Is it safe to buy guitars online?
We are an established dealer. So if you buy guitar from us online, it is safe.
Here's how it works:-
(1) Basically, you sms to get the best price and after you agree, we sms you our bank account.
(2) You bank in the cash or transfer online Maybank, sms us to inform together with your full name, address and handphone no. (if different).
(3) we confirm online - if payment is through, we sms to acknowledge receipt of proceeds.
(4) we arrange courier immediately.
(5) we furnish you the courier track reference number after courier pickup so you can check online.

Why sometimes parcel arrives next day but sometimes 3 or 4 days later?
Understanding Delivery Times
1) Generally courier cutoff time is 12pm noon.
2) Courier pickup days are Monday - Friday only.
3) Courier delivery is for "next day delivery".

Hence if payment is made say on Mon 10am, courier picks up same day and you receive next day Tues (of course if no holiday or unforseen events in between). However if your payment is made later, say at Mon 4pm, the courier would pickup the parcel on Tues and delivery would be for Wed. And if courier is further delayed one day, or if there's a holiday in between, or maybe no one to receive at time of delivery - then parcel may be delivered only on Thurs or even Fri.

Note: If you make your payment Friday after 12pm, then courier will only collect on next Monday. You may wish to make your payment next Monday before 12pm instead, so you do not have to wait over the weekend.

Why the Courier Track Reference Number you give me do not appear online?
We sms you the Track Ref No. immediately after courier picks up. They will only key-in the data late evening. So it is better to check the parcel online status the next day. (don't check on the same day).

Do you ship to Sabah/Sarawak?
We ship to everywhere in Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak. Courier charges apply, takes between 2 to 5 working days (see above) after your payment has been confirmed and cleared (if cheque).

What are your payment methods?
At the moment cash and carry from our shop premises; or bank-in cash, cheque to RHB Bank Account 21220000036081 Qwenkay Information Sdn Bhd or Maybank Acount (third party account). Note cheque will be after clearance only. Scan/email bankin slip to us at:
qwenkay(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Can I pay a deposit first, say 50%. After you ship and give me the courier's consignment note number, I will bank in the balance?
Sorry cannot. Full payment must be received before we ship out.

Are your guitars new?
Yes almost all the guitars are new. If it is used we will indicate so.

Do you have second hand guitars?
Most of the time, no.

I got a guitar to sell. Do you buy?
No we do not buy second hand guitars. If there are any in the shop they are on consignment basis. The customer left it in our shop for us to sell on their behalf.

Where are your guitars made?
Almost all are made in China.

China guitars can (play) ah?
These are cheap guitars compared to a RM2K - RM5K guitar or RM8K - RM10K+ (and even higher). Many branded labels do not have guitars below RM500 AND even if they do,:-
(1) the guitars may be re-labelled with a second-tier name (or some use their orginal label), AND
(2) the guitars are likely made in China or Indonesia.
We are not likely to find guitars below RM1K made in USA, Japan, Spain.

The made in China guitars we carry are quite decent for the price you pay. If we benchmark against the branded labels (but made in China or Indonesia), we are about 50% to 70% of their prices. In fact the Valencia classical guitars are used by many music schools.

Gypsy Rose, SX, Valenica are all made by the same company in China teamintlco.com

Finally, here's a good read about guitars from China by guitar expert George Gruhn - though written in 2004 it's still relevant! http://www.gruhn.com/newsletter/newsltr15.html

Can you give examples of second tier labels?
Good example is Squier which is Fender's second tier label. Here's Fender's Shanghai factory making Squiers http://news.guitarchina.com/article.php/1466
Another is Gibson's Epiphone label made in Qingdao China - see here http://news.guitarchina.com/article/2662.html

Here's a list of Guitar (and other string instruments) Manufacturers in China.

I'm looking for something for my son/ daughter, something for a beginner. My son mentioned something like Fender or Gibson. What do you recommend?
We do not have any branded label guitars.

We carry guitars below RM1,000/=, in fact many less than RM500/=. They are ALL cheap yet decent guitars made in China, certainly decent enough for any beginner... but that's our view. Some parents give their teenage son/ daughter a small cheap used car for a first car whereas some a new 1.8 Honda or Toyota. So it depends on where you're coming from.

