Looking at electric guitars? Fenders, Gibsons or cheap copies? Then telecasters, stratocasters, les pauls, sg or maybe other models? This guide will hopefully help you make your decision.

This guitar guide is mainly for beginners, but it might also help second guitar buyers. Most people go for the models that the bands or artists they like uses. Not a bad idea, because not only you would've grown into the sound, you've hopefully grown into the look too.

I made the mistake of buying a guitar that I thought was hideous. Why did I buy it? Because my friends thought it looked good and everyone seems to have one. Yup, I bought a squire strat. It worked fine for around 6 months, until I decided that I really didn’t like the sound or look of the guitar. I got an ibanez guitar, used that for 3 months and changed the pickups to EMGs. Sounds better, but the quilted top look is wearing out on me. The pickup’s sound isn’t working for me either, it’s like a ‘better’ strat, not exactly what I was looking for.

Less than a month ago, I bought a blonde 1984 telecaster and I couldn’t be happier. Yes, it costed me quite a bit of money, but it sounds great, although the bridge pickup might need a replacement, but I know this one’s a guitar I’ll keep forever. This whole progress costed me around $300 in reselling value loss. Strange thing is that there’s no way that I’d find this jem if I hadn’t gone through those 2 guitars.

Lesson learnt here is that buy a guitar that you like and treat it nicely. Dents can decrease the value of the guitar significantly, even if they’re small. Ebay is a great way to find used guitars. I recommend getting used guitars because obviously, it’s cheaper. Sometimes you’ll find guitars in brand new condition selling for 40% less than store prices or less.

Don’t hesitate to buy guitars off ebay. If you find you don’t like it after a while, you can resell it while losing only a little bit of money. Then keep doing this until you find ‘the guitar’. It may take a while, but don’t give up! Always check their feedbacks first and contact them before making a serious bid or buy to avoid scamming!