Hi, I used to play guitar in my college days. Usual mix of Hindi and English songs etc. Planning to start playing again. I'm familiar with basic chords/scales. Looking for a good steel string acoustic guitar under or around INR 5000-7000 MAX. I am looking for a guitar which will be good for playing both rhythm and leads, so would prefer a cutaway as I can reach the higher frets easily. I've read reviews on a couple guitars, but not sure which one to go for. I wont be buying online as the feel and the sound of the guitar matters a lot to me. I'm in Bangalore and there are some good guitar shops in and around Residency Road area that I'm aware of. Will be thankful if you folks could suggest some good guitars/shops etc. Edit:- From the reviews on a musical instrument selling site, Vault VCS40NT, Hertz HZR4002E NA Semi Acoustic Guitar and Hertz HZR3801E BK Semi Acoustic Guitar. I'm really captivated by the Hertz Guitars, but would appreciate if anyone here could suggest either one of the choices I have given above or any other options. Would really love to hear from someone who currently owns one of the guitars mentioned above. Regards, Pritesh Ugrankar
Those brands are the ones that Bajaao sells, so a word of caution... try and avoid buying guitar online, if you can. Try it in a brick-n-mortar shop, and take someone along who plays guitar. Having said that, I read few reviews of Hertz and Vault, and they seem to be okay'ish beginner guitars. No personal experience. I own an entrylevel GB&A (this one: BAJAAO.COM - Buy GC 41"C Acoustic Guitar with Free Gig Bag Online India, Musical Instruments Shopping), and I am reasonably happy with it. I changed the strings to D'Addario EZ900's and it sounds quite fine. However, the guitar has started losing it's tuning, especially after usage of capo and heavy strumming (not very unusual, especially for entry-level guitars). I've had to adjust the truss-rod once. Overall, the sound is crisp and bright, sounds nice (to my ears). There are often lot of used guitars sold on olx and quikr ! Sometimes lightly used, higher-end guitars are available in the new entry-level guitar price range. IMHO, those are anyday better buys, but just need to be careful not to buy a lemon.
And one more thing... for that price range, I'd ditch the built-in preamp/tuner. Mine is without those. I do have a decent quality snap-on type acoustic pickup, but prefer to use a guitar mic where required. As for tuner, Pitchlab or similar Android app will do the job quite well. Essentially, I'd prefer putting the entire budget on getting top-of-the-line acoustic guitar that I can afford minus bells-n-whistles that can be easily added later or have alternatives.
