Found Guitar on Garbage, I want to repair it

[Chevi]

Hello!

So I always wanted to play guitar and I never had the chance until Infound a guitar thrown away.

I have zero knowledge on guitars but I want to learn to play it. I hope you guys can help me in the restauration process!

This is the guitar and is missing a string, which brand should I get? and should I change all strings? What else should I check in order to be functioning?

[Seagull S6]

Your pic is just huge. Could you post pics (smaller please) so we could see how far the strings are above the fret board?

[Jcamp]

I’d suggest elixir extra lights. Give it a go then adjust as you get to know ur guitar better
Oh and congrats on the save

[ChrisN]

That pinless bridge form suggests that bridge is on a tied-off nylon string guitar. The neck's too narrow for a classical, though. If it is a nylon string guitar, it likely will suffer with steel string tension.

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by ChrisN

That pinless bridge form suggests that bridge is on a tied-off nylon string guitar. The neck's too narrow for a classical, though. If it is a nylon string guitar, it likely will suffer with steel string tension.

It's not a nylon strung guitar ... that pinless bridge design is used by several makers of steel strung guitars, notably Ovation and Takamine, to name but two.

[redir]

Put it back in the garbage

But seriously a bad guitar is hard to learn on. You don't need a $5k Martin to learn on but something like that could be painful.

Take it to your local shop and have the repair person take a look at it for you. If you are very lucky then with a new set of strings it might play in tune. And yeah you would want to replace all the strings.

[Chevi]

Originally Posted by Seagull S6

Your pic is just huge. Could you post pics (smaller please) so we could see how far the strings are above the fret board?

Sorry for that one, I got better pictures!

Hope it helps.

[Chevi]

Originally Posted by Jcamp

I’d suggest elixir extra lights. Give it a go then adjust as you get to know ur guitar better
Oh and congrats on the save

Thank you! I'll buy it and try it right away!

Originally Posted by redir

Put it back in the garbage

But seriously a bad guitar is hard to learn on. You don't need a $5k Martin to learn on but something like that could be painful.

Take it to your local shop and have the repair person take a look at it for you. If you are very lucky then with a new set of strings it might play in tune. And yeah you would want to replace all the strings.

That's actually a great idea, to go to the store and see if it can be saved, if I fail in my mission I will then go I prefer to pay for the strings and have something to play on rather than nothing.


Thank you guys! I will update soon.

[ChrisN]

Originally Posted by murrmac123

It's not a nylon strung guitar ... that pinless bridge design is used by several makers of steel strung guitars, notably Ovation and Takamine, to name but two.

That, I understand. Those bridges differ in that they don't force the balls' protrusion from the bottom - they have recesses to hide the ball. These balls are stuck in the breeze, which suggested to me the bridge, at least, was from a nylon tie-off guitar.

[Seagull S6]

The bridge might be original. https://www.thegearpage.net/board/in...uitar.1216852/

Definitely take it to a guitar shop for some first hand advice when you buy strings for it. To clean the fretboard etc. use lighter fluid (naphtha) which will not damage the guitars finish.

The action does look a little high but it does look like the saddle could be shaved down some and perhaps the nut slots could be filed a little deeper.

Also, you could just clean it up, replace the strings and could use it without additional rework to play slide guitar on.
https://www.premierguitar.com/articl...guide-to-slide

[printer2]

Clean it up and put nylon strings on it, you would have to replace the nut and cut the slots to fit, just need a $5 set of needle files. Now I know most are thinking, that is a stupid idea, nylon strings will hardly drive the top, the intonation will be off.

But my thoughts are that they are easier on the fingers and the OP will not bail on learning as quickly. There is enough learning to be done with open chords and the intonation should not be much of an issue there. Not like the OP will have the ears to hear a few cents off. The higher action is not really an issue with nylon. Once the basics of strumming, finger picking, whatever has been learned switching back to steel strings is an option or the OP will be inspired to get a better guitar.

[ChrisN]

Originally Posted by Seagull S6

The bridge might be original. https://www.thegearpage.net/board/in...uitar.1216852/

Right you are! I've not seen that before. Even has the screws.