Should I try a First Act guitar?

[Falkner]

I was at Circuit City earlier today for a new hard drive when I saw that they had a few First Act electric guitars by the Guitar Hero display. As with everything there they were on sale for $23. I know First Act is among the the bottom of the bottom line, but at that price it's tempting to get just to mess around with since I've never played guitar before and might be interested in that too. I know it would be horrible quality, but would it be decent enough to get the feel of a guitar? Or would it pretty much just fall apart the moment I started playing?

[Stumbo]

NO. IME, bad intonation make them virtually untuneable/unplayable.

Look around for a used guitar.

[bigbass94]

If you can get it's action set up, then do it.

[Matt Till]

23 dollars? Of course.

First act is a weird company, they make the absolute junkers that completely ruin their name, and then they make some top notch guitars.

[Arsenal_Fierce]

I started on a First Act bass, and once I put real strings on it instead of the stock strings it was actually pretty decent. For that price, it's worth a shot.

[thumpbass1]

Go ahead for 23 bucks. Once you realize how awful and unplayable it's going to be you can use it to learn how to play lapsteel style guitar. Save up 100 bucks and try to snag some used Squier or low end Epiphone that will actually have some playability.

P.S. For the spelling police. Squier is a brand name based on the string company Fender bought, that was named after one Victor Carroll Squier, and has nothing to do with the vocation and position of being a squire in service to a knight.

[Falkner]

Well, I went ahead and bought it earlier today and I'm actually kind of surprised at the quality. Sure, even a Squier would be much better, but for about $20 I don't think it's that bad. Maybe I just got lucky, but the only bad things about it are the plastic tuners that start to go out of tune after 20 minutes and a few uneven frets. What really surprised me was, right out of the box, the intonation and neck were spot on. The sound isn't fantastic, but it'll do until I decide if I want to keep learning guitar.

Granted, I only messed around on it for about an hour, so it still has plenty of time to fall apart on me.

[J.D.B.]

Only if you absolutely cannot afford an actual guitar.
Josh

[invader3k]

It's really hard to learn how to play on an awful instrument. For $23.00, I'm guessing the thing's pickups are going to be cutting in and out in no time.

[afinalfantasy]

Their custom guitars are nice. Everything else, just bad.

[ZonGuy]

My secret fantasy is to buy a Daisy Bass, install Bartolinis and active electronics on it and take it to a club jam session.

[thumpbass1]

Originally Posted by Falkner

Well, I went ahead and bought it earlier today and I'm actually kind of surprised at the quality. Sure, even a Squier would be much better, but for about $20 I don't think it's that bad. Maybe I just got lucky, but the only bad things about it are the plastic tuners that start to go out of tune after 20 minutes and a few uneven frets. What really surprised me was, right out of the box, the intonation and neck were spot on. The sound isn't fantastic, but it'll do until I decide if I want to keep learning guitar.

Granted, I only messed around on it for about an hour, so it still has plenty of time to fall apart on me.

I'm glad it's working out for you. At least your expectations were clearly in order regarding that you knew full well it was going to be what it is quality wise. It sounds like it delivers a bit more for 23 bucks than any of us could have anticipated.

For that kind of low money it's got to deliver at least some bit of fun factor and that's the point. Congrats, and as I said it could always make for a kicking little slide or lapsteel guitar if you keep on playing guitar and get something better down the road.

[Falkner]

Originally Posted by thumpbass1

I'm glad it's working out for you. At least your expectations were clearly in order regarding that you knew full well it was going to be what it is quality wise. It sounds like it delivers a bit more for 23 bucks than any of us could have anticipated.

I asked one of the salespeople there how much they cost before and he said that they were $150. I think that price is quite a rip off since it's plywood and plastic, and I assume I could get a "real" guitar in that price range. If they weren't marked down so much I'd never have thought about getting one, but I'm glad I did now. I might have to take a break from bass and go to the dark side for a bit...

[SelenaBassGirl]

eh...I got a First Act bass amp and it sucks!!