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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2012 0:22:21 GMT -5
pyrros, If you're gonna replace the whole unit, then I'd stick with one company to supply all the parts and pieces at the same time. Since it looks like that's your main goal (at this time), then once again, I have to counsel that you consider 'the big boys' in the game. I've no experience with KillerGuitarComponents, but I have had with Callaham. However, since Callaham doesn't seem to be quite your 'cup of tea', then let me recommend another long-time player in the business, Hipshot. I've dealt with them numerous times for both stock and custom stuff, and I've always come away thinking that I got my money's worth in terms of good parts and good service. Yes, they're a bit more costly (and I don't know how they feel about shipping to Europe, but we can "fix" that), sometimes you just have to treat yourself to the finer things in life, right? HTH sumgai Sumgai, thanx, and i absolutely am gonna pay some premium amount this time. Now that i kind of know (from the home boy luthier) that my woods are at least at an acceptable level of quality. I spent yesternight searching about Callam vs KGC, Callaham would be definitely my no1 choice. I do not like the looks of the all-brass bridge. I will take a look at hipshot as well. Till, now, Callaham just looks ideal. +1 for your help man!
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jerry
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Post by jerry on Dec 8, 2012 11:44:38 GMT -5
Pyrros,
One of the best things I've ever done was to learn how to set up my own guitars before I started trying to make serious mods and even build them. That led to a lot of experimentation and learning from it. This thread has hit most of the hardware approaches to improving sustain, but two I didn't see (or missed) that have probably some of the biggest impact on sustain altogether are action and pickup height.
First, if the pickups are too close to the strings, the amplitude will be louder, but the sustain will be less because the magnetism of the pole pieces will dampen the string vibrations and shorten the sustain. Considering that you can always just turn the volume up a bit, lowering the pickups some to let the strings ring longer is something I now do with every set up.
Second, I've had this obsessive desire to get a very low action for the first 20 years or so of my playing (and I always had more buzzing than I could stand). But what I finally learned was that a higher action results in much more sustain as well as smoother and cleaner bends (and much less buzzing). I don't mean to raise the action so high that you can play slide cleanly on your normal fretting guitar or cleanly play them with a bow. But if you've been going for a very low action, try just raising it a little and I think you'll be surprised at how much better both the sustain and bending is.
The nicest thing about these suggestions is that you can try them immediately and they won't cost you a cent.
Good luck!
Jerry
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Post by cynical1 on Dec 8, 2012 12:43:54 GMT -5
I don't recall if I've tossed this out before...gotta run son and didn't scan the full five pages, but I've got a guitar in the pipeline for a new trem and this is the way I'm going: You can get all the details your little heart would desire here at the Super-Vee site. Happy Trails Cynical One
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2012 16:04:45 GMT -5
Pyrros, One of the best things I've ever done was to learn how to set up my own guitars before I started trying to make serious mods and even build them. That led to a lot of experimentation and learning from it. This thread has hit most of the hardware approaches to improving sustain, but two I didn't see (or missed) that have probably some of the biggest impact on sustain altogether are action and pickup height. First, if the pickups are too close to the strings, the amplitude will be louder, but the sustain will be less because the magnetism of the pole pieces will dampen the string vibrations and shorten the sustain. Considering that you can always just turn the volume up a bit, lowering the pickups some to let the strings ring longer is something I now do with every set up. Second, I've had this obsessive desire to get a very low action for the first 20 years or so of my playing (and I always had more buzzing than I could stand). But what I finally learned was that a higher action results in much more sustain as well as smoother and cleaner bends (and much less buzzing). I don't mean to raise the action so high that you can play slide cleanly on your normal fretting guitar or cleanly play them with a bow. But if you've been going for a very low action, try just raising it a little and I think you'll be surprised at how much better both the sustain and bending is. The nicest thing about these suggestions is that you can try them immediately and they won't cost you a cent. Good luck! Jerry hello Jerry, thanx for the tips. Regarding pup height its a twin-blade knife: lowering the pups too low, you get zero magnetic pull, better sustain, but weak signal to send to the amp, so even if the string vibrates its hard to tell, while OTOH raising the pups too high, of course causes the known problems, commonly referred to as "stratitis". With HBs its not so much of a problem, although even supposedly innocent pups like EMG 60, do cause a certain pull. Regarding action, what you say is true. But beyond a certain point, and for a given pick attack force/style, raising the action will not improve sustain, if something else is holding it back. As in any problem, one should go exhaustively and only affect one parameter at a time, otherwise the system becomes chaotic.
