Whistle Stop, I didn't mean to imply that all steel string guitars are the same! I mean that they all sound the same to me - it's my own inability to judge them properly that troubles me. I think what I'll do is just buy an inexpensive steel string with a "known" name, and bring a steel player shopping with me if I can.

Bonnie mentions being able to do some technique much better on someone else's banjo - I've had a similar experience. There's a very basic blues lick that I've been trying to get down on my classical - I've been practicing it daily for about six months but still only get it right about 1/4 of the time. Once I borrowed someone's Takamine for a few minutes, tried the blues lick, and did it perfectly the first try. And this was with a few people listening, in which situation I normally play worse than alone. Coincidence? Maybe.

And as Bernard said, a lousy instrument won't necessarily deter a beginner if they really really want to play. My first fiddle was a cheap Chinese thing, but I still practiced on it day and night and stuck with it (I now have a higher end student fiddle - thanks Mom!). I think if someone is getting an instrument "to see if they want to learn it" then a bad instrument might put them off, but if they know they want to do it but can only afford a bad instrument, they can still get by.

Although maybe if my bad fiddle had strings an inch off the fretboard like Little Hawk's guitar (did you mean that literally, LH?) it would be a different story.

Marion