How to buy an acoustic guitar

HOW TO BUY AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR:

1) Visit Seattle for the first time in half a year.

2) Visit an amazing mostly-used guitar store, the likes of which is not available where you currently live (100+ electric guitars, 100+ acoustic guitars, 100+ electric bases). See this old post for photos. Also drums and synths upstairs (which I intentionally did (**not** visit!!!) ;)

3) Remember that due to a burglary a few years ago, I no longer have a steel-string acoustic guitar in my collection.

4) Remember that the purpose of this trip is to send a crate of furniture back to Brisbane, Australia: adding an acoustic guitar inside the crate won't change the freight costs, and is easier than trying to send a guitar home through carry-on or checked luggage.

5) Realize that I won't have access to this range of well-priced guitars -- intersecting with a convenient shipping opportunitz -- for a long, long time.

6) Decide to buy an acoustic guitar.

7) Go to the room o' acoustic guitars. (Mmmmmm....)

8) Identify all the acoustic guitars that appeal visually to me -- the black or unusually-colored ones, not the blonde or light-tan ''regular-color'' ones. (About eight of 'em.)

9) Of those with visual appeal, retain those in the US$100 - US$200 range. (Four.)

10) Play them one at a time, trying to remember differences in sound.

11) Discard the obviously thin-sounding one. (May've been an unsually thin set of strings, but, eh...)

12) Discard another one.

13) A-B the two finalists with the help of my brother. (A chocolate(?) brown one and a reddish, cedar-y colored one.)

14) Acknowledge that one has better definition and clarity in the notes. Upper-mids or lower-highs emphasis.

15) Acknowledge that the other one has a full, warm sound. Fairly rich, although not as much bass as the black acoustic guitar I once had (named ''Roberto''; bought it used, I'd replaced the missingfret markers with green Formica).

16) After some self-reflection, realize that I generally prefer a warmer sound over a sharp sound. Plus, as I continue to A-B the two guitars, the sharper one is already starting to fatigue my ears.

17) Decide on the brown-y one.

18) Take guitar to front counter. In a good-natured way negotiate a discount for paying with cash. (Luckily, I had hit the bank that morning!) US$150, after sales tax.

19) Take guitar back to my brother's place, and experience no buyer's remorse.

20) Phone wife to tell her of my purchase.

21) Suggest that Father's Day (in Australia) is in a month, my birthday is two months after that, Christmas is the month after that -- perhaps it can go ''under the bed'' until one of those occassions...


--GG