You're right dwditty.

Unless you are buying the guitar for it's looks then take an unbiased guitar playing friend along to a store with a big selection, and do the blindfold test.

You need the friend 'cos the sales bod isn't free from bias if said bod is on commission.

You choose the one which sounds the best, and don't forget to try the cheap ones. Sam Ash has some for around $100 which sound really good. And I'm sure your local store has some too for maybe twenty dollars more.

We just chose a guitar as a christmas present for a friend. The friend was a beginner so he didn't know what he wanted.

We started looking around at the buyer's price limit , less than $300, although it could have been more for the right guitar.

Of course we couldn't resist trying more expensive ones too. We finished up paying $128.

BTW. there's nothing wrong with buying a guitar for it's looks. I've done it myself. It's called "Peter's Placebo" - An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.

I once thought that the Fender Stratacoustic looked cool and was ready to splash out and get one but it sounded like crap.