Here the locally owned music stores usaually give discounts on the lower end stuff for large groups...I bought a Lotus acoustic/electric some years ago. The action is not great, but it sounds good. It's got a nice clean sound.

 

I don't mean to come over as a hard nose but I'm SURE there are ways to work toward the satisfaction of owning thier own guitar. Hell I used to pick up bottles on the side of the roads to get the extra things I wanted when I was a kid. Had to work in the garden so we could all eat well. Mom and Dad both had jobs but not enough time to give many extras.

Hand outs are just that.

There is little learned when dealing with hand outs.

Give a man a meal and he will eat good one time. Show him how to grow a garden and he may feed you one day.

I don't want to take anything away from your generosity that you must certainly are giving just note there are many things that can be learned around the whole idea of guitar playing.

More power to your cause Opiewan

 

the whole idea was to provide a music path to children that want to do something other then hang out on the corner, cause trouble and what not. i do not freely give my time away. these kids i am teaching have to earn there lessons so to speak. while their friends and school chums were out sledding and goofing around they were over here and shoveled my walk. and cleaned out my driveway. i did not ask them to do this nor demand it from them, i only discovered it as i was heading down town for some business matters, i walked outside and my driveway was spotless. as i was heading down the street i saw 4 of my kids walking home with shovels in there hands. i stopped them and tried to give them a couple dollars each but they wouldnt take it. they said that they were just paying me back for the lessons. now if i could swing it, i would have picked them all up and took them to the music store right there and bought them all guitars. they have the love for it you have to have yourself to even see it. It isnt a handout to give a child something that they will always have with them. the gift of music is one of the best gifts anyone could ever want, to be able to express yourself thru music is amazing. these kids do not deserve a 15 dollar chepo guitar that will hamper there progress more then help it, they deserve an instrument they can grow into and with a little luck someday they may have them. and if no guitars show up on my doorstep in the next month or so, i will just take my 335 to the guitar store and trade it in for 4 accoustic guitars. since it is worth well over 3000 dollars i thing the kids will get what the need

 

Late on seeing this one, are you still doing this ? I have a mint Yamaha acoustic flat top with case, that just collects dust under the bed. I bought it in 1981 , had the neck tuned(dropped to lessen required finger pressure) and it has a hard case and Seiko electronic tuner, and a capo, picks, and all of it works great. My fingers are loosing the flex, so I dont try to play anymore ( never was good).
My only suggestion would be that I believe you should retain ownership of these donated guitars (let the kids use them for the lessons, of course) until they have been at it long enough, and show a heart felt love for the playing, to earn the ownership of the guitar permanently. This would stop the early, disinterested quiters from ending up with a guitar that will be put in the trash, or pawned for a video game. Suprise them at the END of their lessons, and tell them the guitar is now theirs for keeping, and let it be their "free graduation present". I believe they would all appreciate the fact they "earned one", rather than just being given one. And once they have stuck with it and learned on it, they will use it and respect it more. just my 2 cents
Good guitar music is food for the soul, I luv to see young ones playing guitar, let me know,

 

that was the general idea, letting them use the guitars then when they go on either developing there own style gifting them with the guitar they learned on, what i was hoping is as time went by the ended up getting their own guitar and leaving the pratice guitar for someone else to learn. the way i hear it is there are about 12 other kids wanting guitar lessons. it would defintly be used as a loaner guitar for the kids to use . if you are wanting to share your no longer used guitar i would be happy to take it, so far i havent received any. you can contact me here or by email or just ship it to me and i will pay you for it. you decide no pressure.
i will even post a picture of the kids playing your guitar

my address is

Opiewan
634 south gunnison
burlington, iowa
52601

 

I dont want any pics or names of kids sent to me please, but if you could later on , mail me a cassette recording of some of the kids playing solo/duet, that would be so neat to hear. I just want someone to get some good out of it, its a shame for it to waste. My Dad was a square dancer fiddler, and I am the only offspring of his nine , that ended up with "music" in me. I will send you this guitar, case, tuner, insured for 250 bucks. You can have it for whatever it costs me to insure/ship. I'll trust you to mail me a check/m.o. for the insure/ship only, I know a FTE guy can be trusted . My wife is going to ship it tommorrow , should arrive at your door in about 5-9 days, I would say. Give it to your prize graduated student, that will care for it, and thanks for the passing on, of God's gift of musical talented people.

 

will do, and i can make you a video tape and send you that of them playing it when they are ready to do a little performing. thanks for everything you are doing. the kids i am sure will love it.

 

No problem, hope it gets some good use. In my above post I should have made it read "audio" cassette tape only, please no videos, pics, or names of the kids in either mail or e-mail. I believe that type of info on children should not be mailed or put on the net to anyone. I know, its a sad world, but you never know where that info can end up. Keep them anonymous and safe, for me , I just want to hear one of them picking the "Wild Wood Flower" or something bluegrass/country on that old Yamaha,

 

will do, gotta give me a few days to teach them that though lol

 

Yall be cool

 

I saw on the televison the other night a $99
special that seems to be decent.
They had some white guy with a Spainish name pushing
them. I am sure they are not up to Martin Standards but
better than a cigar box.
You might try one of the local music stores and see if they
will sponsor a kid.
Also you might check out the church you belong to. They may
have a music minister that has his/her old axe in the corner
gathering dust.

Best of 04
Roland