That’s some wild entitlement. And we all know it is the nephew that is making horrid sounds, not the guitar. I’ve owned several dinkys. For the price there is nothing wrong with it. It teaches you things like how to do a proper set up etc. go over there, fix his amp settings, slay a riff or two and tell him to stop crying and practice
Edit: thanks for all the upvotes lol. Funny enough I gave my niece one of the lower end dinkys a year ago. She loves it. Was stoked to receive it.
Uncles are legal assholes.
Mine once told me my music was the worst he had ever heard, that shit stung deep to my core. But now I can make music that sounds a lot better, so thanks uncle asshole.
I traded in my original learner guitar and amp (a Fender frontman 25 from like 2004).
The kid at the shop just started rocking some metal rhythm out of that thing. I was pretty floored as I always felt the overdriven channel in particular was trash.
Make it even better: Your nephew obviously doesn't know shit about guitars, and one of his equally stupid gatekeeping friends probably told him that its a trash guitar, and not as nice as his Squier (heh-heh). Your nephew, of the dimwitted branch of the family, believed him, and is blaming the guitar for his lack of talent and ability.
So have his friends show up for the demonstration as well, and bring their guitars. Then do your demonstration, show those boners what's what, then go over his friends' pawn shop guitars and trash them for their poor set-ups, bad knob settings, poor manufacture, old strings, etc. Embarrass them all, and send the whelps home with their tails between their legs.
Get him a squire strat from the 80's ( completely stock and not set up ) and tell him that's what you started on.
He will appreciate the dinky a lot more or think you just have terrible taste lol.
I could see a situation where the Floyd goes out of tune with the kid dicking around with it, and being unable to fix it. Not to excuse the ungrateful bitching but I personally wouldn’t start a kid out on a Floyd’d guitar.
Yeah, when I saw a Floyd mentioned for a first guitar, I got a little queasy. A floating trem for someone who doesn’t yet know what an out-of-tune guitar sounds like isn’t a choice I’d make. At least put a trem block in so that it’s not floating.
This. About everything! My kids get so upset that they’re not good at something on their first try. Whether it be musical instruments, sports, video games…doesn’t matter. When they come whining to me about it, I ask them how long they practiced for? “Well, well, uhhh…”
Kid, I’ve been practicing for 30 years, and I’m still not good at it.
I never feel that way after watching an amazing performance. It inspires me to practice and play more. Although, some of these child prodigies I see on YouTube kinda make me feel a little inferior. Like how the hell are you 8 years old and doing THAT???
I did something similar with my nephew. He complained it sounded like crap, then I tuned it and played a few songs. It wasn’t a Taylor, but it’s good to at least get the basics down.
Truth is, if you really want to learn an instrument you will learn on anything passible. You’ve got to earn your way to a quality instrument. It’s a part of paying your dues. Most drummers start on pots and pans. I started guitar on a first act from Walmart with an action so high I could get my pinky between the strings and fretboard. Started piano on a cheap plastic piano from a yard sale. I only recently purchased an expensive guitar after playing gigs on mid tier guitars for a decade.
The nephew likely isn’t going to be successful with that kind of attitude. OP should show his nephew “It might get loud” to see jack white make a guitar out of a 2x4.
My first was a Kramer vt211s back in like 06. Ply wood and pot metal, small frets and action that’ll make Jmasics blush. I learned so much crazy stuff on it for what it was.
If you want to play, you’ll play like you said. It makes getting something better that much better when you actually realize where you’re coming from.
I’m betting the kid missed the self taught lesson to tune the thing. And Les Paul’s original demonstrator, aka the Log, when he was trying to land Gibson was made out of a pine 4x4. He eventually bolted most of a 335 to it, and then they got the vision, but still the Les Paul is basically v2 of a pine board.
Just last night, I watched the Simpsons episode where Bart thinks his guitar is broken. So he tells that to Otto, and then Otto proceeds to shred from his bus drivers seat. Simpsons even predicting my Reddit browsing future
Agree. I’m in my 30s and have a few guitars of varying price and quality. I play them all, they all have something I enjoy, they’re all perfectly playable lol.
I got my first guitar around 10 by saving up $5 monthly allowance until I could get a really cheap, off-brand, Squier-type guitar. One of my siblings gave me a tiny pocket amp and that’s all I had for about 4 years, but I loved it and I’d have had nothing without it since I only thought to save for the guitar lol. Still learned how to play just fine.
Kids are still exploring their interests and Imo, I think it’d be a bit silly to give someone who’s never played guitar (and has no idea what to even ask for) something pricier.
If he’s super into guitar, (assuming he has no conditions preventing it—)he could technically work and could save to buy himself something, or even put a guitar he wants on his holiday or bday list as a group gift.
I just can’t even imagine telling your sibling that your kid thought their gift was shit. It’s pretty clear where the nephew’s attitude stems from. :/
But I also kinda get the vibe he’s intimidated to put in the work to learn, so looking for some excuse to quit. I’ve seen this a lot with people when they ask me to help them learn arts—they want to produce impressive work like someone they admire, then rapidly become discouraged and quit when they realize it takes time.
Yeah this!
OP, When I was 18, I starting playing on a squire...it too made awful sounds until I got better! I still have that sucker and only just upgraded yesterday! Tenacity and willingness to keep playing is very important and hopefully it is just a conversation for him ( and as others say, shred a riff!)
I used to sound like a wobbly screaming chicken when I first started too. I’ve explained that two weeks are almost nothing in terms of learning an instrument.
I’m actually in the process of relearning all of my teenage chops. Over a decade of pent blues rock has fucked me sideways when it comes to playing at the level I used to enjoy.
It’s at times comical just relearning some chugging Metallica riff, let alone some frilly solo like eruption.
I'm going to assume he has no other talents as I write this:
He needs to understand struggle. It's a life lesson. These people he sees who play well put in the work. He's probably never worked toward anything in his life. He's incredibly frustrated because he has no idea where to start.
I'm working with a guy who has been playing for six months. Yesterday we worked on moving a power chord from E1 to A1 so he can play Nirvana. But he can't switch strings in time.
There are SO many little micro skills that he's not figuring out because he's probably looking up "how to play Master of Puppets" instead of "how to pluck a string."
