Ah, that was pretty simple.
At lunchtime I made a quick trip to a local music store. A nice music store. I learned a few things:
The lady who greeted me knew nothing about guitars.
The kid she asked to help me wasn’t on the clock yet, so he told her where the “cheaper” guitars were.
I picked a nice $800 number from the “cheap” rack and decided perhaps this store was too rich for my blood. FWIW, the owner (I guess) came out and we talked quite a bit about guitars and kids and getting started and you know, I think I might shop around some more before I buy but thank you for your time.
Since then, Google has helped me find:
- What my son probably wants.
- What my son will likely get.
- What I want, among other things. That’s a Pawless, btw, and Vince has been kind enough to share some words of wisdom with me about guitars over time.
To answer a question from the comments, yes I used to play, back when I was a kid. In fact for an exam I once played “Margaritaville,” which did not amuse my teacher too much. I had another teache that convinced me that Jethro Tull was awesome. It didn’t take much convincing, but learning to play some of their stuff helped with the appreciation quite a bit. I haven’t touched a guitar in probably twenty years, so to say I was rusty would be too kind.
The search shall continue…
Like I said, you can’t go wrong with a garage sale guitar. I’m thinking the ‘Wiggles’ one might be a bit too emasculating.
The one you showed that he’ll “probably” get, is the same we bought for Marc. But I agree with Erin, you should find a good used one.
There’s some good music stores around here that would actually help someone find one second hand for their kid, but of course, that won’t help you, but what I want to say is that I hope you can find one down there.
Good Luck!