HOW TO BUY AN ELECTRIC GUITAR. - Gibson

HOW TO BUY AN ELECTRIC GUITAR.Common sense rules to an informed purchase.

2008 Gibson Guitar Corp.

WE CONGRATULATE YOU FOR BEING A CONSCIENTIOUS CONSUMER. By requesting the Electric Guitar Buyer’sGuide, you’ve shown that you carefully research important purchase decisions.The 15 easy rules you’ll find in the following pages were formulated from interviews with professionalplayers and Gibson luthiers who are recognized authorities on guitarmaking. We covered the subjectsof playability and dependability with players, and materials and manufacturing with the luthiers.Apply the following rules to each guitar or bass you consider, and you’re sure to find lasting satisfactionin the instrument you finally select.

THE BASICSRULE 1RULE 2RULE 3RULE 4Pay for Quality3Verify Warranty and Service3Research the Manufacturer4Consider Appreciation4MATERIALS ARE IMPORTANTRULE 5 Demand Good Tone WoodRULE 6 Insist on Quiet Electronics57MANUFACTURING IS AN ARTRULE 7 Balance Craftsmanship with Production8RULE 8 Evaluate the Neck JointRULE 9 Check Appointments for Functionality910

RULE 10 Pay Attention to DetailsRULE 11 Look for Innovation1011HANDS-ON EXAMINATIONRULE 12RULE 13RULE 14RULE 15Check the Neck11Test for Sustain13Listen for Electronic Noise13Inspect the Finish14OWNER ADJUSTMENTSThe Truss Rod14The Bridge15THE LAST NOTE16

ee-wayToggle E COMPONENTSOF THE SOLIDBODYELECTRIC GUITARFeaturing a 2008 Les Paul StdVolume /Tone ControlsPickupsSingleCutaway12th FretMarker / InlayTruss RodCoverMachineHeadsTuningKeys

geBodyBindingNeckFingerboardFretNutMachineHeadsTHE COMPONENTS OFTHE SEMI-HOLLOWBODYELECTRIC GUITARFeaturing a Gibson ES-335Three-wayToggle SwitchVolume /Tone ControlsPickguardPickupsDoubleCutaway12th FretMarker / InlayTruss RodCoverTuningKeysHeadstock

3THE BASICSRULE 1 PAY FOR QUALITYI’ve known guitarists who wentthrough five or six guitars withina couple of years. They weren’tsatisfied and kept trading up, andby the time they finished, they’dspent enough to own the best.The one point of advice echoedby every professional player weinterviewed was to buy the verybest quality you can afford the firsttime. Playability and dependabilityare measures of quality, and thereare no shortcuts. In the highlycompetitive guitar market, the onlyway to make a guitar less expensiveis to use cheaper materials, cheaperparts and cheaper labor. The resultis a cheap guitar in every sense ofthe word.No matter where you’re playing –onstage, in a studio or at home– you can’t afford to have aninstrument let you down becauseyou compromised on quality. You’llnever regret paying for quality.RULE 2 VERIFY WARRANTYAND SERVICEA good guitar is like a good friend.It should last a lifetime.Ask to see the warranty card orowner’s manual. Expect to find alifetime warranty. That tells youthat the manufacturer has completeconfidence in its instruments.A lifetime warranty on a new guitaris not extraordinary or unusual.Many of the first electric guitarsmade by Gibson in the 1930s arestill going strong and have long

4outlived their original owners. Amanufacturer who only guaranteesworkmanship and materials for fiveor ten years expects problems tooccur after the warranty period.Ask about the manufacturer’sreputation for service and partsavailability. If you have a problemwith your instrument, you will wantit fixed quickly and correctly.RULE 3 RESEARCH THEMANUFACTURERRULE 4 CONSIDER APPRECIATIONWe’re building a lot more guitars,so we have a lot more experience.We know what might cause troublelater on.I think you could buy any ofGibson’s classic models and in afew years, if you wanted to tradeit in, get your money out of it. Youcan’t do that with many things.Experience is the best teacherin guitarmaking. A maker whohasn’t been around long enoughto experiment extensively withmaterials and manufacturingmethods still has mistakes tomake. The simple truth is, a guitarwithout a past may not have muchof a future.Your primary reason for buyinga guitar is to play it, but youwould also like an instrumentwhose trade-in or resale value islikely to increase over time. Fewinstruments will match a 1959sunburst Les Paul Standard,which listed for 250 originallyand brings over 100,000 in

5today’s vintage market, but youcan reasonably expect that a highquality instrument will soon beworth more than you paid for it.In general, the better-appointedguitars are better investments,but there are some noteworthyexceptions, such as the 1958-60sunburst Les Paul Standard or the1958-62 dot-neck ES-335, bothof which bring more on the vintagemarket than the fancier model intheir respective model groups, theLes Paul Custom and ES-355.Even an inexpensive but well-madeguitar such as Gibson’s Les PaulJunior is worth over ten times morethan the original buyer paid for it inthe 1950s.Craftsmanship is important to thefuture value of a guitar. Areas thatrequire special skills, such as thebinding, finishing, handshaping andinlay work, are ever more costly andwill enhance the value of today’sguitars in the future.MATERIALS ARE IMPORTANTRULE 5 DEMAND GOOD TONEWOODEvery guitar begins with a piece ofwood, and if you don’t know whatyou’re doing with wood, you’refinished before you even start.Although the sound of an electricguitar would seem to come entirelyfrom the pickup, the type of woodhas an important influence on toneand sustain. “Tone woods” – woodsthat have high strength andstability – are the best for electric

6guitars as well as acoustic. Forguitar bodies, mahogany and mapleare the most common, althoughash, alder, korina and various exoticwoods are also popular. Differenttype electric guitars require differentwoods and construction methods.Hollowbody archtops, like theearliest electric guitars, are typicallyacoustic instruments to whichpickups have been added. Theseguitars are expected to producesome acoustic sound, and to thatend the more expensive modelshave a solid spruce top and solidmaple back and sides, while theless expensive will have the top,back and sides constructed oflaminated maple.Semi-hollowbody electrics havesome acoustic output, but theyhave a block of wood underneaththe top to dampen the vibrationsthat can cause pickups to feedback. Laminates are often usedto increase rigidity. 150,000 70,000 25,000 20,000 7,500 4,000 265 3501960 1967 1979 1985 1992 1993 1998 2001Actual offers shown for a 1960 Les Paul Standard in good condition, originalhardware, no refinishing and limited flame. Prices are in U.S. dollars.

