Learning guitar - played sax back in high school

Hi, and welcome.

The guitar you have is an early 60's (or even late 50's) Epiphone Wilshire. Well worth looking after and, above all, keeping!

Why not take a look around the beginner's section, there are lessons and simple tunes, to help you get going. We also have the Easy Songs Database, with a lot of, well, easy songs. :D
If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.

As for the acoustic, it seems to be a very unloved and abused instrument. I would suggest that the primary problem is the action. The strings are too high off the fretboard and make fretting very hard (old strings won't help, either). Take it to a tech and let him have a look at it. From your description of the abuse, he may well condemn it as being not worth repairing.

Edit:

I'm not saying that yours is as valuable as this one ( http://pribek.net/2009/06/13/epiphone-wilshire/ ), but it may be worth while asking a guitar dealer about its value - just don't let him talk you into selling yours.
Yours seems to be a rather less-common model. Look at the pickguard, yours extends much further over to the bridge pickup than all the ones on the net, you have humbuckers (as agianst p90s or mini-humbuckers) and you have the 3+3 headstock, rather than the more common batwing (6 in a row) headstock.

http://fretware.cc/?p=21 - Hmmmmmmm.

I have done a bit of research into the instrument in the past out of curiosity, and found that it isn't quite as old as you're thinking. Turns out it is from the mid-late 70s and was manufactured in Japan. I was getting estimates around $250-300 depending on the shape and luck. Its an ET-276 Crestwood. It did have me a bit excited when I thought it was one of the American made models worth quite a bit though. Still, it is much better than I could probably afford in a store today considering it cost something less than $200 (can't remember exactly how much he spent) along with a brand new crate amp (GFX-15) at auction. The receipt in the back of the amp showed that it alone had cost more than we'd payed and was less than a year old at the time.

The thread at the Gibson/Epiphone forums where I discovered this:
http://forums.epiphone.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=6068

----

As far as the tutorials, I've found hundreds upon hundreds of them, but the problem is knowing what order to do them at. I can transition between a number of open chords at a decently fast pace but at the same time, I'm just beginning to learn the names of the notes on the strings, because I've been doing things completely out of order. Before now I didn't care too much, but it has occurred to me that with how much I've practiced just picking up the guitar and messing around, I could really be learning it instead of having the same difficult and frustrating time trying to learn each song.

Lovely guitar. 8)

As Greybeard says, don't be talked into parting with it. Unless you need to entrust it to me for safe keeping of course... :wink:

It could be from the 70s apparently - as this one looks close:

Click for details about a similar guitar at Main Drag

Their picture:

How do I go about really learning guitar in an interesting way, considering some basic music background with another instrument? (Remembering that I don't much cash to spend).

Learn a scale or two and a few chords and then trust your ear and your music experience and noodle, noodle, and noodle your way around that lovely looking guitar... Or just hand it over to me, and let me demonstrate a few things for you.... like how surprisingly fast a 60 year old man can run while carrying a guitar.... :)

Cheers,

Chris

That's odd.... :?

When I posted my reply yesterday it displayed immediately after Greybeard's post. Nothing in between.

This morning I received an email notifying me that somebody had added another post since mine. But what I can see now is Glorfindel's post before mine. If had been there yesterday then: a) I would have seen it, and b) I shouldn't have got an email saying that a new post had been added after mine.....

Mysterious things computers.... Did I slip through a wormhole in the space-time fabric or is it just another run-of-the-mill case of goblins in the works??.... :shock:

No Chris, you've just not taken into account that new people have to have their first five posts cleared by a moderator. So it's most likely that Glorfindel's reply occurred right when the timestamp says it did (0425 on August 16) but a moderator didn't get the chance to approve it until after your post at 1010 the same day.

There will probably be more of this sort of thing happening. Already has been, which is how I figured it out. Of course, Nick may come and tell us that there's more to it than that. :wink:

A belated welcome to Guitar Noise, Glorfindel!

Peace

Thanks David. :)

I'm sure that you're right. The 'five posts' thing hadn't sunk in to the ancient brain yet.....

Pity really - I quite liked the idea that I'd found a split in the space-time fabric at last. I could have slipped back and checked Woodstock out... 8) Unlike many of the members here, I was actually in the USA too EARLY for the original concert...

Cheers,

Chris

Oh.
My.

Except for the color, you have the same model Crestwood (model year 1974) that I played from the time I was 16 to the time I was 38. I dearly loved that guitar, and finally traded it for a Peavey T-60 having nearly worn it out ( needed a fretboard, new frets, new pots, and the finish was completely worn off of the tailpiece and pickups). Needless to say, I'm hoping they do a re-issue of this model like they did the Wilshire.

Oops. Just took a closer look. It's a Wilshire. The Crestwood had the stopbar with a tun-o-matic bridge and gold hardware. Still a nice guitar though!

I just had a thought about my acoustic which is very difficult for me to play (the mistreated one). The guitar had its strings replaced before it was given to me. The strings are steel, not nylon. Because it came from a classroom, I'm wondering if it isn't a classical guitar and supposed to have nylon strings. I've also read that classical guitars have higher action since nylon stings are more flexible. Perhaps this is why it is so hard to get a clear sound out of it? The guitar is a Dixon, the model number written inside says "DC 10." Does anyone know anything about this guitar?

How can I tell if it is supposed to actually have nylon strings?

I'll try to get a picture of it later on if that would help. Unfortunately, I've never had a chance to play any other acoustic guitar before to compare it with, other than two others that were also rescued by the same person at the same time... all of which have had steel strings put on. I plan to visit a music store some time soon, but the one I used to use went out of business so I'm gonna have to find another one. If they're all that bad to play, I give up and only want to play electrics. :(

How can I tell if it is supposed to actually have nylon strings?

There are 2 clues that can help identify a nylon string guitar (well, 3 if you count just looking at the strings-- assuming that the correct strings are on it :wink: )

1) The head. Most nylon strung guitars will have a slotted headstock:

While some steel string guitars also have slotted heads, those will have metal posts to wind the string onto.

2) The bridge. A nylon string guitar will have a tie-block bridge, like this

Whereas a steel string will most likely have a pin bridge:

or in some rare instances, a pinless bridge:

I'll try to get a picture of it later on if that would help
Absolutely. A picture is worth 1000 words.
And we just like pictures of guitars. 8)

Can you measure how high the strings are above the fretboard at the 12th fret? That would help too.

The strings are about 6mm high at the 12th fret.

I finally found where my camera was hiding, so here are the pictures:

That looks like a classical guitar to me, which means it should not have steel strings on it.

6mm at the 12th fret is a bit high, but I wouldn't call it excessive.

I agree, I'd say that is definitely a classical guitar and should have nylon strings on it. It's likely that, when you put nylon strings on, the reduced stress on the neck should allow it to return to its normal straight state and reduce the action.

Get those steel strings off ASAP!