Guitar thread

[Miguel]

The cool thing about them too is that their nuts/necks are a little wide at 1.8".

This is actually a good point.  I have massive hands, and a wider neck would be a welcome feature.

Does anyone make a neck wider than 1.8"

[stray]

Not sure. Any twelve string would be as wide as classical, I believe.. but it'd take some setting up.

Django/Gypsy Jazz type guitars have pretty wide necks.

But really, 1 7/8 or 1.8 is pretty wide. I have big hands too, and it isn't bothersome.

I think most manufacturers make at least one model or two with wide necks. Or some will custom do it. Seagull seems to do it as a rule, so it's an easy way to check out if that width feels good or not.

[Miguel]

But really, 1 7/8 or 1.8 is pretty wide. I have big hands too, and it isn't bothersome.

I'll give it a try in person, if I can stomach 15 minutes at Guitar Center these days.

[stray]

Heh. Well, the good thing about acoustic section, I guess, is that they're booths and closed off. You can sit in there for a long time without anyone noticing you.

[Raph]

In that price range, Seagull, Alvarez, Yamaha, and even Washburns. There might be a Takamine in the right price range, not sure. I would stay away from the thin Fender ones, they tend to need to be plugged in to sound decent. I also dislike the tone of Ovations -- they make one sound, at various volumes, and I like a guitar capable of more than one. But don't be driven solely by brand, find the instrument that works for you. My main guitar (which plenty here have heard recordings of, and know how lovely it sounds) is a $500 Saga-imported Blueridge. It outplays just about every Taylor, Martin, and Gibson I have ever touched.

Take a player with you to help pick, if you are not experienced at it yourself; instruments can have subtle flaws. Specifically, check for even action up the neck, buzzes at various positions on the neck, intonation up the neck, and how it sounds to a listener as opposed to how it sounds to you.

If you get someone who pushes the electronics on you, insist on playing it acoustic and making the decision that way, then moving on to trying out electronics. But discard a choice based on the acoustic sound.

Try playing two or three sorts of music on it: something with some fingerpicking, something with barres up the neck, something rough sounding and something delicate -- some guitars will shine with one tonal area versus another, and getting a fingerpicking parlor guitar when you want to play punk is no good. A versatile instrument will grow better with you as a player, as you explore more tonalities.

You do want a solid top. The rest of the woods almost don't matter -- they affect the sound, not the quality of it but the timbre. So go by ear, not by looks.

For massive hands -- again, you pretty much have to try them out. Do you want to play nylon or steel? Most of my advice here is centered on steel, though a lot of it is generally applicable.

I personally like a cutaway, for what I play, but a lot depends on what you want to play. It does affect the sound slightly.

For styles -- dreadnought, jumbo, parlor, whatever, it depends on your goals as a player. In general, the bigger the guitar, the more bass and the more volume. The jumbos get bassier than the dreadnoughts. But jumbos and dreadnoughts are a pain to lug around. A small parlor guitar won't project well outdoors or in loud areas, if you plan to do that. Smaller guitars are often more expressive, but are also a bit more fragile, and if you find a really expressive big guitar it can have a bigger tonal range.

A Baby Taylor is quite nice btw. Probably too small for your hands though.

[Raph]

Oh... if you find a used guitar at a pawn shop, it's worth a play and may be a steal. I learned on a pawn shop Yamaha, and it was quite decent, and I think it was $150.

[Miguel]

Awesome info Raph.  I think I'll take a guitar-player friend of mine who can really work out the acoustic for me.

[WitchKiller]

I see a lot of guys here talking about fame like it's impossible.  Maybe my perspective is different because I'm in Austin (we have a lot of music come through here), but I think it's just a matter of work invested, and not some magic lottery.  Anyway, that seems like a face-to-face kind of topic.

Anyone going to see Lorenzo Michelli while he's in the states?  The guitarist from By Any Means Necessary (phenomenal 21 year old guitarist) and I are headed to Nashville in February to check him out.  I only play European style metal, but I admire all virtuosos, especially string players.


Pretty good psychobilly, stray.

[stray]

Been in and out of Austin myself (in SA now). I don't think it's impossible. There's a lot of talented songwriters, I think -- more than that's represented in the general public, for sure.. But not all of them have the skill at selling and packaging things in a way for that. Music is just music to them.. an end in itself. Like what musicians were doing 500 years ago (or even 100 really). I think the ones who've gotten some wide notoriety have played the game in some way -- even when they say they don't...

