One purchase I think is definitely worth creating a thread about is choosing acoustic guitars, because you can have your heart set on a certain make and model but it may be that isn't really the best guitar for you. Here's a couple of reasons why:
You've seen an artist you admire playing one, so you want one. OK, we all get that but be careful. For one thing, just because it's the guitar on the video doesn't mean it's the guitar on the recording but also the neck might be slimmer/fatter, the body bigger/smaller than suits you etc.
Right model, wrong guitar. Acoustic guitars are still mostly made of organic materials - wood being the obvious one. So not every guitar of a particular make/model will sound and play the same. If you can, it's best to pick the right guitar for you by playing it.
I'd strongly advise you to take a friend when you try out acoustic guitars. Why? Because they sound the way they're supposed to a few metres away from the sound hole, out front. What you hear as the player is never the full experience.
I hope that helps!
Financial advice.
This might seem like a boring angle but when you've only got so much money to spend, it's really important. The two areas where I'd always appreciate as much informed advice as possible are:
1. New or secondhand? It seems to me that if you buy, say, a good quality used guitar when you're learning to play, not only do you get a better instrument than you could afford new, you'll also get more of your money back if you decide to sell. In fact, your guitar might even be worth more when you sell it.
On the other hand, if you buy a used item, are you buying into trouble? I'm relatively new to recording music and it bothers me somewhat when I see items were once apparently very valuable selling for very little, while other items seem to gather value as they get older.
I don't understand why and I don't understand the pitfalls. To put it in basic terms, when something secondhand is cheap is it because it's worn out, it's been replaced by something much better, or it's just not fashionable at the moment?
2. Allocating budget. When you go to a shop and you want to buy a multitracker, you'll probably find the staff know a lot about multitrackers. Hopefully, they find out what you're hoping to do and give you good advice on the model that will give you best value. That was certainly my experience and I'm happy with the Boss unit I bought.
But when you get started, you start to realise that this apparently self-contained recording unit is by no means everything you need. I'm starting to appreciate we need high quality microphones. Equally, I'm begining to think that the speakers we're using to mix on are not up to the job, so we need proper monitor speakers.
Looking back, I wish someone had looked at the big picture and could have told me how much it was really going to cost, the items I needed immediately, the ones that could maybe wait etc etc.
Please understand, I'm not expecting an answer to this post that gives me all the information I'll ever need! All I'm really saying is that most musicians have questions like this and it would be great of this forum could help to answer them.
