My 8 year old son is saving his money for some drums. (He has about $300 saved). My wife said something about this on spacebook, or myface, one of those things. My nephew who's in the Army has a practically new set of electronic drums that he decided to give the 8 year old. They're at my sister's house in Kansas City. So I pick up my brother-in-law on the way and and he wants to stop at Guitar Center for some new strings (his town is even smaller than mine, no music store at all).

So we go in and I get to try out several amps I've been wanting to hear and they had several semi-hollow bodies for me to try out. That was fun! I really like the beautiful red Gretsch 5120 (with a Bigsby). The thicker bodies sounded A LOT better to me than the thinner bodies. I was surprised at the difference, even within the same brand like the Ibenez Artcore series. And instead of the G-DEC I should have gotten a Super Champ XD. The tone on that was much more to my liking. Easier to get great cleans.

My complaint about the place was how loud it was. They had music playing kinda loud (why do they have it at all?), and then all the people trying out stuff. Of course this was Saturday about 5:00. It was a little hard to hear. I couldn't tell a difference between the Fender Blues Jr. and the Vintage Blues Jr. Of course it they were in two different aisles, so by the time you unplugged and walked across the store you've lost some of the nuance.

But, it was fun, and I'd love to go back. I think before I buy anything new, I'm going to go again to make sure I'm really trying things out and not just going off reviews. Sorry if this post doesn't contribute much, but I don't have anyone in town who will share my excitement.