Need quick lessons in how to be sneaky, calling all experts!
 

only 208 shopping days until christmas

Hmm, depending on how involved your daughter is on networking sites maybe you slip the questions into one of those MySpace type of personality quizzes and find a way to have her take it. I am talking about the ones that ask you a billion different questions, you answer them and then forward the answers to your friends or post them on your site. These things probably already have a section on music.

Start making her write essays for no reason. After about 8 or 9 of them on subjects you choose, make her write one on her dream guitar. Then just keep going with the essays after that, just to be cruel.

I'd pick up a catalog or join a mailing list so it just "shows up" at the house...then casually look through it while she is around and comment on some of the guitars, see which ones she responds too - that should give you an idea of what she likes.

How old is she? The older she is, the sneakier you'll have to be. You might need to resort to involving a friend to get the information, but then you risk that friend blowing the surprise.

And as payment for becoming involved in your conspiracy, we will require pics of the daughter on xmas morning with the shocked/elated look on her face :)

Dude, you are seriously sick and twisted. And mean.

get a friend of hers to do it. Preferably her best friend...they'll be vested in keeping the secret too - and you can involve them in the gift by having them by the guitar strap or the stand or something like that so she has a stake in the surprise

DaddyTorgo's idea may work, but the kid could still talk. I say play it safe and go with Cringer.

Lathum: Yeah I know that I'm . . . . I mean that Santa still is aware that there is a long way till Christmas but he figures that if he has to cross into some gray areas of questioning there just might be enough time for her to forget.

Ironhead: Maybe a good idea but in order to plant a seed in the areas that we have allowed her to get into (for her safety) any access questions would most definately throw up a red flag to her.

Cringer: Dude, that was brutal and taken as I assume it was intended.

Oliegirl: Yup, you are onto to things. She is going to be a senior in high school so fooling her is going to be tough, especially since she is beginning to understand how I work. Unfortunately the "just shows up" idea won't work because she would catch on to that in a flash, but wait . . . . you know that just might work out after all. Because we just got her a 2nd acoustic on Memorial Day so I might be able to play that off. Yeah, that could be it . . . . because we got it at a guitar store chain we got onto their automailing list because of how much we spent. You know you could be on to something there.

But I still would like to get more input so please keep it coming. This time next year she will be going to college in California (that's a bit of a commute from Indiana) I'm kinda' running out of time to pull the last few big events in her "at home years". Thank you all and again please keep input coming.

but why would the kid talk? they're older kids - if you get the friend involved in the present then have them there when it's opened somehow then I think they'd want to keep it quiet...i know I would have for any of my friends in HS

Ummmm...no chance in hell they'll kepp the secret. Besides this, there are several good ideas here.

If she's a girly girl, get shell pink and rosewood.

If there's a guitar store around, and she's shown that much interest in guitar, it wouldn't be too unusual to walk in with her and browse one day while you're out shopping, and then you could just pay attention?

Or buy a copy of Rock Band and see how she customizes her character?

Doesn't see have a favorite color? If you walk into her room and if everything is blue well.. probably would be a good clue.

Or, don't get it, just put the money aside and get a Barbie Doll accessory guitar and wrap that up. When she opens it, just say 'Well, you wanted a guitar right?'

Then just take her out and let her pick it out.

Mustang might be onto something here in a way. If she's really as talented as it seems like she might be (??) then she will doubtless be very picky about certain things on her guitar, so unless you're absolutely certain you're getting them right, you might actually do best to leave the actual outfitting of it to her?

it's not as "spectacular" as having the actual guitar though, I know

Start an argument with her, but steer the argument in such a way as to make her feel incredibly guilty. Then tell her that if she really loves you, she'll buy you a guitar. See what color she buys you. There you go.

Anybody else a little creeped out by the repeated use of "I... I mean Santa"?

dola: especially considering we're talking about a high school senior? No offense, but why not sit down and just talk to her about what she would love to have in her dream guitar? I think she's old enough that she'll appreciate the father/daughter conversation and the building of the guitar together.

It was inspired by an episode of Wife Swap I saw this week, the parents in one family always made their kids write essays for not doing their chores. Yet they wouldn't believe that the kids didn't like it.

Obviously this isn't the REAL Santa, because he'd know.

I like the barbie idea, tho. The big let-down leading to the big surprise, you'd be a hero.

That would take all the fun and surprise out of it.

Surprises rock! Especially when they're something this cool.