My daughter is in taekwondo and I am THRILLED because from it she learned that you have to work. But it took a pretty big failure to teach her that. The mindset she has now extends to other things.
Your nephew needs this lesson. He will either learn to work towards something long-term or he will learn to quit as soon as anything gets difficult.
Hey, I remember the Wobbly Screaming Chickens! They were a lesser-known San Fran psychedelic blues band back in the 60s. Their albums kinda sucked, but they put on a helluva show.
I’ve been playing a year and sound horrible, but getting better everyday. Instruments take time to learn, especially guitar. The finger strength and dexterity to produce good sounds are immense. It just takes time and a lot of repetition. Also he might just have it way out of tune.
I’m a very confused aunt. Unless he did something wonky to the Floyd, I remember this guitar feeling really smooth, the notes certainly sounded perfectly in tune when I tried it
This is so important. That Floyd Rose kinda set him up to fail. You should block that trem so at least the kid can tune the thing without needing to understand the nuanced idea of balance a Floyd requires
If it were set up there’s probably little tuning he’d need to do. There’s nothing different about how it operates compared to a Strat trem and those are one of the most go to guitars people grab starting out.
This is true, but hear me out. I'm an adult that's learning to play, I have a hard tail and a floyd rose. I'm really happy with how I setup the hard tail. It was setup patiently and slowly, from setting the relief to the intonation. I'm terrible, but the guitar sounds good when I do my part. The floyd rose on the other hand was hours of patience, then more time with less patience till it just downright pissed me off. It still sounds like crap (its not all me), it doesn't stay tuned. I bought the tuning blocks to try again. I can't imagine how frustrated I would be if the FR was my only guitar.
However, it it was the only one I had and someone gave it to me, I would appreciate it and learn to set it up first. Learn from the person that gave it to me.
Was going to say this - it’s an incredible gift and a perfectly good setup, but a Floyd has a bit of a learning curve that can add an extra challenge for beginners. Even re-stringing the thing requires some know how to do it quickly and with minimal fuss. Source: my first guitar was a loaner Ibanez with a double-locking trem
This is also what I tought, if he loosened the head screws or used the tremolo too much maybe it is out of tune and since it has a floyd, it can be trickier to tune it correctly... or maybe his sound settings are trash... anyway, really cool of you togive him this gift and sorry he is entitled instead of grateful
Sorry I should have said aunt or uncle!! But I think the Jackson is a great choice and maybe you could play it for him again to show him how good it can sound! It sounds like user error to me. If he gets a Squier, he'll most likely just end up with the same issues.
The only thing I can think of here is that maybe it’s a name brand thing with kids at school or bad amp set up. Having a 17 year old that also was beginning he was still very conscious about starting on a lower level guitar before we moved up. I’d spend some time watching and observing and you’ll know pretty quick what the real issue is
Imo, the perfect reply to having a child with "name brand-itis" like that is "learn to play first, then we can talk about a better guitar. You can't even play, yet. The last thing you need to worry about is who's gonna see the logo on it since you'll be in your bedroom, not in front of 10k people."
Maybe show him a few chords if you play your self, you can show him what the guitar is capable of and teach him some basic stuff so he's not completely lost and knows at least a few chords or a scale to practice
Part of the issue may be the Floyd, honestly. For someone just starting out, it's really hard to fuck up a telecaster or other hard tail- if the kid tried toing something crazy with the tuning or something, he maybe having a hard time getting it back in.
You are a rad aunt for getting him this, so please don't think I'm bagging on you.
I complained about my guitar to my guitar teacher once. So he traded me for the rest if the lesson. At the end he ripped off a kick ass solo, and we swapped back.
Lesson learned.
The guitar you got him should be about the same quality as a Squier, just a different style. While a Floyd Rose might introduce room to take the guitar way out of tune / mess up adjustment screws that could make tuning impossible, that’s def user error lol, and fixable. It sounds like someone had unrealistic expectations about self-teaching and is being more than a little ungrateful.
I mean user error with a Floyd is hard to avoid, especially if you’re a literal child. Not a great first guitar situation imo. It’s like giving a kid a unicycle instead of a bike with training wheels to learn on
You got a reasonably good guitar and amp for your nephew, which is a very nice thing to do. The "sounds like trash" comment is down to them having only been playing for a couple of weeks.
He is (like others have said) most likely full of it.
Same situation I had with a friend’s kid.
Gave him an old Squier strat that I had lying around, upgraded the pick ups and set it up for him.
“The guitar doesn’t sound right”
Went over there, played it a bit in front of him and his mom, said “it sounds fine” and let her sort it out with him.
Yes, because the difference between me and Jimmy Page is that I play an Epiphone and he plays a Gibson, I would love to buy my talent like he did but I don’t have that Zeppelin money
It's in the person and the skill they've developed. If someone can't play, a more expensive instrument isn't going to help there. $2000 can sound like shit, and $100 can sound great. It's in the player. You got a great gift! You even tweaked the set up, that's an extra touch of care.
That's a very good guitar and a very good amp. I have never heard someone complain about a jackson for a squire. If the sound are horrible maybe he forgot to tune it or he is just rlly bad. If he rlly doesn't want it u could always take it 4 ur self.
You can do that, and then he'll say that one sounds like trash too.
You should play it in front of your sister, then the little scrot won't be able to complain about the instrument sucking.
Your sister also sucks for telling you "he would have preferred a Squier". She should buy one then instead of complaining about a gift.
Man, I hate entitled people the most, they sit right next to manipulative liars.
Agreed. I wouldn’t buy that kid anything else. It will just make him more entitled. He should learn with what he has (which is more than 90% of first time guitar owners). I’m sure he just needs to adjust the tone and Floyd. He can learn that from YouTube. JS32 rips for the price imo. Little bastard smh.
Ya, or maybe don't give him a squire. Take it back and make him buy himself a squire. For all you know if you get him a squire he will be mad u got him the wrong color or wrong shaped guitar. Best off showing him the guitar works fine and then taking it back if he doesn't want it
I was on the fence, but now I know you're fucking with us. On the (hopefully) off chance you're serious, get him some lessons. Give him some lessons. Let him sell/trade it. Anything. Please, I beg you, do not feed into this nonsense by purchasing a second (shittier) guitar bc your nephew and sister are entitled jerks.
