Hello Nicole and welcome, I visited Poorvo ages ago while I was staying in Helsinki during my Erasmus Uni studies.
I’m also so very concerned to disturb the neighbours…that might be a reason why I progress so slowly with my strumming 
what happened is that I actually ended up practicing more fingerstyle and finally follow my inclination for classical guitar…I wish you a lot of fun in your journey and I look foward hearing more from you in this wonderful and lively Community 
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Thank you so much 
I’m really glad that I found this community.
- Nicole
Hi Nicole, a very warm welcome to JustinGuitar and this community.
Gretsch and lake sounds like a great dream to work towards.
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Welcome Nicole, enjoy your guitar journey. I play a solid guitar when worrying about neighbours and ‘noise’. Or finger style as Sylvia suggests.
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Hi Nicole, I have never been to Borgå /Porvoo but it seem like a very close town on the net.
I live in Sweden so it is quite close. We are many here that started on guitar when we were young and then life happens with work and a lot of things. Do not give up this time and keep going!
Some advice: Have your new guitar set up for a beginner ! I.e. perhaps put somewhat thinner strings like a 009 - 042 because I guess it is delivered with perhaps two steps thicker ? Then adjust the neck because for the new strings and set the string heigh somewhat low. Check the intonation ! Ask an experienced guitar luthier for help. I will be SO much easier to play and your fingers won’t be tired as fast ! Perhaps good this Gretsch does not have a Bigsby so it will be easier to tune. Bigsbys can sometimes be tricky ! If you don’t have one buy a good tuner based on vibration not sound !
Good luck and be back with your progress !
That’s a brilliant idea 
My husband’s brother at some point studied building guitars. I might actually want to exploit his expertise on this case 
Hello Nicole and welcome to our community.
Nice story. I hope you enjoy it here.
Hi Nicole, welcome to the community. A little practice each day and having fun playing will help you reach your goals if you use Justin’s app and website. Have fun playing songs.
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Hello Nicole & welcome!
My only advice… have FUN with guitar 
and don’t take it too seriously… if the fun stops, the playing stops also.
Oh, and learn songs!!!
Tod
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About time I said hello. Welcome to the Community Nicole.
Toby, belated welcomes are always the best ones 
Seriously, is I my post from less than two months ago… ? Hard to believe.
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