As I said previously in another post, I got a new guitar. This time, when I unboxed my new guitar, it wasn’t much of a surprise like it would be with online purchases because as I mentioned in the other post, I played it already in the music store locally. The salesperson was right when he wondered “You probably want the one you tested, not one from stock, right?”. Yep, I didn’t want to play Russian roulette, the display model I played was fantastic. But now let’s talk about what it is. I purchased a Sigma DMCE+, which is ironic because I didn’t like them in the other store.

But like I said in the related post, the salesperson there made the huge mistake to let me try expensive guitars first although I strongly claimed that my budget would be a maximum of €300 for an acoustic guitar. Of course, going from €2000 guitars down to €300 guitars, makes you notice tonal differences and playability differences. Since I mentioned that I wouldn’t increase my budget as I do only need this guitar once a week and only during summer, it was kinda stupid of him to spoil the lower budget guitars for me as I basically left the store without purchasing anything. Today in the next store, the salesperson said this is a typical strategy also used by car salesmen.

However, I was still confused about why their Sigmar guitars sounded bad. Was it really just the fact that I played expensive Martin guitars before them? The salesperson in the store today said “Yeah, probably a huge factor but I tell you something, they probably don’t set up the lower-priced guitars, while the expensive ones get some extra love before they are hung up in the store”. I thought that might be true but on the other side, they had nice playability, just not the tone like a Martin guitar. So, it’s probably more this, if you sit in a Ferrari first, you probably will be disappointed if you take a seat in a BMW on the same day.

Another factor might be that one and the same models of acoustic guitars vary a lot in quality. I did even notice it today in the next store. There have been some Sigmar guitars that were kinda ok but then there was this one Sigmar guitar that did stand out with the tonal properties and setup. It’s the one that went home with me. I couldn’t stop playing it and the more I played it, the more I knew it would go home with me, especially since it was well within my budget.

The salesperson came to me again to have a talk and I knew they would close the store soon and he just said “Don’t worry, keep playing, we close the door for new guests but you can keep playing as we still need to do accounting and stuff”. That was pretty cool, I felt like a VIP, hehe. But I am, basically, because I know the guy already as I shopped there often in the past. I got my Guild Bluesbird there in the past, and I purchase my guitar strings and other stuff in the same store often too. So, I have no clue why I didn’t go there right away when the idea popped up with the acoustic guitar. But hey, now I got it there.

And I think I will stick with them in the future, it’s much more relaxing. For example, they didn’t give me a “guided tour” like the dude in the other store, I was able to pick guitars on my own as always. Being allowed to pick guitars and test them, that’s how a music store is supposed to be. So, yeah, this time I had enough time to test guitars freely. I had enough time in the other store too but I wasn’t able to test guitars freely. That’s such a huge difference. So, today when I made the decision in the store to purchase the Sigma DMCE+ guitar, I also realized that I would need a guitar strap. The salesperson said, “Pick one, it’s on the house”. Freebie on top! Here is another picture of the guitar I brought home…