I prefer "the people's guitar."

May 24, 2008 6:21 PM

Can I actually play my toy guitar?

I bought a really boss toy guitar that I can't seem to tune. The pegs keep unwinding when I try to tune up. I'll turn them to tighten the strings (which I think are cheap nylon) but they won't stay. Can I replace the strings with "real" ones or do something to get it in tune? Or is it really not meant to be used to play "Ring of Fire" at potlucks?

posted by liketitanic to sports, hobbies, & recreation (4 comments total)

"... Can I replace the strings with "real" ones or do something to get it in tune? ..."

I doubt it could stand classical guitar strings. You might get away with ukelele strings. I wouldn't try to put it in standard guitar tune, either; maybe go a fifth down from standard tuning, to reduce the bridge stress. You might try carefully tightening the tuning peg nuts, to keep them from slipping.
posted by paulsc at 6:56 PM on May 24, 2008

Tune it to where it wants to be, not where you want it.

Find a low "E" analogue sound that the toy WILL hold; tune the other strings to that note. Hopefully, you can find a key (ish) that will harmonize with your voice and/or any other instruments.

Toy instruments can make fine music, but you'd be happiest if you use it within the toy-tolerances, and not put a lot of strain on it. You could force a tuning, but it'll probably break.

I bet you'll get a lot of fun from the toy guitar. (It does look boss, btw.)
posted by reflecked at 6:58 PM on May 24, 2008

I would expect that you'd need to replace the tuners to get it to stay in tune. You can get a decent set pretty cheaply (ten bucks) and if you want to pay someone else to replace them, your local music store will probably do it for the minimum labour charge.
posted by winston at 7:12 PM on May 24, 2008

Any new set of strings will continually fall out of tune when you first try to tune them (a lot for a few minutes, and somewhat for quite a long time), so you may want to check that you're not just being impatient. Sorry to condescend if you're already a stringed instrument player.
posted by abcde at 9:51 AM on May 25, 2008