Is it possible to make a less expensive guitar sound and play better? If so, what do you recommend doing? \u2014Carmen Shaw<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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Check out more articles from our Ask The Expert series her<\/em>e<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Most inexpensive instruments on the market these days are fairly well-made, especially compared to the budget guitars of yore. Many of the weaknesses of those older bargain guitars\u2014 rough, poorly installed frets; soft plastic nuts and saddles; ineffective truss rods and sloppy tuning machines\u2014have been addressed in the modern production process. I\u2019ve played quite a few cheap guitars recently that had admirably level, well-dressed frets, decent tuners, and very good truss rods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, nearly any brand-new factory guitar can benefit from a careful setup by an attentive luthier. Every player is different, and no single setup can accommodate everyone\u2019s preferences. Furthermore, the retail environment is not kind to instruments, and it\u2019s pretty common to see guitars on the showroom floor that are badly in need of some routine adjustment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A skilled setup tech can make a few basic adjustments that will make a world of difference in playability. The big three are the truss rod, nut slots, and saddle; by dialing in these three variables, nearly any guitar can be set up to suit the player\u2019s preference. Ten minutes of work on the nut alone can make a tremendous difference in playability and feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The exception is the occasional case where the guitar\u2019s neck angle is not correctly set\u2014I have seen this on brand-new guitars whose prices varied widely, from $500 to almost $3,000! When buying an acoustic, I suggest checking the neck angle with this very simple rule of thumb: sight down the neck from the headpiece towards the body. The plane of the frets should line up nicely with the top of the bridge (not the saddle, but the wooden bridge itself). You can also check this by laying a ruler or other straightedge on the frets themselves, and seeing if the end lands nicely on, or very close to, the top of the bridge. If the guitar doesn\u2019t pass this test, then it may need more extensive work in order to play correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, onto the bigger question: Can an inexpensive instrument be made to sound better? This is a tough one, and it depends quite a bit on what improvements the player is hoping for. There are hundreds of products on the market designed to improve your tone: exotic bridge pins, high-tech composite nuts and saddles, assorted string alloys, soundhole inserts, and more. The first step is to identify which part of your tone you\u2019d like to change, and then try to find the best route towards that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nut and saddle are traditionally made of bone\u2014an organic material that can be brittle to machine, and can vary from piece to piece. Modern factory instruments frequently use composite materials to simplify manufacturing and improve consistency. However, many players feel strongly that replacing the composite parts with bone enhances the sound of the guitar, and my experience confirms that\u2014I usually hear an improvement with a bone saddle installed. This is a simple and fairly inexpensive job, and is frequently already part of the basic setup that most new guitars will need, so it\u2019s a nice easy place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not much can be done to dramatically increase the volume of an acoustic instrument, or its basic character\u2014a dreadnought, for instance, will always sound more or less as expected. Some products, such as D\u2019Addario\u2019s O-Port<\/a>, play with the main resonant frequency by altering the behavior of the air that passes in and out of the soundhole. The result will be a modest change to the frequency response, which may or may not be what you are after. This effect is similar to changing the EQ on a voice recording\u2014the tone will change, but the speaker\u2019s identity will still be recognizable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The topic of bridge pins was covered in a prior column, but I\u2019ll touch on it again just to say that, in most cases, the subtlety of the differences they make is not likely to be noticeable on less-expensive factory instruments. As with many of the aftermarket tone-improving devices, the effects are always more evident on instruments with light, responsive tops, and most factory instruments are not built lightly enough to make the most of these improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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