When I began to teach the guitar professionally in 1980, I became aware of a few basic ingredients that were necessary in order for a student to be successful. Whether a child, teen, or adult, they needed a flexible learning program customized to fit their needs, consistent weekly lessons, and plenty of encouragement both at their lesson and at home.
Even with these ingredients in place it became apparent that there were quite a few students who were experiencing difficulty and frustration. Their feelings of discouragement were displayed in their demeanor and through various statements like, "I can't play these notes," "I can't play these chords," "I've tried but it's too hard," and "I just can't do it!"
Before long, I realized that all of these students had something in common: guitars that were poorly constructed and too difficult to play. Some were new, some were purchased at yard sales, and others were hand-me-downs from friends or relatives who gave up learning to play on them!
It seems obvious, but this point is often overlooked: to successfully learn how to play the guitar, students must practice on a playable instrument!
Even with this knowledge, after purchasing the first guitar and seeing their child's apparent lack of interest in practicing, parents were often reluctant to invest in a better guitar. Unfortunately, students who continued to play the guitar despite the shortcomings of their instrument developed a unique set of problems.
Because their guitar's strings were often raised too high off the fretboard, students had to use excessive strength just to hold the strings down. This would retard their technical development and give them the false belief that the strings always need to be pushed down hard.
Playing the guitar with excessive force hinders one's ability to make musical changes flow smoothly and evenly, and results in choppy, uneven playing. Even after purchasing a better instrument, students would have to endure the frustration of unlearning these bad techniques that were "practiced" into their playing habits.
The Solution:
Of course, the easiest way to avoid this problem is for new players to purchase an appropriate guitar before they begin lessons.
In time, I learned guitar construction and repair, began performing my own adjustments, and came to a better understanding of the quality differences between guitars. I gained first-hand knowledge of how workmanship and the selection of materials affects a guitar's playability. I found that some guitars are made so poorly that they simply cannot be repaired or adjusted.
I made this information available to my students who were struggling with low quality instruments and suggested adjustments that would improve their playability and make them easier to learn on.
Upon opening our first retail music store in 1989, we quickly discovered that finding suppliers with quality entry-level and intermediate guitars is a difficult task. Like the instruments my students had been bringing in for years, the new instruments I ordered were less than ideal. Straight out of the box, bridges were in the process of becoming unglued, neck angles were sometimes wrong, and bridge height was often too high or too low. Sometimes they came with loose braces or unacceptable finishes.
We developed an inspection process for every instrument we received, and paid a technician to adjust and set-up every guitar to our liking before they were placed in the showroom. More than once we returned an entire shipment of instruments because they didn't pass our inspection process.
Eventually we found suppliers who consistently provided us with guitars we felt comfortable with. Though our initial expenses were higher, our quality inspection process became profitable in the long run because our students and customers were satisfied and often returned to us when they were ready to purchase an even higher quality instrument.
Today, more than ever, we are confident with the quality of our instruments, both entry-level and advanced.
We are sure you will find our guitars to be very playable and reasonably priced.
Can I Help?
Yes! We would like your referrals!
If you enjoyed visiting our web site, found our information helpful and/or have confidently purchased and enjoyed our guitars, then one of the best things you can do for us and future guitar students is to tell your families and friends about us.