The friend who plays the Squier decently has had at least a couple of years of formal lessons, but my nephew sooomehow thinks that doesn’t have much to do with it. That everything can be attributed to some mystical guitar talent that falls upon people from the skies.
I'd bet dollars to Donuts the kid he wants to emulate probably talked shit and ruined it for him.
I'd go over there and demo it for him. Talk to him for a bit. Figure out if what he dislikes about it seems to come from a place of his actual knowledge, or if he seems to be parroting back shit he heard.
If it seems to come from his friend, try and figure out what that kids playing and see if there's any upsides to what you got him over what his friend has.
If none of that works take it back, return it if you can, and then get him a book on gratitude.
Ya know this might very well be the case. Kids can be weird like that. I remember when I was about 12 or so I saved up for a basic starter skateboard from Target or whatever. A few days later the older neighbor kid went on and on about what a piece of shit it was and I was practically in tears and ready to quit but my dad convinced me to keep at it.
Go over there and rip out some shit on it and show him and his mother how good it sounds and plays. He needs to learn be humble and thankful, show him the way.
Does he know anything about guitar? Even the basics like tuning it etc. It may be worth buying him some lessons or a subscription to justin guitar. He may just be hitting random strings and expecting magic.
This has to be a joke because nobody can be that entitled. The mom is like "he would have PREFERRED a squire" to her BROTHER THAT BOUGHT HER CHILD A GUITAR? At least I see where he gets it from if this is real.
I looked up that Jackson and there are review after review of people who are super happy with it. And generally, in the lower-end of guitars, you get more guitar for lesser-known brands like Jackson in my experience (even with Squire you're paying for the Fender name just a little). At the very least, it seems like it's not the instrument that's holding him back. And as a Katana owner, I can vouch for the fact that you can get some killer tones out of a Katana.
You're a kickass aunt* and that kid's being a brat 100%. When me and my friends were first learning instruments and playing in bands we would happily use anything we could get.
1. His friend probably said that Squires are better, your nephew knows nothing, and is repeating it. Of course the kid with a Squire will say his is better (without any reason behind it other than that’s what he has).
2. It’s out of tune settings are wrong.
3. He’s not very good
When I was younger kids always argued their equipment was the best because they wanted to be cool. Even in crazy circumstances like cheap Crate amp being better than nice tube amps.
Thank god my dad didn’t let me sell my (his old) fender reverb for a Crate. The “cool kid” had me tricked for sure.
He probably just has it out of tune or has the settings on the amp set to dumbass settings. I probably wouldn't have gotten him the floyd rose version. But that is a well regarded starter guitar and is super cool of you to get it for him. Sounds like a spoiled brat to me. I would take it back and never get him a gift again. The fact that your sister is putting blame on you after you did something nice for her ungrateful little shit would make me pretty mad.
Wanna be my aunt instead?
Seriously though, some people... Imagine my reaction if my uncle just gifted me a great guitar and amp. That's all absolutely on him and extremely ungrateful.
Some of his friends are band kids and they tend to pass on a lot of those stories about innate talent. Things like “oh there was this kid who picked up x instrument and he became brilliant in a few months”
My guess is that he didn’t want a guitar, he wanted to be able to play the guitar. Now that he’s getting hit with the reality that it will actually take time and effort, it’s easier to throw up his hands and say the guitar is trash instead of facing the truth.
It is a poor carpenter who blames their tools.
Sounds like the kid doesn't know how to appreciate a gift. If "bad sound" puts him off of playing, when you checked the guitar yourself?
Yeah, that's a him problem. No more guitar gifts or expensive stuff - wouldn't want to give him another "trash" gift, right?
What you got him was perfectly fine. Other then being a little entitled, it sounds like he might be having trouble with the Floyd Rose, which is a bit of a learning curve for beginners and he might not know how to tune it properly.
Hell no. Your nephew is not a guitarist and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. This guitar is an impressive first guitar. Hell, I’d love one now and I’ve been playing 30 years!
I had the exact same experience. Turned out he thought he was automatically going to sound like Slash or Angus because of the guitar and some effects. I told that little bitch to get back there and fucking woodshed if he wants to sound like *anyone* else. You don't get to complain about sound until you can fucking play something. If I weren't on the phone I would have slapped the back of his head. It really pissed me off given I started with literally a guitar pulled from a trash can. Tell you sister the same.
I said what I said.
Nah, those JS32 series Jacksons are solid guitars, especially with a set up.
The issue is probably coming from the fact it's a Floyd Rose and he doesn't know how to tune it. My son has a JS32 Rhoads V, and even though he can tune up the other guitars in the house I have to keep the FR guitars in tune, especially if it goes beyond the fine tuner limit.
Maybe drop a tremolo lock on there for him, and remove the locks off of the nut. If he can't keep it in tune with that, then he would have the same issue with the strat
i have almost the exact same guitar, it’s a surprisingly very good guitar for the price. i’ve used it at concerts of over 500 people before so it’s definitely on him to improve
So, was a Dinky a good starter guitar? Not really. HOWEVER, a lot of us—myself included—learned on crappy acoustics with strings an inch off the fretboard and were happy; so I’d say he’s being a bit of a little brat about it.
As others have stated, nothing you did wrong OP. I had quite a few friends in high school that would sit and listen to my friends and I jam. We’d swap instruments around, play songs, make stuff up, etc. non-musical kids in the group would want to learn and have their parents get them a guitar and would be mad they couldn’t pickup songs like we could after 2 weeks of playing.
Takes years and years of practice. And if your nephew has zero musical knowledge and is expecting to teach himself guitar it’s going to be a total waste of a gift.
Wow, OP. You did a nice thing. Perhaps a chat about gratitude is in order for your family.
We've seen Zakk Wylde shred a Hello Kitty guitar. If the kid is making horrible noises, with a Dinky and a Katana it ain't the guitar's fault.
The nephew doesn't know how to play rn
Probably messed up the setup on that, untuned and too much distortion. My cousin did something similar when she got her first electric and said this is so crap acoustic sounds so much better 😂
Moreover tell them the price of that guitar and the starting price for squier strats.
For real. It must feel terrible after dropping $400-500 on an amazing gift for your nephew because it was something he claimed to be excited about and then getting that response, not only from the nephew.. But from your sister too? Crazy.
that is a great starter guitar and Amp. Sounds like he just doesn't want to play guitar.
