Jack, I am no longer agonizing about the choice of guitar. I got one and now I am just agonizing. As it turns out OLGA was a good place to send me. It has lots of material about choosing a guitar, a teacher, as well as notes on practicing.

Paul, thanks for the advice. At the moment I am relying on a piano and a pitch pipe for tuning. When you say "the top is solid" do you mean as opposed to plywood, or do you mean it is cut out of one piece of wood. If the former, how do you tell if the top is solid?

My wife is a professional violinist, and I know all about those obscene humidifiers. As part of my tuning routine, I play where she can hear it once in a while. That usually gets her to tune it.

BTW Paul. Are you related to a Stamler family in Iowa. Some live in Iowa City and some in Martinsburg. They are my in-laws.

Murray