If you just bought one, then you are already in a good position, most specialty stores take names/addresses at checkout now, so it's completely plausable that you ended up on their mailing list.

Another thing, if she frequents the local music/guitar shops, maybe stop in without her and ask the sales people if they know her, has she looked at anything in particular, etc. If not, ask them to try and get some ideas - if you are going to buy the guitar there, they'll help you if they know it'll get them the sale...

This is probably too simplistic, but can you just browse the web with her one day? You know, end up at the Fender site, look through the guitars, pay attention to which one she "loves", and then move on? If you do that soon maybe by the time Christmas rolls around she'll have forgotten all about it.

Ok, so no one has asked it might as well be me since I have a daughter and am interested. How did you get to this point, as you put it? Is she in a band? Does she rock the casbah?

It's a high school girl. Of course she's going to tell someone.

I think that is an excellent idea.

Cringer I’m so glad you asked, I was busting at the seams. Christmas of 2005 I got her a beginner acoustic guitar set up because she showed interest. She had been playing flute for a few years so I thought it was worth a try to give her another instrument she was interested in. Not wanting to invest much in case she didn’t take to it, the entire set up was only $200. Every lesson in care and maintenance to be learned was learned and nearly every mistake that could be made has been witnessed with “Old Blue”. “Old Blue” went south so fast that she had to use her instructor’s guitar for her school concert this past October.

Coming home from work this past Thanksgiving eve I heard a very reputable music store in our area was closing their guitar section to concentrate on their pianos and organs. Everything must go at 40-50% off. So we are waiting for them to open up the store the following Friday. Three hours later we walk out the door with her “Baby”. She was now the proud owner of a Seagull Artist Cameo CW acoustic with EBM Quantum II electronics. This isn’t a mass produced assembly line factory guitar. It is hand made professional quality guitar listing for $1,500. Now she has “Old Blue” to keep at school for class and her “Baby” to keep at home for practice and performances.

The condition of “Old Blue” became terminal, the buzzards were circling and landing fast. So we went out Memorial Day to find her a new 2nd guitar. Well 4 hours later her Takamine EG440C-STRQ with TP4T electronics is getting a courtesy set up. As I said this was intended to be a 2^nd guitar but it is still a high quality guitar listing for $600. While “Redd” was on the rack she asked if she could go check out the electrics. “Sure, no problem we have about 30 minutes so knock yourself out” I tell her. She deliberately goes right for the Stratocaster, plugs in and goes to town.

As I watch her turn all kinds of knobs and dials, flipping switches every which way to get the right sound/affect she’s after for the song she wants to play I see a twinkle in her eye and a wicked little smile. On the ride home we talk about the 12 string guitars she played, why she didn’t like the $2,000 Gibson she put thru the paces, then I turn our conversation to the electrics. The long and short of it is that she would love to have an electric and if she could have one it would need to be a Stratocaster. Why, because they fit and she likes ‘em. Good enough for me, I’m just a Dad, what do I know?

She is very good, I’m biased so take it for what it’s worth. But her instructors feel she is good enough to get an A+ for every grading period over 2 years of classes. She also is very knowledgeable and knows what she wants. In our last outing, within a couple of strums she knew the strings on the guitar she was playing were old and the neck had a slight bow and needed a truss rod adjustment. She picked out her Takamine because it is a good guitar and it fits but more importantly this model had a curly maple sound board and she wanted a little deeper/earthy tone for her second guitar than the spruce gives her on the Seagull. She really knows what she wants.

Both of her acoustics are the envy of her guitar classmates, instructors, and those she plays with at church. Half of her second year guitar final was to write and perform a song during the school’s Mayfest Performing Arts presentation. She and her 2 partners wrote a beastly complex 3 part harmony piece that got them a standing ovation plus requests to play it again in the open mic stage area. The 2nd part of her final was to play either “Green Sleeves” or “Stairway To Heaven”. Every beginner attempts “Stairway To Heaven” so in order to get a passing grade one needs to nail it. She got an A+ with special recognition from the instructor.

In answer to other comments, thank you all. I thought about getting some conspirators (her friends) to help me out but I just don’t trust them in not letting something slip and ruin the surprise. Blue is her favorite color but she picked out the Takamine because she liked the way the transparent red stain high lighted the wood grain better than the blue did. Regarding the color pink, if our currency were pink she would quit asking me for money just because of the color. We have done the father/daughter joint mission twice and have enjoyed it more than I can express. But I would really like this one to be the ultimate surprise. Granted the previous treks came out of the blue but they were due to necessity so she knew they were coming, just not exactly when.