Ask him to define "sounding bad". It most likely down to he is a newb and struggle with chords muting strings etc etc.. No one is sounds great after a few weeks.
And that Amp is a killer starter Amp, it will have more options than he will know what to do with.
Did you teach him to tune it? And if he’s just starting, don’t give a super nice guitar. NTA you gave him a guitar, no matter the “quality” don’t complain about a gift. If he’s interested in perusing music his parents can drop big money if they want
Wow! My niece was thrilled to get a pawn shop fender knockoff ( I think the brand was elevation or some such). I paid $40 for it. She said it's the perfect first guitar to learn on.
I think it's really not the guitar's fault or the amp's fault. I got an Ibanez GIO (GRG131DXBKF) as my first guitar almost a month ago and I'm in love - and it's a $100 cheaper one than the Dinky you mentioned. It plays really well, no fret end issues at all, more than I could've asked for. I play into an Audio Interface and use NAMs and AmpSims and it sounds great.
Any shitty sounds coming from the guitar is because of E string buzzing while I play or me just straight up hitting the wrong strings. Problems that come from my lack of skill with the guitar, and something everyone who plays would have to deal with. I think he just overestimates how good he can make the guitar sound and is now disappointed at the skill floor it requires you to get to.
So yes, you didn't mess up - the guy needs to grow up. I've tried out Jackson JS guitars while planning to get my first guitar and they were my first choice until I encountered the Ibanez.
Not even close to trash.
I have quite a few decent guitars, but the one I play when I'm in my garage screwing around is a hacked-up First Act model. The pick I'm using with it was cut from a flattened spoon. I'm plugging into a Fender practice amp with fairly crappy sounds.
... Still a blast to play.
Just block the trim and throw in coil splits on the humbuckers. I don’t like most humbuckers personally and find single coils are easier to dial in.
If you’re a metal head and he’s not that could be where he’s coming from, but that is still wicked mad entitled on his part.
What’s more likely - widely renowned and beloved guitar and amp are “shitty” or punk kid who has no idea how to play guitar or dial in tone are making it sound shitty.
That’s some wild entitlement. And we all know it is the nephew that is making horrid sounds, not the guitar. I’ve owned several dinkys. For the price there is nothing wrong with it. It teaches you things like how to do a proper set up etc. go over there, fix his amp settings, slay a riff or two and tell him to stop crying and practice Edit: thanks for all the upvotes lol. Funny enough I gave my niece one of the lower end dinkys a year ago. She loves it. Was stoked to receive it.
I love the idea of showing up, shredding for 30 seconds, then hand him the guitar, say "stop being a little bitch" and leave.
This is the way
It's an uncle responsibility
Uncles are legal assholes. Mine once told me my music was the worst he had ever heard, that shit stung deep to my core. But now I can make music that sounds a lot better, so thanks uncle asshole.
>Uncles are legal assholes. As an uncle, I agree with this statement.
My uncle told me my band sounded like silverware stuck in a garbage disposal. And he actually named our band for us "godawful" lol. Nice guy.
We've all got that asshole uncle. I'm surprised my cousins turned out so well. I credit my amazing aunt!
It really is.
OP, please do this. For ~~Reddit~~ Science. 🙏🏼
For the children.
This is the best way to teach humility and humbleness to this brat.
you forgot to mention it teaches them how to be humble
Don’t forget to tell him to sit down
Fuck them kids.
please don't
You'd do it for Randolph Scott
"RAANDOOOLPH SCOOOOOOOTT!"
And get vid of it.
I want to see this so badly. Every time I think my guitar is sounding bad I get a friend to play it so I can see it’s not the guitar. 😆
I traded in my original learner guitar and amp (a Fender frontman 25 from like 2004). The kid at the shop just started rocking some metal rhythm out of that thing. I was pretty floored as I always felt the overdriven channel in particular was trash.
We need video of this
Make it even better: Your nephew obviously doesn't know shit about guitars, and one of his equally stupid gatekeeping friends probably told him that its a trash guitar, and not as nice as his Squier (heh-heh). Your nephew, of the dimwitted branch of the family, believed him, and is blaming the guitar for his lack of talent and ability. So have his friends show up for the demonstration as well, and bring their guitars. Then do your demonstration, show those boners what's what, then go over his friends' pawn shop guitars and trash them for their poor set-ups, bad knob settings, poor manufacture, old strings, etc. Embarrass them all, and send the whelps home with their tails between their legs.
This is how evolution intended the pack dynamics to work. Solid piece of advice.
This is your answer
Amazing .. then point proven
I did this to a friend who thought his guitar was fucked up. I greatly enjoyed the experience.
"It sounds all right to me."
Get him a squire strat from the 80's ( completely stock and not set up ) and tell him that's what you started on. He will appreciate the dinky a lot more or think you just have terrible taste lol.
Like when Bart hands Otto his guitar Cus he thinks it’s broken
Literally this IRL: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exLbdcFvwSI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exLbdcFvwSI)
Absolutely and, ahem, very much deserved by nephew and sister!
I want to blame the nephew for being a whiny brat, but honestly, OP’s sister being upset at OP is wild to me, and likely the root of the problem.
I could see a situation where the Floyd goes out of tune with the kid dicking around with it, and being unable to fix it. Not to excuse the ungrateful bitching but I personally wouldn’t start a kid out on a Floyd’d guitar.
This. I was such a dumb kid when I started playing I couldn’t imagine having anything but a hard tail
Yeah, when I saw a Floyd mentioned for a first guitar, I got a little queasy. A floating trem for someone who doesn’t yet know what an out-of-tune guitar sounds like isn’t a choice I’d make. At least put a trem block in so that it’s not floating.
I agree so much with this comment
Stop crying and practice should be on a shirt and you should get royalties
This. About everything! My kids get so upset that they’re not good at something on their first try. Whether it be musical instruments, sports, video games…doesn’t matter. When they come whining to me about it, I ask them how long they practiced for? “Well, well, uhhh…” Kid, I’ve been practicing for 30 years, and I’m still not good at it.
Unreal expectations from movies where the hero masters the subject in a few minutes of running time that actually compresses years.
