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Guitar Help And Advice


Theo

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There must be some guys into guitars on here, so I was wondering if someone could help me, bearing in mind I got my first guitar today...

I got a cheapo acoustic to start on for 45 quid. And as I was tuning the A string it kept slipping from the pin at the bottom of the string, I was told by the shop: "it happens sometimes with guitars the peg needs some packing,can you try to remove the peg and put some paper around the end of it and push it back in and see if that cures it"

Does it happen sometimes? or has he given me a duff guitar?

Also I'd be really interested to see your guitar collections and instruments in general! I also play the tin whistle and the clarinet.

Cheers!

Theo

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On cheap guitars the tolerances aren't always that great so the shop is right there, and given you pretty much the only thing you can do - it wont effect the playing of the guitar in anyway, so don't worry!

In terms of guitars, there's a thread on it somewhere in here - give it a search and you'll find most of us who play on here. I don't really anymore :(

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Unfortunately a cheap guitar is a cheap guitar and these issues are quite common.

Packing it will be fine but if the shop that sold you it is giving you the advice then they can friggin sort it out for you. If it's not functioning quite correctly and it's brand new then get them to sort it out.

I'll have a look and see if i've got any photos of my collection. All my guitars are in different locations now so i don't think i've got one (or will be able to take one) of the complete set.

Edit: Here's the pics i could find so far. Few good guitars missing from the pics.

post-7501-0-91505600-1310054320_thumb.jp

post-7501-0-77190600-1310054328_thumb.jp

post-7501-0-16695800-1310054340_thumb.jp

Edited by Matthew62
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Every time i leave the front door to see you i always think "i'm going to talk about guitars with Jason today" then we always end up talking about Danny MacAskill and Chris Akrigg.

This time guitars it is.

That red one is a genuine 1964 pre-CBS Fender Duo Sonic - super serious sexy guitar.

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Unfortunately a cheap guitar is a cheap guitar and these issues are quite common.

Packing it will be fine but if the shop that sold you it is giving you the advice then they can friggin sort it out for you. If it's not functioning quite correctly and it's brand new then get them to sort it out.

I'll have a look and see if i've got any photos of my collection. All my guitars are in different locations now so i don't think i've got one (or will be able to take one) of the complete set.

Edit: Here's the pics i could find so far. Few good guitars missing from the pics.

That's quite a collection... those amps look huge..! Thanks for the advice, so you definitely think I should send it back?

In terms of guitars, there's a thread on it somewhere in here - give it a search and you'll find most of us who play on here. I don't really anymore :(

Yeah I tried this before I posted the topic, I don't know if its me, but the search bar never ever gets me where I want, if you get a chance please could you find me a link? Cheers!

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That's quite a collection... those amps look huge..! Thanks for the advice, so you definitely think I should send it back?

Yeah I tried this before I posted the topic, I don't know if its me, but the search bar never ever gets me where I want, if you get a chance please could you find me a link? Cheers!

Yes the amp is quite a size. I don't have it with me in London - my good ol' mum is kind enough to look after it for me, however when i had it in Nottingham it was used regularly and i've done a lot of recording with it - still not something i'd ever advise people buying as it's completely stupid to own.

Embarrassingly that's only a small part of my collection. When i was at uni i discovered ebay. That mixed with a student loan proved to be quite a combination. Don't really regret it as i got some amazing deals at the time and i'll (probably) never need another guitar again (who am i kidding).

But back to you...YES, definitely bring it back. They've sold you something that isn't appropriate to use. If you're learning guitar and you can use an A string then that's a pretty big problem. They should either exchange it for a guitar with a more reliable bridge or they should pack it - it's not your responsibility as the guitar is so new. Just be firm with them. Music shops are notorious for being lazy, just treat it like any other good you'd buy. If you bought a new hi-fi and it played the radio, mp3 input etc, but the CD player didn't work you'd return it straight away - no different with a guitar.

I returned an ES-33 guitar once as the input jack disconnected inside the guitar. It was months old (nearly a year) but i made sure they did it. It was a cut-away hollow body and when i rang up to ask for advise (i lived 70 miles from where i bought it) they advised that you need to slice off the front of the guitar, mend it, re-glue it and re-lacquered it. I laughed at them down the phone, told them not to be so f**king stupid as to expect a customer to do that and i told them there's no way in hell i'm taking back a guitar that's been sliced up and re-glued so i demanded a brand new replacement.

