[fenderguitarfreak]

My acoustic that has no strings on it has been sitting on my couch in the basement for about a month and a half now and im finally starting to miss playing it because now the only guitar i play is my electric. When i bought it about half a year ago I noticed right away when i started playing with it that the strings were awfully high from the bridge. It hurt my fingers every single time i played it because i had to press down so hard to get the chords I wanted. One day one of my friends informed me that it wasnt a normal acoustic guitar. It was a sliding or slider guitar or something like that..he could tell because of how hight the strings were. so i thought (and it wasnt the brightest idea ever) that changing the strings would help (I was expecting the strings to be lower because i didnt know if it was the strins or the guitar, my friend didnt tell me that). I found that it wasnt the strings so i finally just took the strings off thinking that i was going to get it fixed a week later but instead i have never played it since then.

I know what needs to be done to lower the strings so i can play it like a real acoustic without having to stop every five minutes to give my hurt swollen fingers a break.

(i dont know the names to all the parts on a guitar so bare with me for a second......)

The thing that the strings go into at the bottom of the guitar where you put the little white plastic holder that places the strings is too high and it isnt hollowed out enough which is why it is a slider acoustic. What i need to do is some how hollow it out more so that the strings will lower just a little bit. So my question is do i need to get someones help or has anyone here ever had this problem and fixed it themselves? If so then please tell me what i can do to lower it ( I was thinking getting a knife or some tool to scrach some of the wood down) instead of having to go through the trouble of possibly paying someone at some guitar store to do what is maybe a simple task.

Please help. I really miss playing my acousic

[Crawdaddy]

It sounds like the bridge bone is sitting too high. Rather than hack into the slot where it sits it might pay to go to your guitar centre and see if they have one that is lower in profile than the one currently in the guitar.It might cost $1.50.Alternatively remove the bridge bone and file it down to a more suitable height.

[fenderguitarfreak]

that sounds great. thank you. i was thinking that the space that the bridge bar fits into wasnt hollowed out enough. but now thank you for preventing me from making a huge mistake.

[dadfad]

Some guitars that are set up for pure slide playing will also have a raised nut as well (the nut is the string-holder/separator at the headstock end of the guitar. The saddle is the string-holder/separator thing at the body-end of the guitar which usually fits into a slot carved into the bridge which is the little wooden (usually) piece that is glued to the top of the guitar.) (I thought I'd give the simple terminology for easier future references.)

Anyway, many times both the nut and the saddle are both raised higher (sometimes a little piece called a nut-extender can be placed over the nut to raise its height as well). So just be sure that you don't have to lower both ends a bit to get the strings down to where you want them. Sometimes you'll find an acoustic guitar that is actually made to be only a slide guitar, which will often have a very sturdy square-contoured neck as well. While they can be made for regular playing with a bit of work, it was actually made to used only for playing with a slide bar while sitting on a the player's lap.

[fenderguitarfreak]

Some guitars that are set up for pure slide playing will also have a raised nut as well (the nut is the string-holder/separator at the headstock end of the guitar. The saddle is the string-holder/separator thing at the body-end of the guitar which usually fits into a slot carved into the bridge which is the little wooden (usually) piece that is glued to the top of the guitar.) (I thought I'd give the simple terminology for easier future references.)

Anyway, many times both the nut and the saddle are both raised higher (sometimes a little piece called a nut-extender can be placed over the nut to raise its height as well). So just be sure that you don't have to lower both ends a bit to get the strings down to where you want them. Sometimes you'll find an acoustic guitar that is actually made to be only a slide guitar, which will often have a very sturdy square-contoured neck as well. While they can be made for regular playing with a bit of work, it was actually made to used only for playing with a slide bar while sitting on a the player's lap.

That actually explains a lot, Thank you.

[4LessThan3]

i told u that was the problem, but noo you had to ask everyone else b/c you didn't trust me

[fenderguitarfreak]

cole... just to let you know you were actually wrong... haha what a penis.

i actually took it to the repair store yesterday and the guy there said that he is going to file the bottom bridge and the top thing that holds the strings in place down. and then he is doing other things. cole you said that i needed to get the thing hollowed out more. yeah you were wrong shut up its actually a good thing i posted here or else i would of ######ed my guitar up..

[4LessThan3]

cole... just to let you know you were actually wrong... haha what a penis.

i actually took it to the repair store yesterday and the guy there said that he is going to file the bottom bridge and the top thing that holds the strings in place down. and then he is doing other things. cole you said that i needed to get the thing hollowed out more. yeah you were wrong shut up its actually a good thing i posted here or else i would of ######ed my guitar up..

wtf no i didn't u penis so shut the f**k up

[fenderguitarfreak]

yes... you did. you have no right to talk to me that way you noob.
(that is compared to me.. even though im a noob compared to a lot of people also)