Looking for first guitar

[dazza]

Stumbled across this site by accident, played guitar badly 20 years ago and have decided to have another crack. Im after some recommendations on a build, something with a very low action which is not to hard on the fingers as I have arthritis. Love the look of the Firebird, Flying V and the Mosrite. Any help would be much appreciated.

[wazkelly]

Hi Dazza, welcome to the forum.

Depending upon your woodworking skills and/or bravery may dictate which is best for a first guitar. What I am hinting at is that a set neck and a hollow body may be a bit of challenge first up and would suggest something with a bolt on neck and relatively simple wiring. The Mosrite would be the easiest of the 3 you mentioned and Firebird the hardest.

Deadset easiest is a Tele as the control plate is already pre wired and you just have to connect the pickups but some have the bridge pickup rout a fraction too far south towards the end of the guitar thus requiring it to be sanded out to get the bridge and PUP in the right place.

Most things can be set up with a low action so take your time browsing the kits in the shop and you will find one that strikes a chord (pun intended) and end up buying that one.

By the way, these kits are like Pringles, you can't stop at one.

[Simon Barden]

Hi, Dazza and welcome.

Any guitar can have a low action, though it will probably require some work on the frets to get a really low action. But unless the necks have been through a full set-up process at the factory (like Gibson now do with their automated Plek sysytem), any guitar really needs a proper set up before it will be at its best. You can do this yourself with the proper tools, though it would be cheaper for a one-off build to have the frets levelled and re-profiled by a decent luthier. Or if you have no decent local luthier, you might be able to ask PitBull to do this for you before they send the kit out.

One thing you might want to consider as well as the action, is the fingerboard radius. Having a friend with arthritic fingers, I know he struggles with flatter fingerboards and prefers smaller radius boards. It would be worth visiting a guitar store and trying out some different guitars to see if you can live with a 12" radius or you prefer a more modern Fender radius of 9.5" or the vintage Fender radius of 7.25". It's certainly easier playing chords on a smaller radius neck, though the downside is that the action normally has to be a bit higher to avoid string choking when bending strings on the upper frets. This may not be a problem for you if you don't plan to be a fretboard wonder, but be more like Guitar George who knows all the chords, play strictly rhythm and don't want to make it cry or sing.

The PitBull kit necks have a Gibson-like 12" radius and I'm not sure if they can offer any other radius. It's not listed on their custom options list, though an email to Adam would sort that out.

I'd suggest picking a bolt-on neck guitar for your first build as it's a lot simpler, both in the build and the guitar finish. Style is your choice. A Flying V is awkward to play sitting down, and whilst you can stick a wing between your leg to anchor it, it's not a good long-term posture. A Firebird (or the similar shaped Explorer) is easier to play when seated, though always needs to be used in conjunction with a suitable stand, as the slanted rear means that it falls over if you try to rest it in an upright position leaning against something.

An idea of the type of music you like to play would be useful, as some guitars lend themselves to certain music genres better than others - especially in the type of pickups selected - single coil or humbuckers.

[Dedman]

I was in exactly your position earlier this year Dazza, Wazza is correct the tele is a easy kit to build and everyone loves a Tele, so many options to choose from in style and pick up types. Building the a tele gave me the confidence to ........go nuts but I really love playing my LP Jnr. I can defiantly say spending the few bucks on having DingoBass set your neck up with a bone nut and fret levelling is money well spent, especially on a first build and you are still on the learning curve. (the neck set up is listed in the options on the store Extras/Services). But most importantly...have fun!

[dazza]

Thank you for taking the time, I will definetly take all the above info on board. I mostly listen to loud and heavy music but say that blues and pop can be found also in my collection. Thanks Deadman for that advice I will look into having the neck set for me. I just had a look online regarding first guitars for beginners, I consider myself that as I havnt played in a very long time. SG was mentioned often as was LP standard, would a Jazzmaster be ok also? Ive crossed out the firebird and flying v.

[Dedman]

The wiring is a little more complex on the Les Pauls and SG's. The fender styles tend to have most of it doen at the factory and preassembled (Strats and tele's) If you have done any soldering in the past you wouldn't have a problem.
The neck work I was referring to to is the fret dressing and levelling and installation of a bone nut, you still have to attach it to the body. ( Easy on a bolt on neck )

[Simon Barden]

Is weight an issue for you? An SG is a lot lighter than a Les Paul style (they can be half the weight of some Les Pauls). Is neck scale length going to be an issue? The Gibson 24.75" scale means less string tension for a given string diameter than a Fender 25.5" scale. Slightly less far to stretch between frets as well on a Gibson scale,. Which is why people tend to string Gibsons with a set of 0.010"s and Fenders with 0.009"s, as you end up eith a similar overall string tension. Though of course you could string a Gibson scale length with .009"s (I did until recently) or even lighter (a la Billy Gibbons who's supposed to use 0.007"s).

Pit Bull don't do a Jazzmaster per se, but a version of a 'Jagstang' which gives a versatile HSS configuration, so good for a wide variety of sounds. It's also slightly easier to assemble in that you don't have to do any work on the headstock, unlike their ST and TL kits, which require shaping. It's also got most of the electrics pre-wired, so there's minimal soldering required.