cynic

Agreed. Takamine isn't a brand I'm very familiar with and I think of them as more an amplified stage guitar but the Peak looks like it could fit the bill. I don't see the less expensive model available for sale used anywhere right now but I've got searches saved. So the contenders for now seem to be the Takamine, the Pono, and maybe Eastman? I don't have any experience with the latter but they at least have models that check all the boxes spec wise and the online retailers have new models in my price range so if it's not all that in person I can return it without issues. Also watching Sweetwater for damaged or returned Alvarez Yairi PYM prices but even then I'd have to spend more than planned.

I guess for clarification, I am looking for something mid to high end, depending on make/model. So I'm kinda all-in for solid woods and gloss finishes. In a perfect world it's something she treasures for a lifetime. In a not-so-perfect world, she can make enough selling it to pay for something she treasures for a lifetime. Great question, and maybe I didn't say it correctly. I mean 12-fret, which is a guitar with a neck that joins the body at the 12th fret. That eliminates a large swath outta the gate, but I'm of the mind that smaller bodies benefit from having the bridge moved back. Someone suggested Larrivee and if I could I would. I used to have a Larrivee P-01 which was fantastic and would be a perfect match if it were better appointed. Getting into something a little nicer with a gloss finish means the P-05 and even used examples break my budget. It was actually my P-01 that has me convinced a 12-fret is the way to go. Lots of Taylor suggestions but from what I've found Taylor only offers the 12-fret neck joint in their bigger-than-baby sized Grand Concert and I worry that's a little bigger body than would be comfortable for her (she's 17 and a short 5').

Sometime in my early 20s I reached that point in life where I value my time too much to spend it wading through other peoples trash hoping to find a hidden gem. That said, I also started shopping thrift stores for clothes around that time and at 60years old I still do. Love the thrift model but I ain't about to use it when shopping for guitars.

I've been half-assedly looking around for a small acoustic for my granddaughter to replace one destroyed by a younger sibling. My daughter is shit for teaching kids how to take care of things. Long story short, she asked if I would give her one of my guitars to replace it and I explained I didn't feel good about giving her one of mine while the threat (seriously, they're fucking brutal) still exists. She really enjoyed playing and was making progress so it felt a little shitty to tell her no. She's about to start her senior year of high school and I'm thinking I might give her something reasonably nice ($1000-$1500) for her graduation if her plans to move away from the terrors hold firm. Anyway, I'm aware of the usual suspects but am wondering if anyone can recommend any hidden gems. I ran across Pono which looks interesting. They're primarily a Uke company but have dabbled in smaller guitars. Any ideas or suggestions would be great, as well as any offers for something you've got laying around that would be well suited for a five-foot tall woman with mini hands. 12-fret body and shorter scale are a plus.

“It was awful because all kinds of sounds were jumbled together all day,” Ain't gonna lie...this could have been me.

I purchased a custom shop SG from @santellavision a bunch of years ago. It has the Alnico 3 Custom Buckers in it and has THE sound. Playing it immediately turns me into a five foot tall schoolboy.

Stupid question, but do you have a multimeter with this symbol on it?

It's gotta be the Budweiser Bowtie at the Music Mill

Those early Starla and Mira guitars punch well above their weight. And speaking of weight, they're light as a feather and perfect for whiney old bastards. And speaking of bastards... Shorter scale (24.5") on at least some of them.

To be fair, the 490/498 were also spec on early 90s LP Customs.

GCS did a run of long-scale Les Pauls in 2014. They were more "Standard" in appearance with the exception of split inlays and back binding. They apparently didn't move well and you could pick up a new one for under $3k before they sold out at retail shops. I always wanted to try but never bumped into one in the wild. Used prices climbed pretty quickly into the upper 3s/lower 4s.

But.....she dropped a stick on the intro to the very first song!!! 🙄 Everything I've seen sounds fantastic!

More or less the same idea as @django49 above... Make it a smoker!

I was hopeful it would get better when Etsy sold Reverb to a group with affiliations to Fender and Soundcloud but held off on selling some things to see how it would shake out. It sounds like it's gotten worse.

Oh fuck right off...40 years... that really brought home how old I am.

Fedex Ground has no "insurance" cap because they don't really offer insurance, but they've had that $1000 cap on "declared value" reimbursement for at least a dozen years. Of course they continue to allow you to declare and pay for whatever value you feel is appropriate which can offer a warm and fuzzy until you need it. Pirate Ship is great and offers third party coverage per shipment at competitive rates.

They respect requests that a note be added to your account to never call.

It wasn't spectacular, but I loved the active engagement.

Dylan's voice has never been the draw

I was correct on 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7. Of the rest I had five wrong and ten no fucking clues.

What year did they start?

Rob Reiner and his wife both found stabbed to death in their home.

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like "I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive...." And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas.” ~ HST

I love buying snake oil. I bought a used GCS SG loaded with Tom Holmes pickups. Sold the pickups and made back a third of my cost for the guitar. Similar story with an American strat loaded with Fender Josefina winds but selling those paid for a little more than half the guitar. For the record, the Holmes pickups in the SG were pure mush potatoes. The set of Gravelins with Al-3s that replaced them were divine. It was a big difference. Some say it was one of the biggest differences ever. It was far and away the most dramatic before and after from any pickup swap in human history.