Need help buying a guitar for a 10 year old

stack1

stack1

Senior Stacker
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Our son has an acoustic guitar that a friend gave him. He's done pretty well with it and we'd like to get him something decent to see if it's really something that he's interested in. I've looked at a few beginer packages and wanted to get some input from any players here. Thanks!!

Amazon.com: Silvertone SSL3 Electric Guitar Pack, Vintage Sunburst: Musical Instruments

Amazon.com: Fender Starcaster Pak with Amp, Stand, Cord, Strap, Strings, Tuner, Gigbag, and Picks - Black: Musical Instruments

This is the one I was leaning towards:
Amazon.com: Epiphone Les Paul Special II Player Pack, Ebony: Musical Instruments
 
I got a kit from Ibenez that had a Fender style guitar amp and a DVD with some lessons. It was $150.00 a few years ago. Seems to work pretty well and it doesn't seem super cheap.
 
I found the the Strat style guitars are easier to play since they have a curved fretboard, but I never really cared for the single coil pickups. The Les Paul clones have humbucker pickups that you can get a fatter tone with, but the fretboard is flat. Obviously, either one has been played with great success by lots of the big names. Clapton plays a Strat. Nuff said. What kind of music is your son interested in?
 
Thanks for the replies. Great idea on the curved fretboard. John, he's into Hendrix and Tom Petty, mainly classic rock. But he's into this parody stuff right now like Jack Black (Tenacious D). He's been learning some stuff from an acoustic that a friend gave him.
 
well Hendrix and Petty both use Fender (Strat and Telecaster, respectively) so the Fender could be something he admires a little more. For the most part, however, I have personally experienced that Gibson's generally have better action on the fretboard, meaning the strings are easier to press down, which may be better for a younger guy. Not sure if you've done this yet, but check out some pawn shops if there are any in your area, or ebay for that matter. Those amps, especially, that come in the packages are crap. I know he's just a beginner, but if he's only 10 and is into Hendrix and Petty he will prolly stick with it awhile - so why buy twice? IF, though, you are set on the package, the fact that its Fender vs Gibson in the amp department alone would be enough reason to go with the Strat...
 
There are tons of pawn shops around, but I've generally found that there are no good deals at pawn shops. I'm a Craigslist junkie but I figured one of these guitar packs would be a good way to go since I have no knowledge of guitars. I wouldn't know a good deal if it smacked me in the face. But here's some stuff I found if you don't mind taking a look:

Greg Barrnet Electric Guitar

B.C. Rich Bich

gibson epiphone sg special
 
stack1 said:
There are tons of pawn shops around, but I've generally found that there are no good deals at pawn shops. I'm a Craigslist junkie but I figured one of these guitar packs would be a good way to go since I have no knowledge of guitars. I wouldn't know a good deal if it smacked me in the face. But here's some stuff I found if you don't mind taking a look:

Greg Barrnet Electric Guitar

B.C. Rich Bich

gibson epiphone sg special
Click to expand...

with all the help people have given me over the past 6-8 months, it'd be my pleasure to lend some suggestions...

First off, i will say that my first axe was a BC Rich. i was in 6th grade i think and thought it was cool looking. however, now that i am older and have matured (i guess, lol) i realize it wasnt the smartest decision. the action that i talked about earlier is terrible on them (especially the cheaper ones) and they are very music-specific...by this i mean you can tweak settings all you want and its still gonna have a dark, "muff" type sound geared towards metal and slasher music, due to the humbucking pickups used on them. HOWEVER, like i said, when i was a kid i thought it was cool, which in turn motivated me to want to play it. even though it wasnt the best thing out there for me i loved it and used it because i liked it and wanted to...kinda like our cars - not the best on gas, always have problems, and a $10,000 civic will run 9s in the 1/4 haha.
with that said, of all the guitars posted i would def. go with the SG. as i said before the lower-end Gibson's tend to have better action than lower-end Fender. plus, as stated before as well - humbuckers have a cooler sound. that other thing you found would be a "steer-clear" item for me. stick to name brand-stuff and you wont be let down.
i would suggest you to keep posting stuff you find, and i'll keep checkin this thread. if you dont mind ebay, i'll try and find some stuff and post it for ya. good luck!
 
35 year plus player here so I'll throw some input into the mix. I've found that the Epiphone Les Paul's have very "hot" humbucker pick ups that will lend itself to a harsh distorted sound. That's OK if that's the main sound you want but clean sounds from those pick ups may not be the best. I have one of the Epi LP's and I immediately replaced the pick ups with real Gibson PAF's from a Gibson LP and changed the tuners out to Groovers. Decent guitar now but you can do much better. I'd suggest a Mexican built Fender Stratocaster used off of craigslist or from a pawn shop. Good quality and a good choice. I have one out of my 5 guitars (own 2 strats). I'm also not a fan of Peavey amps and like the true tube amps for a warm tone. Remember- good clean tone from a combo can be hard to find, you can always run an Ibanez tube screamer or another distortion box to dirty up the sound once you have a good warm, clean tone. A local music store to you may have some combo deals too. You may also want to look into the lower line Paul Reed Smiths. This is a great quality instrument and my guitar of choice as I play a higher line model of theirs. Ibanez is also another good affordable choice. If you look to buy a used instrument, look down at the neck (pointing the guitar away from you with your eyes at the pick ups) for straightness and possible cracks (check back too). Pass if either is present. A music shop can also set up a used guitar for string to neck preference and to set intonation. PM me if needed if you like. Good luck! :cool:
 
fender all the way!

