Pa’s been using his Tacoma guitar for quite a while and the frets have been worn down so it needed a re-fretting. Since the only guitar we have is the Washburn (which ain’t as good as the Tacoma), we thought we should get another guitar. You know, a cheap temporary one like the Washburn guitar we have. We saw that Costco has a $100 Yamaha guitar so we decided to go look at it. It was . . . decent for the price but a little tinny ‘n all for our tastes.
We realized that we played too much music to use a cheap guitar and realized that we aren’t gonna stop playing anytime soon and that we should invest one really good guitar (and if somebody wants to use it, they’ll have to “dibs” it). Naturally, since we play Bluegrass, that “really good guitar” is a Martin. (the most prized brand name in all of the Bluegrass Kingdom.) We could settle for nothing less.
We decided to get it online (’cause at all the local stores, we couldn’t return it if we found it faulty) at Elderly Instruments. We looked at reviews ‘n all that junk and finally settled on the esteemed HD-28. We realized that even though two guitars may be of the same model, they can vary (one may be tinnier or bassier than the other). That said, we got three guitars.
A little while after ordering, We got a call from a gal at Eldery Instruments wanting to confirm our $7,000 purchase. (in case you’re wondering, they payed for shipping) Now, you may be thinking that this is rather pathetic, buying three guitars just to test ‘em to see if one sounds better than the other. Well, no it isn’t! Everybody does it. That automatically makes it right. Right? (right.)
That $7000 wasn’t all for one guitar mind you. Buying any instrument costing more than $3,000 is just sick. $3,000 for an instrument is understandable. If a person knows he ain’t gonna stop playing music anytime soon, An expensive, good instrument is worth the multi-grand ’cause when you play music, you tend to spend less money on other means of having fun ’cause music keeps you pretty entertained and socialized. However, that said, once the price tag gets past $3,000 in price, the differences in sound quality get less and less and soon your just paying for the bragging rights.
Annnnyyyywaaayy . . . We got the three HD-28 guitars. Suprisingly, the quality was rather the same. Not much variation at all. (one was a tiny bit tinnier but not by much) So, we packaged the other two guitars up and sent em back. Later, we found out that they paid for the return shipping. We thought we were gonna play for shipping and therfor we felt a little guilty. We thought about buying a kazoo or a couple shakers but that seemed a little pathetic too.
Anyway, we were immensly happy with our new guitar. We all fought over who got to play it (soon, it came to calling out “double-dibs” and even “quadruple-dibs”) and enjoyed looking at ourselves in the ever-so-shiny, super buffed ‘n polished back (of the guitar). However, later, we brought it to the jam and one of our friends said at Maury’s Music, we could get the same guitar cheaper. Well, we looked and lo-and-behold, we could. Not only was it cheaper, there was another guitar called the HD-28-V (vintage!) that used ol’ fasioned scallop-bracing ‘n all the good stuff. Plus, even though it was better, it rounded out to be about the same price as the Martin we got at Elderly.
So, we bought the guitar at Maury’s. When we recieved it, we didn’t noticed too much difference. But hey! It’s an HD-28. . . V! So, we returned the last guitar back to Elderly’s and kept the Maury guitar. We were a bit more inclined to keep the Maury guitar ’cause they charged a 15% restocking fee (which raised the total price of the guitar+shipping costing about the same as the Eldery guitar).
So, next on the musical plate is an F-style mandolin (we have an A-style and all the pros use an F-style with the scrolls and all the cool wingdings) but I’m probably gonna get a kit and make it (because a good mandolin costs a lot more the a good guitar). First though, I’m gonna make another shamisen!
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