7Solidbody guitars minimize thevibration of the top/body in orderto maximize sustain and reducefeedback. The strength and densityof the wood still makes a subtledifference in tone. Mahogany isgenerally considered to produce awarmer tone than maple, which isstronger and denser and producesa brighter tone.Laminate is not necessarily a badword in electric guitar construction.If the lamination process isdesigned to strengthen the wood,then a laminate can be strongerthan a single, solid piece. Thebody of a Gibson ES-335 is a goodexample; it’s a three-ply laminatewith the grain of the middle sectionrunning perpendicular to theouter sections for added strength.However, when wood is laminatedor spliced in order to save moneyby using smaller pieces of wood,quality and value fall dramatically.Similarly, when a thin veneer isused for cosmetic purposes insteadof a solid piece of wood, the makeris cutting corners and quality falls.Mahogany and maple are also themost popular choices for a strongneck. Fingerboard woods affect thestrength and stability of the neck,which in turn affect tone. An ebonyfingerboard, for example, makesthe neck more rigid than the softerrosewood fingerboard and results ina sharper, brighter attack.RULE 6 INSIST ON QUIETELECTRONICSIt’s the old saying about a chainbeing only as strong as its weakestlink. Cheap electronics will soundcheap, no matter how good the restof the guitar is.

8Guitar and bass pickups should beshielded from extraneous electronicsources that can cause hummingand buzzing. And they should beencapsulated in wax or epoxy toprevent microphonic feedback.The quietest pickups arehumbuckers, invented at Gibsonby Seth Lover in the 1950s.Humbuckers are double-coilpickups, wired so that they cancelout extraneous noise. They werenamed because they literally “buckthe hum” caused by rheostats(dimmers), fluorescent lightsand other sources of electronicinterference. In the process, theyalso put out a more powerful signalfor a “fatter” tone.MANUFACTURING IS AN ARTSingle-coil pickups have a brightersound than humbuckers but can bemore prone to hum and feedback.All Gibson humbuckers andsingle-coil pickups (except for theBurstBucker, an exact replica of a’50s-style humbucker) are shieldedand dipped in wax.Some jobs are more accuratelydone by a machine, and some canonly be done by hand. I’d put oursemi-production guitars up againstanybody’s handmade guitars forlack of flaws. We don’t allow flaws.RULE 7 BALANCE CRAFTSMANSHIPWITH PRODUCTIONManufacturing processes requiringrepeatable precision, such assawing and routing, are morecost-efficient when performed byautomated machinery. However,

9the elements that set a high qualityinstrument apart from the run-ofthe-mill can only be performed byskilled craftsmen. The final sandingand shaping of the carved top ofa Les Paul or the artistic blendingof colors in a sunburst finish areexamples of craftsmanship thatmachines can’t perform. A “semiproduction” guitar – combiningautomated production and handcraftsmanship – offers the bestvalue and quality.RULE 8 EVALUATE THE NECK JOINTI like a glued-in neck because itkeeps the angle accurate. I’ve seenother players wedge a guitar pickor a matchbook cover in a bolt-onneck joint to try to get the neckangle right.The neck joint should be tightand rigid so that none of the stringvibration is transferred to theneck. If the neck joint is loose,the strings lose vibrational energyto the neck and the guitar losessustain and tone.Many electric guitars and bassesare built with bolt-on necks becausethe process is easier and faster,but a traditional, fitted, glued-inneck is more solid. A Gibson neckis fitted for “pitch” or angle andthen centered side-to-side with theuse of gauges. It is then glued into maintain the neck’s axis to thebody forever. Minor adjustments,to accommodate changes instring gauge or in climate, can beaccomplished with an adjustabletruss rod – a Gibson invention – oran adjustable bridge. (See OwnerAdjustments at the end.)

10RULE 9 CHECK APPOINTMENTSFOR FUNCTIONALITYIt sounds obvious, but it’s surprisinghow many guitars are sold that don’twork right.The nut and headstock should bedesigned so that there is enoughdownward pressure to keep thestring from rattling around in thenut. The same is true for the bridgeand tailpiece. The cutaway andneck heel should not only look goodbut also allow easy reach into theupper areas of the fingerboard.The pickguard should protect thetop from pick damage withoutgetting in the way of the pick. Theelectronic controls should be easilyaccessible and arranged in a logicalway. Adjustable features, such asthe truss rod or the bridge, shouldbe easily adjustable and not requireany degree of disassembly.Traditional designs, such as Gibson’sTune-o-matic bridge, represent morethan tradition. They are still widelyused because they have stood thetest of time.RULE 10 PAY ATTENTION TODETAILSAttention to the smallest details ishow you build value into a guitar.You can hear the difference.You can feel it, too. Sometimesit doesn’t even take that muchmore time to get it exactly right.Another thirty minutes or an hourat a certain point, and it’s a muchbetter guitar.When manufacturers start cuttingcorners to save money, the evidenceis in the details. Cosmetically, theremay be flaws in the wood, sloppy