Am I being too protective about my guitar?

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-08-2015, 01:26 PM

My 14-year-old daughter wants to "start a band" with friends, and so she wants me to teach her guitar. (She already plays sax, clarinet and flute.) The only thing is I saw her with a bass guitar, fooling around in her friend's basement music room. In the space of a few minutes she managed to hit the bass against a mic stand, drum kit, chair, guitar and door frame. I don't want her to do with same with any of my guitars. I've gotten rid of all my crappy guitars -- what was I thinking! What would you do?

**wintermoon** · 07-08-2015, 01:29 PM

get her her own guitar, and tell her yours are off limits

see, that was easy wasn't it?

**fws6** · 07-08-2015, 01:38 PM

She is naturally relic-ing your guitars so they become more valuable ! With Fenders, you have to pay extra for that !

**spiral** · 07-08-2015, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by wintermoon

get her her own guitar, and tell her yours are off limits

see, that was easy wasn't it?

My thoughts too. Plus, her having her own gear she will be more invested / interested, especially if she gets one that looks good to her and she picked out. Maybe offer to split the cost? Daisy rock guitars are well made. If she really wan

**mr. beaumont** · 07-08-2015, 01:42 PM

Squier VM Jazzmaster.

Then if she gives it up, it was cheap and you now have a really cool guitar.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-08-2015, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by spiral

My thoughts too. Plus, her having her own gear she will be more invested / interested, especially if she gets one that looks good to her and she picked out. Maybe offer to split the cost? Daisy rock guitars are well made. If she really wan

Yeah, I'm looking on the local on-line marketplace for used guitars right now. I just have this feeling that come September she'll be onto something else.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-08-2015, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Squier VM Jazzmaster.

Then if she gives it up, it was cheap and you now have a really cool guitar.

Hmm... that's a good idea!

**zdub** · 07-08-2015, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

Yeah, I'm looking on the local on-line marketplace for used guitars right now. I just have this feeling that come September she'll be onto something else.

Which means that you want to find something that you'll enjoy playing when she gives up on it!

**Thecytochromec** · 07-08-2015, 01:50 PM

I smashed my first guitar to bits...

So there's that...

**spiral** · 07-08-2015, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

Yeah, I'm looking on the local on-line marketplace for used guitars right now. I just have this feeling that come September she'll be onto something else.

Possibly. It's the price of discovery. I'm still picking up and discarding hobbies to this day—some day I'll figure out who I am, or grow up. The potential for her to discover a lifetime love of music is worth investing $300. I always call things like that "tuition".

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-08-2015, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by Thecytochromec

I smashed my first guitar to bits...

So there's that...

I was going to say that's not my daughter, but I came home yesterday to discover she'd given herself a crew-cut, after not liking the hairdo she came home with.

**jazzbow** · 07-08-2015, 02:06 PM

Get her a second hand G&L Tribute ASAT classic bluesboy

G&L Tribute ASAT Classic Bluesboy Lake Placid Blue Guitar 791018363460 | eBay

Then when she moves onto another fad you can get your Ed Bickert on

**Thecytochromec** · 07-08-2015, 02:13 PM

Don't spoil her, she needs a squire strat. It's like a right of passage for beginning guitarists.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 07-08-2015, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by Thecytochromec

Don't spoil her, she needs a squire strat. It's like a right of passage for beginning guitarists.

I was going to steer her away from whammy bars.

**SamBooka** · 07-08-2015, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

I was going to steer her away from whammy bars.

Teach her that it is not neccesary but allow her access to it.. otherwise it is forbidden fruit. My 7 year old needs me to load music on her iphone. Yeah, she has Katy Perry but I also snuck in Bohemian Rhapsody and got away with it.. (bunch of other listenable stuff too)

**mr. beaumont** · 07-08-2015, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

I was going to steer her away from whammy bars.

Don't deprive her! I had been playing 20 years before I got my first whammy equipped guitar. I'm having waaaaay too much fun with it.

**mongrel** · 07-08-2015, 02:32 PM

Squire Vintage Modified Jaguar HH. Made in Indonesia. 24" scale, good medium frets, better fret-dressed than some new Gibsons, nice rosewood fingerboard. Decent intonation. Duncan-Designed buckers trying to be Jazz and JB. Bought mine used for $170 and put a set of Phat Cats in it that were lying around the house. Since I got it months ago, it gets 95% of my limited playing time. Came with wound Excel 110's and I bought a set of Chrome 11's but still haven't put them on yet. I like it so much that if I ever see a used one in a shop, I will probably buy it just to try some different pickups.

**Thecytochromec** · 07-08-2015, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by SamBooka

Teach her that it is not neccesary but allow her access to it.. otherwise it is forbidden fruit. My 7 year old needs me to load music on her iphone. Yeah, she has Katy Perry but I also snuck in Bohemian Rhapsody and got away with it.. (bunch of other listenable stuff too)

Or just act like they forgot to include in the package and throw it away.

"Daddy, what's that thing?"

"Oh this? This is a guitar de-tuner."

**Eddie Lang** · 07-08-2015, 10:00 PM

I gave my daughter the Godin 5th Ave acoustic that I never bonded with. Because of that, I "had" to buy myself an Eastman AR503CE.

She sometimes asks if she could use my vintage archtops, but they are off-limits.

**Patrick2** · 07-08-2015, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

My 14-year-old daughter wants to "start a band" with friends, and so she wants me to teach her guitar. (She already plays sax, clarinet and flute.) The only thing is I saw her with a bass guitar, fooling around in her friend's basement music room. In the space of a few minutes she managed to hit the bass against a mic stand, drum kit, chair, guitar and door frame. I don't want her to do with same with any of my guitars. I've gotten rid of all my crappy guitars -- what was I thinking! What would you do?

Cross commitments. Define then and insist upon them.

**Frethack** · 07-08-2015, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

I was going to steer her away from whammy bars.

Block it. Its easy and the guitar stays in tune. A bonus for a beginning player. I recenttly saw a gadget that uses a wood block wrapped in hard rubber that give you a little whammy without allowing the dives that yank it out of tune.

There are lots of gems on the used market. Maybe you can shop with her and teach her how to set it up and care for it too. It helped my son stay with it longer and now he knows when he goes back to it.

**tonedeaf** · 07-08-2015, 11:35 PM

I am obsessive -- I play my guitars but just hate it when they get dinged (the most recent pain came from a stand that was not not very intelligently made). So, I would definitely but my daughter whatever made sense for what she seemed to be going after.

There is a great line in a Tom Robbins book where he describes a particularly slimy individual as having "a smile like the first scratch on a new car". I thing of that line every time one of my guitars get a ding.

**edh** · 07-09-2015, 12:24 AM

Rent her a guitar from a music store.

**Eddie Lang** · 07-09-2015, 12:54 AM

Originally Posted by tonedeaf

I am obsessive -- I play my guitars but just hate it when they get dinged (the most recent pain came from a stand that was not not very intelligently made). So, I would definitely but my daughter whatever made sense for what she seemed to be going after.There is a great line in a Tom Robbins book where he describes a particularly slimy individual as having "a smile like the first scratch on a new car". I thing of that line every time one of my guitars get a ding.

Even guitar playing dads get the blues.