Easy - take her back to the store at some stage (need new strings or whatever) - simply ask her in passing while she's there in a 'when you're rich and famour what would you have as your strat' sort of way.

I thought this thread was going to be about fudging bank statements.

If she's as serious a musician as you say, the color isn't going to be that critical. I mean, I understand wanting to get it right, but I think you want to err on the side of surprise and a conservative choice.

This just might work out, slow but safe I hope. What do you folks think? We will be taking her Seagull to the shop to drop it of far a "6 month" check up here in the next few weeks. By that time I will have found a good electric guitar magazine that mysteriously appears in our mail box for her. While we will are there I'll coax her into checking out the electrics, which shouldn't be too tough. I ask questions, take mental notes and hope she is none the wiser. Shortly after school starts it will be time to bring in her Takamine in for a scheduled set up check at a different music store. Again another good guitar magazine will have mysteriously appeared in our mail box. While we are there she gets coaxed into looking at the electrics once again asking questions and taking mental notes. And so it goes one more time for each guitar. I'm thinking that between the magizines, and multiple trips to the music stores, I just might be able to find out what she wants. The amp is going to be a different story though. I probably will rely on my aunt for guidance. She is a semi-professional muscian.

Major progress made this morning. My semi-professional musician aunt has graciously offered one of her smaller Peavey amps towards my cause. YAHOOOO! ! ! ! ! This is the area where I just knew I had the greatest chance to screw up, over buying for what we need.

A situation presented itself this afternoon and I took full adavantage of it. When all is said and done I was able to find out that what she wants is a maple fretboard with a white pickguard on a saphire red body. I think I was able to pull it off because she also found exactly what she wanted on the Ibenez site. Looks like I may have been able to pull this off. Thanks a ton to all those who offered suggestions. I'll try to post a pic of what she got/has when the event happens. Thanks again to everyone.

Nice story man. One reason I show interest is because at Christmas my wife finally gave me an acoustic guitar. Nothing special, but good enough for me since I don't know how to play. I have slowly been teaching my self ever since and my 8 year old daughter keeps saying that when I am better she would like me to teach her. My wife suggested it the other day, and I have thought about it, that we should just get her a guitar and she can learn with me. I would probably want to get her lessons not long after that though, she is young and worth it. ;)

Thanks for the story though, and congrats on finding out what she wants.

That is so awesome...you are a very cool dad to want to do this for your daughter. I hope it all works out and will be looking forward to pics in 6 1/2 months :D

ROFLMAO!!!

You could either have the guitar store send her email saying they are doing a survey of customers so they know what to stock in their store. Then based on those answers from her, you should get a pretty good idea. I don't see why the store wouldn't want to be in on it, since they are going to get a sale out of it; or just buy her what you think she wants with an ok from the store that you can return for something completely different if necessary.

Hope this works, here is a pic of what I believe she wants.

Ok, that didn't work. Running out of time right now. Guess I'll have to figure out how to paste/insert a pic later. Thanks again.

I really liked the essay idea, and am a little disappointed that it didn't get more consideration. Glad you got things figured out though.

I want an official red Fender American Standard Stratocaster with maple fretboard, white pickguard and a thing that tells time.

Careful kid, you'll get callouses.

I like you. You're a great dad. The world needs more people like you.

My daughter was really into the sax when she was 10, so I bought her one for Christmas. She was at my mom's place when the package came and was very interested in the contents of the box. I told her the truth... that I had ordered her aunt's gift online and had it delivered there. (I neglected to mention it had arrived the previous day, but I told the truth!)

I then let her help me wrap what she had no clue was her own gift.

Your daughter's face on Christmas will make all of this worth it!

Thanks Schmidty, I try to do my best. I'm not forgetting the little ones, they are both ready for new bikes. And I think Mrs. Firebirds (aka, The Boss) probably would like a video camera.

You deeked her good Blue and still told the truth, can't beat that.

Yup I'm hoping that if I can pull this whole thing off for everybody, I think I'm the one going to be getting the best Christmas gift.

You haven't asked me what I'd like yet? I'm only 40 or so minutes west of ya! ;)

Ok, INDalltheway I'll bite. What would you like for Christmas? Especially since your only 40 minutes or so from me and my brother-in-law got both of his PHD's in your neck of the woods.

