Well Spartacus - I am assuming that Wilco will use his own discretion. I don;t say he should put himself in the hands of the Elderly staff - I say he could do well to tap their knowledge and expereince, but I recognize that not everyone of Elderly's staff is an expert, or even one whose opinions I might value - BUT I suspect Wilco is smart enough to make that determination for himself.

I DO have a lot of respect for Elderly, but that is based upon one in-store visit, several on-line purchases and many many visits to their website for valuable info.

But MOST importantly, I say that because Elderly is the type of place where you can walk in, spend hours and hours actually playing the instruments you want to consider, compare and do so without some commission paid sales type with a long haire attitude trying to sell you what makes HIM the most money, and trying to convince you he knows what is coolest. I love that type of store. I want to see lots and lots of available instruments (good instruments) and I want to have the time and freedom to play 'em all! The I want someone nearby in case I have a question. Maybe I'll buy, maybe I just want to play all their cool instruments!

I am quite knowledgeable about instruments. I know how they're made, who makes 'em, what they ought to sound like, how they ought to play and ho wmuch they ought to cost. I don't need a lot of help from a sales person - BUT I enjoy the exploration and like to share my enthusiasm ... the best sales folks, in my mind, share my enhthusiasm. I get this feeling at Elderly. I am smart enough to get the value I need out of my business transactions with these guys, and capabale of beating a vendor into getting a fair deal if things go bad - but I've never had anything but good luck in my transactions with Elderly.