Try out new guitars

I am looking for a new guitar so i go to different music stores to try out some guitars. Some of the shops have a seperate room where you can play on your own.
But always when i am playing i play not the way i do at home. Another amp, strings not in perfect condition, no inspiration.
What is the best way to judge an instrument in just a few hours?
I'd like to try it out at home but mostly that's impossible.

This is aproblem we all have when looking for a new guitar.

It can help if you have friends who have different guitars so you can try theirs, in shops however I feel the guitar and how it sits, I shop at Sounds great in Manchester England where the have stools, chairs and even a couple of sofa's to try the guitars out on. But as you say the set up and strings that differ may alter your views. Perhaps shops should provide guitars that are for those who wish to try at home for the seriouse buyer, this could be something for shops to consider.

It's made me think, you posed a good question

I go to a shop here in Toronto, Canada, called Long & McQuade. They're great for customer service. One time, I wanted to see if I wanted a delay pedal, so I bought it on my credit card from them, tried it out for a few days, changed my mind, and they gave me a full refund. I've done this before with other things that I ended up buying afterwards, but each time they said "Pay for it now, take it home, try it out for a few days. If you don't like it, the worst thing that can happen is we'll charge you rental for three days. If you want to keep it, then keep it."

I love them for this, and it's the only place I go for gear.

Maybe your guitar shop won't be as flexible, but you might want to consider renting the gear for a few days (just a few bucks).

When I'm buying an istrument I first play it unplugged fo a while... is the neck comfortable? do I like the unplugged tone? does it feel good?

After I'm done with that, I'll try it plugged in. You get a good idea how it'll sound on your amp anyway... of course nothing is quilte like the real deal, but I have yet to buy a lemon.

In a perfect world you could take home instruments and play them in youre own time but we all know nobody is going to lend you a PRS or a Tom Anderson guitar for a few days, just think of the damage that could be caused.....ooohh

I my self have never sat in a shop and felt anywhere near comfortable, hands get sweaty, back gets sweaty and conscious of the guitar god staff that surround you and are dick of hearing people playing the same old toss all day.

Fender blues had what I consider a great point about playing guitars that friends own but every one would own a strat or a les paul. Maybe just beleiving all you read in a magazine can be occasionally fruitless, because then you are depending on the opinion of someone else.

So really youre best option is to get over the shop phobias and pretences, relax and take youre time and keep trying until oyu are completely satisfied.

Or you could save a lot of time and just buy a Parker FLY

What a good question! This is what Open Discussion is really about for me, by making us look at obvious aspects of our instrument from a different perspective.
My 18 year old son (like me, a southpaw) insists on taking his strat and/or AC30 when 'shopping'. Eliminates the variables, he says. I must admit, it makes sense to use a known amp or guitar if you are spending serious money.

For myself, as I look too straight to pose a threat to the usual saturday 15 year old shread-heads, I prefer to lay down a note perfect Heartbreaker solo or Entrance of the Capulets & Montagues from Romeo & Juliet as a bit of a party piece. An old fart, huh? Been there, done it, got the tee shirt, mate!

I once brought in my amp to check out a bass. Since then I've decided to save on the back ache.

The last time I bought an instrument (Friday as it were), I knew exactly what I wanted to look for. I had just got the new Musician's Friend cataloge in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and saw a bass that looked interesting. So I went on down to my local Dean dealer, found the bass I saw int he catalog, played it and walked out hte door with it... (I payed for it of course).
Sometimes you just get a feeling about an instrument. I try to go with it if I have the money.

PonyOne started a thread about over-rated and under-rated guitars that brought out some interesting points.

1. The guitars with the big reputations (and price tags), don't always deliver the goods.

2. The supposedly 'good-only-for-a-door-stop' guitars are sometimes worthy lifetime companions.

The worst time to buy is when you're jonesin' with the GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)! That's like grocery shopping when you're hungry. You may come home with a gig-bag sized lemon. :o

Take your time, browse around. You should have some basic characteristics in mind, but don't predispose yourself towards any particular brand. Pull a likely candidate off the rack at one of your local shops, and putz around on it without plugging into an amp.

If it sounds good on its own, it only gets better through an amp. If it doesn't sound good on its own, it only gets louder through an amp.

Intrinsic characteristics like sustain and intonation have nothing to do with the pickups. A guitar should have a solid, 'carved-from-one-piece' feel to it. No buzzes or rattles allowed.

Make sure that it is tuned properly. Some shops drop the pitch from E to Eb or even D in order to make their guitars seem more playable.

It should feel comfortable to play. The scale length and neck width should position the notes where your hands expect to find them. That sounds strange, but a guitar that is well matched to you does seem to anticipate your next move.

Play it sitting, standing, kneeling, slumped against the wall. If you're still enthralled, and you want to play some more, this could be the start of something good.

Now you can plug it in. As I said before, the pickups can't fix a guitar that doesn't sound good unplugged. The good news is that pickups are easy to replace. If your luck is good, you're going to like what you hear, but even if its merely OK, this may be 'The One' :D

There's a discussion on Harmony Central about the contribution the wood makes to the guitar's sound.

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/Forum16/HTML/007305.html

(I can't comprehend why anyone would even consider a plywood solid-body guitar :p