Tonight on the way to class, Kiddo told me that she was going to talk to the staff about trading in
her Schecter because when she got it, her arm was in a cast (it was), and now with the cast off, she's
discovered it's not comfortable to sit and to play. In short, too bulky and too heavy.
So we're right back in the soup. It was another hour after her class of looking at instruments and
asking questions about what she liked and didn't like. LIKES: gloss finish; lighter weight; similar
price point.
This evening's candidates included a used Jackson Rhodes (in black; pretty, but noticeably scratch and
dent, with a big ol' chunk taken out of the head), a new Fender Strat in black with a deep gray sparkly
pick guard; an Ibanez GRG series in Jewel Blue.
I tried to push her by adding to the mix a Jackson JS
series in a similar blue, with a Floyd Rose system and single-coil pickups at the neck and center, with
a humbucker at the bridge, for $100 more; I offered to foot the bill for her, but she refused and went
with the Ibanez instead.
On the ride home, the seatbelt could hardly contain her; she is thrilled about that guitar. She must
really have been unhappy about the Schecter. Sometimes I guess it's hard for me to remember that she's
still a kid; she has limitations. The other guitar really must have been heavy.
Funny thing — we went from having two hardshell cases between us to none. Happily, I did buy a gig
bag for my Wolfgang the other night — she may use it to transport her guitar back and forth.
If I'm guilty of anything here, it's two things: (1) Trying to teach her about value, and (2)
once she made a decision, to move things along to get the deal closed. Is that last one
unfair? This is a kid who, between the ages of 4 and 10, would spend HOURS in the toy store just to
come out with a ball. Always a ball. But I'm proud of her for speaking up and choosing
to make the return, and for making a decision. In my view, she considered her budget and chose within it.
The final bill came to about $25 over, but it's because I guided her into their warranty (I've seen
how she's treated her last guitar). I'll happily pay for that good decision.
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