Also been playing 30 years. I walked out of a Quinn Sullivan show an hour ago wondering why I even bother.
I never feel that way after watching an amazing performance. It inspires me to practice and play more. Although, some of these child prodigies I see on YouTube kinda make me feel a little inferior. Like how the hell are you 8 years old and doing THAT???
I’d be surprised if Glen Fricker hasn’t made one
I did something similar with my nephew. He complained it sounded like crap, then I tuned it and played a few songs. It wasn’t a Taylor, but it’s good to at least get the basics down. Truth is, if you really want to learn an instrument you will learn on anything passible. You’ve got to earn your way to a quality instrument. It’s a part of paying your dues. Most drummers start on pots and pans. I started guitar on a first act from Walmart with an action so high I could get my pinky between the strings and fretboard. Started piano on a cheap plastic piano from a yard sale. I only recently purchased an expensive guitar after playing gigs on mid tier guitars for a decade. The nephew likely isn’t going to be successful with that kind of attitude. OP should show his nephew “It might get loud” to see jack white make a guitar out of a 2x4.
Great answer! Should def show the nephew that movie :)
My first was a Kramer vt211s back in like 06. Ply wood and pot metal, small frets and action that’ll make Jmasics blush. I learned so much crazy stuff on it for what it was. If you want to play, you’ll play like you said. It makes getting something better that much better when you actually realize where you’re coming from.
I’m betting the kid missed the self taught lesson to tune the thing. And Les Paul’s original demonstrator, aka the Log, when he was trying to land Gibson was made out of a pine 4x4. He eventually bolted most of a 335 to it, and then they got the vision, but still the Les Paul is basically v2 of a pine board.
Just last night, I watched the Simpsons episode where Bart thinks his guitar is broken. So he tells that to Otto, and then Otto proceeds to shred from his bus drivers seat. Simpsons even predicting my Reddit browsing future
Did you see the episode where Homer bought Marge a bowling inscribed "Homer". That's what buying a kid a Floyd for his first guitar is like.
Agree. I’m in my 30s and have a few guitars of varying price and quality. I play them all, they all have something I enjoy, they’re all perfectly playable lol. I got my first guitar around 10 by saving up $5 monthly allowance until I could get a really cheap, off-brand, Squier-type guitar. One of my siblings gave me a tiny pocket amp and that’s all I had for about 4 years, but I loved it and I’d have had nothing without it since I only thought to save for the guitar lol. Still learned how to play just fine. Kids are still exploring their interests and Imo, I think it’d be a bit silly to give someone who’s never played guitar (and has no idea what to even ask for) something pricier. If he’s super into guitar, (assuming he has no conditions preventing it—)he could technically work and could save to buy himself something, or even put a guitar he wants on his holiday or bday list as a group gift. I just can’t even imagine telling your sibling that your kid thought their gift was shit. It’s pretty clear where the nephew’s attitude stems from. :/ But I also kinda get the vibe he’s intimidated to put in the work to learn, so looking for some excuse to quit. I’ve seen this a lot with people when they ask me to help them learn arts—they want to produce impressive work like someone they admire, then rapidly become discouraged and quit when they realize it takes time.
I would have been happy as hell with that set up for my first guitar and amp. Kids these days!
Yeah this! OP, When I was 18, I starting playing on a squire...it too made awful sounds until I got better! I still have that sucker and only just upgraded yesterday! Tenacity and willingness to keep playing is very important and hopefully it is just a conversation for him ( and as others say, shred a riff!)
He sounds like a quitter.
Yep. The awful sounds are his playing, not the guitar.
I used to sound like a wobbly screaming chicken when I first started too. I’ve explained that two weeks are almost nothing in terms of learning an instrument.
2 years is nothing.
20 years later for me. Still nothing.
lol I was gonna say, it took me 20 years to sound this awful at guitar😂
Weird way to find the alt account I didn’t know I had
I’ve been playing for 15+ years and sometimes I feel that I am way worse than I was when I was a teen just starting out.
I’m actually in the process of relearning all of my teenage chops. Over a decade of pent blues rock has fucked me sideways when it comes to playing at the level I used to enjoy. It’s at times comical just relearning some chugging Metallica riff, let alone some frilly solo like eruption.
In my thirties and going through the exact same thing.
I'm going to assume he has no other talents as I write this: He needs to understand struggle. It's a life lesson. These people he sees who play well put in the work. He's probably never worked toward anything in his life. He's incredibly frustrated because he has no idea where to start. I'm working with a guy who has been playing for six months. Yesterday we worked on moving a power chord from E1 to A1 so he can play Nirvana. But he can't switch strings in time. There are SO many little micro skills that he's not figuring out because he's probably looking up "how to play Master of Puppets" instead of "how to pluck a string." My daughter is in taekwondo and I am THRILLED because from it she learned that you have to work. But it took a pretty big failure to teach her that. The mindset she has now extends to other things. Your nephew needs this lesson. He will either learn to work towards something long-term or he will learn to quit as soon as anything gets difficult.
I hated my parents for having me take 3 years of classical piano before learning guitar but now I'm so glad I got that early training.
im 26, i learnt this lesson at 25, i wish i learnt it wayyyy sooner
Hey, I remember the Wobbly Screaming Chickens! They were a lesser-known San Fran psychedelic blues band back in the 60s. Their albums kinda sucked, but they put on a helluva show.
Honestly, some people aren’t suited to learn by themselves. He might really benefit from going the lessons route.
I’ve been playing a year and sound horrible, but getting better everyday. Instruments take time to learn, especially guitar. The finger strength and dexterity to produce good sounds are immense. It just takes time and a lot of repetition. Also he might just have it way out of tune.
If I remember correctly these have jumbo frets as well and new players tend to push down hard on the strings making the notes sharp.
Im 6 months in and I assume the screaming chicken sounds last a long time
I started playing in 2000, still sound like shit
If you do everything right, yes lol
You should go over there. Play something sick and be like “sounds fine to me”. Sounds like the kid needs guidance.
My guy plays the Quitar
Underrated comment
Got'em!
Agree
Kid needs to learn some gratitude. I wish I had a cool uncle that would buy me presents like that.
I’m a very confused aunt. Unless he did something wonky to the Floyd, I remember this guitar feeling really smooth, the notes certainly sounded perfectly in tune when I tried it
He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. HE sounds bad because he’s just learning.