Latest update. The amp gift from my Aunt fell thru. Logistics and cost of getting it safely from Nevada to Indiana was tough plus she realized that her sentimental attachment was a bit to strong to pass it along right now. But she has graciously offered to throw a few big bills towards the effort and guide me thru selecting the best amp for my daughter right now. I stopped by the music store I will be working with and spent 1/2 an hour talking to the salespeople. They will be helping me with the master plan. We followed one salesmen, Kris, to this store when after his previous employer closed their guitar section. So this is what we will do. Early next week my daughter and I will be taking in her Seagull for a "check up" and discuss the possibility of lowering the action just a bit with Kris. While he has it up on the rack taking care of business, Dennis (electric and amp dude) will suggest that my daughter take a look at electrics. He is going to offer up a Strat for her to play and methodically hook her up to a selection of amps. Dennis then will get a better idea of which amp is going to best for her right now.

I'm going to be doing the same thing at the music store where we got her the Takamine. I'll have to do a bit more ground work with them because I/we haven't yet developed the relationship that we have at the first store. But I feel very confident that they will help, especially their #1 guitar tech. He recognized me when I came in a few days after the purchase to get something for my daughter and asked how she was liking the guitar and reinforced that he is there for us any time we need anything.

If all goes well I will win an ebay auction for a Peavey Bullet 112 amp this evening. This is the model amp I was strongly advised to get for her. If I loose out on this auction there are 4, maybe 5, others ending with the next 4 days. Right now I'm sitting on killer good deal . . . . . but I'm sure that my current bid will not get it done but my max bid might still work.

Amp is now sitting in our closet hidden under some blankets. Not a bad deal. MSRP new is $480, best price locally is $380. My e-bay price $77.55. Got an extra bonus since it came with a foot switch to change channels :)

After having saved so much on the amp, I'm spending that extra $$ working with the craftsman on a design for a custom guitar strap.

AAARRRGGGHHH ! ! !

What a terrible couple of weeks. June 23rd my littlest one fell down in the street, must have tripped over a shadow, got her left hand doubled up underneath her (yup, she is left handed) and broke her wrist. The good news is that it is was a minor break, no where near the growth plate and is expected to make a 100% recovery. She had what is called a compression fracture of her ulna and an actual break in her radius. Fortunately with her being only 5 and the bones still being relatively soft things could have been much worse.

Mrs. Firebirds and I celebrated our 20th anniversary on the 25th at an authentic Mecixan place we have been wanting to go to for years. Not sure how it happened but she snagged nearly all the shrimp from our house special combination fajitas. Hey if gotta get trumped can't think of anybody else I'd rather lose to.

July 1st get a call from a frantic Mrs. Firebirds saying that the neighbors just called from the water park and our son, who they invited to come along, some how banged his bottom jaw and may have bitten thru his bottom lip. Don't think I even locked computer and was out the door on the way home. Get there and the top teeth just barely broke the skin on the outside but the bottom teeth, still new enough to have the serrated edge, did a job on the inside. Lots of blood but all in all nothing to freak about and didn't go thru. The boy was more afraid of going to the Dr. to get it looked at than the trauma of same was worth. As of today, nothing but a thing.

Thursday comes, leave early from work to get ready for the party we always host on the 4th. Get ready to add the guitar contribution from my Mom and my contribution from the paycheck to my money jar and realize something. UH OH, we are going to be getting a bill from the hosiptal ER, from x-ray and from the orthapedic specialist for our littlest Firebird. Maybe I better hang on to my contribution this pay check.

Later that night I cut my finger real good doing the "tater planks" for the party. Again lots of blood but serious pressure and keeping it above my heart saved another trip to ER. Some how the guitar player lightly burned her thumb lighting off fireworks while I was manning the grill getting 20 lbs of ribs and the "tater planks" done.

So here I sit cussing trying to type. Every time I try to use the cut finger to hit a key I hit 3 and spend more time going back to correct than if I were to hunt and peck. Littlest Firebird is doing just fine, check up on the 15th to probably remove the cast and put on a splint. Son is healing up fine and gets pretty upset because potato chips still sting just a little bit. My guitar hero is pretty pissed off because she can't play her guitar because the blister has popped and is very tender but healing nicely. And lastly I'm hoping that I don't have to settle for a MIM Strat instead of an American Standard.

Go th the store where you want to buy the guitar. Tell the sales person whats up (buying a gift, etc.). Do this before the 6 month check up for the seagull.
Tell the sales guy to ask your daughter all sorts of questions, real technical and professional, almost as if the salesperson were quizzing her on her knowledge of strats and testing her to see if she deserves one. You are standing right there and suck in all the info. You get the salespersons card, say you just made a $3000 sale (not in front of your daughter). Everyone is happy and your daughter is clueless.

