basketcase?

nabonassar · #1 September 8th, 2007

I’m new to guitar but really excited about learning however, I don’t want to invest hundreds of $s and then quit in six weeks so im trying to learn the basics and a few songs on an older guitar. Here’s my dilemma—the guitar needs a good bit of work, some I can do some not. Even then its not going to be much given its about thirty years old, lower end of the price spectrum to begin with, and has been in attic storage for twenty years. but it has a lot of sentimental value (Id be fine just hanging it on the wall and never playing it and even if I did make it playable I would want to keep it as close to as-is as possible.
It’s an acoustic, don’t know the brand but made in china—appears to be laminate construction. Needs: new bridge, nut, and tuning machines as a minimum. The finish is shot and the back is cracked near the neck. Four strings on it right now are playable (I actually got them in tune) and make a decent sound.
Should I buy the bare minimum needed pieces (bridge, nut, tuners) and pay someone to install the bridge and nut or just hang it up and spend a couple of hundred bucks on a new guitar…looking for the most cost friendly option—thanks.

allthumbs · #2 September 8th, 2007

I would hang it up. You can buy an Oscar Schmidt acoustic for just under two hundred bucks. Laminate top but, still a sturdy, reasonable starter guitar.

starsailor · #3 September 8th, 2007

Difficult question to answer due to it being of sentimental value, you can get a new set up done that's not a problem, the crack near the neck is it a bit of a worry, I'm assuming it's nylon strung or are they steel strings, it sounds like it only has sentimental value, best thing to do could be to get a tech recommended by your local music store to have a look at it and price up the cost of repair, if it's too expensive (the repair will almost certainly be more than the guitar is worth) hang this one on the wall and buy a new one, that said I'm all for bringing guitars back to life but the chinese guitars were I think at the lower end of the market and it might not be the best one to learn on.

I have a small Spanish guitar that I bought with some money I got from my paper round when I was 11 or 12 years old, it cost me five pounds, it's pretty tired looking now but I would never dream of throwing it away, anything of sentimental value is priceless, yours will look good on the wall and you could always give it a makeover if you have a bit of spare cash, hope this helps a bit Nabonasser.

Best Wishes

Chris

nabonassar · #4 September 8th, 2007

thanks for the input. i am strongly leaning toward hangin it up even though that would mean taking a break from playing until i can save up a little cash.

I did forget to mention that it is steel string. Now that I have thought about it the strings are probably going to eventually make the crack worse or break the neck off all together. Given that, I know what i need to do.

nabonassar · #5 September 8th, 2007

My wife just pulled up some pics of a "vintage" Harmony Hummingbird, described as the "ultimate cheap guitar" I have never heard of these but the picture looks exactly like min e except for the pickguard and even that is very close. Based on the age (around 30 yrs) and make (China) what are the odds this is what I have?

starsailor · #6 September 8th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by nabonassar

My wife just pulled up some pics of a "vintage" Harmony Hummingbird, described as the "ultimate cheap guitar" I have never heard of these but the picture looks exactly like min e except for the pickguard and even that is very close. Based on the age (around 30 yrs) and make (China) what are the odds this is what I have?

If you could post a picture of both someone here might be able to confirm the ID nabonassar, we could have a look at that crack on the body as well