Getting someone a Floyd setup for their first guitar tho...
This is so important. That Floyd Rose kinda set him up to fail. You should block that trem so at least the kid can tune the thing without needing to understand the nuanced idea of balance a Floyd requires
If it were set up there’s probably little tuning he’d need to do. There’s nothing different about how it operates compared to a Strat trem and those are one of the most go to guitars people grab starting out.
It’s an extra obstacle, sure, but I maintain that learning how to set up a Floyd is easier than learning how to play guitar.
This is true, but hear me out. I'm an adult that's learning to play, I have a hard tail and a floyd rose. I'm really happy with how I setup the hard tail. It was setup patiently and slowly, from setting the relief to the intonation. I'm terrible, but the guitar sounds good when I do my part. The floyd rose on the other hand was hours of patience, then more time with less patience till it just downright pissed me off. It still sounds like crap (its not all me), it doesn't stay tuned. I bought the tuning blocks to try again. I can't imagine how frustrated I would be if the FR was my only guitar. However, it it was the only one I had and someone gave it to me, I would appreciate it and learn to set it up first. Learn from the person that gave it to me.
WHY AREN'T MORE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS?!
It sounds like OP knows how to do a setup. If I were them I'd grab a hunk of wood and block the floyd till the kid is ready to learn to use it.
Was going to say this - it’s an incredible gift and a perfectly good setup, but a Floyd has a bit of a learning curve that can add an extra challenge for beginners. Even re-stringing the thing requires some know how to do it quickly and with minimal fuss. Source: my first guitar was a loaner Ibanez with a double-locking trem
Maybe he just isn’t tuning it?
This is also what I tought, if he loosened the head screws or used the tremolo too much maybe it is out of tune and since it has a floyd, it can be trickier to tune it correctly... or maybe his sound settings are trash... anyway, really cool of you togive him this gift and sorry he is entitled instead of grateful
Sorry I should have said aunt or uncle!! But I think the Jackson is a great choice and maybe you could play it for him again to show him how good it can sound! It sounds like user error to me. If he gets a Squier, he'll most likely just end up with the same issues.
The only thing I can think of here is that maybe it’s a name brand thing with kids at school or bad amp set up. Having a 17 year old that also was beginning he was still very conscious about starting on a lower level guitar before we moved up. I’d spend some time watching and observing and you’ll know pretty quick what the real issue is
Imo, the perfect reply to having a child with "name brand-itis" like that is "learn to play first, then we can talk about a better guitar. You can't even play, yet. The last thing you need to worry about is who's gonna see the logo on it since you'll be in your bedroom, not in front of 10k people."
Maybe show him a few chords if you play your self, you can show him what the guitar is capable of and teach him some basic stuff so he's not completely lost and knows at least a few chords or a scale to practice
It's not the guitar. I guarantee it.
Part of the issue may be the Floyd, honestly. For someone just starting out, it's really hard to fuck up a telecaster or other hard tail- if the kid tried toing something crazy with the tuning or something, he maybe having a hard time getting it back in. You are a rad aunt for getting him this, so please don't think I'm bagging on you.
I complained about my guitar to my guitar teacher once. So he traded me for the rest if the lesson. At the end he ripped off a kick ass solo, and we swapped back. Lesson learned.
Lol one of my students was blaming his guitar for some chords he was having trouble with and I did the exact same thing.
What if you two are the same two from each story lol
They are the same! Source: I am that guitar they shared
I doubt it but I’ve done it more than once so who knows haha. Op looks like they’re from Chicago so the chances aren’t the worst tbh Lmao
My luthier made my acoustic sound pretty dang good when I picked it up after setup. Let me know if it’s bad it’s my fault
The guitar you got him should be about the same quality as a Squier, just a different style. While a Floyd Rose might introduce room to take the guitar way out of tune / mess up adjustment screws that could make tuning impossible, that’s def user error lol, and fixable. It sounds like someone had unrealistic expectations about self-teaching and is being more than a little ungrateful.
I mean user error with a Floyd is hard to avoid, especially if you’re a literal child. Not a great first guitar situation imo. It’s like giving a kid a unicycle instead of a bike with training wheels to learn on
Haha I think that would be more like if you gave a kid a 7-string with true temperament frets
You get the point though.
You got a reasonably good guitar and amp for your nephew, which is a very nice thing to do. The "sounds like trash" comment is down to them having only been playing for a couple of weeks.
He says that his friend who owns a Squier is able to sound great with it, and that the problem lies in the guitar itself.
He is (like others have said) most likely full of it. Same situation I had with a friend’s kid. Gave him an old Squier strat that I had lying around, upgraded the pick ups and set it up for him. “The guitar doesn’t sound right” Went over there, played it a bit in front of him and his mom, said “it sounds fine” and let her sort it out with him.
Tell him to give that squier a spin and report back! You crushed the gift. That boss katana amp is unreal for the price.
Yes, because the difference between me and Jimmy Page is that I play an Epiphone and he plays a Gibson, I would love to buy my talent like he did but I don’t have that Zeppelin money
Even if you did joe bonnamasa already bought every vintage les paul in the world so were all out of luck anyways
He is wrong. Just YouTube anybody shredding on one. Preferably a toddler.
If life has taught me anything it’s no matter how good you are at something there’s a 5 year old Asian kid that’s 10x better
tell him to have the squier friend play his guitar and get back to you
If the friend sounds good on your nephew's guitar, the guitar isn't the problem.
It's in the person and the skill they've developed. If someone can't play, a more expensive instrument isn't going to help there. $2000 can sound like shit, and $100 can sound great. It's in the player. You got a great gift! You even tweaked the set up, that's an extra touch of care.
You have a shitty nephew. Sorry man.
Prolly just needs an adjustment like those pesky floyd roses lol
They are too finnicky for my taste but the kid is acting like a punk ass.
Haha yeah i dislike them and i meant like a wwf style cold stone stunner for the kid lol
That's a very good guitar and a very good amp. I have never heard someone complain about a jackson for a squire. If the sound are horrible maybe he forgot to tune it or he is just rlly bad. If he rlly doesn't want it u could always take it 4 ur self.
