Since I'm a builder of guitars and a collector of them, I often get asked what's the best guitar for the money. And I never have a good answer for a simple reason - there isn't one. I'd have to ask a lot of questions before I could answer. Are you a professional musician? Beginner? Fair to middling picker? Collector? But I could ask all sorts of questions and still not come up with a decent answer because we all have ideas about what we want . . . or think we want. If I run across a rare person who has no idea what he wants, I can be more useful.
First off, guitars can be expensive, and some of them are very expensive. As a young man, I wanted the best guitar out there - a Martin, Gibson, or maybe even a custom made guitar. I learned to play on an old Gibson Hummingbird, and that set the tone for me and guitars. But I was an older man before I ever got one of them. I finally figured out that the only way I'd ever own quality guitars was to build them myself, and I've built dozens and dozens of them. I've built bass guitars, jumbos, dreadnaughts, parlor, and even ukeleles. I've built electric guitars too, but that's not my favorite, and I've bought lots of guitars. What's my favorite commercial guitar? That's still the Martin guitar. I sure wouldn't turn down a Taylor, Santa Cruz, or Gibson, but I'm a Martin lover first and foremost.
I own about 70 guitars, most of them vintage. I've restored quite a few old guitars, but I don't really enjoy the work. And I've long since overcome my love of expensive guitars. One of the guitars I play most often cost under $500. And my best playing guitar is an Alvarez Yari, a DY-77 that's over 30 years old now. I bought a Parker guitar a few years ago, and I like it very well. Not cheap, though. Mostly, I play guitars I built myself, and that's because I made them to suit various purposes. I've got jazz guitars, big box dreadnaught blue grass guitars, little parlor guitars, and my favorite size, the OO size guitar.
OK, here's my suggestion. If you're an accomplished guitarist, bite the bullet and get a good guitar. All the big names like Taylor, Martin, Santa Cruz, and Gibson produce fine guitars, and there's other companies out there doing the same. If you've got big bucks to spend, go to a custom guitar builder and buy one, but if you've got only a moderate budget to deal with, try Alvarez. A top rung Alvarez will set you back well over a thousand dollars, maybe even two grand, but they're good guitars. And don't be afraid of the Asian guitars from Korea or China. I've got several Chinese made guitars that are pretty nice. Spend some time in guitar shops playing various models, even if you don't know much about them. Ask lots of questions.
One last note. My granddaughter wanted a guitar for Christmas some years back, so I went online
and bought a cheap guitar for her. Paid like $150 for it, then was amazed at how good it was. It was cheap, not a great player by any means, but it was decent. And just as I suspected, she lost interest before long. Don't be afraid to start at the bottom end, especially with a beginner.
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