not content with keeping my musical ability limited to the rhythm section, i want to figure out the whole guitar thing. at some point in the near future i want to pick one up, but i know not from whence to pick. i want a cheap one (preferably sub $200) but i don't want it to be overly craplike either. anyone have any recommendations?

That's a popular-yet-difficult-to-get set of requests. You want an electric, or an acoustic? I'll assume you know the differences, of course. Your money buys you a pretty shitty guitar either way unless you get very lucky.

Accoustics... there's a cheap-ass fender out there that continues to surprise me when I run across them. It doesn't sound very exciting, but it does sound WAY better than $200 should, and the action's pretty decent. It's a something200, I can't remember exactly. But there aren't a ton of them below that price.

Electrics... man. A quick perusal of musicansfriend.com shows a buttload of epiphone and fender bottom feeders that are probably better than most of us guitar snobs would like to admit. Technology in manufactiring has gotten the bodies and necks just a hell of a lot better than they used to be. Pickups are probably still crap, but not That crappy, and can always be changed later. But you'd still need an amp. That's gonna be another few hundred.

$200 is so low that it almost makes it not worth trying to find anything, to be honest. I want a ducati (motorcycle) and I have $3,000, but I wouldn't like a $3000 duc if I found it, you know? Save for another month or two, spend $400 or $500. What's a few hundred bucks? You'll be happier.

If there is ever a man that I would entrust with knowledge of the axe, it would be the Cap'n. You better listen when he speaks.

Dubdubdub.craigslist.org

My "entry level" guitar is this one, but it's over your US$200 mark. Perhaps you can find one used:

[img][113:500]http://www.gibson.com/products/steinberger/images/steinguitar.jpg[/img]

If you go to college, drop out.

If you have children, sell them.

You will then have the money needed to buy something awesome.

You can get a Guitar Center Yamaha for $200, and it would play just fine and sound pretty good.

But if you save, you can get something that's easier to play and progress on.

Prolly the best acoustic I've seen for the money.

The guy wants to buy a guitar, not catch the ghey.

I got my Fender acoustic for about $200 many years ago, and it's not quite crappy enough that I can justify buying something better.

Bring along a friend that knows their shit and scour the used guitar racks and pawn shops.

You should be able to find something pretty good like that.

This is actually good advice. I've found many a good guitar or guitar accessory in the used racks and even at a few pawn shops.

This same story repeats over and over with that guitar. Witness our buddy Carson, ATLiens. Same thing. $200 fender, like 8 years ago, still kickin.

thanks for the advice er'body.

so the general consensus is that i should just save up for something better? i'm shooting for an electric.

For the most part, you can't get anything other than a Squire-equivalent electric for under $200, and you don't want that.

The old (1980's) Squires are pretty damn good guitars, though – if you can find one in good shape. Take it from a guy who still beats the shit out of his 1988 Squire Strat. Them is some good guitars and they built to last.

No, we're saying hit the used sections and pawn shops. And bring someone who knows what they're doing.

Sorry about suggesting an electric -- acoustic is a better starting point.I take it you haven't heard that guitar.

Hooold on there. Yes, Squires from 88 / 89 were great, but that's because Fender had just launched the contract to outsource guitars from Japan, their first overseas mass production excursion. And the guitars that came out of there, which cost fender a fraction of their american versions, actually pissed Fender execs off because of how good they were. The general consensus at the time from fender top brass was "gawdammit how cum they can make a gittar so good fer so cheap. 'Taint fair."

**BUT -- after that, Japan got to make Fender's more upscale reissues ONLY, and "Squire" models began to be made in China, followed by the abyssmal Korean variants. Stay away from those, please. You can tell the japanese versions because they say "made in japan" in tiny print on the headstock, but look just like the americans otherwise (no "squire" on the headstock).

My point is that Todd is correct that the very first ones were steals (my first tele, for example, an '89 squire), but everybody knows it by now, so you probably won't find one in that $200 ballpark that hasn't been the recipient of somebody's learning curve (ie chiseled on, like mine). Later squires are relatively bad. Not awful, but not good neither. I have a Mexi strat from, like, 2001 or so, and it's ok. It was around $319 new from Guitar Center about 4 years ago, and after I threw some decent pickups into it, it sounds good. It doesn't feel as good as my americans, at all. Less sustain, worse tuners, worse action, cheaper fret wire, etc. But it'll do the job, for cheap.

Most cheap electrics (lean towards fenders and epi's if you care about resale - hell just do it because I said so. just kidding) are fairly good these days ABOVE the $200 mark, but they can hit-or-miss. Play them all in the store and be picky. Busty has a strat that's almost exactly like mine - both american, same bridge, and at one time had the exact same pickups, but his is always a little bit sweeter. We both notice it. Turns out his is an alder body and mine is poplar, but would you have known that in the store? Play them all.

Then we can talk about amps!