How to check a guitar before buying- Don't make the mistake of not knowing what to look for.

I felt pressured by the salesman to buy a guitar. I didn’t know what to look for. So I bought a guitar that is very uncomfortable to play, cuts my fingers even after 3 years of playing, doesn’t sound good to me and doesn’t work well with me either. I knew it the moment I got home. A mix of indecisiveness and shyness got in my way. I found that if you don’t connect with the guitar, it slows your progress. It has to feel good to play, something that I didn’t take in the consideration. You have to feel the guitar with your heart, otherwise playing it will feel like a chore. Don’t make the same mistake please.

Also check for loose frets. Run your fingers up and down the side of the neck. Any sharp/jagged edges denote a loose fret. This is more common on used instruments.

SUMMARY 1. Look at the joints/seams, where the guitar sections meet. Make sure there are no gaps between them, or any sort of movement. Do the same along the table of the guitar, in the part where it comes in contact with the neck. Give it a bit of a movement to check how solid the neck is, and how firmly attached it is to the body of the guitar. Check the seams around the bridge of the guitar, and the same for the headstock. 2. Tap the table of the guitar with the side of the thumb, to check for any rattling or buzzing. If there is any, it might mean one of the struts is loose inside the instrument. 3. Check the back of the guitar for any irregularities in the seams. Also check inside the guitar (up and down). 4. Wind the machine heads down and then up, to check how smooth they are. 5. Check the action of the guitar (the height of the strings off the neck of the instrument). See if there is clear air between every single fret of the guitar. If there isn’t (usually on the first fret), you will get “fret buzz”. Check if all the frets are in the right place: sometimes, some of the frets may be higher than the others. To check for fret buzz, play along all the frets and strings of the guitar. 6. You can check the strings, but there’s no need to worry too much about them since they’re easily replaceable. The structure of the instrument is more important. Thank you for the tips, they're quite helpful!

Another tip is to never walk into a guitar shop with intention of buying. This will make you more likely to buy a bad guitar, or a guitar you will regret buying.

Thanks Ewan McGregor

Some problems like a high fret are easily fixed but could be a useful tool for negotiating a better price.

I'm going to shop for my first acoustic and wasn't really sure what I should look for when trying them out. This will help me a lot. Thank you very much!

good video! Something that might be worth mentioning is: 1) intonation - if you tune the open string, are the fretted notes in tune? 2) neck - is the neck straight? convex or concave? I'm no expert, i just know these 2 points are somewhat important for an electric guitar (which can be more easily adjusted, so i imagine they are even more important on a classical guitar)

So useful. Ive always regretted the acoustic I bought because I didnt really know how to check. It just looked good. A few years later I’m realising that it wasnt the best value for my money

The most important thing he missed was the neck where it provides tension between the neck and the body. Most guitars breaking down right at that place. The woodcut is also weak at that location too. If you see a tiny tiny hair line you should not buy it because it will develop into a big crack later when you play and tension pull it

Bought my guitar 2 years ago, without checking it and stuff. Never saw this video, so now I'm confused is it good or not. I never once realized that there could be many factors of checking if a guitar is right or bad.

Bought my first guitar, wiped it clean then watched this video and got some tips, examined mine closely because I know nothing about guitar and found two of the heads were loosing their screws in the back and tightened it. I already knew that one of my strings was loose from trying play it because the sound was horrendous, I learned to tighten from this video as well. It sound is decent, I guess I didn’t know what I was buy, but it was cheap and good enough for my first guitar.

Thank you! This was exactly what I needed to know because I'm going to go look at some guitars tomorrow. I was nervous about not knowing exactly what to look for and paying a lot of money for a guitar that could potentially not be good quality so thank you very much.

Thanks for the video man i have agreed to look at a 12 string tomorrow (privately) and not sure if I'm interested anymore so a good check list will let me decide for sure Also a good tip id add, don't take money when you go to look at a guitar You can always come back after if you like it, just stops impulse buys

Agree on all points and definitely check the neck for bows and twists (mostly a used guitar issue). That can be a sign of a big problem and an expensive repair. A warped neck gets an automatic no from me.

good point. I also learned yesterday talking to one of factory tech to look at the fret from the headstock and make sure it lined up to the saddle.

Thanks a lot! ❤ the classical guitar you showed looks pretty attractive :). And wish there were more videos on how to check a guitar when you don't know how to play a guitar and no friends to ask to help (e.g. if buying from craiglist the 1st guitar, it can be hard to juggle time & availability).

my moms buying me guitar as a birthday gift😪 and she told me I'm the one to choose the guitar❣️ I'm watching this so i would have a knowledge about it

Here's something you may have forgotten to mention. If you're getting fret buzz or having tuning problems. The way the nut, between the fret board and the headstock, may not have the string slots properly cut. It affects the height of the strings on the fret board as well as keeping the strings from moving freely when you're trying to tune the guitar.

thank you for advices. will be going to the shop and talking like a professional guitarist now