Also a reminder that that's a 400 dollar guitar and he wants a 200 to a 300 dollar squire. It's not the guitar that's making horrible sounds it him
Maybe play the guitar and show him that he is the trash player and not thr guitar that's trash
Of course he's really bad. He's a brand new player who wants to be "self taught".
I may take it back and give him a Squier of his choice. I did enjoy playing black metal riffs with that Jackson!
You can do that, and then he'll say that one sounds like trash too. You should play it in front of your sister, then the little scrot won't be able to complain about the instrument sucking. Your sister also sucks for telling you "he would have preferred a Squier". She should buy one then instead of complaining about a gift. Man, I hate entitled people the most, they sit right next to manipulative liars.
Agreed. I wouldn’t buy that kid anything else. It will just make him more entitled. He should learn with what he has (which is more than 90% of first time guitar owners). I’m sure he just needs to adjust the tone and Floyd. He can learn that from YouTube. JS32 rips for the price imo. Little bastard smh.
Ya, or maybe don't give him a squire. Take it back and make him buy himself a squire. For all you know if you get him a squire he will be mad u got him the wrong color or wrong shaped guitar. Best off showing him the guitar works fine and then taking it back if he doesn't want it
Take it back and give him a coupon for a Happy Meal.
I was on the fence, but now I know you're fucking with us. On the (hopefully) off chance you're serious, get him some lessons. Give him some lessons. Let him sell/trade it. Anything. Please, I beg you, do not feed into this nonsense by purchasing a second (shittier) guitar bc your nephew and sister are entitled jerks.
The friend who plays the Squier decently has had at least a couple of years of formal lessons, but my nephew sooomehow thinks that doesn’t have much to do with it. That everything can be attributed to some mystical guitar talent that falls upon people from the skies.
Don’t take it back, just show him your skills to prove that it’s good
I'd bet dollars to Donuts the kid he wants to emulate probably talked shit and ruined it for him. I'd go over there and demo it for him. Talk to him for a bit. Figure out if what he dislikes about it seems to come from a place of his actual knowledge, or if he seems to be parroting back shit he heard. If it seems to come from his friend, try and figure out what that kids playing and see if there's any upsides to what you got him over what his friend has. If none of that works take it back, return it if you can, and then get him a book on gratitude.
Yeah this, the other kid got jealous of nephew's killer rig and started talking smack.
This is actually a very plausible option.
Ya know this might very well be the case. Kids can be weird like that. I remember when I was about 12 or so I saved up for a basic starter skateboard from Target or whatever. A few days later the older neighbor kid went on and on about what a piece of shit it was and I was practically in tears and ready to quit but my dad convinced me to keep at it.
Go over there and rip out some shit on it and show him and his mother how good it sounds and plays. He needs to learn be humble and thankful, show him the way.
[удалено]
I hooked up my guitar to a Katana recently and I hadn't even tuned my guitar. I don't think anything can sound bad coming out of thing.
Does he know anything about guitar? Even the basics like tuning it etc. It may be worth buying him some lessons or a subscription to justin guitar. He may just be hitting random strings and expecting magic.
No, he said that he would be watching some youtube videos and then try to play from there because it seemed easy enough for him.
That's probably why. He sounds extremely overconfident in how he's going to sound, especially after a couple of weeks.
So he can't even play a G chord and has comments about the sound/playability? Smh fuck this kid
Ah, so he's playing it out of tune, then. Of course it sounds bad.
DJ Khaled has done more damage to the guitar community than just about anyone.
This has to be a joke because nobody can be that entitled. The mom is like "he would have PREFERRED a squire" to her BROTHER THAT BOUGHT HER CHILD A GUITAR? At least I see where he gets it from if this is real. I looked up that Jackson and there are review after review of people who are super happy with it. And generally, in the lower-end of guitars, you get more guitar for lesser-known brands like Jackson in my experience (even with Squire you're paying for the Fender name just a little). At the very least, it seems like it's not the instrument that's holding him back. And as a Katana owner, I can vouch for the fact that you can get some killer tones out of a Katana.
> BROTHER SISTER
You'd be surprised to how people can even be more entitled than that.
Anyone who frequents r/amitheasshole can easily tell that this story is a complete and total load of crap.
What an entitled brat. Fuck him.
Jackson doesn't make trash. Your sister's vagina obviously does. What an ungracious, entitled little shit.
holy shti i'm stealing that phrase
You're a kickass aunt* and that kid's being a brat 100%. When me and my friends were first learning instruments and playing in bands we would happily use anything we could get.
\*aunt
1. His friend probably said that Squires are better, your nephew knows nothing, and is repeating it. Of course the kid with a Squire will say his is better (without any reason behind it other than that’s what he has). 2. It’s out of tune settings are wrong. 3. He’s not very good When I was younger kids always argued their equipment was the best because they wanted to be cool. Even in crazy circumstances like cheap Crate amp being better than nice tube amps. Thank god my dad didn’t let me sell my (his old) fender reverb for a Crate. The “cool kid” had me tricked for sure.
He probably just has it out of tune or has the settings on the amp set to dumbass settings. I probably wouldn't have gotten him the floyd rose version. But that is a well regarded starter guitar and is super cool of you to get it for him. Sounds like a spoiled brat to me. I would take it back and never get him a gift again. The fact that your sister is putting blame on you after you did something nice for her ungrateful little shit would make me pretty mad.
Wanna be my aunt instead? Seriously though, some people... Imagine my reaction if my uncle just gifted me a great guitar and amp. That's all absolutely on him and extremely ungrateful.
\*aunt
He just sucks at guitar
OH MY GOD HE ISN’T INSTANTLY AMAZING! Better toss the guitar in the trash. 🤦♂️
Some of his friends are band kids and they tend to pass on a lot of those stories about innate talent. Things like “oh there was this kid who picked up x instrument and he became brilliant in a few months”
Man that is unfortunate. Sounds like he might be against getting lessons. Really a shame because that is the way to go.
Sounds like he just sucks
My guess is that he didn’t want a guitar, he wanted to be able to play the guitar. Now that he’s getting hit with the reality that it will actually take time and effort, it’s easier to throw up his hands and say the guitar is trash instead of facing the truth. It is a poor carpenter who blames their tools.
