Dad3353

The obvious advice which immediately comes to mind is to contact a local, competent guitar tutor, of course. This will, after discussing the path you wish to tread, should result in a series of exercises and recommendations to take you to that chosen destination. It need not be expensive, nor too long-term, but is, in my view, the most effective way of advancing, provided there's good contact between the two of you. No idea of your whereabouts, so unable to recommend much more (although tuition through Skype or similar is also an option, if you're on some island rock in the Channel...). Worth considering..?

This ^^ is a Good Call, I'd say. If this is not to be a 'surprise' gift, have him go along and choose for himself. If it is, on the other hand, to be a surprise, see about making a 'virtual' guitar from card or similar for the 'surprise' presentation, and arrange with GuitarGuitar to issue a Guitar Card, allowing the purchase of one ('1'...) guitar from their outlet. He doesn't need to see how much it's costing, if that's to be keep hidden. It would be far better, for all concerned, to have him able to directly benefit from the guidance of a good retailer, by going along and trying them out with their help; the 'nitty gtitty' of the financials you'll be able to negotiate after he's made his choice. As long as they know not to present him a heap of models at over a 'grand', naturally..! Good luck to all concerned; it sounds as if a splendid occasion is being fittingly feted.

Where are you located..? Does he already play..? What style of music is he likely to want to play..? You'll probably want to think of a case, or at least a soft bag for the instrument. £500 is a very respectable budget for an acoustic; there's a very wide choice. When is the anticipated handover due..? Next week..? Next month..? Over to you, Martin ...

Amazon have a wide range, the dimensions are usually mentioned, but not always easy to find. Here's one that may well fit; the size is shown in one of the (German...) comments... Guitar Soundhole Cover ... Hope this helps.

PM sent...

Good Stuff, Midge, and those tunes are splendid for getting started. Can I PM you a Pdf copy of an excellent, albeit very, very old, guitar method..? It may help (it helped thousands of others, some of whom became world-famous..!).

Good afternoon, Midge... No, it's too early to be renouncing; the road is long, certainly, but paved with so many wonderful moments and joys, separated by short spells of amusing and interesting sessions. We'll re-consider your abandon in another forty years or so, but in the meantime, have a look at this set of videos ... Guitar Chords 101 ... Quite thorough, and clear, the sessions go through the real stuff for getting satisfaction, but at the same time laying foundations for later progress. Try the first couple, then come back here and tell us how you got on. There are plenty enough folks here to guide your first steps, so don't be afraid to ask even the dumbest of questions. We've all been there... It will help if we could know, firstly, what type of guitar you have. Nylon-strung 'classical'..? Steel-strung folk..? Electric..? Other..? Equally, what style of music would you like to play, once up to speed..? Flamenco..? Folk..? Heavy metal..? Jazz..? Other..? The answers to all of the above will help us help you, so help yourself, and stick with it; it's worth it. Over to you...

Depends in the strings, really. Usually, the 'B' is a bit out of alignment, but they could all be staggered to some degree. If it plays right, it is right. Another set of strings may be a bit different.

Without wishing to be flippant, it's a Fender Jagstang, so... It's not unusual for production-line guitars to be slightly different, one from another. In all likelihood, when this one was assembled, the bridge was placed slightly to the left (looking down the neck from the heel...) by about 1mm or so. I doubt that it has any discernable effect on either playability or tone, but there is a cure. The question then would be: is it worth bothering about..? To fix it, the bridge has to come off, the current screw holes plugged and the bridge re-placed, correctly aligned. It's not sorcery, but would be best confided to a decent luthier rather than a kitchen table. What would that cost..? Dunno, but closer to £100 than to £10, I would guess. Personally, I'd just live with it; t'wouldn't bother me at all (it it plays well, naturally...). Hope this helps; subject to completion, correction and/or contradiction from others.

Good evening, Craig, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

S'not really a powersoak such as those used for valve amps (hence the inverted commas...); it's just that it can be 'tamed' to not belt out 100w or whatever all the time, yet still sound... Well, whatever it sounds like. Useful, maybe, for finding a 'sound' at home, and replicating it in rehearsal without too much faff. In my day (yes, all those years ago...), our 'system' was to have the amp at full blast, but to lay the cab face down on carpet, and record that. With the Hiwatt amps we were using, it wasn't safe for one's bone structure to stay in the same room, otherwise.

