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Gripen5 posted:I can't get proper intonation (like not even close, flat by almost half a semi-tone) on the 12th fret on my strat. It is the standard MIM bridge and I have unscrewed the saddle on the bridge to almost the point where it looks like it could pop right off if I unscrew it anymore. Does this just mean that I need new strings? Or just heavier ones? You need to use new strings to intonate. They wear at frets and where you bend, so after a decent amount of playing, there's less mass and less tension at certain parts on the string.
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Aug 25, 2014 16:34
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juche mane posted:You need to use new strings to intonate. They wear at frets and where you bend, so after a decent amount of playing, there's less mass and less tension at certain parts on the string. Gotcha. Thanks. Probably time to try a new brand anyway.
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Aug 25, 2014 16:39
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Gripen5 posted:I can't get proper intonation (like not even close, flat by almost half a semi-tone) on the 12th fret on my strat. It is the standard MIM bridge and I have unscrewed the saddle on the bridge to almost the point where it looks like it could pop right off if I unscrew it anymore. Does this just mean that I need new strings? Or just heavier ones? Which string? If you're shortening the scale so much on that given string to sharpen things up to correct intonation and running out of room you have two options open to you: 1. Get a longer saddle screw. 2. Get a longer saddle. The Graphtech StringSaver replacements for Strats are a bit longer than the stamped steel that comes on most MIMs. This may help you, but with that understand that it can hurt you by your need to lengthen the scale on a bunch of other strings. When I swapped these in on my MIM it sent the low E so far back I almost had to just pull the spring out. The simpler approach would be to try to just source a longer screw for that saddle. No clue if you can find an appropriate thread at your local hardware store, but it's worth a try to take one of your saddle screws down and see.
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Aug 25, 2014 18:16
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Could be a relief problem, no? If there's too much bow and you have to press the strings down a long way at the 12th, that would mean longer strings and flatter notes right? So the intonation problem would get worse as you move up towards the 12th and then less bad as you move past it towards the bridge
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Aug 25, 2014 18:34
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baka kaba posted:Could be a relief problem, no? If there's too much bow and you have to press the strings down a long way at the 12th, that would mean longer strings and flatter notes right? So the intonation problem would get worse as you move up towards the 12th and then less bad as you move past it towards the bridge More bow would shorten the path to the saddle from the nut. Not even accounting for string travel to the fret, this would sharpen the notes. He indicates that at the moment he's too flat. If you did take into account the string fret distance, more bow would also sharpen fretted notes as you would expand tension on the string when fretting a higher-action string vs a lower-action string.
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Aug 25, 2014 18:47
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The only string I am having an issue with is the high e string. I am using a set of Ernie Ball 9's. It has been probably a few months since I last change them, so that is likely the problem, but I can look a little bit into neck relief tonight. However, I believe one of the other threads mentioned that Ernie Ball's are generally terrible strings, so I might look into something else, like maybe NYXLs, which I see recommended all the time. Not like I change the strings often enough where the $5 difference is back breaking.
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Aug 25, 2014 18:51
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Gripen5 posted:The only string I am having an issue with is the high e string. I am using a set of Ernie Ball 9's. It has been probably a few months since I last change them, so that is likely the problem, but I can look a little bit into neck relief tonight. However, I believe one of the other threads mentioned that Ernie Ball's are generally terrible strings, so I might look into something else, like maybe NYXLs, which I see recommended all the time. Not like I change the strings often enough where the $5 difference is back breaking. I ran D'Addario 9's on my MIM and had no issues, even on the stamped saddles. And I had to change the saddle depth minimally when I went back and forth between 10's. Anyway, I wish I was local to help you. I've run 9's and 10's sets on my MIM for months without this happening, playing 1-3 hours daily.
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Aug 25, 2014 18:56
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Alleric posted:I ran D'Addario 9's on my MIM and had no issues, even on the stamped saddles. And I had to change the saddle depth minimally when I went back and forth between 10's. Heh me too. Thanks for the offer though. I will probably just find a youtube video and do a complete set up when I can string a few hours together to do it.