such a personal preference, really hard to recommend a guitar, especially to a new player...

whatever you get him, he may want something different once he develops his own style, you know?

just about any of the starter packs will be fine.

i would buy a better quality used guitar before one of the starter packs myself though,

from what you posted from CL, would get him the epi SG.
bc rich, while they look cool, are not a good sounding or well made guitar.
never heard of the other one.


few more in the 200$ range from your local CL:
Epiphone SG / Marshall MG15 Amp

Epiphone Les paul Gibson w/ hardcase

Squier Stratocaster


or take him to guitar center and let him find out what he feels the most comfortable with, then find a deal on CL
 
Thanks for all of the input. My wife and I were talking about getting him an electric guitar a few weeks ago but she was worried that we might get something that seems like a nice piece but turns out to be some crap. I told her not to worry because I'd get tons of help and adivce on TB and you guys have not disappointed!!! Thanks again!!

We've got a few weeks but I'd like to find something in the next week or two. Whatever we end up getting, I just want it to be a nice guitar at a great price. From what I'm seeing so far, it seems like this SG Epiphone SG / Marshall MG15 Amp is the best deal. The amp seems decent? I don't want to cheap out on an amp but we don't need anything huge.

Or maybe this http://columbus.craigslist.org/msg/1470585015.html with this http://columbus.craigslist.org/msg/1487596930.html would be a decent combo? More than I want to spend but hopefully I can knock em down on their prices.
 
either of those last 2 combos you posted seem like they could be winners to me. i'd say that it would be easier to achieve sounds your son will like through that Fender more so than the Marshall. Fender is American...great for both blues like Hendrix and that "twang" like Petty.
 
Another thing i just thought of - how set were you guys on electric? Does your son really want one?, or just something better than the acoustic he has now? I ask this because they make what is called a "hollowbody" electric, which is basically a hybrid. It is much thinner than an acoustic, but is hollow on the inside unlike an electric. Some of them are geared towards jazz or rockabilly (just like any certain guitar can be setup for a specific type of music i.e. BC Rich) but many of them are VERY versatile. I got one for Christmas (it was my third guitar after the BC Rich which i sold for Fender Tom Delonge Strat of BLink-182...they were my fav. band and the music was really fun today). It was an Epiphone Casino. Its one of the higher-end ones retailing around $600 but man was it awesome. From that day, they're all i've used. I sold my strat AND the Casino and bought a Gretsch 6120 Brian Setzer model in Hot Orange color, and has been my main choice of weapon since. Although i have grown out of pop-punk stuff (i still have fun playing Blink though), i not only use it for Rockabilly and Setzer, but also punk like Rancid, all types of classic rock from the Eagles to Petty to ZZ Topp and Lynyrd Skynyrd to the Beatles and Clapton.
One of the other upsides to hollowbodies are that you dont really need an amp, so you wont worry about waking the neighbors. THey just have a very warm, full, sweet sound you cant find anywhere that i am also obviously biased to lol. And i only brought this up because i saw some Epiphone Dot's on your local CL for the $250-$300 range. Good luck!
 
All those look great. I've played for over 20 years. Everything from Fender, Gretsch, BC Rich, Jackson, Carvin, Charvel, and on.. I'd just want to know if the kid is into the "strat look" or the "les paul" look. Who are his guitar heros? He'll want to have an axe that resembles his hero's weapon! The fender has single coil pickups in the bridge and the Gibsons have Humbuckers in the bridge, so That makes a difference in how it will sound. All those look good though, I'd be happy with all of them. The Digitech RP200 Amp Modeling Multi-Effects Processor is an amp simulator. It gives "FX" to the guitar. Like echo on an "overdriven" vintage fender amp, somthing akin to Cream or the Yardbirds on a live cd for example. It's worth it, I found that if you enjoy the sound of the instrument you enjoy learning the songs. Sounds like he's getting something cool for Christmas!
 
The Digitech pedals are pretty cool. It will allow your son to get an even greater variety of sounds from his amp with the push of a button using his foot. If that particular pedal is the one i'm thinking of, it has a handful of preset numbers set to it, which all create a different "effect" such as muff distortion, flange, phase, etc. Eddie VH was notorius for using effects pedals like these, which has a big part to do with why i think he's overrated ( :p ). They can aid in creating some pretty amazing things that just arent possible playing "clean".
 
He doesn't have a particular style or even sound that he prefers. He's still pretty young so my tastes are the biggest influence right now even though we encourage him to listen to what he likes. Even if that means listening to too much Wierd Al. :rolleyes: But we could give him a $50 piece of junk and he'd be extremely excited.
 
Hey! - "Peaches en Regalia" is pretty cool! :cool:

But i understand your point. Just remember that something like a Mexican Strat as mentioned before, as well as a good Epi SG+amp combo will last and still be good enough for him years later, as opposed to the $50 crap that wont.
 
Wierd Al has a most talented band. Just goggle on some of the tunes or look at concert footage. I'd rate their skills as muscians to a very high caliber.

Some of those digital effects processors especially the all in one units sound cheesy to me. I've been through all of that and adhere now to the less is more philosophy now. I use a Danelectro stage tuner, Ibanex TS-9 Tube Screamer modded by Keeley, a Danelectro Dan Echo delay, and a Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus. Pretty much all I need.

Whatever you decide to get him, he will have a most memorable Christmas! One of my fondest memories was the Christmas I got a Lyle electric guitar and Ampeg SV-22 amp! Do stick to name brand on both the axe and amp though. :wink:
 
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