Not wrong to do. Wrong to do without asking first.

Don't fuck with people's shit without asking wtf. Life isn't like TV, not every surprise is going to be appreciated.

Asshole: no.

Misguided: yes.

His reaction isn’t unreasonable. Misplaced well intentioned actions likely will not end as intended. Ultimately, she didn’t get it. She misunderstood what he loved about the guitar.

Yeah, you don't fuck with shit a person is that attached to because you think it "looks rough"

fake: 4chan poster has a husband

God damn, yeah, you are unfortunately.

A worn appearance is often desired on old guitars. In some cases, it can even increase its value.

That, and the OP probably did what would be considered finishing someone's puzzle for them.

It's like taking someone's tried and true Windows 7 machine and upgrading it to Windows 11.

anon: congratulations, you're being rescued

guitar: "..."

anon: please do not resist

Depends how it was “fixed” If the pro tuned it to make it sound perfect that’s great. But probably anon got the damage repaired, taking away its charm and character. Of course anon doesn’t even know the difference between these two things.

Electric guitars are little more than a piece of wood, metal strings, and a transducer. For a lot of musicians what matters most is the sentimental value of their model. What she did was basically rob the owner of that.

I for one don't like people touching my shit. Especially shot that I've already put effort into myself. Ask first before you do something like that.

Beat up old guitar in need of refurbishment:

If you have to ask the internet if you are an asshole then it's either because you are definitely an asshole, or because you are karma farming - in which case, you are an asshole.

Depends what “fix” means, but if you didn’t get ripped off for $200, yes.

Getting it professionally tuned isn’t unreasonable imo, especially if the neck/pegs are misaligned, but in no world should that cost $200 (and don’t try to fix a misalignment).

Once you start making changes that can’t be undone, you’ve crossed the line. Get it tuned, get a nice strap (with mounting hardware, if needed), get a polishing kit or nicer case, hell, even get a replacement bridge/pegs and tools for working with a guitar, but don’t make permanent changes yourself (or have anyone else do so). All of those together could be well over $200, but you’d describe that as a tuneup and buying accessories, not taking the guitar “to a pro to fix it.”

Caveat that some people don’t like non-musicians or anyone else even touching their instruments, but I’d like to think that would be obvious to a spouse, even one who might have assumed that permanent changes to an instrument they don’t own are okay.

I’m a non-musician and my husband has a somewhat beaten up, but favored instrument that he learned on, so I’ll send this to him to see if my instinct is right (for my relationship, which does not mean it would be right for anyone else).

Though tbf, even thinking it might be okay, I got my husband a new instrument instead of messing with his beloved one, just because it occurred to me that he might react like the husband in the OP, and I didn’t want to risk it. Of course, he could also have then felt guilty about using the new one because it’s not the one he loves and felt guilty about using the old one because I gifted him a “nicer” one. I was lucky in that he’d already branched out into related instruments and the new one could fill a new niche, so wouldn’t compete with the old, making me less worried about him feeling conflicted [I'm so sorry about that sentence, I’m imagining trying to structure it in German without nominalizing any of the clauses and… woof].

So many arguments in this thread with so little information. Ah, the internet.

He probably just though it didn't sound the same any more, and it probably didn't, and he probably preferred the old 'crappy' sound. "They say she's the same [Becky], but she's not the same [Becky]."

Yep. Literally all anon had to do was talk to him about it first. Communication is so fucking important. I would know because a lack of it was what ended my almost decade long relationship. Talk to your fucking partners, even if it's uncomfortable in the moment. If you don't you will be MUCH more uncomfortable later when everything explodes.

Reading the comments...is there one actual guitar player here? Does anyone know what the fuck actually goes into setting the intonation and adjusting the action of the strings?

And people talking about permanent changes they could have made....what possible changes are getting done for 200...the proper parts alone would cost at least half of that and no one is doing work in a shop for free.

So presumably she had it set up which means strings were changed, intonation was properly setup and the action was adjusted with a truss rod check and some feet polishing.

If he's pissed the intonation is correct hes just a shitty player.

The key is "he loves it. I take from him without him knowing", whyyyy?

Yeah, absolutely. If you took something that I painted (I can't paint, fwiw) and had it touched up, fuck you.

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yes, but longer.

Unpopular opinion but no.