I play the piano for 11 years now and the only thing that I don't like about it is the lack of portability. So I wanted to try learn to play the guitar by myself. I ended up having my cousins old acoustic guitar, which by first sight was the ideal solution for me as I don't want to buy an expensive guitar without knowing the feasibility of my goal of learning without someone teaching me. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, the instrument has a problem that almost make it unplayable. The fretboard is crooked and the strings are way higher from it than they should. Please help me, can I fix it and if I can how?

I play the piano for 11 years now and the only thing that I don't like about it is the lack of portability. So I wanted to try learn to play the guitar by myself. I ended up having my cousins old acoustic guitar, which by first sight was the ideal solution for me as I don't want to buy an expensive guitar without knowing the feasibility of my goal of learning without someone teaching me. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, the instrument has a problem that almost make it unplayable. The fretboard is crooked and the strings are way higher from it than they should. Please help me, can I fix it and if I can how?

Buy a new one for about 100 bucks but they have cheaper ones to start off. It is better to start off with clear sound when you first learning. Gibson make good beginner guitars. After you learn enough to play a few songs, get a better guitar. When you start repairing guitars they never give out the original potential.

 

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Is it in tune?

Is it in tune?

Yes, I can tune it and it's fine but it's hard to get the strings on the fretboard because of the gap between them.

Huh... Sorry mate i play guitar but I've got no idea why your strings are like that... Maybe you should get a new one?

^Yes probably, I guess that the strings were, for a lot of years, stretched and they inflected the fretboard.

:(

 

That aside, I think guitar is pretty easy to pick up, especially with YouTube! There are many wonderful guitar teachers on YouTube, check out Guitar Goddess for the Scientist and Viva

yeahhhh....not sure I would recommend a Gibson as your first guitar like @spring1 said unless you're made of money.

 

So the gap between the fretboard and the string is called the action. You def don't want it that high as its hard to play, but also don't want it too low as it'll produce a buzzing sound. You generally want it as low as comfortable for you without buzzing.

 

To lower the action, it seems you'll want to lower the strings on the bridge side. This is where my recommendations start to end, as I don't own an acoustic and haven't lowered the action on one before. But you at least have something to google: how to lower action on acoustic guitar.

 

Good luck, and like others mentioned, guitar is fairly easy to grasp (especially with the age of youtube tutorials). If I can do it, you can too.

A Gibson was my first acoustic guitar. The beginner ones are not expensive at all. Mine was under $150 new!!! It had clear sound. Trust me, better to start off with a guitar that sounds good than one that have issues. It will cost more to fix your guitar and trying to do it yourself with no prior experience will ruin it for future fixes. I am speaking from experience. Put it on your wall for decoration and save your money and time. I own 9 acoustic guitars and have been playing 12 years.... I'm 28. If they are not upper end guitars like Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Guild and Washburn, they are not worth fixing. These brands carry beginner guitars that are cheap but sound very good...the beginners are not worth fixing.

 

"Your neck is connected to your backbone and the neck affects everything below it." Most likely your issue came from it being stored laying down on its neck, humidity and or the strings was tuned or tight instead of loosened during storage. Looking at the picture it appears your neck is warped. Acoustics do that, very common issue but normally it means it is time for a new one. I advise taking it to a shop but most likely they will tell you the same thing specially if the neck has to be referbished or replaced. Hoped this helps. I went through the same things trying to hold on to my first guitars.

 

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Thank you guys I'll take your advice into account

sorry spring, I hear Gibson and I immediately think $$$$$, haa

Is that a classic guitar?

And are those steel strings?

 

Looks like it, and it can cause the neck to curve.

You could take the guitar to your local music shop and see if they can quote a price on fixing the problem (if they can).

Check ebay, bootsales or a second hand shop, you might find a guitar at a decent price.

I bought a Yamaha guitar from a catalogue and it sounded really nice, even though I got bored with it sold it years later..

Have you already come up with a solution for yourself?

 

Anyway, do you know how much the guitar is worth? I'm not the best in estimating the value of a guitar but I think that it might be quite a cheap guitar (50 euros or so). Which is cheap for a guitar.

It could also be an old guitar which was why the fretboard has crooked over the years because maybe it wasn't used for a long time.