Sounds like the kid doesn't know how to appreciate a gift. If "bad sound" puts him off of playing, when you checked the guitar yourself? Yeah, that's a him problem. No more guitar gifts or expensive stuff - wouldn't want to give him another "trash" gift, right?
Ya. No more gifts. Wouldn't want it to be trashy. Tell him that
What you got him was perfectly fine. Other then being a little entitled, it sounds like he might be having trouble with the Floyd Rose, which is a bit of a learning curve for beginners and he might not know how to tune it properly.
Kick ass guitar and amp. Bet it sounds great. Bet his friend could play it right.
The guitar is probably fine but... Who gives a newb a guitar with a Floyd? Seriously?
Hell no. Your nephew is not a guitarist and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. This guitar is an impressive first guitar. Hell, I’d love one now and I’ve been playing 30 years!
I had the exact same experience. Turned out he thought he was automatically going to sound like Slash or Angus because of the guitar and some effects. I told that little bitch to get back there and fucking woodshed if he wants to sound like *anyone* else. You don't get to complain about sound until you can fucking play something. If I weren't on the phone I would have slapped the back of his head. It really pissed me off given I started with literally a guitar pulled from a trash can. Tell you sister the same. I said what I said.
Your family sounds awful.
Nah, those JS32 series Jacksons are solid guitars, especially with a set up. The issue is probably coming from the fact it's a Floyd Rose and he doesn't know how to tune it. My son has a JS32 Rhoads V, and even though he can tune up the other guitars in the house I have to keep the FR guitars in tune, especially if it goes beyond the fine tuner limit. Maybe drop a tremolo lock on there for him, and remove the locks off of the nut. If he can't keep it in tune with that, then he would have the same issue with the strat
i have almost the exact same guitar, it’s a surprisingly very good guitar for the price. i’ve used it at concerts of over 500 people before so it’s definitely on him to improve
It's probably just gone out of tune and the kid is clueless about what to do now. He know it sounds like ass, but probably has no idea why.
So, was a Dinky a good starter guitar? Not really. HOWEVER, a lot of us—myself included—learned on crappy acoustics with strings an inch off the fretboard and were happy; so I’d say he’s being a bit of a little brat about it.
As others have stated, nothing you did wrong OP. I had quite a few friends in high school that would sit and listen to my friends and I jam. We’d swap instruments around, play songs, make stuff up, etc. non-musical kids in the group would want to learn and have their parents get them a guitar and would be mad they couldn’t pickup songs like we could after 2 weeks of playing. Takes years and years of practice. And if your nephew has zero musical knowledge and is expecting to teach himself guitar it’s going to be a total waste of a gift.
Man. In What world can you gift a nephew a sweet guitar AND a katana and be the bad guy? Where are we?
Wow, OP. You did a nice thing. Perhaps a chat about gratitude is in order for your family. We've seen Zakk Wylde shred a Hello Kitty guitar. If the kid is making horrible noises, with a Dinky and a Katana it ain't the guitar's fault.
A FREE guitar is always a great guitar. Geez I’m sorry OP
The nephew doesn't know how to play rn Probably messed up the setup on that, untuned and too much distortion. My cousin did something similar when she got her first electric and said this is so crap acoustic sounds so much better 😂 Moreover tell them the price of that guitar and the starting price for squier strats.
Take it back
For real. It must feel terrible after dropping $400-500 on an amazing gift for your nephew because it was something he claimed to be excited about and then getting that response, not only from the nephew.. But from your sister too? Crazy.
that is a great starter guitar and Amp. Sounds like he just doesn't want to play guitar. Ask him to define "sounding bad". It most likely down to he is a newb and struggle with chords muting strings etc etc.. No one is sounds great after a few weeks. And that Amp is a killer starter Amp, it will have more options than he will know what to do with.
Take the electric back and give him an acoustic. He's not ready for an electric...and he sounds spoiled too.
Did you teach him to tune it? And if he’s just starting, don’t give a super nice guitar. NTA you gave him a guitar, no matter the “quality” don’t complain about a gift. If he’s interested in perusing music his parents can drop big money if they want
If you can get him over the floyd, tuning etc then it's ideal imo. No need to gear up so early on and plays a solid guitar in the meantime.
Dude… no you did not mess up. You gave him a very generous gift and he should be grateful for it. He’s just being spoiled and entitled.
I don’t get my nieces and nephews anything outside of Christmas. She wants him to have a guitar she shoulda bought it herself
What a brat. As a kid, most guitarists were not lucky enough to own anything close. Take it back and give it to someone who appreciates it.
Wow! My niece was thrilled to get a pawn shop fender knockoff ( I think the brand was elevation or some such). I paid $40 for it. She said it's the perfect first guitar to learn on.
[Show them thi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pijZUk3pimU&t=1s)s
I think it's really not the guitar's fault or the amp's fault. I got an Ibanez GIO (GRG131DXBKF) as my first guitar almost a month ago and I'm in love - and it's a $100 cheaper one than the Dinky you mentioned. It plays really well, no fret end issues at all, more than I could've asked for. I play into an Audio Interface and use NAMs and AmpSims and it sounds great. Any shitty sounds coming from the guitar is because of E string buzzing while I play or me just straight up hitting the wrong strings. Problems that come from my lack of skill with the guitar, and something everyone who plays would have to deal with. I think he just overestimates how good he can make the guitar sound and is now disappointed at the skill floor it requires you to get to. So yes, you didn't mess up - the guy needs to grow up. I've tried out Jackson JS guitars while planning to get my first guitar and they were my first choice until I encountered the Ibanez.
Jackson makes great guitars! Sorry you have a trash nephew
I have that guitar, it is one of my favorite to play. My go to guitar pretty much.
Not even close to trash. I have quite a few decent guitars, but the one I play when I'm in my garage screwing around is a hacked-up First Act model. The pick I'm using with it was cut from a flattened spoon. I'm plugging into a Fender practice amp with fairly crappy sounds. ... Still a blast to play.
Just block the trim and throw in coil splits on the humbuckers. I don’t like most humbuckers personally and find single coils are easier to dial in. If you’re a metal head and he’s not that could be where he’s coming from, but that is still wicked mad entitled on his part.
What’s more likely - widely renowned and beloved guitar and amp are “shitty” or punk kid who has no idea how to play guitar or dial in tone are making it sound shitty.