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Post by 4real on Dec 8, 2012 16:11:32 GMT -5
+1 jerry...a great little post above.
With action, you need room for the strings to move and that can only happen with a little height above the frets. On the pickups, this is especially true of single coils, the magnetisim will be pulling on the steel string at a particular point, not only damping their vibration, but damping the vibration in a particular area where it will be damping certain harmonic points along the string. So, it is not just 'sustain' but the harmonic content that the strings will transfer after 'damping' in this an other ways. Remember too that this is unrelated to if they are 'on/selected', just that they are there, but dramatically increases as they get closer to the strings.
The bridge is a component of course, but a trem suspends everything on springs. The hinge of the trem is an important area, but generally the bigger problems are at the other end, the friction over the nut and string trees and windings around the tuner and how firm they are held in place. On my guitars, all these are adressed. I do notice quite a difference in 'sustain' or certainly 'body' buy adding 'weight' to the neck system as well, good tuners tend to have this effect for instance, this is caused by changing the resonant frequency of the neck, particularly the headstock which can create dampening effects too.
You can make a traditional trem work well, consider these things above obviously, but one thing to consider is what the bridge is screwed into and how much support is there. Many gutiars will ahve the routing close up to the bridge and then right through for the trem block and of course under for the springs below. This is not the strongest bit of wood there nor method of mounting...this kind of thing too creates damping effects. This area may be reinforced by various methods.
Remeber too that the guitar sting is not just vibrating at say, 440 for the note A, this is the dominent fundamental frequency, but there are many other harmonics behind that and all 'die' out at various rates before the entire note dies. "sustain" as a word, like 'tone' is a very 'loose' term IMHO and so can be used to sell more 'stuff' in a suseptible market.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2012 16:12:39 GMT -5
I don't recall if I've tossed this out before...gotta run son and didn't scan the full five pages, but I've got a guitar in the pipeline for a new trem and this is the way I'm going: You can get all the details your little heart would desire here at the Super-Vee site. Happy Trails Cynical One Thanx the double-locking tremolo looks nice. However if you notice here : super-vee.com/order.php it is currently not available. Also going here : www.super-vee.com/CustomShop/BladeRunner/orderCustomBladeRunner.php it looks like the stock saddles on BladeRunner are just "normal nickel" while in order to go with Callaham option, it costs +40, and with Babicz, + 80, and it indeed finally breaks the bank. I dont know at this point whether the relation between cost and result is linear any more... We dont wanna spend 100s of $ just for 1ms added sustain right? Any opinions on the www.super-vee.com/images/RH6Screw_2 which sells at 149$ ? This looks good, but i am afraid that their saddles are ..... 40$ worse than the callaham
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2012 16:20:03 GMT -5
+1 jerry...a great little post above. With action, you need room for the strings to move and that can only happen with a little height above the frets. On the pickups, this is especially true of single coils, the magnetisim will be pulling on the steel string at a particular point, not only damping their vibration, but damping the vibration in a particular area where it will be damping certain harmonic points along the string. So, it is not just 'sustain' but the harmonic content that the strings will transfer after 'damping' in this an other ways. Remember too that this is unrelated to if they are 'on/selected', just that they are there, but dramatically increases as they get closer to the strings. The bridge is a component of course, but a trem suspends everything on springs. The hinge of the trem is an important area, but generally the bigger problems are at the other end, the friction over the nut and string trees and windings around the tuner and how firm they are held in place. On my guitars, all these are adressed. I do notice quite a difference in 'sustain' or certainly 'body' buy adding 'weight' to the neck system as well, good tuners tend to have this effect for instance, this is caused by changing the resonant frequency of the neck, particularly the headstock which can create dampening effects too. You can make a traditional trem work well, consider these things above obviously, but one thing to consider is what the bridge is screwed into and how much support is there. Many gutiars will ahve the routing close up to the bridge and then right through for the trem block and of course under for the springs below. This is not the strongest bit of wood there nor method of mounting...this kind of thing too creates damping effects. This area may be reinforced by various methods. Remeber too that the guitar sting is not just vibrating at say, 440 for the note A, this is the dominent fundamental frequency, but there are many other harmonics behind that and all 'die' out at various rates before the entire note dies. "sustain" as a word, like 'tone' is a very 'loose' term IMHO and so can be used to sell more 'stuff' in a suseptible market. great post, i'd like some more info about methods to physically support the wood around the trem cavity. Now as to what sustain means to me : the #seconds that the electronic tuner of my boss me-25 stops displaying the note on the display
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Post by 4real on Dec 8, 2012 17:32:59 GMT -5
The tuner method is perhaps a little 'crude' even if consistent with the tests. The electronics and readings of such devices are not nor need be sensitive, it takes time for it to read and get a constant signal.They are 'confused' by the complex harmonic burst at the start of the note, take a reading over time, and 'fail' to read as the note decays...so you are only 'reading' the middle part of a steady tone.