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Aug 25, 2014 19:15
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Alleric posted:More bow would shorten the path to the saddle from the nut. Not even accounting for string travel to the fret, this would sharpen the notes. He indicates that at the moment he's too flat. If you did take into account the string fret distance, more bow would also sharpen fretted notes as you would expand tension on the string when fretting a higher-action string vs a lower-action string. Huh, I'm sure I assumed intonation adjustment was about compensating for the extra tension when you have to press down, but someone corrected me and said it was actually about the increased length from saddle to fret contact point. I don't know what to believe anymore! I mean in general, intonation problems get worse as you go up the neck, which makes sense as the extra length (from the action) representing a greater fraction of the vibrating string. You're not adding any more tension at the higher frets, are you? God it's been years since I did this stuff in physics. Someone tried to sell me a guitar in that lesson too 
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Aug 25, 2014 19:21
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Intonation gets worse as you go up the neck because the fixed length that the string is off by becomes a progressively larger ratio of the resonating length as the resonating length gets shorter.
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Aug 25, 2014 19:53
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baka kaba posted:Huh, I'm sure I assumed intonation adjustment was about compensating for the extra tension when you have to press down, but someone corrected me and said it was actually about the increased length from saddle to fret contact point. I don't know what to believe anymore! My understanding is the physics behind even simple vibration of a string involves so many variables (involving Young's modulus, surface area, other material properties, etc, etc.) and even then it is all based on theoretical ideal modeling. IIRC the single biggest reason the actual scale length is typically longer than the theoretical is due to the fixed ends of the string (the bit of material not allowed to vibrate due to being bound by the bridge and nut/fret) are not contributing to the fundamental wavelength. A good rule of thumb is to add double the string diameter to the theoretical scale length to be in the ballpark setting intonation. Of course all this goes out the window when the string is wound versus bare. IIRC there, that is because there is significant difference in flexibility between wound and unwound strings. Thus the reason why most all well intonated guitars have the "skewed 'z'" pattern on the bridge. I've got a guitar builders' textbook and the bloody calculations in the scale determination section might as well be written in cuneiform. Well not really, it's not rocket science but Christ, can nothing be simple?
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Aug 25, 2014 20:42
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No guitar plays exactly in tune. Zero. Now, that being said... If we just take a normal 6 string guitar and talk about nothing specific as far as string gauge, etc... we can make some following statements: 1. No given string at a given tuning wants the same specific scale as any other string at its tuning. 2. With all of the frets existing at a fixed distance for all strings from the nut, different strings are going to pull foul of tuning in different ways as you progress up and down the fretboard. 3. When you tune, you're tuning at the nut with the tension on the string that exists at that point in time. When you fret, you're pulling the string out of tune in some way because of the fret behavior in 2, but also because instead of just shortening the scale when fretting, you're pushing the string down out of neutral position, throwing tension out of whack as well. Now, on the flip side if you just look at strings in general: 1. Smaller gauge strings like shorter scale lengths and more compressed fret spacing to play in tune with themselves (which empirically they cannot do). 2. Larger gauge strings like longer scale lengths and more expanded fret spacing to play in tune with themselves (which empirically they cannot do). All of this is why you can go back through the sands of time, in all the mass of recorded guitar related music and hear things like: * Barre chords on this certain record had "that sound" that I just can't seem to nail. * Why the gently caress does the 3rd of this D chord sound sharp as hell on the high E, but if I fix it the loving E and G go out of whack when I play chords that use them? * Why the gently caress does the 3rd of this A chord sound sharp as hell on the B string, but if I fix it, the C goes flat on my C chords, and the D goes flat on my D chords? * Why the gently caress does the 3rd of this E chord sound sharp as hell on the G string, but if I fix it the open G goes way flat on the chords that use it? * I'm droning open D and noodling in D Lydian up the fret board and lord several of the notes sound like the intervals are just wrong (guess what? they are...). Guitars play out of tune. And the nature of how "out of tune" sounds varies rather characteristically with scale length. It's why LP's sound like LP's (and SG's tend to have the same temperament), Strats sound like Strats, etc, etc, etc... Most of my intonation problems I listed are things pulling sharp down in first position on certain chords, and the primary reason for this is the wonky intonation differences you're going to have with a fixed-fret system combined with a nut that needs adjustment to lower the action. This is pretty common on a lot of low-to-mid tier guitars. The barre chord thing though... happens on every axe in some way, and to dupe that sound you need not just the same guitar, but the same guitar intonated the exact same way with the same nut settings, same saddle settings, etc... It's a snapshot in time of that guitar with that config. Anywhoo... modern attempts at getting around this, in essence "tempering" the guitar have led to multi-scale instruments and even some crazy rear end swedes who just said "gently caress it" and gave each string its own fret spacing (I want one of these necks so very bad...). Even with what the Swedes did... there's still an idiosyncratic "out of tune"ness to each of their temperaments, ergo why Anyway, there's my wall o text concerning guitar temperament. In leaving I present this gent. Now me, I'm not a shredder and I don't appreciate it other than for technical expertise, but in researching these compensated necks I found this guy and I'll just say that he's a beast and cracks me the hell up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA2dctlBKIc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7yxQU36w3c
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Aug 25, 2014 20:54
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mattias eklundh owns a whole lot also regarding earlier pickup chat, sometimes covered pickups are wound microscopically hotter, so taking the cover off might remove some attenuation off the high end i guess
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Aug 25, 2014 21:48
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muike posted:hey famous guitarist x is known for doing something dumb and gay and his poo poo sounds great, it must be that one factor that did it
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Aug 25, 2014 21:53
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stevie ray vaughan played with only the rawest of shredded fingertips. i need a tone papershredder
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Aug 25, 2014 21:54
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Some people can't accept that despite using such lovely equipment and doing things horribly wrong, great guitarists break through all of that with actual talent. Eddie Van Halen wasn't good at guitar because his had stripes and a dead pickup.
