I think it depends upon which phase of your life you're at. First guitar was 1973 before online or massive music centres. Yamaha nylon string acoustic, probably the forerunner of their current C40. I was still at school, had to pay for it out of earnings from my part time nightfill job, and it was what I could afford. I hadn't even thought beyond acoustic at that phase and was influenced in choice by peers. It served well enough at the time. I played it every day and had a lot of fun with it before career took precedence. In hindsight had I had the benefit of wiser mentor, I would have bought a steel string acoustic had I been able to afford it. A year later I bought an electric, a Japanese made SG clone from a new then unknown brand, Ibanez. Long since 'gone to God'. Loved it.

Enter life's interventions.

First guitar after a 42 year hiatus, Yamaha Pacifica 112V. Knew I wanted electric to learn on for all the obvious reasons learnt from previous experience. Went to my LMS checked out a few Teles, Strats, Les Pauls, Pacificas and took on board advice. Coupled that with online research, but didn't unnecessarily and confusingly overthink it. I knew I liked the Pacifica neck profile, fingerboard radius, string spacing, comfort, tone and HSS Strat versatility from its Korean G&B pups. In particular, Yamaha cleaned up all the rest in segment in the value for money & overall quality stakes. Being a do it now action type once committed, I placed my order a couple of days later. 'First guitar' Nov 2017 Old Violin Sunburst Pacifica 112V. A month in I knew I wanted an acoustic to play as well. Didn't take long to work out the one for me was Yamaha's APX600, then their just newly released model superseding the APX500III.

Bought a few more since. Life's short, getting shorter every day. 😎