good one bs. v funny!

Good:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...mbo?sku=482799

Less Expensive, Lots of Features, Perhaps Not as Tough:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...Amp?sku=480698

Behringer stuff is an incredible value for features, and I have had zero problems with any of their gear that I own or use regularly.

http://www.bothner.co.za/products/fender/fman15r.shtml

http://www.epinions.com/inst-Amplifi...splay_~reviews

A couple of review sites of the Fender Frontman 15R amp I'm getting for SonofV. This is not the Frontman II model which has line input for playing along with a cd, but does have reverb, which is cool. The guy I'm getting it from runs an acoustic guitar shop and he says he took it in trade and wants $35 for it. Sounded like a good deal. Plus, it has reverb.

In a surprising twist, I did NOT go to the pawnshop after all. I really prefer spending my money in my local community, and the guitar shop mentioned above is a mile from my house, so I stopped in. No electric. grrr. But he is on good terms with the local guitar house that does have electrics, American Music. Also local. For what it's worth, I agree that my pawnshop is also local, but I felt I could get more musical advice from a music store than from the pawnshop clerk. Probably.

Anyway, the fella was...cool to the idea that I wanted a used/inexpensive unit. They had Squiers all around (sorry about my previous misspellings), indeed there's a boxed KIT incl stratbody, baby fender amp, gig bag, tuner, etc for $280. I had already decided on the above Fender amp, and restricted my search to a used (yes, salesman, used, please) Squier. They had a few, stratbody and telecasterbody, single and humbucker, ranging from $100 to $160. I picked the $100 unit. Stratbody, 3 single coil pickups, dark dark blue with white pickguard. Rosewood fingerboard. He threw in a handful of picks and a whammy bar. I bought a stand, bag, additional set of strings (lightest ernie ball), 10' cable and (sorry UT) a Zoom G1 instead of a $15 tuner, since it has a tuner in it. Now I see I'll need an additional cable. By the time I'm done, I'll have kept the whole rig under $250. Still on my list is a strap, headphones, guitar instruction (lessons and/or video/dvd book and/or software)

http://users.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/index.html

Plus, I read practically all of this guy's webpage. I am much better informed. Musicians can comment separately. This layman found his descriptions entertaining and helpful.

Santa hit this one out of the park!

SonofV exclaimed "My wish came true!!" and he carried that guitar around *all day*. He's not accustomed to being four feet wide and consequently smacked the headstock into doorframes, lamps and the dvd player knocking the disc askew and shoving the tray halfway in... no lasting damage, thankfully.

Turns out he got two guitars this year. MrsV didn't take back the acoustic after all, and it's a decent little guitar. Steel strings, and a small sized body/neck. One of the guitar uncles tuned it and played a few licks on it. It sounded just fine.

SonofV rocked out all day. The biggest problem was finding an outlet to plug the amp into. But when he couldn't find one, he still played. He got an AFI concert dvd too, and played that to death. Late in the day he called me into the room and said "Dad, listen. <AFI guitarist licks> <SonofV thrashing> I can do that part!" Hehehe. Not a question, a statement. It was great.

He got a very complete rig, axe, amp, fx box incl tuner, cables, bag o' picks, extra strings, gig bag and separate bag for accessories, headphones, stand. Now come the lessons. I have the card for a local teacher of electric guitar, but we haven't met yet. I think I'd like to get him something that he can play over and over on the tv, like an introductory instructional guitar video, at least to supplement the once weekly lessons. I may post some "concert footage" at some point.

I have to say thanks to Rob at Guitar Emporium. That's him on the left in the picture at the link. Really strictly an acoustic shop, he seemed very knowledgeable and very willing to help a clueless shopper, such as myself. He called down to the "competition" described earlier, and I brought the electric guitar back to his shop. I had discovered I hadn't gotten a strap, or a second cable to permit the use of the fx box. He offered to take a look at the guitar.

The first thing he did was sight along the neck and point out to me the swayback contour of the neck. Ick. A couple of turns on the truss rod nut (who knew?) brought back to true. He showed me how to fret the E string at the 15th fret and then check the string for play against the lower frets (he sure sounded like he knew what he was doing). Only then did he proceed to tune it--and it was rather badly out of tune. Which of course threw the neck out of (perfect) alignment again, then the tuning, etc, etc. But each adjustment was smaller than the last and soon the (fine) tuning of the strings did not adjust the neck and it was straight and in tune. Very, very nice of him to work that way on a guitar purchased elsewhere. To be fair, I did buy the amp from him (and a second amp, if you can believe it. A little Pignose with a couple of dead batteries. I have since replaced the batteries and now have another practice/travel/who knows amp. I secretly want it for myself to jam with SonofV as he plays the guitar and I play the harmonica. But I need a microphone first. I'm open to suggestions on that score as well. But I digress...) and a strap and cable. He earned my goodwill and my future business as well. I might stop in for one of those sweet Suzuki harps I saw in the display case.... :)

So thanks to all for the extremely helpful advice and support. I'll give irregular updates, should events warrant such. Like playing a tune, or getting signed or something.

So wait, how old is he, again?

(By the way, speaking of Bad Horsie... I nicked my sister's new Epiphone (so I could downtune, Floyd Roses are a bitch) and learned most of Bad Horsie a little while ago... can't touch the solos, though... only Vai can do that shit, man...)

That's ideal service, if the guy is willing to basically do a setup in front of you.

Well done all around sir! This little burst of encouragement is a wonderful thing, and putting joy and making music together will stay with him for his entire life.

Middle school.

Yes, in front of me, explaining all the while. I was a grateful sponge. And I will be a repeat customer. It's all about the service. That's **precisely** why I wanted to shop locally, and a music store in particular. Five stars--unquestionably.

Good service = future customer. Especially in the music biz. Well done, BV!

I'm thinking about learning to play guitar. I think I'd probably end up playing folk songs, mostly. I would like to be able to someday pick up mandolin and some other more folk instruments.

I've been going to a lot of folk dances and Irish pubs lately, and at some point I'd like to be able to sit in on some of the open band nights.

I need recommendations on what type of starter guitar I should get (acoustic, six steel strings?). I'm looking to spend between $100 and $300 USD. I'd also like recommendations on learning to tune a guitar.

That ought to impress her.

Impress her with folk songs, eh?

Stephen Bishop

:D

Sorry, Bruce. We're past the point of trying to impress each other.

And UB, not that kind of folk music.

C'mon, everything you've done since your aborted bike trip revolves around her. I'm envious, it's great to be young and in love. Enjoy.