Guitar from the market
The beginning of the adventure with playing the guitar is first of all a sensible choice of the first instrument. It is known that no one wants to invest too much to start with. The modern market tempts with very cheap guitars. Offers can be found everywhere. Online price comparisons help us find the cheapest possible solutions. There are many companies that sell online without actually having showrooms. It is a lot, cheap, but is the quality of these products worthy of attention? The “mass” in the form of cheap guitars can also be found (horror of horrors !!!) in popular grocery chains. These inelegant, not to say indecent, practices appear mainly in the pre-Christmas period and before the beginning of the school year. Why inelegant? I invite you to read!
1. Very cheap = very bad
As with every rule, there will also be exceptions to this one, although I would not expect too much from a guitar for less than PLN 200. Such instruments can be found in the above-mentioned food discount stores. Unknown origin, cheap materials, sub-standard workmanship. The frets hurt your hands a bit, glue sticks out here and there, the tuning of the instrument is almost a miracle, but… it’s cheap! I understand very well parents who want to pay as little as possible because “it is not known whether this is not a fiery enthusiasm and in 2 months the guitar will not go into the corner”. If you buy the cheapest guitar-like product, I guarantee that it will go to the corner not in 2 months, but in 2 days.
2. Climate, culture, terms of sale
Somewhere between the alley with potatoes, a basket with gray tracksuits and a hammer drill, there is a cardboard box with the word “classical guitar” on it. I’m not sure it’s encouraging. Isn’t it better to go to a place specially created for this purpose, be able to compare and consult with a specialist and finally choose the perfect guitar for yourself? After all, we buy a new laptop in a “computer”, a car in the showroom, why would it be different with a musical instrument? The guitar, even the cheapest one, should be kept in proper conditions, properly transported and maintained. The display and atmosphere are also part of a successful shopping experience. Another thing is that a self-respecting record store sells INSTRUMENTS. More or less professional, but still instruments, not something that only looks like them.
3. Service, consultation, exchange
Even if we decide to buy through an online store (but one that does exist), it is still a store with professional service, technical facilities and service. If something unpredictable happens, you can consult the seller, advise, service. When buying in a grocery store, we are left alone with the problem. Maybe they will replace them with new ones, but are they actually better? As I wrote above – in this type of place guitars appear seasonally, nobody cares about it later, you just have to get rid of the delivery.
4. Take care of the environment
Unfortunately, when buying the cheapest, we can almost be sure that the life cycle of such a product will be very short. It is no longer the case that it will break down after the warranty expires, although it probably will. What if we find that playing the guitar is not it, or vice versa, we get hooked and want to buy something from a higher price point? We will sell an inexpensive but decent instrument without any problems and let it live on. The market “no-name” will probably not find a buyer and will be left in the garbage can somewhere. The same applies to warranty topics – no one will try to repair at the grocery store, they will replace the defective product with a new one, and the old one will end up in the garbage.
Finally, let’s come back to the issue of prices. If you decide to buy a guitar at a music store, you will probably pay more. however, we are sure that we are buying the instrument. No self-respecting shop or producer wants to risk losing customers by selling something of very poor quality. It is not the only source of income for supermarkets. Sometimes it is worth paying an extra PLN 50, 70, 100 more and saving time and nerves.
