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Technology has fundamentally changed both how guitars are manufactured and how they are sold. CNC machines are robotically milling out perfect necks and bodies that are assembled rapidly with a high degree of precision.
What this means for the consumer is that when you are looking at a guitar under $1000 they are all made the same way. What you arguably get at a higher price point is better quality control at the end of the process.
An additional expectation is that the fret dressing will be better on a higher priced guitar. The fretwork is the most expensive manual labor when manufacturing a guitar. Naturally, fretwork is the first place the manufacturer cuts cost.
Recently I've found you cannot count on either of these assumptions. I've paid $500 for an Ibanez guitar and it arrived with frets coming out of the fretboard and terrible fret dressing. Completely unplayable after a setup. And I've paid $150 for an off-brand guitar from Thomann Music and it was dressed immaculately with all the frets dead level. Big brands do not always mean higher quality.
Why is that?
Because in house quality control is more expensive than unloading the responsibility of quality control onto the consumer. It may not be right but more and more companies are doing it.
Additionally, a lot of the extra money you pay for a big brand goes to middle men, not toward quality.
High end guitars like American Fenders are a different beast. They are proudly crafted with a great deal of manual labor and attention to detail. They will be perfect. Guitars like this are wonderful out of the box, expensive, and not at all the subject of this post.
Lack of quality control is not bad. Just don't pay for it. Recognize that when you buy a Fender Squire, Epiphone, Ibanez, etc you are paying primarily for the branding. There is a good chance that even these guitars will have quality issues that you will need to address.
In today's world you have an excellent opportunity to buy an off-brand guitar manufactured to high standards and invest some sweat equity. You can install the tuning machines that you want. You can spot level and dress the frets yourself. Do your own setup.
Unlike 20 years ago you can invest a very small amount of money (and a good deal of time) and walk away with an instrument that plays like a dream.
I begin by purchasing something that I like online. I pay attention less to branding and more to the woods that were used, the type of fret wire, and the nut material. When it arrives I leave it in the box for 24 hours so that it can slowly adjust to the temperature and humidity in my environment.
After unpacking the guitar I begin with a visual inspection to make sure there are no cracks. I sight down the length of the fretboard in bright light paying attention to both the wave of the fretboard and the shadow the strings cast on the surface of the fretboard. The shadow of the strings should be straight.
Next, I will hold the guitar in my lap head upwards and fret the low e at the top fret with my left hand. Using my pinky on the right hand I fret the same string where the neck meets the body and I use my index finger on the right hand to tap the string down on the tenth fret and see how much space is there. This is an easy way to check neck relief. However, I do the same with the high e and I can tell if the neck is warped if there is more play under one string than the other.
Seldom will a neck have identical relief under both the e strings. However, if there is far more relief under the high e than the low e it will never set up and play correctly. Put it back in the box and mail it back to the seller telling them that the neck is irreparably warped.
If there is too much or too little neck relief I will do a truss rod adjustment and allow the guitar to sit for 24 hours.
Once I determine that the neck is straight and has proper relief I move on to checking the fretwork. Primarily I use a fret rocker to check for any really high frets. If I find a really high fret my main concern is how that fret is seated in the fretboard. I will use a piece typing paper under the side edges of the fret to see if there is a large amount of space. If there is I will send the guitar back to the seller telling them that the frets are not seated.
You can have a small amount of space under the center of the fret and it is not a big deal. It just means that the radius of the fret wire did not entirely match the radius of the fretboard when the fret was pressed in. But having the side of frets coming out of the fretboard is no good. You have to determine for yourself if you can tap them back in with a fret hammer.
Once these broad checks are completed I know that I have a keeper. I will move on to setting up my new guitar resting well in the knowledge that I saved myself hundreds of dollars.
Having rough frets and sharp fret ends are not a concern for me. I can fix those issues. If there are a couple of high frets that are otherwise well seated I will spot level them and move on.
I do not expect any of the hardware to be good on a cheap guitar. It is not a reason to return the guitar.
If tuners are bad I replace them. This costs me between $30 and $50. No big deal.
A bridge is available for between $20 and $30.
Similarly, I expect dead frets and buzzing. I level, dress, and polish the frets myself. So I am not afraid of getting a guitar with rough fretwork and pocketing that savings. This is the main problem with inexpensive guitars and it is easily overcome. With a couple of hours work I can have the strings 1.5mm above the 12th fret. No buzzing and no dead frets.
For anyone with any budget there is a great guitar out there. Do not be afraid to pick up some basic tools and educate yourself. There are many guitars out there below $200 with excellent bones. Go find yours.