Comfiest guitar?

[Graham50]

Comfiest is an interesting word in relation to guitars. Different shapes suit different folks. The Strat was designed because people found the square sides of the tele uncomfortable. Many players find the Les Paul uncomfortable because it’s heavy and flat backed. IMO the set up is a crucial factor, the right amount of neck relief and string height make all the difference between a guitar being comfortable to play or an absolute dog, and that’s pretty well irrespective of the price point of the instrument. 
you only have to look at YouTube videos like Dave’s world of fun stuff to see the difference a set up can make and how even expensive guitars need set ups. Many stores particularly on line ones don’t bother and even the factories put little effort into ensuring they are sent out at their best.

I’m afraid buying is always a bit of a gamble.

[Musical Mystery Tour]

There are some guitars which are theoretically a bit less comfortable, depending upon whether you are playing seated or standing to some extent - for example the Gibson SG (and usually any copies of it) are notorious for being prone to neck dive owing to the fairly thin body with the neck join right at the end of the fretboard imparting a lot of weight leverage on the neck, the Flying V and anything similarly shaped is absolutely useless to play when seated, not that a guitar like that was designed with that in mind of course, but still true. In both cases, you are forced to be holding the neck in position somewhat if seated, which isn't conducive to making fretting easier. Having said that, if you sort them out with a strap so they are well positioned, some are really great guitars, notably Harley Benton's SG copy, which is one of the best cheapish humbucker-equipped guitars you can get. On the other hand, Harley Benton's TE52 Telecaster copy is a great guitar as well and it costs peanuts, but it weighs a goddam ton and you can really feel that when it is hanging off a strap, although it is okay when seated.

 

The really important thing for playing comfortably, if you are seated which you invariably will be when learning, is to either use a foot stool or somethng similar to raise the neck up, or do the same thing with a strap on a fairly short length (think, typical seated classical guitar player and you'll get the idea of where the neck should be). What that achieves, is to position your hand so that you don't have to crank your wrist around a lot to be ble to fret properly, which makes fretting in the correct way easier and also helps to get your thumb in the back of the neck. Now of course many people want to look all cool and punkish on stage and have the thing hanging two inches from their knee, but that sort of thing really doesn't make playing anything other than a basic punk riff easy. When you get better and more experienced as a player, you can afford to get sloppy and do things such as getting your thumb over the top of the neck to do lazy G chords and the like, but when you are starting out, you really should have your thumb in the centre of the back of the neck to aid with correct finger positioning and to stop your fingers and wrist aching.

 

Beyond how the thing sits, what probably matters more, is the neck relief, action and intonation. So knowing how to adjust the truss rod, level the frets and tweak the bridge saddles is useful and really not that hard; the tools necessary to do it all are fairly inexpensive to get hold of (youtube is your friend where that is concerned), or you can pay someone to do it if you have about fifty quid to waste on that rather than spending that fifty quid on the tools and doing it yourself, which is definitely the smarter way to go. Any inexpensive guitar is pretty good these days if set up properly, but what all cheap guitars will benefit from, is having a good set of tuners put on them (Grover, Kluson etc); this is the best upgrade you can do to something like that and will ensure less frustration with having the thing stay in tune. After that, sticking some better quality electrics in it is worth the effort. Doing all that will turn pretty much any sub-two hundred quid guitar into a good one.

 

Brands which are inexpensive and still decent for starting out if you take the time to sort them out, include Harley Benton, Jet, Fazley, Donner, Squier, Epiphone, all of which make usuable models for well under two hundred quid and sometimes under one hundred quid. This means you can throw a bunch of upgrades on them and still not have spent a lot of cash, and what that does, is get you familiar with construction and setting up, which is something that will always be useful going forward, even with more expensive guitars, which in spite of their cost, usually also need setting up too. 

[murphybridget]

Choosing a comfortable guitar to learn on is important, especially when you can't try them out in person. Additionally, if possible, try to purchase from a reputable retailer with a good return policy, so you have the option to exchange the guitar if it doesn't meet your expectations once you receive it. And most of all try to play your prospected guitar if you have the chance before buying.