J Mascis (Dino Jr.), for instance -- biggest slacker there ever was.. The Godfather of Slack.. He really doesn't give a shit -- yet, he places himself in situations, with other musicians, studios, etc. where it just fell in his lap naturally. Some people don't even do that.

[Sky]

I see a lot of guys here talking about fame like it's impossible. 

Nobody said impossible.

By the way, who are you? 

[Raph]

I used to live in Austin. I got to hang out with folks who were somewhat well known (in Austin anyway, in the singer-songwriter area). DIana Jones, before she moved away and got critical acclaim for her Appalachian stuff. Steve Brooks and Steve Hopkins. Dana Cooper, when he was in town. Paul Sanchez. Some folks should have been better known than they were or are.

My sense is, you have to keep working and working and working at it. And I always had other things to do. *shrug*

[WitchKiller]

I see a lot of guys here talking about fame like it's impossible. 

Nobody said impossible.

By the way, who are you? 

Sorry Sky, I usually just lurk around here.  I'm just a dude.  I played bass in an Austin heavy metal band for a couple of years, but left after I started school full time.  Right now I just practice, and work on some instrumental stuff with pro tools.  I have an upright Stray if you want to start a Psychobilly 3-piece.  I might even have a drummer.

[stray]

No shit? I've been pissing and moaning to friends about not meeting enough people with an upright. ...and wondering to myself why I'm trying to learn these type of tunes when I've got nobody to play off. Heh. Yeah, sounds like a cool idea dude. Can you sing and play too?

[stray]

BTW, have you heard older Tiger Army stuff? That's kind of what I'm shooting for (not intentionally.. though I dig the band..). Not psychobilly per se, but something in between punk, rockabilly, and psycho. I'm about as good (or bad) a guitar player as Nick..which is to say, not as good as rockabilly musicians, but know some of the trappings well enough. He sings about dark shit like psychobilly too, plays fast like them.. but delivers a little more smoothly like rockabilly.

I like the Quakes too. They don't limit themselves to anything traditionally rockabilly.. they really evolve the sound, I think.

[WitchKiller]

Yeah Stray, I used to really love Tiger Army, but never really followed them after their 3rd album (Ghost Tigers Rise?).  Nick13 shifted too far from the 50's for my tastes.  They seem like they're still enjoying a lot of success though, so that's good. 

I can play and sing, but only back up style.  Playing anything on an acoustic 4/4 double bass is so much of a pain compared to the guitar, but I can still sing along.

I just picked up strings, but still need to see the luthier, and I really need to get a new pre-amp (the sound is kinda brittle right now) but give me a few months to really get it all sorted and I'll gladly start playing songs about zombie prom queens, Roadsters driven by bats, and whatever other crazy psychobilly shit you can think of. 

I don't have many excuses though, the bassist for the Flame Trick Subs only has one hand.

EDIT:  Are you playing a hollow body?

[stray]

Nope.. some of these clips is either a fender jazzmaster or a hamer solidbody. I plan on getting a gretsch though -- but it'll probably be a solid (the jet model.. the umm.. the les paul shaped one).

Yeah the 4th Tiger Army album really veered into a place I don't like. It just sounds too much like AFI or something.

[edit] I'm not sure about Zombie porn queens. That's too innocent. I've always liked the seriousness of glenn danzig's lyrics -- how he could be campy, yet graphic about gore and depression in a way to make you question whether he was really fucking crazy or not. Heh.

[Sky]

I'm not sure about Zombie porn queens.

What do you have against Signe??

I haven't had much time to practice the last couple weeks, which is killing me because now I have my new overdrive and I've pretty much dialed it in. It's so nice playing with good tone, even though I've got to crank the amp to get some of its gain going or the notes won't sing above the twelfth fret. My friend Jim keeps busting my balls about vintage tone, but I'm too spoiled by high gain amps when I was younger, I guess. Listening to a lot of Setzer lately makes me want one of these, though...never be able to afford one of 'em!

[stray]

Heh, yeah just get an emulated echo. It's nice having that sound around period, authentic or not.

