[mikealpine]

Had a very nice experience helping my daughter’s friend, Ray, buy a guitar a couple of days ago. He is from the Dominican Republic and headed back there in about a month. He wanted a guitar to practice and learn on, and as a more meaningful souvenir of his summer in the US. He had a very limited budget, limited availability to find and try used guitars, so we settled on taking him to Guitar Center to see if anything worked for him.

He wanted something a little smaller for travel. I wanted to find a Taylor GS Mini, but they didn’t have any. I started pulling down OM-ish guitars in the $399 range. There were a couple that sounded very good! One was a Dean with a black-brown top. I have no idea what the layered woods were, but the back looked like mahogany. It had a surprisingly full tone. He liked it, but I sensed reluctance and asked what he was thinking. His was hoping to spend $200.

Tough number….but then I saw, tucked away in a back corner, a very pretty sunburst Mitchell. It was $189! I took it down, the strings felt new and it was way out of tune, like it hadn’t ever been tuned. I tuned it up and strummed it. It sounded much bigger, more full and rich than I expected. The action was perfect…no buzz unless you strummed pretty hard, very easy to play. I handed it to Ray. Short story, he loved it after just one strum. It sounded as nice in front as it did when I played it. He was thrilled! We asked the salesman about it. He said that Mitchell has really upped their game. Not only that, but apparently that guitar only came in that morning and we were likely the first to play it. We played an OM of theirs that was $379 or so that also sounded way better than I would expect at that price point. I know…buy with your ears, not buy price and name, lol.

It was a lot of fun and a great reminder that there is “good” at any price point. Ray walked out with the guitar. It didn’t come with a case, so my daughter and I gifted him with a very sturdy gig bag, that is built for travel.

Anyone else have similar experiences?