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Guitar buying guides

Short, practical, and written player-to-player — what a first guitar should actually cost, what the shop will really pay for yours, when a setup fixes everything, and how the used-wall hunt works. Read up, then use the best-of rankings or browse by state to pick your shops.

The first guitar buying guide

There is no wrong first guitar — acoustic vs electric honestly answered, the $150–300 sweet spot, the $99 trap, kid sizes, and why a shop setup beats a box from Amazon.

Selling your guitar, explained honestly

How shop quotes work: 50–60% of resale in cash, ~70% in trade credit, consignment splits of 70/30 to 80/20, what raises an offer, and when selling private wins.

Guitar setup cost, decoded

What a setup actually is — action, relief, intonation, nut work — the typical $50–100 price, when you need one, and fret-work tiers from $100 levels to $200–500 refrets.

Buying vintage, without getting burned

What drives vintage value (era, originality, players), the fakes and hidden-repair problem, why reputable dealers earn their premium, and the destination-shop pilgrimage culture.

Guitar lessons, honestly

Private lessons at $25–40 a half hour, online vs in-person compared fairly, kids ready around 6–7 (ukulele earlier), and the truth about the squeaky first 3–6 months.

Guitar brands: the family tree

Fender/Squier, Gibson/Epiphone, Martin vs Taylor, PRS the modern third way, the metal brands, and what "made in" tiers honestly mean (budget guitars have never been better).

The used gear shopping guide

Why used is the best value in guitars, the five-minute in-store inspection (neck sight, frets, crackle test, truss rod), used-wall hunt culture, and GC used vs indie shops.

City shopping guides

Start with the directory

Every guide here links back to the listings, because the guide only gets you halfway — the shop is the decision. Browse stores that buy and trade used gear, shops with lesson programs, vintage specialists, every location of the big chains, who deals which brands, instrument and service categories from acoustics to pro audio, or the guitar statistics page if you like numbers.