MakeShift
"From my limited experience with guitars and JTVs in particular I think a player needs to fall in love with the instrument. "

I'm sure for most people, what a guitar sounds like and how it plays are the key factors. For me, the way a guitar looks has always been an extremely big part of the whole experience. Example, great guitars...Seagull's......for some reason that headstock design just doesn't do it for me. No offense at all to Seagull owners, they really are great quality and I really tormented over buying one once. I just couldn't get over my dislike for the shape of the headstock though, and finally passed on it thinking I ended to really love what I was going to buy.

 
Heh, that's why I've never owned a Tele...  Always thought they were fugly as sin.  Nothing wrong with them of course, just me, but still...

Progress has been made.
 
I spent an hour with her in our local guitar store and their stock of guitars, trying out various combinations of manufacturer/body style/neck size/scale length/solid/hollow...
 
Next she spent an hour or so pawing my guitars (Gibson LP/Fender Strat/Fender Tele/Ibanez something..).
 
 
She has decided on......
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
wait for it...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
the colour

That's the priority out of the way

So, the Hello Kitty guitar is back in the running, then?

what makes you think it was ever out?

Karyn
what makes you think it was ever out?

When you said she's deciding on the colour???
 
 

If color is the deciding factor...
 

 
Maybe "swirl" is way.

This whole thread has me wondering what makes a guitar look good compared to other guitars,and how much looks play into the whole thing. What kind of a guitar would blind man play?
 
I have held guitars that had the exact same dimensions and they don't always feel the same. I think the feel is as important  as looks. There's a feeling that I can't always put a finger on
( well maybe I could) that I know this is the one. My acoustic is like that. I feel like that guitar was made just for me. It feels comfortable to pick it up and not a chore to play.
 
Everyone  has a different criteria, but for some reason the general public still come back to many of the basics.
 
I would go nuts trying to pick a guitar for someone else. I think you did the best thing, let her pick it.
 
 
 
 

May Progress never stop, I guess.
 
(I just have Sunburst color on my Epiphone, but of course the Gibson LP was some Caramel Burst).
 
Color, colors, colors more and more and different for different years (especially with Gibson or even Fender.)
whatever!

Placid Blue, Midnight Blue, Mahatten Blue, Orange, TV Yellow, Wine Red, whatever colors, colors, colors.
 

Karyn
 
the colour

 
That's exactly what I tell the lads at the guitar stores I visit. I figure, heck, if color isn't the most important thing by now, you probably don't have enough guitars.
 
:-)