by Nicholas Myers

Created on: January 19, 2007   Last Updated: April 05, 2007

The question of where to buy a good guitar depends exclusively on the guitar buyers needs. One needs to weigh the perks of the various outlets. In other words, you must weigh the convenience of big stores over the service of smaller ones.
First we'll start off with the large retailers. Places like Guitar Center often have a wide selection of instruments to choose from most major manufacturers. Because of the shear bulk in which they buy guitars, they often offer them at much reduced prices. The downside to these places is their lack of personality. Often the sales people are either young kids with only a working knowledge of the guitar and a head full of whatever their managers tell them to say; or they are older, bitter players who think they know much more than you about the guitar. I wish this was a clich, but as most people will tell, it can be seen all to often in many stores all over the country. A lot of the salespeople in these stores are often motivated by the bottom dollar. In my own personal experience, when I was a younger man I myself was taken for a ride. I decided to trade in my beloved cream Guild S-60D for something a little more modern. I was only given a hundred bucks in trade. At the time I didn't know how much these guitars were worth. Stupid me. I decided to try out a Washburn, and not even a very good one. The salesperson took me to the amp room and hooked the guitar up to a huge Vox amp that made the guitar sound wonderful. Needless to say when I got home and plugged into my pawnshop special, I immediately missed my old guitar. Moral of the story: Buyer Beware.

Another option to the big stores is the local music store. Usually privately owned and operated, what they lack in selection the usually make up for in service. Because they usually do not have the funds to have a wide selection and still cover their overhead, you may be surprised to find only a small handful of specific manufacturers. This is of no concern to you, the buyer, if you are not looking for a specific type of guitar. Most of the smaller shops that I have been to offer some wonderful customer service. They, without exception, have all their guitars set-up and they usually will do other work on guitars.
The wide world web offers both these types of stores in a cyberspace version. I urge a little bit of caution. You do not get to talk to anyone about the guitar you are buying (usually) so there is a lack of customer service. Many times the guitars do not arrive set-up, so

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