Don't take any rubbish from them.

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  • 8 months later...

Thought I'd post a guitar prob in this thread instead of create another.

I had fret buzzing on my squire strat. The shop I bought it from said it's probs my best bet to lower the strings closer to the fretboard. And after playing another guitar, I can see my squire's strings travel a mile before they hit the fretboard!

Maybe my guitar is too cheap, but can squires be adjusted like that?

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Thought I'd post a guitar prob in this thread instead of create another.

I had fret buzzing on my squire strat. The shop I bought it from said it's probs my best bet to lower the strings closer to the fretboard. And after playing another guitar, I can see my squire's strings travel a mile before they hit the fretboard!

Maybe my guitar is too cheap, but can squires be adjusted like that?

Wait what? String buzz is mostly caused by too low strings, or the bow of your neck isn't right.

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Thought I'd post a guitar prob in this thread instead of create another.

I had fret buzzing on my squire strat. The shop I bought it from said it's probs my best bet to lower the strings closer to the fretboard. And after playing another guitar, I can see my squire's strings travel a mile before they hit the fretboard!

Maybe my guitar is too cheap, but can squires be adjusted like that?

Would be useful to get a picture of your set-up as I have a couple of starts so know what works in regards to string height. If you feel they are too high then you can just lower the bridge. There should be a series of allen key bolts in the bridge right where the string comes through the body. Loosen these to lower each section/string at a time. As has been said if your neck is bowed this could cause fret buzz - check to see if this is so. If you don't feel comfortable doing the work yourself just bring your guitar to the shop and get someone who knows what they're doing to fix it.

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I had fret buzzing on my squire strat. The shop I bought it from said it's probs my best bet to lower the strings closer to the fretboard. And after playing another guitar, I can see my squire's strings travel a mile before they hit the fretboard!

Maybe my guitar is too cheap, but can squires be adjusted like that?

You sure? As weirdoku said it's usually the exact opposite. They're not too cheap to be useable, my Squier's set up well and as far as actually playing it goes, it's gorgeous - i still prefer it to lots of the more expensive stuff i've messed about with.

I'm no expert (i've taught myself to play and wouldn't consider myself anywhere near average yet) but with a bit of logic and some tools i'm sure you could set it up nicely yourself, or just take it to a shop and ask them to do it. I keep meaning to put aside the time to sort out my Dean semi - it's pretty horrible to play "as is" and has the nut spaced out with bits of card to get the strings higher haha! One day when i can be arsed, i'll sort it...

Edited by Skoze
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Would be useful to get a picture of your set-up as I have a couple of starts so know what works in regards to string height. If you feel they are too high then you can just lower the bridge. There should be a series of allen key bolts in the bridge right where the string comes through the body. Loosen these to lower each section/string at a time. As has been said if your neck is bowed this could cause fret buzz - check to see if this is so. If you don't feel comfortable doing the work yourself just bring your guitar to the shop and get someone who knows what they're doing to fix it.

I've had a tinker on with it. I lowered the bridge, it's alot faster to play now but only fret buzzing on the first 3 strings. very little though. I might attempt the truss rod again, anticlockwise brings the neck forward right? thanks

You sure? As weirdoku said it's usually the exact opposite. They're not too cheap to be useable, my Squier's set up well and as far as actually playing it goes, it's gorgeous - i still prefer it to lots of the more expensive stuff i've messed about with.

I would think the same. but actually the man at the shop said i could try filing away some material at the knot (i think thats the name, its has the strings resting over it at the top of the neck).

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I have a £15 acoustic guitar i bought from home bargains, and it's a great little guitar! The only real problem with it is around the 12th fret it makes a horrible noise. Tried sanding some of the fret board to level it out, it helped but even with this issue. £15 for a guitar that play's great as long as you don't need the 12th.

Also agree with skoze, i also have a squire strat. When tinkered with they are great! My other half set the bridge up properly and it has a fantastic action and quite a few other's agree.

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Steel ruler + some logic + a sanding block (if needed) + correct intonation = well setup guitar

Any old cheap thing can sound 'good' if you take the time to set it up well. Use this, it taught me everything I needed to know to setup the gazillions of guitars I've done over the years (Y)

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