What we can say is that for a lady, a nylon string guitar (see below) may be more suitable when starting to learn simply because it is less painful on the fingers compared with steel string guitar (see below). Many music schools also use a nylon string guitar for beginners and teach them to pluck and strum simply because it is easier to play.

The Valenica classical (nylon strings) guitar is one of the very popular entry level guitars used by many music schools.

What do you mean by decent guitar?
Like we say above, all of us have different budgets. Here we carry guitars less than RM1K and the models spread over different budgets. Say if you have RM300 to blow for a classical guitar, we have a model that we think is a decent buy.
There are 5 basic qualities in a guitar (1) projection / volume (2) tone (3) sustain (4) playability/action and (5) build to last. A guitar is decent enough with regards to these qualities within its price range. Certainly if we buy a Proton, we do not expect it to perform like a Honda.

Most of these cheap guitars can easily last 5 to 10 years or more. In fact plywood actually can last a long time. It's the glue and binding that gives way.

You mean these guitars are plywood ah?
It is not likely you can get any solid wood (as against plywood) for anything less than RM800 - RM900 for branded labels. We have solid top models starting above RM450+. Solid top refers to only the top piece of wood of the acoustic guitar (where the hole is) as against the back piece and the side pieces. A guitar that is made of solid wood all round is a different class altogeher.

There is a major difference between a solid top and the normal plywood (laminated). The top piece of the guitar is the main sounding board and a solid top guitar reverberates stronger and longer.

What do you mean by classical, acoustic, electric guitar? I don't know anything about guitars
We can put into 2 types:-
(1) electric guitar
The ones where you watch the bands playing on MTV, loud and hard edge. Usually 3 to 5 guys gals with a drummer, bass guitar, lead guitar, cables on floor with guitar strap hanging over body, and large amplifiers to amplify the sound of the electric guitar.
So if you are buying an electric guitar, you need an amplifier to go with the guitar.

(2) acoustic guitars - these are 'boxed' guitars with a hole on the top and played normally without an amplifier, loud enough for a room, They are your campfire guitars, the one most people play in their rooms or school concert.
[Note: some acoustic guitars also come with built-in pickups. We then have the option to plugin acoustic guitar to an amplifier (need to buy of course). This is louder of course then playing unplugged. Or we can buy separate pickups, attach to acoustic guitar and plugin to amplifier.]

Acoustic can differentiate into 2 types:-
(a) steel strings (b) nylon strings
Steel string acoustic guitars are your typical country western strumming 'changling' bright kind of sound. You can use a pick (plectrum) or your fingers to pluck the strings.
(b) Nylon string guitars are the classical (or spanish) guitars. They do not have button straps. So we cannot strap the guitar over our body. They are designed to be played in sitting position, prim proper concert manner, like you can bring your classical guitar and play with the Philharmonic Orchestra. The guitar sounds more mellow in contrast with the steel string guitar which is bright.

Also, checkout Wikipedia's Different Types Of Guitars.

Which guitar sounds better, steel or nylon string?
Which car is better - hatchback or sedan? It's like they have different applications. Typically the strumming and singalong guitar is the steel string guitar. It's bright sounding and a lot of fun.
The nylon or classical guitar is more suited to fingerstyle plucking, playing solo guitar pieces - classical music (as in Bach) or pop music arranged in classical style. But we can of course use the nylon string guitar for strumming and singalong. Just use a lighter plectrum to strum the guitar.

Another way of putting it is like the weather! Acoustic guitar sounds bright like "cuaca cerah"; whereas Classical nylon guitar sounds mellow like "cuaca renung". That's why the classical guitar, aka the Spanish guitar - sounds especially good playing typical Spanish minor mode tunes like "malaguena".

Listen to the beautiful song "Stairway To Heaven" played by the original Led Zeppelin with Jimmy Page on the electric guitar.
And contrast it with the (typical) Classical spanish guitar version - how do you feel? Where, what type of music do you like to head in your guitar playing? It comes from within you!

Finally these are just general fits. Like all art, feel free to play and experiment all styles you like or create regardless of the stereotyping of the instruments.