Restringing an old guitar

Red Alert

hey kids, I found my mum's old guitar up in the attic and was thinking of taking it up. two of its strings are broken, and one metal and three nylon strings remain. is this instrument in fact a classical guitar? she doesn't think it was, although she used to only strum 3 chords on it. most people say that learning acoustic guitar you use six metal strings, which is fine by me, but would it be ok for the guitar to restrung that way? it needs to be restrung anyhow i'd say so i'd like to get it right for learning.

Doctor J

If there are nylon strings on it, chances are it's a classical/spanish guitar.

Does it look sort of like this (the headstock in particular)?



If so, it's a calssical guitar alright and whatever you do, don't put steel strings on it. The neck isn't designed to cope with the extra tension of steel strings. The strings are also tied around the bridge, rather than kept in with pegs like a steel strung acoustic and there is a knack to putting them on. You might be best off bringing it into a guitar shop to have it restring. It shouldn't cost much at all.

Red Alert

the headstock's like in the photo, cheers for posting it up by the way. if i get it restrung the way it's supposed to be (3 metal/3 nylon) will it be alright for learning the basics on?

Doctor J

Yeah, provided the guitar itself is in good nick it's absolutley perfect for learning on. You can then see if you have a taste for it and try a steel string guitar later on, if you see fit. The steel string guitars are a bit louder and a little more suited to strumming though the nylon string is just fine for that too. Good luck with it