On pickup height, pull the pickups back and turn up the amp, you will not be able to lower a pup so low that it won't read. To increase 'sustain' as long as a note is heard, any distorion is an agressive compressor, set up an even more aggressive compressor and you while hear a constant 'sustian' right up to the point that the signal is so 'dead' that it goes ftttz.
Well, i understand this perspective, but if the reality of the situation is perhaps complex and chaotic, then one must realize that changing one parameter also changes others...for such "problems" you may need to treat the entire system.
Rather than looking for a single panacea for a percieved 'problem' in a very simplistic way, consider the whole system and what you are trying to achieve overall, where the compromises are and the ways one can compensate for them.
A lot can be done with thechnique of course...
But, for me and trem systems, I look at the thing as a whole for instance. It's not a 'magic bridge' for instance, though the mass and design of a kahler optimises much of this and requires no string cavity. My strat uses a completely unmodified squier two point trem. Such a design sinks good strong brass studs, quite deep into the wood on either side and a strong connection there as well as improved friction reduction and accuracy returning to pitch. The design that C1 shows there, theat would appear to have a metal front plate that is screwed tight to the gutiar and so reinforces that area substantially, with the hinge being a flexible steel by the looks of it. But by far the important part for me is the other end of the guitar.
Les Paul (the man) at an early age sought sustain, he decided that the best sustain would be a system that negated damping...but attaching everything to a length of railroad rail. It was his mother that said that that was a little impractical, so he changed that to a substanial thich Post, cut his epiphone in half and 'the log' was born, directly resulting in the Les Paul (the guitar) in principle.
Other aspects to consider in the system is how tightly the strings are held over the saddles and nut, most of my guitars have a bit of a neck angle, even with the fenders which are fairly 'flat' guitars, so that things are held tight over the nut. This is particularly important on the khalers where despite the mass and precision and all that, it means little if there is not adequate downforce on the saddle rollers. on my strat, despite staggered locking nuts, it uses two large roller trees covering 4 strings to provide the downforce over the nut and dampen vibrations behind the nut that can cause damping effects. Such parts cost very little and would be addressing these things before the bridge and then, given an optimised system, then seeing where other improvements can be made.
Every guitar is different and reinforcing under the bridge is tricky if you dont have the facilities and/or skills. Clearly, this is a 'vulnerable area' on the strat design. I have a basswood bathtub routed strat here, that completely fractured this area in storage. At some point I'll have to fix this and so do such a 'job' on it. One possiblility that comes to mind for me and this guitar is to reglue it and run an aluminium plate in a groove in front and well beyond the routing into the body of the guitar. all this would be hidden under the scratchplate. Hardwood replacing of this part is another option perhaps. The guitar is my wiring test mule, so this is not an urgent thing, but just shows how vulnerable this area is that it should give way, from storage alone...clearly the scratchplate itself was providing quite a bit of support and it's lack was enough for string tension alone to do this.
Other more off the wall things I've thought of and done, were to remove most of the 6 screw systems and replaces some of them with ball bearings resting on an eyelet in the wood and held in place by the mounting screws...not sure that helps with 'sustain' but it does address some of the friction aspects of trems.
