The importance of trying a guitar before buying one

[kubi]

Just a little story about my girlfriend. She decided that she wanted to play bass (great for me because oh boy is it hard to find a bassist). Anyway we looked through some guitars online and she really liked how the Fender P-basses looked and sounded. she liked the white and she wanted it.

I urged her to go and play a few bases, touch the wood and see how she feels even though she has never played any instrument with stings. She could have the guitar dude play for her and she could hold the guitar and pick a few notes.

yesterday she did that. apparently the dude was extremly nice and set up all the fender basses they had and played them one by one and she held every one of em and (tried) to play them.

in the end, the girl who was fixed on a P-bass come out buying a vintage American musicmaster, a guitar she 1) had no idea about and 2) never would have considered if she hadn't tried.

she told me the wood felt so smooth and the neck was perfect for her and she's very happy right now.

just wanted to share this little story so those of you who want to rush and buy a guitar, think twice and play multiple times!

 

[Fritz]

My understanding has always been that people buy guitars online (w/o trying them first) because they either don't have access to a particular model locally or don't have enough experience to really know what they want outside of looks, price and a few features.

 

[Dilemma]

My first LPC I bought from a guy on an automobile forum, never tried it out. My R7 BB I played in the store on two separate occasions.

My Clapton Strat I chose from three they had hanging on the wall. They all felt very very different to me yet they were all the same except for color. I went home scratching my head at this because there was no logical reason they all shouldn't have felt the same. Probably setup issues I suppose. The one I picked seemed to have a sweeter sounding neck pu also. Again, no logical reason for that either.

 

[acstorfer]

Fender's vintage reissue stuff is just an amazing leap from everything else below that line. What's shocking is the stuff below is pretty fantastic in and of itself!

I hope she loves it!!!!!

Oh, it's never difficult to find a good bassist. The difficulty is finding a good bassist who isn't a dick.

 

[revtime]

Learn to set up a guitar/bass and you can take dogs (get em cheap) and make rock stars out of em.
I have to get hands on too though. Once you get used to what you like and need in an instrument you can make a determination pretty quickly. There are some guitars that I put back on the wall the minute I touch them. And there are others I will sit with brainstorming how I can afford to get it home with me.

 

[murmel]

Cool story and I agree that it makes sense to go out and play as many guitars as possible to get to know your own preferences. On the other hand you need to be aware that you may only get a reflection of your current habits. If your a Strat player you may need more time to become familiar with a Les Paul or vice versa.
Also little things that could easily be changed (old strings, too high or low action) may affect your impression of an instrument more than it should.
Anyway, I have bought some of my best instruments online without trying them, because there was no other way to get them. Especially very limited editions may actually be sold out before they even appear on a dealers website.

 

[Pennyman]

The cynic in me says this little story would have been much more meaningful (and entertaining!) if:


a) GF had gone ahead and ordered the bass, sight-unseen and unplayed;

b) GF received said bass, and hated it; and then,

c) GF went out and found better, cheaper bass.

 

[Tim Plains]

My understanding has always been that people buy guitars online (w/o trying them first) because they either don't have access to a particular model locally or don't have enough experience to really know what they want outside of looks, price and a few features.

Or it's considerably less money compared to what's local.

 

[six-string]

I like reading stories where girls describe how smooth the wood feels...

 

[Dilemma]

I like reading stories where girls describe how smooth the wood feels...

Pig.

 

[335eye]

GF did the right thing, bought by feel. Wife bought me an entry level LP and I didn't know anything about them except the g string sounded like crap on this one so took it back and played lots of'em, ended up adding $ to get the one I got.. It's my R8, found out later what an R8 was, just picked the best feeling sounding guitar in the place.