Buying a guitar is a lot like buying a suit. We all want the perfect instrument to give us that perfect sound that plays perfectly. But, to have something that fits you so perfectly is going to cost you a dime or two. Or three…thousand.

You go to your local music shop and see all your favorite brands and models endorsed by your favorite musicians. Naturally, being a Steve Vai fan, you pick up that $1,500 Jem off the shelf, plug it into the sexiest amp in the shop, and convince yourself that this is the guitar.

You buy it, and if you’re married, have some explaining to do. If you’re not, you’re still out a lot of money! (unless you’re much wealthier than the average musician).

If there’s something I’ve learned working in corporate America it’s that there’s a lot of people who get paid way too much who don’t know what they’re doing (myself included) and that a suit off the clearance rack can fit just as good, if not better, than the new model.

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A Trip to the Tailor

I am 6’4” and 175lbs. There is no such thing as a suit off the rack that fits my lanky frame perfectly. In fact, even if you are “average” sized, suits are not made perfectly for you either. They are made to be as close to fitting the largest group of the population as possible.

Nobody has a perfectly average frame.

What I found is getting a suit off the clearance rack that is “close enough” and bringing it to a tailor will 100% of the time fit me way better than spending my entire budget on a designer getup – and it costs me not even half the price!

$500 suit versus $150 suit and a $100 trip to the tailor to make it fit right? I’ll take the latter.

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The Guitar Tailor?

Perhaps you see where I’m going with this but just in case, I HIGHLY advocate taking your guitar to your local luthier.

If you like the sound of a certain guitarist, a quick google will tell what sort of hardware is that guitar is. Many times you can grab the model and have a luthier work it to your specifications.

Around my area, a basic setup is $60 which usually gets me 80% of the way there. I have a Suzuki SLS-50 (a very cheap version of a Gibson Les Paul) that I had professionally set up that plays much better than it’s counter part.

Don’t get me wrong, the expensive flashy guitars can get set up real nice, too. But if you’re tight on cash, you’d be surprised how a good tech can make your guitar feel like it was just for you!

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I hoped this help!

Also, don’t forget to give me a follow on IG u/red_magick_music and TikTok u/red.magick.music. Every like and follow helps me reach more people and I also like to be around passionate musicians such as yourself!

With that said, keep rocking and I’ll talk to you next time!