Better yet, block the trem and you will not have the same kind of pressure and dampening and the force of the strings will be from the block to the back of the body, not just the area the screws holding the bridge on.
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Post by 4real on Dec 8, 2012 17:57:58 GMT -5
I grew up in the 'brasss era' of guitar mods, my '69 Les paul is a 'victim' of this....it was later found that brass is a bit of a 'tone sink' because compared to some materials like 'steel' is relatively 'soft' and so peple went to other materials. These kinds of 'claims' are all over the place with all kinds of 'supporters' and the like...and supported by anacdotes. The more expensive a thing is too, the more the percieved value of it...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 3:13:15 GMT -5
Yes, basically we want to eliminate vibrations (other than those of the string) and of course friction= lost energy. So we want energy to "stay" on the strings and neither transform to body/neck vibrations nor in converted (and subsequently lost) thermal energy. If you have done the "headstock pushed against the wall" experiment (you could do this with your wiring test mule), you might have seen what great impact it has on sustain. So we must not allow the parts other than the strings to move at t he same pace as the strings, and ideally we would like them to behave (directly or indirectly) as completely stable. There is a lot of physics involved. I am pretty sure the problem physics-wise falls into the easy category, meaning its not nuclear physics or anything of the sort). The fact that we still struggle with it, maybe it has to do with the unwillingness of the industry to cope with the scientific advances (in the digital era we could scrap all stringed or other traditional instruments as easily), or the "vintage" forces within us, the force to keep us traditional, or i dont know what. I would argue that arguing "scientifically" about the physics of the electric guitar is a contradiction in terms already!! trying to solve a problem of the 30s, when today we can solve modern problems many times as hard and complex as the "quest for sustain". Well, i am sure the same words are over and over again repeated in a lot of guitar forums,.... only to be repeated again next year ... We are guitarists, we can't help it. Someone said, that the electric guitar-related questions, still obsess ppl, because, today, when the situation around us is fully explained, fully described, we still search for something exotic, obscure and unconquered, something that is neither explicit nor absolute... In short ... we are still searching for that ... "tone"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 5:29:10 GMT -5
Pyrros, One of the best things I've ever done was to learn how to set up my own guitars before I started trying to make serious mods and even build them. That led to a lot of experimentation and learning from it. This thread has hit most of the hardware approaches to improving sustain, but two I didn't see (or missed) that have probably some of the biggest impact on sustain altogether are action and pickup height. First, if the pickups are too close to the strings, the amplitude will be louder, but the sustain will be less because the magnetism of the pole pieces will dampen the string vibrations and shorten the sustain. Considering that you can always just turn the volume up a bit, lowering the pickups some to let the strings ring longer is something I now do with every set up. Second, I've had this obsessive desire to get a very low action for the first 20 years or so of my playing (and I always had more buzzing than I could stand). But what I finally learned was that a higher action results in much more sustain as well as smoother and cleaner bends (and much less buzzing). I don't mean to raise the action so high that you can play slide cleanly on your normal fretting guitar or cleanly play them with a bow. But if you've been going for a very low action, try just raising it a little and I think you'll be surprised at how much better both the sustain and bending is. The nicest thing about these suggestions is that you can try them immediately and they won't cost you a cent. Good luck! Jerry Jerry, I gave this a second thought. If one experiences dead spots, or otherwise abnormal deviation in sustain among notes in adjacent frets (vertically or horizontally), then he can rest assured that all the pup height of the world and all the string action height will not have any effect on increasing sustain. Sure increasing initial pluck energy will logically cause greater time length of the note, and the more the buzz the more energy is lost there at the initial phase. Ok, but that does not have any impact on the "sudden death" effect. In those cases