I own a Gretch semi-acoustic, which suffers from neck drop, and have difficulty holding the guitar at the right angle (slightly up to allow relatively easy finger movement on the fretboard) with my left arm (as described by Justin in his grade 1 course). I prefer to stand while playing so cannot rest it on my left leg. Any ideas?
Thanks
Ronald
Welcome to the community @jonnesr !
I don’t have my own experience with this, but I assume you use a strap. Some straps attach at the neck/head just past the nut. I have heard of people using a shoelace or string to tie them there. That probably helps with head drop more than attaching at the body.
Thank you for the reply. Yes, a thick strap is connected to the body buttons and holds the guitar in position to a certain extent but not at the angle I need.
There are items that you can slide onto the strap that add a lot more friction so to speak, bit like heavy guitar padding type pieces. Although designed to add padding they are a very tight fit on the straps which I found help to stop teh droop lol.
R.
Oooo…an Arts & Luthier cedar top?
That was my first guitar! Paid about $150 Canadian for it in the early '90s. Mine was very plain looking, but sounded great - experienced players were always remarking on it’s tone.
Sadly, I never really learned to play it…was the first of several failed attempts to learn to play. Was given away by a vengeful ex-girlfriend after a bad breakup.
Sigh…memories.
Welcome Ronald!
Welcome to the Community Ronald.
Does your strap have a suede lining? I find that helps a lot as the friction between the suede and your clothing helps to stop movement.
As others have suggested, a quality strap can help.
The other important factor is that when you’re playing standing up, you need to pin the guitar to your body with your right forearm to hold it in place. Some guitars have headstock dive more than others, but all guitars move around. It might be a bit tricky to do that early on, if so, try sitting down. Still need to pin it in place with your right arm, but less effort.
Thanks to all for the varied ideas; I will experiment accordingly and settle on what is most comfortable and convenient for me.
