First Act guitar review
The “First Act” guitars are really cheap, so I am sure a whole bunch of them are sold every day in Walmart and other similar places. So I thought I would research them just a little bit.
The most popular seems to be the “First Act Discovery". And first off, I want to say that I have NOT played this guitar. I have only inspected it at Walmart and researched it on some of the more reputable guitar sites online. What I learned is NOT encouraging…
Basically, the First Act guitars are more toys than musical instruments. You can get them for less than $100… but you would be better served saving up a little longer until you have $200. Then you can get any number of good guitars - some of them with solid tops.
Now I know that we are talking about spending twice as much money - really more than twice as much (you can get that First Act guitar for about $90)… but if you think you are going to play the guitar at all, well you should spend the extra $110.
For that extra money you will get a guitar that will sound a lot better and that will stay in tune. But most importantly, you will get a guitar that is much easier to play. The “action” will be a lot lower - so it will be easier to finger the strings cleanly, and it will hurt your fingers a lot less.
My advice: avoid the First Act guitars, and go get an inexpensive guitar from Same Day Music.
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I have a me501 and a marshall amp. I think your wrong about First Act guitars. Mind sounds great. In fact I am having firstact put in some EMG’s i just got. So If you have not Played the Giutars you don’t have a clue!!!
Comment by Ronald — 4/28/2005 @ 8:03 am
Ronald,
You may well be right… like I mentioned right at the top of my article, I have NOT played any First Act guitars. So they might sound great.
The two things I did was research them on reputable guitar sites on the net and inspect them at Walmart. The other guitar sites did not have nice things to say about the First Act guitars. And the ones I inspected at Walmart (and this was primarily the First Act acoustic guitars) had very high action. That makes playing them a lot more difficult and a lot more painful.
That said, I am glad that you are enjoying your guitar. That is the bottom line… if YOU like the way it sounds, and YOU like playing it, well then you made a great decision buying it and you have a great guitar.
Comment by Jeff — 5/24/2005 @ 9:25 am
Wow, who on earth would write a review for a guitar they have not even played? By no means do I want to bring politics into this, but it’s sort of the same thing as all of those republicans speaking out against that Michael Moore film when it turned out they never saw it.
I have played them before and must say I was really surprised at how nice they played. Even funnier, I went to see Paul Westerberg (Google him if you don’t know who he is) play about a month ago, he was stacked with the nicest vintage Fenders & Gibsons. Halfway through the set he pulls out a First Act and proclaims “I just bought this guitar at WalMart for 140 bucks, it’s the only one I’ll wind up keeping” then proceeded to wail on it for the next 3 songs. It sounded pretty damn good.
Bottom line is, don’t review gear if you haven’t actually played it.
Comment by A.G. — 6/4/2005 @ 9:51 pm
A.G.
That is a fun story about Westerberg… reminds me of something very similar I read in Musician years ago, it was an interview with the Replacements.
Was it an acoustic or an electric that Westerberg was playing?
Jeff
Comment by Jeff — 6/5/2005 @ 1:38 am
I came across this posting because I was Googling to find out more about FirstAct. NOT the WalMart variety, but because they have just opened up a FirstAct Guitar Studio here in Boston, and I couldn’t believe how great the electric guitars are for the price…$450 will buy you a sweet rig, with set neck, alnico humbuckers and class looks and playability, and yes the acoustics are made in China, but I have to say they played very well for a giveaway price of $120. So IMHO, anyone considering something new should check them out, like Westerberg I would trade many of my current guitars in a heartbeat for a FirstAct. Of course, they do have some Custom Shop items at alarming prices…
Comment by Billy G — 6/30/2005 @ 11:47 am
Billy… very cool, thanks for the headsup those nice FirstAct guitars.
Jeff
Comment by Jeff — 7/4/2005 @ 8:01 pm
Okay so last christmas my dad was kind enough to buy me one of these first act guitars (its an electric bass) well it just so happens that today i go to the guitar shop because i thought my tuner was malfunctioning and it turns out that it wasnt my tuner at all my guitar would not respond to a tuner or amp…….the thing is i never acually played it enough for anything to break on it not only that but i dont even know if my warrenty will cover it…….and i have to pay shipping for it to go to the place when its there fault its broke i guess im just not very happy with their deffinition of quallity
Comment by Neesa — 7/7/2005 @ 7:51 pm
Nah, Actually I had one for a couple of years as a practice guitar. I like it, the tone isn’t as bright but it sounds nice overall.
Comment by Tim — 8/18/2005 @ 5:50 am
Funny this is the first site I have found to say anything about the product. The retail giant pages have no reviews and looking at a package is hard to tell how good it is in the store. I did finally find a opened box at Wally-World today and tried it out. WOW! Not the “toy” guitars I used to buy as a kid and this was the mini model for munchkins like my son. I actually think for the $25 I will pay will give him enough to see if he really wants to play a guitar like his mommy.
Comment by Marianne — 11/16/2005 @ 5:19 pm