when one note rings ok for 4-5 seconds and then dies sharply, without this natural decay in signal strength, you need to find the cause of the problem elsewhere. BTW, what was your previous action setup like in terms of string height and neck relief? Currently i have about 1.2mm/1.6mm @17th fret (highE/lowE respetcively) and about .10-.15mm of neck relief @8th-9th fret. I have this an all 3 of my guitars (Carvin dc135, kramer 210, ibanez arz800). My old aria strat copy and partscaster (the one in the avatar) are just coming from the luthier refretted, and i haven't decided yet on their new setup. Refretting/fret dressing is something i am really lousy at. All other setup i can do fairly well (brass nut shaping + installation included ). What is your current higher action?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 5:35:18 GMT -5
The tuner method is perhaps a little 'crude' even if consistent with the tests. The electronics and readings of such devices are not nor need be sensitive, it takes time for it to read and get a constant signal.They are 'confused' by the complex harmonic burst at the start of the note, take a reading over time, and 'fail' to read as the note decays...so you are only 'reading' the middle part of a steady tone. On pickup height, pull the pickups back and turn up the amp, you will not be able to lower a pup so low that it won't read. To increase 'sustain' as long as a note is heard, any distorion is an agressive compressor, set up an even more aggressive compressor and you while hear a constant 'sustian' right up to the point that the signal is so 'dead' that it goes ftttz. 1st, the time for the tuner to get a constant signal is of no interest, since we are timing from the beginning of string pluck to the end of the tuner reading. E.g. on E string, any reading can be perceived as "signal", whereas "--" can be perceived as non-signal. 2nd, in the majority of the tests, the numbers drawn by the tuner method, coincide 100% with the ones by the distortion method, so i think the tuner is a very reliable way to do measurements. It also helps timing at multiples of 5mins. I e.g. pluck at 13:15, if the tuner still displays smth at 13:21+ its ok.(i am talking about the sensitive region at 12th fret, open chords or chords in general should definitely ring longer). If it dies at 13:14, then more work need to be done. PS This is of help, in case the ppl in the house go to sleep e.g. after 21:00, so one has to "work" silently , of course if no such restrictions exist, then the "by ear" way is better.
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jerry
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Post by jerry on Dec 9, 2012 13:11:32 GMT -5
Jerry, I gave this a second thought. If one experiences dead spots, or otherwise abnormal deviation in sustain among notes in adjacent frets (vertically or horizontally), then he can rest assured that all the pup height of the world and all the string action height will not have any effect on increasing sustain. Sure increasing initial pluck energy will logically cause greater time length of the note, and the more the buzz the more energy is lost there at the initial phase. Ok, but that does not have any impact on the "sudden death" effect. In those cases when one note rings ok for 4-5 seconds and then dies sharply, without this natural decay in signal strength, you need to find the cause of the problem elsewhere. BTW, what was your previous action setup like in terms of string height and neck relief? Currently i have about 1.2mm/1.6mm @17th fret (highE/lowE respetcively) and about .10-.15mm of neck relief @8th-9th fret. I have this an all 3 of my guitars (Carvin dc135, kramer 210, ibanez arz800). My old aria strat copy and partscaster (the one in the avatar) are just coming from the luthier refretted, and i haven't decided yet on their new setup. Refretting/fret dressing is something i am really lousy at. All other setup i can do fairly well (brass nut shaping + installation included ). What is your current higher action? I don't re-fret guitars either, and for all the playing I've done (I'm an older guy), I've never needed a re-fret. Frets these days are even harder than in the past, so I suspect most of us should never need one. However, I've always preferred guitars with jumbo frets, so they're going to last longer just because there's more metal to wear away, even if that metal is softer. That could be another reason I've not needed a re-fret. However, I do bend strings a lot, but try not to be pushing too hard against the fret (though who knows how hard we're actually pressing at those passionate moments when truly feeling the music?) I measure sustain times while wearing headphones and no speakers turned on in the room. I do that because I don't want resonances in the speaker/amp cabinet or the room itself to reinforce string vibrations and provide longer sustains on some notes than others. With headphones, I'm actually hearing only the sustain of the guitar itself. I don't have sustain dead spots on any frets on any guitar -- all notes are pretty similar. In fact, I've never heard of sudden sustain death on a guitar before, my guitars, or anyone elses -- that's an unusual problem. As to your questions about my setup, the guitar I'm playing the most lately is an semi-hollow body Epiphone Sheraton II. My setup is as follows: Maximum relief is at the 7th fret on this guitar. String | Height @ Nut | 17th fret | Relief | Low E | 1.7mm | 2.2mm | 0.5mm | Hi E | 1.1mm | 1.5mm | 0.5mm |
