars in the first place.

Visiting guitar shops (before the current Corona Virus issue) you could spend hours trying out guitars and testing them to see if they suited your style of playing, felt good in your hands and sound the way you want.

Of course we cannot do that currently but there are still several ways we can be sure we are getting a bargain if we shop online.

1. Shop at reputable dealers such as PMT Online, Sweetwater (if in the USA), Gak or Guitar Guitar, there are quite a few guitar shops that sell quality instruments at reasonable prices, some of these even offer finance options for those eligible.

2. Don't pick the first guitar you see, many times I have looked at an instrument and thought it looked nice only to later find out that there are a lot of issues with that particular make/model this is where number 3 comes in.

3. Do your research, I can spend hours on Google and YouTube looking for reviews of a guitar I have seen before I consider buying, if I cannot find a video of the guitar in question I tend to avoid them but usually there are a number of written or video reviews of good quality guitars.,

4. Not all budget guitars are terrible, these days £120-150 can get you a half decent guitar, Fender Squire's are usually around this price range (give or take) Epiphone do some excellent entry level Les Paul guitars for this sort of price and Thonmann offer a large range of low priced guitars which are being given excellent reviews.

5. Read the specifications, Its all well and good seeing a nice guitar and not reading the description properly then when it arrives it turns out to be a half or three quarter size child's guitar, so check the description thoroughly.

6. Before you buy ask around guitar playing friends or on social media groups what their opinion is of the particular instrument you like the look of, even though what appeals to one may not to another you can often get a good measure of whether an instrument is worth its money or not this way.

7. If you buy second hand be sure to view the instrument before buying, many times I have gone onto Facebook's Marketplace or Ebay and bought a guitar purely on a whim because it was cheap, sometimes this works to my advantage but there have been guitars I have purchased with issues such as fret buzz, bad action or a constant rattle (which I still can't work out where it is coming from).

Other things to look out for with second hand instruments is neck warping, cracks, repairs,test the electrics does it work when plugged into an amplifier?, are there any issues with the tone or volume knobs, the pick ups, toggle switch or tuners?

8. With new instruments especially those guitars with a set neck check for damage from transit,, as soon as your guitar arrives open it up and look at it closely is the binding okay?, are there any dints, scratches or other damage to the guitar?

9. Shop around, you may find the same guitar in a different online shop for a cheaper price

10. Be aware, the problem with buying online is the fact that you can't guarantee you will get what you want, more often than not a cheap guitar is exactly that, but for a beginner it makes more sense to purchase a cheap instrument to learn on in case they don't stick with it.

I have recently purchased a Harley Benton sc_450 GT Les Paul style guitar from Thonmann's guitar shop and when it arrives I may do an unboxing video and article to go with it so watch out for that in the near future.

In the meantime why not check out some of my other articles and if you enjoyed my work please consider clicking that tip button below and showing your appreciation.