Hi I’m a beginner who plays a very high action guitar classical in à apartment.i feel like I’m. Not getting any better because I need a electric guitar like I used to have,but I’m on a budget and it may take years to save 220.00 for an electric any thoughts thanks
You could order a cheap bone nut/saddle set and also a needle file set from Amazon and then go for it with some YouTube videos. Save your old set after using it as a template in case you mess up and you lose nothing other than maybe 10-15 bucks. You might need a bit of sand paper. Its not too hard of a job depending on why your action is high.
Or your can learn to play a bit of a higher action.
Or you could look for a extremely cheap electric and build up a punk style guitar. A part here a part there. Look in pawn shops or marketplace ads like facebooks sales, crags list if they have it where you live.
Maybe post in the equipment section. If you think its a repairable issue.
Good luck. Sometimes its just a matter of getting used to a different action. I personally wouldnt be going for a classical as my learner, but a acoustic steel string is a for sure cool axe to play in lew of an electric. Sometimes you got to do what you gotta do to jam.
Good luck Shay, keep us up to date.
You say you are playing a classical guitar, which generally has a higher action, certainly more so than electric. Why not go for a cheap pre-owned electric on, say eBay? Depending on what you require you will not pay to much. Less than 220.
imho, ya can learn on a high action guitar.
My 1st guitar was similar to your description, but a steel string guitar. Point is, it had too high action.
I hated that guitar but wanted to play so bad that I just kept at it. Man it hurt my fingers to play.
That said.
Keep a look out in your local want ads.
I saw a electric that the price was zero the other day on craigs list. The seller was just giving it away to someone who might use it more than they did. The price was right for sure and it didn’t last too long on the craigs list.
It was just some no name brand that looked like a strat.
I’ve seen other pretty cheap guitars for sale over time too. Not free like that one, but way lower than your 220.
I suppose there’s other places than criags list too.
Just keep looking. Ya never know what ya might find.
While your looking keep at it with your high action guitar.
But imho, high action is detrimental to learning to play.
The good part is. Anything with low action will play like butter when ya finally find something. Playing may seem like a breeze when that happens. And that can be inspirational for sure.
Hope ya find something. I can for sure sympathize with you. Been there, done that…
Learn to do your own setup on the guitar and if you can’t get the action low enough tune down to Eb and put a capo on the first fret.
Keep practicing and keep saving.
This sounds more like an excuse not to practice than the reason for not getting better. If you practice you will get better. Where there’s a will there’s a way.
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I second what Rick @stitch said. My very first guitar was an ultra cheap classical guitar with extremely high action. I literally could put my finger underneath the strings at the 12th fret.
I learned one whole year on my guitar before I got something better and I definitely made progress, because I wanted to learn how to play guitar. 
Nylon strings are much more forgiving with regards to very high action and you can still learn on that instrument. Try it with Rick’s suggestion or as other commenters said, you can try to lower the action a little yourself. It is worth a try until you saved some money for a more decent instrument. Enjoy the ride. 
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Don’t forget that classical guitars are meant to have high action. The low tension strings vibrate with larger amplitudes, so low action Leeds to buzzing as the vibrating string hits the frets.
Unless the action is abnormally high, even for a classical, I wouldn’t worry about it. The nylon strings are easy to fret.
The style of guitar is very different than an electric though, and what you can do with it is vastly different. A classical guitar is designed for fine and pure note articulation. It would be hard to learn to shred on that, although not impossible.
If you learn some excellent finger style and classical technique, it will serve you well in your guitar journey regardless of what you end up playing in the future.
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I agree with all and like Joshua says it is still going to prep you for the journey ahead cheers Hec
My first ever guitar had an unrepairable high action. I shouldn’t have persevered with it. It made everything so much harder. It’s not worth the pain.
Hey Shay
My two bits: I’m a relative newb/ 'Been playing 8 months on a brand new folk guitar with steel strings.
Man, I just could not play an F chord, months into trying, and I still couldn’t do it.
I finally took the guitar into a local guy to set it up properly.
Just picked up the guitar two days ago.
Finally I’m able to play an F chord without the B string sounding godawful. The F chord is not sounding beautiful, yet—but it is a darn sight better than before the action was lowered.
(I was beginning to echo the words of my 10 year old when they were in elementary school band:
I’ll never play an F chord!
If the setup cost is out of reach,
I like the DIY approach promoted above.
Very, very satisfying to fix something yourself, indeed it is. Powah!
Cheers,
Bruce
You’re a beginner and so are unlikely to be playing much beyond frets 1-5 for a while. When guitars are described as having a high action it is usually worst and most difficult around frets 6-12.
Until you can afford to buy better and a guitar you really want, try to get on with the basics as much as possible.
Hi Shay!
My suggestion is to take your guitar to a music shop & talk to their guitar repair guy. Show them the action & explain that you can’t afford a setup but would appreciate any advice for DIY “fix” for your instrument. My son had a buddy years ago who was so broke that he was homeless & was trying to busk to get enough money to eat with. The shop he took the guitar to charged him for strings (he insisted that he didn’t want ‘charity’) but did the work for nothing because they could tell he was very down & out. It was literally the beginning of a new start in life for the guy… he pulled himself up, got a job & eventually got married & now has a family! All because someone was kind to him & helped him when he really needed it!
Tod
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I would say “it depends”.
The action is, in part, due to how the nut is cut, and a lot of cheap acoustic guitars are cut very high at the nut.
Yes, the effect of this in terms of measured action is highest at the centre of the strings, but a high cut nut can make fretting notes in the first 2 frets very uncomfortable.
Cheers,
Keith
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Most of the posters are forgetting this is a classical guitar. Normal action for the low E string is 4mm. I don’t know the OPs actual action measurement, but it is a classical guitar and, if you compare to an electric, the action will look crazy high. But that is where it is supposed to be.
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Yes, if you have it --play it. This kind of guitar is perfect for fingerpicking and stretching out your fret hand. That is what I like about my old nylon string student guitar. While others are doing the spider thing or other finger gym exercises, just play something musical on this guitar. You may come to like or prefer this style of playing for some types of music.
I installed an under the saddle piezo pickup to make mine an electric/acoustic. Works great. Something to consider.
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I agree Keith.
Nut slots tend to be higher than optimal on many guitars and it can cause high action in the first few frets.
I would suggest spending money on a tech to file nut slots, shave bridge, set up etc on a cheap guitar is not worth it. It is playable. Save the 30 to 40 bucks of tech work. It could be about a third of a reasonable budget electric.
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Wow everyone,thanks for all of y’all’s input,I wanna save for the squire debut beginning guitar.till then I’ll hang in there with the classical as is.