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Aug 25, 2014 23:09
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Van Halen also tuned his b string slightly flat to make major third triads in tune with each other. There really is no right or wrong answer to any of this stuff. Mentioned it before I'm sure, but Jack Endino's Guitar Tuning Nightmares Explained article from Tape Op should be mandatory reading.
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Aug 26, 2014 00:48
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I run it flat too, 5 cents or so seems to be enough. And I've just kinda gotten really, really used to pressing a little harder when fretting it for the chords that -doesn't- work so great for, haha. Everyone has their own thing there I'm sure.
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Aug 26, 2014 02:34
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As a random question, does anybody here have any personal experience with the ArtistWorks Paul Gilbert course? I'm about to relocate out of state for a new job, and as such I'll be having to stop taking lessons with my current teacher. He's good, but he's not 5.5hr drive each way good. I was looking at this as an interim option until I can start up private lessons again. So far it looks pretty good to me, I work well from videos and the printed page. I've seen a nice chunk of Paul's instructional videos, and he's pretty good at explaining things. In case it matters, I'm roughly at the level where I've got some songs under my belt, know my pentatonics and natural minor, that sort of thing. Link to follow, thank you kindly. http://artistworks.com/guitar-lessons-paul-gilbert
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Aug 26, 2014 04:22
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Hey, look at what GFS dug up. http://www.guitarfetish.com/Genuine-Epiphone-Lucille-Varitone-replacement-boards_p_11664.html Epiphone Varitone circuits right off their Lucilles. Not a bad price. Not sure what to do with them.
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Aug 26, 2014 14:31
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Warcabbit posted:Hey, look at what GFS dug up. Perhaps you could adapt it into a pedal somehow, but it's meant to be used inside the guitar and is a passive circuit so that might not work as well. Also the Lucille has stereo out which may make it a little more work than just adding it to an existing guitar but I'm a novice at electronics so don't take my word on it.
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Aug 26, 2014 15:59
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Warcabbit posted:Hey, look at what GFS dug up. Aww yeah they just sent out a labor day sale email too! Have a lot of trouble sourcing guitar-appropriate inductors where I'm at so it's almost worth it just to buy one of these and rip 'em off...
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Aug 26, 2014 16:04
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They had a blem Jazzblaster for less than 170, for your Sonic Youth fun.