Good luck.

Wow, tons of stuff have happened since my last true update, my last post was more of a vent than anything else. Ok, finally nailed down what she would consider to be her ulitimate guitar. A Fender Stratocaster Vintage '57 Hot Rod. Still candy apple red, white pick guard and maple fret board. They have the same thing in the American Standard series and in the Standard series (made in Mexico). The main differences in the series is the quality of the hardware and electronics. During our visits to guitar shops I've learned that she has played all 3 so she definately knows what she wants and why. Our neighbors graciously allowed me to store the amp at their house so there is no longer the chance for her to accidently discover it's existance.

We took her Seagull in to get it checked out as I said and our plan worked perfectly. The Kris listened to what she had to say and suggested that while he was working on her Seagull she should go have some fun with the electrics. He grabbed a repeating pattern strap off the wall and without hesitation a $3,000 Strat. Set her up, making double sure the strap was adjusted exactly to her liking, plugged her in and gave a quick demo of the amps features and let her go.

While he was working on her guitar I was taking special notice of the min/max of her strap shoulder break points. When Kris was ready he took her Seagull to her to check out his work. As it turns out Kris is getting a custom guitar strap made for his nephew's coming birthday (major wink wink here) and asked my daughter how tall she was. Surprisingly his nephew is the same height and Kris asked if she would mind if he could take a couple measurements for reference.

She loved the new action of her guitar and then spent some time talking/asking some music questions she was having some trouble with. When that was done she picked up the Strat and played for another 30 minutes or so. When all was said and done we got the exact measurements for her custom strap, confirmed her prefered neck profile and gave her close to an hour of playing time.

I've been working with the strap maker and we've finalized the design. The measurements I got during the Seagull trip were vital in what we are doing. The name she goes by is a shortened version of her given name. I've take those letters and turned them into a musical font. They will appear on the front of the strap. The min/max shoulder break points are important to ensure the proper placement of the letters. We want to make sure that during her normal playing action the letters are pretty much centered. We are going with a 3" wide, padded fixed length style. It will be an antiqued ox blood red with the letters in antiqued white. The letters will be quilted so that they are raised up above the body of the strap. This is different from everything else I've seen on straps. Usually they are either filagreed (spelling?) or carved into the leather. The craftsman gave me kudos for my unique design and said it was going to be real fun to make. I was very pleasantly surprised with the quoted price because I got a major discount because I did all the artwork, which he usually charges exta.

Cringer's post near the beginning was hilarious....

Unfortunately, there's too much time between now and Christmas.

This could only happen to me, and of all the times it could happen why did it have to happen now. Since my last post I got the custom strap nailed down and at a good price. But I have broken my arm (cha-ching), thru some series of strange events, that can only happen to high school students, the guitar player got thrown off the hood of a car in the school parking lot - no serious bodily damage but still another vist to the ER (cha-ching) and last week I wouind up having to have out-patient surgery to fix my arm ( a plate and 4 screws later - cha ching). I'm beginning to think that I may have just cha-chinged myself into having to settle for the MIM :banghead:

Thought I better finish up this story for those who provided valuable input which is/was greatly appreciated and other who showed interest. Long story short, all injuries healed nicely and we were able to get on top of the medical bills. Couldn't get the Vintage '57 Hot Rod but we were able to get an American Standard Candy-Cola Maple Strat. We are pushing the custom strap to her birthday in February. Anyway, Christmas morning finds the guitar player dragging herself down stairs, led by her younger siblings, around the corner into the living room where the Christmas tree is set up. She makes the corner and stops dead in her tracks. After a couple of seconds staring at her present she utters "Now that is bitchin'". She bends over with her hands on her knees and looks at it for a few more seconds, lookings as if she is afraid to touch it. Then she gently runs runs her fingers across the strings and says "Cool, it's even in tune". At which time she promptly sits down, plugs herself in and just starts playing. I had hoped that the boss would be down stairs and have her new camcorder in hand to catch the moment but that didn't work out. Still I have those 10 seconds or so etched into my memory. She has shown it off to all of her friends who have stopped by and can't wait to tell her instructors at school. It came as a total surprise so when all is said and done I was able to pull it off almost perfectly.

Thanks again to all those who provided input and those who followed along. Hope your Christmas was as enjoyable as mine and wish the very best for everyone in the new year.

Wow that's awesome! Great outcome to one of the best threads of the year IMO.