[WitchKiller]

[edit] I'm not sure about Zombie porn queens. That's too innocent.

Well, I was thinking Zombie prom queens.  Maybe I'm too innocent.

I just went and checked up on Tiger Army's 4th album after you posted.  I only heard one song and I'll leave it at that.  Whenever I think of Tiger Army, I compare Fred Hell to Cliff Burton.  Shortly after he got wasted, the band's entire sound transformed.  Oh how different things might be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNJ0etA2y8  Nothing is impossible, Stray.  Check out the Bassist's fret hand.  Go Go dancers and all

[stray]

Well, I was thinking Zombie prom queens.  Maybe I'm too innocent.

Doh!

I just went and checked up on Tiger Army's 4th album after you posted.  I only heard one song and I'll leave it at that.  Whenever I think of Tiger Army, I compare Fred Hell to Cliff Burton.  Shortly after he got wasted, the band's entire sound transformed.  Oh how different things might be.

Yeah, I'm almost positive the AFI dudes had a hand in it. The two bands associate together a lot these days, and Tiger Army's sound has changed from it.

Hell, AFI used to not be a bad band either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBNJ0etA2y8  Nothing is impossible, Stray.  Check out the Bassist's fret hand.  Go Go dancers and all

Nice. Ever heard of Jim Abbott? He's the Jim Abbott of bass players.

[stray]

[edit] Bah, sorry I'll get back to this later.

Postcount ++

Lol, I'm finding that a new song I made up sounds a lot like some Holy Water (Soundgarden) ripoff. Rockabilly though.

[stray]

Sky, I was wondering, have you ever seen Sweet and Lowdown? Never brought that up. Not that many guitar movies, and it's a good one.

It's about a fictional guitarist named Emmet Ray -- self proclaimed "2nd greatest guitar player in the world", only after Django. He's haunted by that fact too.. Haunted by Django. If you don't like Sean Penn, you'll probably end up liking him after this. Good gypsy jazz soundtrack.

[Sky]

I'll check that out, gypsy jazz rocks (err..jazzes?) and Woody Allen is great.

[stray]

Oh, well if you like Allen, then you'll definitely like it. He's in it, but as himself... he kind of does this movie as a mock biopic, with little bits of jazz commentary thrown in, like it's a documentary.

[Raph]

Sweet & Lowdown...It's slow paced, but the soundtrack is awesome and Penn is excellent in it.

I just ordered one of these, Xmas present to myself...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NJY60S

http://www.digitech.com/products/Vocalist/VocalistLive4.php

Got it for $375 with free shipping. I messed with a prototype one at the Fat Man's house a couple of years ago and loved it.

[stray]

Hmm, is it easy to use? Seems complicated!

[Raph]

It isn't here yet -- probably won't even ship until Monday. But basically, you plug the guitar into the in jack (and out the thru), a mic (phantom powered or not) into the XLR jack, and you hit the pedal. Strum a chord, then open your mouth, and you get up to four part harmonies matching the chord you strummed. Hold the note, strum a new chord, harmonies follow the guitar. That's it.

There's a bunch of other options on it -- pitch correction, EQ, reverb, other vocal sweetener stuff, and a guitar tuner -- but that's the main point.

I found the prototype really easy to use as a singer (Fat Man was driving the knobs), though it did encourage singing a particular way to get the best harmonies out of it.

Just spent a nice three hours getting every instrument out of its case, polishing it, getting a new string onto the banjo, making sure everything was tuned to the piano... ahhh. Been a while since I got to really spend time with any instruments.

Rediscovered that little Fernandes Nomad. (This one). Sounds like a dirty quacky duck with its onboard amp -- good in its place, but not like the Gibson Melody Maker, for sure. Then I zeroed out everything on my acoustic amp and ran it into that on a clean cable. Dang. Chimy and very tight. Plays fast too. Now I need a project to use it on.

Is funny, all these instruments here, and I realized that I have barely bought any myself. Mostly gifts and inheritances and stuff.

[Sky]

I don't have a whole lot of instruments (YET), but I did pull out the Alvarez the last couple nights. I've mostly been playing the SG amplified, especially since I got the Fulldrive, or playing the Baby because I love the tone, even if the upper stuff isn't as accessible as the Alvarez.