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Aug 26, 2014 18:17
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Warcabbit posted:Hey, look at what GFS dug up. I have a Varitone circuit in my guitar. It's fantastic for giving me weird-ish presets I'd probably never select using, say, the amp's EQ. Some of the voicings are wholly unique, really; there's one that's very brash and another one that's incredibly honk-y but sort of hollow and aggressive-sounding. Those two settings in particular are different enough that I'm not even sure where I'd begin to re-create the sound using other tone-shaping tools. Hell, I should buy one of these just to have a replacement (mine was home-built by my luthier)
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Aug 26, 2014 19:47
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So, how's it work, anyhow? It's something more than just a switch? How would this work if I crammed it in my SSC-33, with its odd pickups? It's been needing some balls. ... How would this work if you crammed it in a Nighthawk? It sounds like something you should cram in a Nighthawk. Warcabbit fucked around with this message at 20:45 on Aug 26, 2014 |
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Aug 26, 2014 20:41
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Man, people like Paul Simon or Arcade Fire don't compare to some real Soukous guitar playing. The combination of using a pick at the top and fingers at the bottom is badass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1dMz49bmyQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uETt8BsFzQ
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Aug 27, 2014 00:43
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Warcabbit posted:So, how's it work, anyhow? It's something more than just a switch? How would this work if I crammed it in my SSC-33, with its odd pickups? It's been needing some balls.  It's a rotary switch with differently valued caps & resistors on each setting. No idea how this translates into the different voicings but they're definitely... "different" than a tone pot. On mine I had one setting with no buffer between the pickups and the output so it's basically unfiltered pickup sounds Schlieren fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Aug 27, 2014 |
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Aug 27, 2014 01:21
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Schlieren posted:
L1 and L2 on that diagram are inductance coils - loops of wire sorta like your pickups. It's my understanding that using them with caps in a tone circuit creates that 'scooped', 'hollow' sound, as instead of a standard tone control that rolls off everything above a certain point it produces more of a notch in the frequency spectrum. It's the same thing that happens in a wah pedal, and folks like Bill Lawrence sell specialized inductors for this purpose. (Could be wrong, talking from memory here.)
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Aug 27, 2014 03:11
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How does the thread feel about cleans on an electric + effects being used instead of an acoustic guitar for a voice/guitar only song? https://soundcloud.com/jacob-staudt/melodeity When I play this with an acoustic I feel it loses a lot of the empty, hollow timbre, but it feels odd to play an acoustic piece without an acoustic. Give me opinions on the subjective value in one over the other.
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Aug 27, 2014 08:23
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So long as you're just asking for opinions, my opinion is that whatever works for a song is fine and don't worry about it  You do sound pretty much exactly like Kirk or Dime or any other thousand "this is our metal clean tone" in terms of the actual sound, but that may be exactly what you want. Clean + chorus/phaser/trem/whatever is a staple of songwriters with electric guitars, and if you resemble that remark, do what sounds/"feels" good.Edit: Follow your own advice as given in this thing that played after that clip  https://soundcloud.com/jacob-staudt/40-rounds
Agreed fucked around with this message at 08:42 on Aug 27, 2014 |
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Aug 27, 2014 08:39
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Finger style jazz, gypsy jazz, classical: 3/4 steel string or nylon classical? My Yamaha F310 needs to go to pasture and since I have found myself never really playing cowboy chord strumming songs, and a little country/jazz finger style and attempting to play classical these seem to be suitable. Tone-wise i would be well off for gypsy jazz but I reckon the flat fingerboard would be good for triads and lead runs.
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Aug 27, 2014 09:00
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Southern Heel posted:Finger style jazz, gypsy jazz, classical: 3/4 steel string or nylon classical? My Yamaha F310 needs to go to pasture and since I have found myself never really playing cowboy chord strumming songs, and a little country/jazz finger style and attempting to play classical these seem to be suitable. Tone-wise i would be well off for gypsy jazz but I reckon the flat fingerboard would be good for triads and lead runs. The classical guitar repertoire is much easier to play on a true classical guitar. Maybe a Flamenco guitar would be a compromise solution?
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Aug 27, 2014 14:17
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Schlieren posted:
It's just like having EQ presets that you switch between. Each one of those is a filter with a different frequency bandwidth. However unlike a tone pot, which is just a low pass filter that you dial in to cut off your high frequencies, those are a little more complicated and it's been a long time since I've done more than a second order CLR circuit so uh yeah I'm going to just guess they're band pass filters with differing bandwidths. It's a neat tool to have. Electronic filter design is an art in and of itself though and you can take whole classes on it.
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Aug 27, 2014 14:37
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Alleric posted:Anyway, there's my wall o text concerning guitar temperament. In leaving I present this gent. Now me, I'm not a shredder and I don't appreciate it other than for technical expertise, but in researching these compensated necks I found this guy and I'll just say that he's a beast and cracks me the hell up: I used to be obsessed with the little 4 second section that starts 21 seconds into this video. It's such a cool sound imo. I could never recreate it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgGlTAAyVB8 Anyway what's up guitar thread. I know this isn't the right place but can anyone recommend some cool bluesy albums / guitarists that sound like the first two minutes of this allman brothers song? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSHqy-mPxQ I am totally into this poo poo now after years of listening to shredders, but I don't know anything about it. I mean I now the old guys like blind willie johnson but I'd like to find some newer, preferably instrumental, stuff.