I have some Strats and a LP and they're a little lower in action. The nuts on all my guitars are bone. I've thought about trying brass, but haven't done so yet. I've always suspected brass would have a more brittle, metalic-like quality, but have never tried it, so I don't really know. I hope this helps! Jerry
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 14:08:23 GMT -5
Hello Jerry, about dead spots, i didn't know about them either till i got hit by one . To my surprise they are pretty common even in high-end instruments. Although the 4 seconds limit seems to be the boundary between a dead spot and a non dead spot. Did you try to measure sustain at 12th fret (12, center of the string lenght, right? hmmm sounds like self-canceling harmonics)on high-E, B, G ? Do you get exactly identical durations? About measuring the sustain with headphones, this is pretty good idea. Nut is nut, as long as it doesn't sound on open notes like a sitar, then its pretty good! Now about your neck relief. 0.5mm seems like a little too large a value. Have noticed any substantial improvement between this value and e.g 0.25-0.30mm? Also, as you know, lowering your relief a bit, will dramatically low your action as well, without losing anything IMHO. Till now, i never found a necessity for a relief beyond .10-.15mm, unless of course one plays a lot on the lower end (left-side) of the fretboard. Happy playing, and welcome to the forum! Did you use to be a shredder in your youth? I, @44 (soon to be) still try to shred . I try to be serious and play jazz, rock, but when the house gets empty, i drop down low E and start to play nu-metal ;D
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Post by sumgai on Dec 9, 2012 14:15:22 GMT -5
..... for all the playing I've done (I'm an older guy) [/b][/quote] Better buy some good shoes, because you're gonna be standing in a long line here - you're about the 128th down the list of who's old, and who's really old! ;P But I have to admit, you're old enough to have room to judge! ;D Probably not. Like most other things in the world of the Eternal Search for Mojo ®, fret sizes and materials are sacrosanct - look closely at both past and present marketing materials for nearly any fret maker/guitar maker, and you'll see them touting their 'exactly the same as always, historically accurate' characteristics. Nothing new to see here, folks, move along please. Not to mention, I have a 2005 Fender StratAmDlx that came with 'standard' nickel-silver frets, Fender's norm. In less than two years, Dean Markley's Blue Steel strings wore them out - and that was mostly from practice, as at the time I was gigging 90% or more of the time on bass. The only way to keep that from happening again was to go to SS frets. Good call. Yes, but that 'more metal' is going to wear down to a non-original height, making them non-Jumbo sized frets. That's gonna feel, and play, quite differently. You may, or may not, notice it during the life of the frets, but others who occasionally 'borrow' your axe for a few moments at a time will notice the difference right away. Lucky you. This is much more common that your experiences have led you to believe possible. (I guess now would be a good time to tell you that I used to be "in the business", before I retired (a very long time ago - I'm almost the original Judge! ;D )) HTH sumgai
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2012 14:35:50 GMT -5
Not to mention, I have a 2005 Fender StratAmDlx that came with 'standard' nickel-silver frets, Fender's norm. In less than two years, Dean Markley's Blue Steel strings wore them out - and that was mostly from practice, as at the time I was gigging 90% or more of the time on bass. The only way to keep that from happening again was to go to SS frets. Good call. Blue Steel, were so tight i recall from the early 90s. I had them as well. I thought the 0.09 had a tension like that of a 0.11. Then i met a super guitarist ( the guy on the piano who convinced me about dadarios ) BTW what is SS frets? Lucky you man with the deluxe. I guess i will have to struggle with my partscaster for a long time, till i finally find that "tone"