+1 ^^. As for wattage, the Peavey has a built-in 'power soak', to be able to have the same sound from 1w as from 100w. (I'd still go for the Fender, myself..! )

Just a correction: the Peavey Vypyr is also a modelling amp. Just sayin'.

Lucky the question wasn't 'Which would you buy..?', as only the Fender would stand a chance with me, but, then again, I'm old. For the genre you want to get stuck into, I'd say that the Marshall needs trying out. Just be aware that, for programming it (for channel switches, tone changes'n'all...) the extra pedal is extra. Might be worth bargaining for in a shop, though. You'd save half the money buying second-hand, of course.

Good evening, Richard , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

There's no relationship between changing strings and pick-up failure. If you've looked at the wiring (How..? Did you remove the scratch plate..?) and can see nothing wrong, the best help I could suggest would be to have it checked out by a reputable guitar tech. Your local shop will be able to suggest someone, or have someone 'in house' for that. Of course, we've no idea as to your location; there may be someone near you that could have a look..?

The low 'E' pin is a bit high, too. Probably nothing; maybe the holes have been reamed differently (although that would surprise me of a Yamaha...). The holes are actually tapered. Next time you re-string, try swapping the 'D' pin for the high 'E', for instance..? As for the tuners, they're very rarely an issue, with any guitar. Most of the time it's just a question of how to put the strings on. Here's what we do at our house... I'll assume that the bridge pin is now firmly holding the ball end in place, as described above ^^. I thread the string through the hole in the tuner. For the skinnier strings, I loop around and pass through the same hole again. In doing this, I keep some slack in the string, enough to hold it about an inch or so above the fretboard. I'll wind the tuner, keeping the string taut above the fretboard until it's settled into the nut slot. My first turn, I'll guide the string to below the tuner hole. The next turns I'll guide progressively up the tuner post. There should be about three or four turns, if the amount of slack has been guessed correctly. Repeat for the other strings. Once all the strings are fitted, I'll tune up to pitch (I start with the 'A', then tune 'em all relative to that...). Once they're all up to pitch, I'll seize each string at its mid-point, and gently lift the guitar up, solely by the string. There's no fear of the string breaking in doing this; it settles them and tightens up any slack anywhere, just by the guitar's own weight. Once I've done this for each string, I'll tune up again, more precisely. This way, new strings are pretty much bedded in from the outset. Maybe a tweak or so the next day, but all will be stable from then on, until the strings wear out through aging or intensive playing. If there's anything not clear in my description, feel free to ask for more. If you have your own method that suits you, carry on, of course..!

How are you stringing up these strings..? I presume there are bridge pins holding the string in place..? You'll notice that there's a groove in these pins. The idea is to feed the ball down through the bridge hole, then slide the pin down with the string in that groove. Before pushing the pin down hard, pull the string back up, so that the ball comes up between the pin and the bridge. It can't come any further, of course, so the pin may now be pushed firmly down (without undue force; it's not needed...), whilst maintaining tension on the string. As the string is tuned up to pitch, the ball wedges the pin in place; the more tension, the more the pin (and, of course, the string...) are held firm. Sometimes, in stringing up, the ball remains under the pin; if that happens, string tension can, and often does, pop the pin up, and tuning is lost. The pin may even pop out completely (to be lost forever on a dark stage..!). Does any of this ring a bell..? Maybe a photo of the bridge and pin could shed some light..?

'Very' would be an exaggeration, but it's probably best to not have one as one's first guitar. The repertoire tends to be different, as they're more generally strummed, or used for cross-picking; seldom for 'lead' lines. The bug-bear, for beginners, is the tuning (twice as many strings, of course...), as they do not sound 'amazing' unless properly in tune. Worth trying out (at a music shop, or borrowed from a friend..?) before investing, unless really keen. Once acquired, though, they're keepers.

Boney M..? ...

Good evening, Sting PS, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Lefty is right (if that's not a contradiction...), it's part and parcel of playing the guitar. Having clean hands should be a 'given', of course, and rubbing down the strings after every session with a lint-free cloth is Good Practise, too. Personally, I don't think there's any benefit from string lubes such as FastFret, but you may find differently. The main thing is to play lightly when sliding up or down the strings, and let it happen if you can't avoid it. There are so many tracks out there with string noise on 'em; most decent 'virtual' guitar software even allows for adding it in for a more realistic effect. Concentrate more on the sounding of the notes, and their timing, and ignore the squeaks; they're not that important, and most listeners don't even consciously hear them.