How would I use professional grade lighting at a small budget?

I am about to take pictures of guitars for my husband's music store. I have little experience with professional grade still life photography. I also have limited funds to work with. Any suggestions would be so very helpful.

Professional grade lighting isn't absolutely necessary. In fact, you can get wonderful effects using standard incandescent bulbs (adjust the white balance either in camera or in post processing).

For example here's a picture I took of my piano using a standard 120w bulb for lighting (no flash).
http://pics.montypics.com/off-roader/200...

Go to a professional studio which rents equipment, and rent some lights, and diffusers, and backdrops, and reflectors. Take the guitars to the rental studio, set them up there, photograph them there, and then take them, and your camera, and your film home...leaving the rented gear at the rental studio. This is the quickest, and cheapest, way to do it. Using continuous lighting-quartz bulbs, rather than flash units-will let you see the light as you set up, and let you adjust it as you wish. Try several shots from different angles with the lighting high and to the side in one shot, the lighting low on the opposite side for the next, and so forth. Use at least two lights. Vary their distance from the subject...have one light close up, and another more distant. Three lights may be better, still. Experiment.

Check out http://strobist.blogspot.com, they have tutorials on using "Do it Yourself" inexpensive lighting and flashes to give high end results.

There is a lot of info there, and should give you good ideas on something your skill level will be comfortable with.

Just a few thoughts:

-- Do you really need professional-grade photography? If you're shooting a wall of guitars for a flyer, your customers don't expect a masterpiece. A point-and shoot film camera would probably do the job.

-- Do the guitar manufacturers have catalogues? If so, they'll have HQ images you can use for retail.

-- Will the lights have any use other than this one? If not, are they a good investment?

-- Consider hiring a local pro photographer to shoot the guitars in his or her studio. I'll bet the cost of a day's shooting would be less than even a beginner's pro lighting setup. And it would certainly mean less time and hassle for you.

Just my 2 pesos.
V2K1