My First Guitar - Should I Try To Fix It, Or Should I Leave It? · 8:27am Mar 26th, 2018
Ladies and gentlemen, I have just gotten back from guitar hospital (AKA my garage) and I have had a look at my black and white strat, my first guitar, to assess the damage.
Being as old as it is, the metal has rusted in places and has gotten some signs of wear on it. To be honest, the guitar itself is a junior guitar designed for young children to learn to play on, so with that being said, it's obvious that the parts used on it during its production were quite cheap and on a budget.
Now, I looked at the volume knob, which has actually broken off of from its pot, and that means that I can't actually fix it without having to buy a new one. On the back, the tension springs, which are adjusted by two screws, one of which has torn itself from the wood it was secured to, have been replaced, but my main concern is if it comes out again. You can't exactly fix wood as if it were a scrape to the knee, so that would leave me likely having to buy a whole new guitar, of which I'm not happy with doing.
It's a fairly straightforward repair job if you have all of the correct tools and parts, of which I do, but I've been considering buying a new pre-wired pickguard to replace the current one. I've thought about it for quite a while, actually, and I think it might be the best option. However, everyone knows guitar parts are definitely not cheap to replace, depending on what the problem is and what you want to do with the instrument. This is the first guitar I've ever owned, so I'm only focused on saving it, but with the budget issue, I have one thing to ask that I would like your opinions on -
Is it worth saving the guitar, or should I leave it for the moment?
In the end, I think the question is whether or not you have a grand attachment towards it. As you've stated it was designed for a younger person to play it, and it was built cheap due to that reason. That being said, it's only worth fixing if you feel as though it still holds sentimental value to you, or if you wanna pass it down to your future kid, or to a kid that wants to play a guitar. Either way, I'd still suggest getting a new guitar. If only to ensure it is made of higher quality materials, just so you wouldn't have to worry about constant maintenance. But of course, the choice is solely yours.
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I've actually got two guitars that are completely fine, one of which is a new Mustang I bought only weeks ago. I was just wondering about fixing the strat because I want to play it really badly after all of this time. Being the first guitar that I ever picked up, and it was a trade from my brother for my keyboard, I'm quite attached to it for what it's worth to me. I suppose that I'll hunt down some parts and install them, and maybe, just maybe, if I end up with either a kid of my own or if I find someone else looking for a lovely guitar, I'll pass it down to them.
There's no use in leaving an instrument to die and be left unplayed without proper maintenance! (Oh, and I can actually play it just fine. There isn't much of a difference in scale between the ones I have now and the strat in need of repair.)
However, I plan to make it live again one day, so I'm going to do what I can to ensure that I get it back in working order and ready to grunge up the place!
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That's good to hear! I ain't much of a music expert, but like a good painting, it's a shame to never see it hang on a wall. (If that analogy makes any sense.) In any case, I wish you luck in getting it working again!