The guitar I’m borrowing is showing the issues I was warned about. My friend said I’d need to de-tune the strings one fret, so 1st bottom string D#, 2nd string A#, 3rd string F#, 4th string C#, 5th string G#, 6th string (top string) D#. He then provided a capo to bring things back into standard tuning.
A couple of nights ago I was finally taking the time to get it in to tune so I could practice a couple of chords, but it just wouldn’t tune right. Part of the problem was my tuner just didn’t want to consider anything other than a standard tuning. I had to learn how to read it properly to get it. Then I decided, hey I’ve got a capo, I can put it on then tune to standard! That mostly worked…
The other issue was that the pins which hold the strings in the bridge were popping out. This old guitar has had an untold number of strings put on it and the pins and pin holes are a bit worn. Pin #5 just kept worming its way up as I’d tighten it. I was finally able to mash the pin in the hole with one hand, hold the guitar in my lap with another hand, and tighten the tuner with another hand, and pluck the string to get it in tune with another hand. Yeah, that’s a lot of hands. I somehow managed it with just the two.
Then I ran out of time for the night. It was time to put the kids in bed and take care of some evening chores. So, no chords learned or played. I’ll have to try again another day.