Broke a string on the SG, I've been busting high E like fucking crazy, I used to be good for a year with a set of strings. I decided to load up on some extra 11s, I bought a six-pack of 'em from Ernie Ball. I also ordered a pack of pure nickel strings to check them out, still trying to tweak my string preferences. And until I get around to either learning how to set up my own guitar  or taking it to the shop when the good guy is in, I had to buy a pack of 46s to replace the 48s in the power slinky set. The bigger low E messes with my guitar's setup, but the rest of the set is really nice.

Dirty, quacky duck? Give it some funk!

edit Note my string breakage may be due to Buddy Guy/Albert King style two whole step bend kinda stuff. I bend and vibrato like a mofo. Actually been concentrating on making my vibrato even better after listening to some Kirwan in the early Mac. But I broke this one at the tuning peg, usually they go over the bridge pickup or lower, from my heavy pick attack and thick picks.

[stray]

Yeah, you should learn set up as much as possible. Saves cash. Techs are crooks... even the friendly ones.

Where is it breaking at? The bridge or up the neck?

I've been using those pure nickel ernie balls for years myself (at .011 as well). Been recently going smaller though.

[Raph]

First song I have written on piano in maybe a decade and a half.

http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/12/29/the-sunday-poemsong-in-progress-the-road-ii/

[stray]

Pretty nice Raph. Are those string parts a second track, or just a second instrument on the keyboard?


That's a hefty bulk of lyrics! I'm trying to wonder how you sing all of them in a song like that. 

[Sky]

Craps out at about 39 seconds for me, I've been having trouble with your host or something for a while, Raph. Sounds great before that, I really wish I had your keyboard skills. Some extremely good lyrics, too.

Stray, I noted where my breakage was occurring. This time was odd because it broke up north of the nut, not sure I've ever done that before. New strings should be in today, psyched to get the SG plugged back in!

Here, blow your mind: http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/new/node/640 <--I wish I knew all this stuff.

[Raph]

Yeah, a lot of lyircs, it's still in progress and needs cut down. Glad you like them though, Sky! The progression you hear is F - C - Dm - Bb, and covers two lines of lyrics in what I posted...

I really do not have that much keyboarding skill. It's been like 15 years since I had my three months of lessons or noodled around with the one I had in high school.

The strings are a vibrato cello patch played as an overdub live on the keyboard. I don't know if I will leave that in the arrangement. It does thicken it up a bit, but the piano part is interesting enough on its own, I don't know if I want to gild the lily. I stuff too much in, usually, am trying to be good. :)

Direct link is http://www.raphkoster.com/music/RoadII.mp3

[Nebu]

I just ordered one of these, Xmas present to myself...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NJY60S

http://www.digitech.com/products/Vocalist/VocalistLive4.php

Got it for $375 with free shipping. I messed with a prototype one at the Fat Man's house a couple of years ago and loved it.

That's pretty cool.  I remember when a thing called a "harmonizer" came out in the 80's and we used to use them a lot live when I was playing with a 3 piece.  The ability to follow guitar chord progressions is pretty nifty... I wish they had that ability back then.  All we used to be able to do is have them sing in intervals above or below our voice.  Then again, making a talk box out of a horn magnet and some fuel hose was high tech back then. 

Nice track by the way Raph.  I really need to start donating to this thread more.  If for no other reason than to show off my girlfriend's amazing voice. 

[stray]

Here, blow your mind: http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/new/node/640 <--I wish I knew all this stuff.

The Guitar Player Repair Guide is a must have book, you should get it. You'll pick up a lot of things from it. I don't know how to do major repairs or anything, but it's good to be able to set up and install things the way you want. It's not hard at all, and you get exactly what you're going for that way. The only thing that requires some patience is setting up your truss rod, but that's nothing either.

[edit] Umm, anyways, if it's breaking somewhere near the nut, look for sharp edges on the nut or in the bridge pins. File em down.

Those are awfully old strings though. They're probably just naturally crapping out.

You sound like you play as much as me -- and I change at least every couple of months. Whether they're broken or not. Those nickel Ernie Balls are pretty cool sounding after a little playing too. They don't stay extremely bright for too long. They stay just right - for the classic rock/bluesy shit you and I like to listen to at least. Umm.. until, as I said, after a couple of months. There's a nice sound there in between though.