The value of a cheap guitar is that it doesn’t hurt as much when it gets stolen, breaks suddenly, or when one decides that it’s time to part ways with it for one reason or another. A guitar is really but a tool to be used in the service of one’s artistic endeavors.
As for cheap cigars, yes, they satisfy less than a premier brand, but they help keep a smoker humble in the face of what is really a rather unpleasant habit. So why spend the big bucks for a Cuban prime? Stick with a lesser stogie and smoke in solidarity with the less privileged among us.
Some guitars seem imbued with magical qualities, and it’s up to the player to know said aspects, and to learn to coax forth sounds which honor the instrument. My electric guitar these days was purchased for $99 plus tax from a used musical instrument shop. Upon initial inspection the guitar appeared to be covered with snot or drool of some kind. I was reluctant to even touch it! Truly appalling to see, yet I still felt compelled to road test it’s virtues. As I proceeded to tune the instrument I discovered that every string had been wrapped in reverse around the tuning post, so I put on my dyslexic cap and eventually had a tuned instrument. Knobs were missing on the guitar as well, but I wasn’t deterred from giving the instrument a workout.
To my delight I discovered that the guitar was a rugged gem, and would serve me well in my musical adventures. Proudly, filled with excitement, I approached the shop owner and declared that I’d found the guitar I wanted, and would gladly pay the full amount asked, if a new set of strings was part of the deal. He consented and we shook hands. He was also kind enough to cleanse the guitar of the substances we both agreed appeared to be ejaculants of some kind. He also installed the new strings. I left the shop, all smiles and anticipation, and found myself laughing and singing as I drove home-proud owner of a $99 plus tax electric guitar.
My previous electric guitar, delivered to Goodwill a few years back, cost $200 plus tax. That was a decent instrument that I was never able to fully bond with emotionally. It would’nt sit comfortably on my leg while playing. It can be heard on songs in the albums: The World’s A Madhouse, Saw It At The Circus, and Amour Audacio. I hope that it’s new owner uses it and enjoys it.
As I wrote before, when an instrument’s time has come, the cheaper the better for my own pocketbook. A tradition in my life has been to give musical instruments away, much as my own mother gave me my first guitars. There’s a karmic element to it, and has always brought me joy over the years. The guitar on which I learned to play, and wrote my first songs, such as: Gentle Messidor, Mountain Country, A Sunset Saga, Again I Will Be Free, was given to a fellow in my home town who was playing slide guitar on a sidewalk and caught my ear. His guitar was crap, and you should know that slide players look out for each other! We’re like a secret society.
A number of years ago I was living on a boat moored in the Mississippi river, and while 1500 miles distant on another boat, the boat sank mid-winter and floated my guitars (and cello and bass). The intruments were saved, but eventually gave up the ghost from their trauma, and had to be retired. Not before I was able though to coax a story or two from them on this recording or that recording. Many of the 12 string guitar sounds on various recordings are from that era. Another $99 plus tax electric guitar was involved in that debacle, but not before being immortalized in song. A man just does what he needs to do in life to keep on and be sane.
My favorite acoustic guitar, which cost $600 in 1984, replaced a guitar I’d smashed to splinters in frustration at my inability to get it to sound as I wanted it to. That favorite 6 string is still my main instrument. The headstock has broken off twice, and the bridge pulled off one year, but I made repairs and consider the instrument to be a magical tool. Most of the songs on this website were written using that instrument. But the guitar used in Wash Away, Success Again, and Hidden Falls, from The World’s A Madhouse album, were recorded using another $99 plus tax acoustic guitar. That guitar was given to a friend’s son.
For now I’ll stick with cheap guitars and cheap cigars.
CP Butchvarov 2024