Cowworkers know that I play the guitsr. One woman asked me if I could help her with tuning a guitar that she had bought, and also giving her daughter some pointers.

She brought in this...*thing* that looked sort of like a guitar. I mean, it had a body, neck, strings, frets, and tuning pegs. Yes indeed, it sure looked like a guitar. I asked her about her choice of an instrument for her daughter, and she said that she didn't want to spend too much on it. And if her daughter liked it, then she would get her a better guitar. And she told me how she had saved so much money by buying it from Amazon instead of Mal*wart. Oh, and it had a thick coat of girlie pink paint and flowers.

Well, I tried to tune it. I very tentatively tightened a couple of strings ever so gently. And I tuned it low. Sure enough, though, I broke a string. Actually, it was a string the looked like a guitar string. Interestingly enough, it came with a backup set, undifferentiated, of course. So I installed what I thought should be the right string, and it broke again. I said I would get her a set of strings to replace the ones I broke. Then...

(Later) As I reflected on the experience, I concluded that the right thing to do would be to tell her honestly that I couldn't make it work like a guitar, and I gave her several alternatives to encourage her daughter, any of which I would be glad to help her with.

Choosing a better entry level guitar that would have resale value if daughter didn't care for it, as well as actually sound and feel like an actual guitar. Or try renting from a music store. And I was an inch (or 2.54 centimeters) from actually loaning her a guitar. But I quickly saw the peril in that path, and quashed the notion. She almost imperceptibly frowned, and thanked me for my help.

Now, did I do anything wrong or fail to do something I should have to help her encourage her daughter? I throw myself on the mercy of judgement by Mudcatters.

Saul