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Post by sumgai on Dec 9, 2012 15:44:58 GMT -5
pyrros, "SS" means stainless steel. Any string made of this stuff will wear down normal frets quicker than snot, so manufacturers came out with tougher frets, made of the same material. Under most normal strings, SS frets will last just about forever. Which explains their extra cost - you won't be needing a re-fret job very often, if at all. Markley's Blue Steel strings are essentially stainless steel, I used to buy them for their tone - they very closely capture the tone of orignal Fender strings from the 50's and 60's, which I demand as part of my sound/tone/Mojo/whatever. In fact I still have 4 or 5 sets of 'em, unopened since 2009 or thereabouts when I quit playing. Might be interesting to see, in a couple/several years, if they still sound as good when installed. I know that most strings have a shelf-life of only 18 to 24 months.... after that, even when you first put them on, they sound dull. I'll let everyone know what happens, if/when I get curious enough to try this experiment. (I'm sure I'll still be here, Lowerd willing and the wife don't find out! ) HTH sumgai
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jerry
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Post by jerry on Dec 9, 2012 16:30:59 GMT -5
Did you try to measure sustain at 12th fret (12, center of the string lenght, right? hmmm sounds like self-canceling harmonics)on high-E, B, G ? Do you get exactly identical durations? I measure sustain on all strings and then will try random fretted notes. Generally, the longest sustain has been at the lowest notes (longest string length). But higher notes are still usually in the same range. Half a millimeter doesn't seem like a very big difference to me. It also helps reduce buzzing on the lowest notes on the lowest strings. I sometimes get a little passionate with my strumming and the little extra clearance keeps the buzz away. Thanks! While I have played some metal and do love to pick really fast, my favorite styles are blues, Latin blues (a la Santana), rock, smooth jazz, flamenco, etc.
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Post by jerry on Dec 9, 2012 16:41:11 GMT -5
Better buy some good shoes, because you're gonna be standing in a long line here - you're about the 128th down the list of who's old, and who's really old! ;P But I have to admit, you're old enough to have room to judge! ;D Hi Sumgai, In this one case, I'm glad to hear I'm so far back in the line! I use D'Addario Strings; I don't know if that makes any difference; maybe I've just been lucky. While my current guitars all have stainless steel frets, I really don't know about those when I started playing (60s). That makes sense. No one has commented on it yet, but they may have noticed something. Perhaps you're correct that I am lucky. That's ok; I'd rather be lucky than good :-) Jerry
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Post by sumgai on Dec 9, 2012 19:42:56 GMT -5
I'd rather be lucky than good :-) Well, that certainly cements your identity! Too bad Google has a complete index of all YouTube videos, 'cause brother, you've been outed! If your guitar chops are better than your piano chops, then you still have a chance.... albeit a slim one. Hey, don't worry, this wasn't so bad. When it comes to finding appropriate videos on The 'Tube, several others here can beat me, hands down. (Hint: The 'Nutz' in NutzHouse isn't limited to guitars..... sometimes the humor gets "tested for elasticity" around here. ) sumgai
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2012 3:50:40 GMT -5
lol anyway sumgai, the callaham idea starts to grow. The thing looks so vintage and classy . If i ever rip this guitar apart, i will still have the callaham and the two dimarzios! Also after the callaham i will need to get some serious machine heads over there. in fact, i plan to "incrementally" upgrade this guitar (part by part, yes!! even the body and the neck), but always keeping the same colors, in order for my wife to not understand .... ITS A NEW ONE!! HA HA HA!!! PS sumgai, what's your issue with your lady? Doesn't she let you play the geetar or anything? Also why did you stop playing since 2009?
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Post by newey on Dec 10, 2012 4:50:15 GMT -5
Here in the US, this brings to mind an old joke about "Grandpa's Ax" : You know, old Grandpa was 70 and still chopped his own firewood. He had used the very same ax for over 50 years . . . Of course, he'd had to replace the axehead twice, and he had replaced the handle 5 times, but it was the same ax he'd had for 50 years! This is the sort of lame attempt at humor that my Grandfather told me way back when . . .
