Sometimes, Price Isn’t Everything

For those of you who’ve been following along, I’ve been taking guitar lessons. And, considering my less than stellar practicing schedule, I’m fairly pleased with my progress — I used to joke that I knew four chords, but couldn’t tell you what they were. Now, I’ve got a whole slew of chords under my fingers. With a little more practice, I might even be able to consider playing in front of other people.

The lessons I’ve been taking so far are “class guitar,” and last night was the last class in the beginning guitar series. I’m planning to continue with the intermediate class in January, and private study beyond that.

So far, I’ve been playing my very nice Yamaha classical guitar, and I’m quite happy with the instrument. But, I’m wanting to have the option of a steel-stringed instrument. For some time, I’ve been enamored with a particular Godin model, the Multiac Steel Duet. The Godin is a wonderful instrument, with a wonderful sound and great playability. It features fancy custom pickups and electronics, and can even be phantom-powered through its low-impedance, balanced output. Very cool. And, very expensive.

So, I’ve been looking for reasonable alternatives to the Godin from some of the smaller luthiers, preferably those in the United States.

Enter Jess Guitars, and the JG-613. For roughly ¼ the cost, Jess makes a wonderful sounding instrument which is getting rave reviews. Obviously, the electronics are not as fancy as the Godin’s, but, based on what I’ve heard and seen so far, I’ve got to have one of these! And, it’s made in the USA — Arlington, Texas, to be exact. And I thought nothing good could come out of Arlington (I spent a lot of time in Arlington, TX, back when I worked for American Airlines). BTW, their JG-605 is a really nice sounding guitar, along the lines of certain PRS models.

I did find some other less-expensive guitars, mostly imported from Asia somewhere, but I just haven’t gotten the “warm, fuzzy feeling” that I get from Jess.