9-1-12 The Guitar (and the cat)

When we first moved to Colorado, Nick was just about to start highschool. He decided that first year that the elective he wanted to take was Guitar. He'd saved up some money two years earlier and bought a cheap electric guitar and played around on it, but never had any lessons. Naturally, he needed an acoustic guitar for the class.

I went poking around on Craig's List and found one for $80 that looked like a good buy for a beginner, although this is from a person who has no idea exactly what to look for in a guitar, so take that as you will. And, since I am a word person, when the Fender DG7 had "dreadnaught" in its name, I was sold.

So Nick had his guitar for his class, and then it sat around gathering dust most of the time. I pulled it out of the back a few years later, and at some point Samantha picked it up and "sproing!" there went one of the strings.

Nick was away at school by that time, so I bided my time, thinking once he was home for the summer, I could wrangle him into restringing the guitar. And then he was home for summer, and life got busy, and it occurred to me the weekend before he left, I never got Nick to restring the guitar. 

He was house sitting at the time, so I texted him the request to run by the guitar shop and pick up the order I'd placed online (for strings. and nothing else.)

It's now two days before he leaves for Texas and I say, "So, one last task before you go -- I need you to put the new strings on the guitar."

He looks at me sideways and says, "I don't know how to string that guitar."

Apparently stringing the guitar was not any part of the class.

We stared at each other, then the guitar, then back at each other.

I have new strings. I have a guitar. I am not stupid. Surely, I think, I can figure out how to do this.

Then I watch several youtube videos on how to string a guitar and decide that, maybe I am stupid.

I need more than just strings and a guitar to make this happen. So I get on to Amazon, buy the peg winder/wire cutter/pin puller and then leave for Texas. When I get back, between playing catch up for work, losing the computer, getting it back, playing more catch up, and getting through the end of the month rush, I found myself staring at this stuff in between running around with my hair on fire.

Saturday night, I took the plunge. 

What no one includes in their helpful advice is how to keep the cat out of the way. 

Other than the Bruiser element, things seemed to be going along swimmingly, which must be when I got overconfident and inattentive. On the next to the last string, sproing! Yup, I finished out the night the way I started, with five strings the guitar.

Sunday, another trip to the guitar shop, two packages of strings later, and we were finally in business.

Now all I have to do is learn absolutely everything else. 

But I now know how to string the guitar.