Good points Larry

Yeah, pawnshop prices on junk is pretty high. I'm guessing they count on the uninformed buyer with cash and itchy fingers and dreams of stardom, to buy the junk at inflated prices. Any brand names on the rack, regardless of condition, will be even higher. The days of finding a vintage Fender or Gibson for a few hundred dollars in some dusty pawnshop where the owner doesn't know what he has on his wall are gone.

However, since you know they bought really low, showing some cash and being serious about the deal can often get you a decent bargain. I've never bought from a pawnshop because I didn't want anything I saw on the wall bad enough.

Generally speaking, the brand names are built better and therefore can usually be setup to play smooth as silk. Of course, there are those lemons in the bunch and exceptions to the group. But the owners of the stores aren't stupid and know that the brand names are quality guitars so they jack the prices. And no doubt create stories on the background history..... "this guitar was owned by a friend of a friend of Joe Walsh when he played with the James Gang" and Joe used to play it when they jammed..."

I was asked by many parents through the years to "teach my child to play guitar"... to which I always relied "No. Sorry, I don't teach. You need to enroll them in a guitar teacher's class" Of all the kids I know of that started learning to play, I don't know of a single one who continued much past 6 moths to a year at best. Too many other more "instantly gratifying" things to do as a kid, than to spend the hundreds of solitary hours required to play chords with confidence.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.