Learning a musical instrument is becoming one of the most popular pastimes worldwide. One person wants to learn the saxophone and imitate their favorite jazz musicians. Another wants to learn to play lead guitar, and follow in the footsteps of his rock idols. But, before you can actually set about to learning the instrument, you have to purchase one. Although this seems simple enough at the outset, it soon becomes a bit more complex. By far the most annoying issue is the one of price. Though it is a good idea to get a good-quality instrument – for the sake of the article, let’s pick the electric guitar -, the price tag attached to one is rather exorbitant. There are, however, ways around that.

First of all, you can get a used instrument. Now, this does sound a bit like a cop out at first, but the drawbacks have to be weighed against the relevant merits. For example, when it comes to purchasing an electric guitar – or indeed any instrument – buying a used one can give you a good indication of the overall quality of the product.

When you buy from retailers, you are far more likely to only get a generic rundown on the product, with the description only being of the most general details even though you may be able to find sales after christmas or on daily offers websites. When you buy a second-hand instrument, however, you have more of an opportunity to inquire about the specific aspects of that particular instrument. For example, a certain guitar might have been equipped with some non-standard pickups that greatly enhance the tone. That probably wouldn’t be described on a brochure, but it likely would be if the instrument were being resold. Of course, the second hand sellers will try to spice up the description too, so you may need to root through the description for the relevant bits.

Another option is to go straight to the assembly line, so to speak. In the case of the guitar, this would mean going to a luthier and asking him/her to make you a guitar. This option has several advantages. First, you can choose the materials you want put into the guitar. You can choose the woods, the make of pickups or the kind of bridge that you want. Second, this many times ends up being a more cheap option than getting a name-brand guitar. Also, if you want the guitar made towards a specific end – say, you want one made specifically for beginners -, you have much more say in the makeup of the guitar. So, all round, it’s a very good idea.