If you're new to Maya, I'd suggest using polys, but some (weird ) people prefer nurbs... It's a personal thing, but I think that the common opinion is that polys are easier to start off with than nurbs... I'd also recomend getting a good picture for reference, which means a picture as straight on as possible...

If you're willing to spend the dough, I think I saw a guitar tut over on SimplyLightwave.com. I think it was a Fender, but I'm sure the techniques can be used to model this instead...