I'm going to start a new feature that'll be exclusive to this blog. It'll be called the “Aftermarket Report.”
I've said in past reviews (and others have said the same thing) that you often have to play with an instrument for a while to get a real idea of what it's like. There are instruments that reviewers get an impression of when they play it for, I don't know, maybe a couple hours or for a bit at a Guitar Center and then that's the review. That’s not an invalid approach if the player/reviewer is knowledgeable or at least fair but I’ve read or heard reviews that said more about the player, his taste or snob level.
In the case of commercial publications and Internet sites, you’ll sometimes (or often) get a review that's kind of tailored to, what’s a good way to say it, to look honest but to please or not offend the advertisers (or potential ones). In my opinion, that type of commercial review is pretty easy to spot. The guitar always has a great side and the main objections tend to be very small points like being the wrong color, you might not like the switch location, etc., things that are frankly quite small.
You won’t hear stuff like; the parts on this guitar is going have to be replaced as the switches are incredibly cheap and look like they’ll break in a month, the amount of set up work is going to be way too much hassle or that there are much better guitars in that price range (an actual head-to-head comparison).
To be fair; reviews that are curt dismissals, have disrespectful language, or feature a guitar being judged by a very black-and-white standard should be considered potentially unfair. Being negative or critical isn’t necessarily a sign of honesty.
One way to get a better picture of an instrument is to check out as many YouTube videos as possible and definitely the operating phrase is “as many as possible.” That’s to offset reviews by Youtubers who’ve been paid to put on a nice infomercial, particularly for a cheap “internet brand,” or in order to get views, to slam or over praise a guitar.
The main point being is if you watch several videos on a guitar or whatever, you can get a pretty good idea of what it sounds like, or maybe more to the point, how it’ll sound when you play it. You may not get any real insight on certain technical aspects like how much set up is really needed, but the most important thing is that a variety of videos can give you a more accurate picture.
In fact, in my opinion, the best range of videos is to view some beginners, mids to advanced players so you can hear the whole range of what the guitar is gonna sound like. So what I’m going to do is on guitars that I’ve reviewed or owned in the past and had later experiences with them, to add a loose, casual evaluation or reevaluation of a particular model that has developed over time (as opposed to the first impression).
I think other guitar players have experienced this; some guitars that struck you as being only pretty good or mediocre that turned out to be pretty nice guitars in the long run when you got used to them or was able to get past some preconceptions. Also, guitars that were praised but turned out to be maybe a little more trouble than they’re worth or have quirks that really need to be identified upfront so that people who are looking to buy the particular guitar can make a good evaluation of the instrument.
On this series of reviews, which will be put up at somewhat regular intervals, I’ll have a short paragraph maybe to identify what I’ve been talking about here so that people will know what the review is all about along with that title, but I’ll refer people back to this particular blog entry so that I don’t have to spend a lot of time saying the same thing.
I’ll just simply identify the guitar when it was reviewed or owned, my later experience with it and to what conclusion it leads me. I think it’ll be a reasonably different angle; not the ultimate one, but one to definitely take into account if you’re looking for a guitar. It’s good to look at the reviews, check out videos, and in this case, hear some opinion on how the guitar is like after it’s been lived with it for a while.
One last thing; since the technical specs and data have been covered in the original review or in previous reviews, I’ll stress more of the experience or observations about the instrument that have come up over time and how they are compared to the original conclusion(s).
The first one should be uploaded in a day or two.
Al Handa
July 2nd, 2026