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Aug 27, 2014 17:13
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So I know these questions were asked early on in the topic, but I didn't feel like I saw a solid answer that applied to me. I just started playing guitar doing some justinguitar stuff and rocksmith2014 on pc. I had bought an Epiphone Les Paul off a buddy for pretty cheap because it was just sitting in his house, but I hate the neck. I felt as if my hand just wasn't big enough to hit the low E string with my pinky even with the neck elevated I still struggle to have dexterity on it and just figured it was because I was new. My roommate has an SG and I recently tried playing that just to see and it was night and day difference with the dexterity and ease of playability. My ultimate goal is to play metal and some jazzy type stuff so I've been looking into Ibanez guitars and can't really tell where the split for their guitars is between "beginner stuff you'll outgrow" and "legit guitar you can play for a while". I'm eyeballing an rg350 or an rg550 because I can snag one for about $500 but I'm wondering if there are still acceptable rg's for less? tl;dr I hate the neck on my les paul and want an ibanez for cheap but not cheap quality
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Aug 27, 2014 18:57
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Heartbroken 2Twice posted:L1 and L2 on that diagram are inductance coils - loops of wire sorta like your pickups. It's my understanding that using them with caps in a tone circuit creates that 'scooped', 'hollow' sound, as instead of a standard tone control that rolls off everything above a certain point it produces more of a notch in the frequency spectrum. It's the same thing that happens in a wah pedal, and folks like Bill Lawrence sell specialized inductors for this purpose. http://www.blueshawk.info/frequency_response.htm#varitone curve
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Aug 27, 2014 19:15
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Cheap epiphone LPs are poo poo and you're right to want to switch. IMHO a guitar that doesn't fight you to play on it and allows for technical flexibility is great to learn on even if the tone is poo poo or w/e. Ibanez guitars are usually pretty thin on the neck and very easy to play if part of your motivation is to try to play fast melodic metal like Met to cut your teeth on. Do not buy a guitar for less than 2k without playing it before you buy. Go to a GC and play anything that catches your eye. Play it clean. Play with the gain on a black star 150 cranked and your bridge pickup. Try a bluesy tone. If it changes how it sounds twist, push or pull it and strum an A chord. Try changing positions rapidly and getting a feel for the neck. Finger the frets wY up at the top; a lot of the guitars I've owned had awful access to frets 20 and higher: ibanez tends to have thin necks with high accessibility to upper notes, so I think it's a good brand for you to look at. A word of caution; if you seriously consider a 3-500 ibanez with one of their floating bridges, please pull out your smartphone and check to make sure that it's not one of the floating terms that is made out if soft metal and will not stay in tune if you dive bomb or even just do little tremolo bar poo poo. Iirc [brain can't remember] it's their Edge II that's the piece of poo poo that I had to return because it was so bad. A shame, the neck was super smooth and easy to play. Don't be afraid to pick up something outside your price range a bit if it really feels good in your hands. It's an investment and you should be extremely happy with your purchase.
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Aug 27, 2014 19:29
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What's the general consensus on Squire Affinity strats? I've been trolling craigslist looking for something that I can just throw around and not have to treat as a precious bundle of money like my Les Paul. I've pretty much only ever played LP style guitars, so I'm also looking forward to playing something that isn't actively trying to break my back. Im also open to other alternatives, but Phoenix's craigslist seems pretty sparse.
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Aug 27, 2014 20:24
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Get a Vintage Modified or Classic Vibe, if you can. May cost a little bit more used, but you'll be able to play it without the worry of quickly outgrowing it. Affinity Strats are the level *just* above the cheapest possible Squier series (Bullet). If you can find the VM or CV series, you'll have something that will be easier to play, better constructed, and have better components (think tuners, pots, pickups, etc).
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Aug 27, 2014 20:57
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The newer ones are actually made of alder and maple, which is nice. I think they're fairly lousy, myself, but if you want something you can bang around without being too concerned, I think they're probably fine. I'm no expert, but I've seen a tremendous variation with Squier's, generally. It'd be a good idea to play the guitar before you buy, if you're able to do so. And yeah, the CV Tele is a nice guitar for the money.
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Aug 27, 2014 21:06
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