About Us and FAQ
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GuitarFella was established in 2014 to help the process of choosing an instrument and learning the guitar easier and more fun – as it should be! Since then, we’ve grown into one of the top guitar review sites in the world.
So, we’ve decided to give you a little insight into the workings of GuitarFella, hopefully answering any questions you may have about the way we rate and review things. Let’s take a look, one by one.
How Do You Review Gear?
You may have noticed that Guitar Fella is packed with reviews. There are reviews for electric guitars, acoustic guitars, classical guitars, bass guitars, ukuleles, amplifiers, keyboards, recording gear, online lessons… and much more.
Some people may wonder how we manage to review so much equipment – and where we keep it all! However, due to the ever-changing nature of the guitar market, coupled with the fact that we don’t have a huge warehouse in which to store our equipment, the majority of our reviews are not ‘hands on’.
At Guitar Fella we research the guitars and equipment we write about very carefully. We supplement our research with information taken from many user-generated reviews, as well as our own judgement and experience, to deliver a review that sufficiently sums up the gear in question.
Of course, some of our reviews are hands on – collectively we own a lot of equipment and test out new stuff whenever possible. The same goes for online guitar lesson platforms, which we always thoroughly road test.
What is the Purpose of Your Reviews?
To give guitar buyers the power to make an informed decision, while saving you time. The truth is that there are loads of reviews out there – reviews from guitar magazines and websites, video reviews and loads of user reviews.
Our aim is to take this overwhelming information and, along with our own opinions and knowledge, deliver a short and sweet review that will help you easily digest what’s being said about the gear in question – whether good, bad or indifferent.
How Do You Rate Gear?
Another question we are often asked is ‘Why is [Guitar One] rated lower/higher than [Guitar Two]?’ Ultimately, the answer depends on which category you are comparing guitars.
Each guitar is given a rating based on the price range it is in. For example, in our article on the best electric guitars for kids, the Squier Strat Mini (costing around $150) has a rating of 4.84.
Heading over to our article on the best expensive guitars, we feature the Dean MAB1 Speed of Light (costing around $1,250), which has a rating of 4.83.
Hang on… are we saying a $150 guitar is better than a $1,250 guitar?!
Of course not. If we had both of these guitars next to each other, the Squier’s basic hardware and stock single-coils wouldn’t compare to the premium MAB1 – with its ultra-fast maple neck, gorgeous design, and trio of high-end active pickups.
However, in the kid’s article, we rate the Squier Strat Mini worthy of a 4.84 when compared to other guitars in its price category. The MAB1, in the expensive article, is worthy of a 4.83 in the context of the higher-end guitars market.
But Guitar X is the Best For $1,000! Why Don’t I See It in Your List?
As passionate guitarists ourselves, we understand that you have a love for your guitar gear. So, if you don’t see it in one of our charts, we understand why you may be disappointed.
Firstly, we try to write reviews for every great guitar, although as the space in our charts is limited, we can’t include them all.
We update our charts very often, so if something is missing now, it doesn’t mean it will be missing in the future. Similarly, if something is in the charts now, it may not be there next time we revisit that chart.
You Make it Look Like There are Only Great Guitars Out There?
Don’t worry – there are loads of bad guitars out there! We feature a huge collection of top ten lists and charts highlighting the best guitars and gear on the market.
A top ten list featuring a dud wouldn’t be a very good top ten list! With this in mind, we look more towards gear that is popular and worth the money – whether it’s a high-end masterpiece or a budget beauty. However, we then scrutinize this gear as any good reviewer should.
We Love Your Articles… But Some Are Poorly Written. Why?
Guitar Fella was established in 2014. Back then we had a small team made up of less experienced writers, which meant the standard of writing and reviewing was pretty poor.
However, more than five years later, we have grown our team and we are very proud of how we have improved. We understand that some badly written reviews still remain on the site, but we are slowly improving and re-writing them to meet the high standards we have set in the past few years.
Why Don’t Most of Your Articles Have a Writer Byline?
The majority of our articles are a team effort – especially product reviews and charts. We have multiple people contributing and writing different parts of the articles.
This may sound odd, but it actually results in a more complete source for the reader. To give an example, one reviewer may write an article about an affordable Martin acoustic.
Another writer sees this review and – having had his own experience with that guitar in the past – decides he wants to share his opinions too. So, as some articles are initially written by one writer, then maintained and updated by different writers, it’s not fair or accurate to credit just one of them.
What About Your Affiliate Links?
You may have noticed that GuitarFella is quite a clean website – there are no banner adverts and no annoying pop-ups. We do this to keep the user experience at the best it can possibly be. Nobody likes to read an article, only for a pop-up to interrupt them as soon as they scroll down the page.
So how do we manage to sustain ourselves?
Our main source of revenue is through affiliate advertising. We are part of multiple affiliate advertising program, which allows us to earn advertising fees by linking to certain websites.
The links you click to check the price of a guitar will send you to one of three sites, allowing you to compare and choose the best deal for you. If you purchase a guitar through one of the links, we are rewarded with a small commission – at no extra cost to you.
By clicking these links and purchasing a guitar, you help us continue to provide you with reviews, tips and buyer’s guides. For more information you can check out our detailed Affiliate Disclosure.
A Word From The Team Behind GuitarFella
We are very proud of what we do at GuitarFella. Every day we help musicians – from beginners to experts – find an instrument suitable for them, as well as learn new things about guitar gear.
We are always happy to hear about how we have helped you, so feel free to leave a comment. If you feel there is something we have failed to include, or some content you would love to see in the future, we are all ears!
Equally, if you feel there is something that we can do to make the site better, we’d love to hear from you.
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