jajalala

My dear older sister (the one who moved across the country) left her electric guitar at the family house... I think she got it back in 2012(?) or so when she had a phase where she got into music, though the phase did not last long and she ended up basically abandoning that electric guitar (along with an acoustic guitar as well).

I "adopted" her acoustic guitar a few years ago, though with its age, poor initial quality, and lack of care it is definitely not great. There's some warping or something going on with the bridge that makes it so even once tuned, somehow the frets don't play the precise correct pitches (I'm not a guitar mechanic, can't explain very well), but it's certainly been functional enough for me to learn. I played a little bit my senior year of college, at least enough to know some usual chords.

But this electric guitar... Well, I tried to play it in the past, but it always got all buzzy and weird. Still, my roommate mentioned wanting an electric guitar, so I mentioned the poor thing languishing in my family's basement. She persuaded me to bring it to the apartment so she could take a look. Now she's no guitar mechanic, but she is an engineer, so at some point she pried the thing open and took a look... According to her the electronics inside looked okay, so we figured the buzzing sound was either the cable or the amp (or something hyperspecific in the guitar she couldn't identify).

She persuaded me to take it to a proper guitar shop, where we were able to test those hypotheses. Turned out the cable was the problem! And thank goodness, as that part was the cheapest to replace. Additionally, the guitar person was able to give the guitar itself a sorely-needed tune-up as well. I was a bit surprised, the guitar must be almost a decade old by now, I thought the guitar person would be like "Oh it's junk you oughta buy a new one." But the trip to the repair shop turned out great! Now it plays quite well, and my roommate and I can both practice guitar. Thank goodness for having a big sister who bought and dropped hobbies as a teen!