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2012 4:56:50 GMT -5
Here in the US, this brings to mind an old joke about "Grandpa's Ax" : You know, old Grandpa was 70 and still chopped his own firewood. He had used the very same ax for over 50 years . . . Of course, he'd had to replace the axehead twice, and he had replaced the handle 5 times, but it was the same ax he'd had for 50 years! lol exactly! But man, Grandpa was faithful to the same design, and this is what counts! Vintage axe
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Post by sumgai on Dec 10, 2012 6:17:59 GMT -5
pyrros, Vintage axe Oh, that was horrible. So bad it gets a +1, just to make the pain go away! ;D ;D Why don't I play any more? Well, the short version is, the wife and I started a business, and I no longer had any time left over for hobbies like music and such. Even the time it takes to spew advice all over the Innerwebs is stolen from those hours I should be sleeping. Some days I wonder if my meds are gonna be strong enough..... sumgai
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2012 6:36:13 GMT -5
pyrros, Vintage axe Oh, that was horrible. So bad it gets a +1, just to make the pain go away! ;D ;D Why don't I play any more? Well, the short version is, the wife and I started a business, and I no longer had any time left over for hobbies like music and such. Even the time it takes to spew advice all over the Innerwebs is stolen from those hours I should be sleeping. Some days I wonder if my meds are gonna be strong enough..... sumgai ouch.... i wish you fast revert to guitar playing.
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Post by sumgai on Dec 10, 2012 13:14:16 GMT -5
ouch.... i wish you fast revert to guitar playing. Ya know, the wife is constantly on me about starting up again.... but like a left-handed compliment. Dig: "Sure, we'll be through with this (project/task/chore/whatever) real soon now, and then you'll have time to get back into playing." The only problem is, whatever the current project or job is, it came from the Honey-Do list*. This list is so long, it spans two time zones! The end result is, I'll still be working on items from that list 3 days after I die. Time to get back into playing, indeed.... riiiiiight. I had to remind her that hundreds of comedians are out of work, so she shouldn't be making jokes! But I'm crying all the way to the bank, 'cause business is quite good these days. ;D sumgai * For some of you, this needs explaining. The Honey-Do list is a joke about how the wife is always asking the husband "Honey, will you do this for me?" Most husbands realize early in their marriage that their wives are keeping a secret list of things for the Honey (husband) to do. Mine started about 4 minutes after we said "I do" at the alter, and it hasn't let up ever since. In fact, I once joked that if she dies before me, she'll have it in her will that her daughter inherits the list, and I'll still have no relief. Her reply, with no sign of humor at all: she'll have to think about how to make that happen. Sigh.
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jerry
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Post by jerry on Dec 10, 2012 13:41:14 GMT -5
...The end result is, I'll still be working on items from that list 3 days after I die. Wow, Sumgai! It's really great how you're able to include different forms of "SUSTAIN" under this thread topic. Sustain beyond the grave! Is that the kind of sustain that Pyrros is looking for in his guitar??? I can't compete with that.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2012 15:07:28 GMT -5
...The end result is, I'll still be working on items from that list 3 days after I die. Wow, Sumgai! It's really great how you're able to include different forms of "SUSTAIN" under this thread topic. Sustain beyond the grave! Is that the kind of sustain that Pyrros is looking for in his guitar??? I can't compete with that. LMAO, ringing one note in this life, and you'll find the string still vibrating in the next one. But seriously, for me, guitar is a therapy for work. If i don't play, it is 100% certain that i'll screw up big time @work, (computer system eng/adm/developer/dba all at once). One wrong keystroke and hell breaks loose. So i try to clear my head once in a while, before i commit a fatal mistake.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2012 15:10:44 GMT -5
BTW Jerry, i raised the action, and now reads about 1.25mm @12th fret, high-E. It sounds much clearer/better now It just takes some practice to achieve the same speed as before. But it is definitely worth it. I suspect if fretwork was 100% perfect, i would live with 1mm @12th fret as well, but who cares
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Post by sumgai on Dec 10, 2012 21:11:09 GMT -5
Jerry, I don't know how much reading of past postings/threads you did, before coughing up your own contributions, but the fact is, The NutzHouse is almost notorious for going off-topic, and only occasionally getting back on track. It does test one's ability to track lots of chaff, and ferret out the actual good stuff that goes toward satisfing our Official Mission Statement. Those that figure out how to play along at home, we give 'em a Secret Decoder Ring, which tells them where we get our meds! ;D Besides, I've got the best mentor at derailing threads - gumbo, (aka gum-for-brains). Hell, even KyleIsInMyHead bows before gumbo's skill at spreading Vegemite all over any meaningful content. HTH sumgai
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