| When I played guitar in the 50's and | | | | years and how much quality has suffered |
| 60's, I was limited by having small | | | | for a low end guitar. Even good used |
| hands. There were certain tunes I could | | | | guitars were few and far between. But, I |
| just not stretch to play. In those days | | | | kept looking. |
| a guitarist had to spend a couple | | | | In the process I discovered two |
| thousand dollars for a custom made git | | | | manufacturers of short neck guitars. I |
| with a short neck or resign themselves | | | | thought - "These must be for kids and |
| to a limited song list. That's not the | | | | girls." But, once I looked over the |
| case today! | | | | specifications I realized they were not |
| Back in the day we had a pretty | | | | the guitars sold by toy stores at all. |
| successful local band. We played all the | | | | These were versions of full size guitars |
| "sock hops" and even made a nice living | | | | that are downsized for small adults with |
| playing road gigs in the tri-state area | | | | small hands and, yes, even for the |
| of Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania | | | | aspiring lady pickers and teens. |
| under the names of "The Crazy Tones" and | | | | My number one concern, of course, was |
| "The Challets". I mainly played rythym | | | | quality of craftsmanship and sound |
| guitar and, on occasion, I played | | | | quality. The price was a surprise. More |
| keyboard on certain songs. One thing I | | | | about that in a moment. |
| never played and never learned was lead | | | | I looked at the Fender Squire and the |
| guitar, the ultimate goal for all guitar | | | | Ibanez Mikro. The Fender, frankly, got |
| players I think. | | | | poor ratings from musicians and from |
| Well, I retired recently and decided to | | | | newbies. The Ibanez, on the other hands, |
| revisit my love of guitar playing. I | | | | scored a 90% satisfactory rating among |
| began a search for a guitar that offered | | | | the same group. Based on that, I bought |
| a nice price and good quality. I bid on | | | | the Ibanez Mikro for under $130.00 |
| a few on eBay but quickly found the bids | | | | including Free Shipping and Handling. I |
| to be almost as high as buying locally | | | | have not been disappointed. |
| when you consider Shipping and Handling. | | | | I now play tunes that were almost |
| I scoured local music stores but found | | | | impossible and I play them comfortably. |
| nothing that fit me comfortably, that | | | | The quality? The sound? I give this git |
| was at a fair price. I had no idea how | | | | a 100% positive rating! |
| much guitar prices have gone up over the | | | | |