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ALiLPinkMonster wrote:

I guess that's why I've always preferred the "skinny top heavy bottom" strings, because they kind of balance out the tension.

D'Addario's balanced sets are going for even tension, not a gradual increase.

Also, the way that your string is held on to the guitar, namely on the stop tail, has a huge impact on how you perceive it.

For example, doing top-wrapping on a Les Paul is great, because there will be a much shallower an angle after the string continues on from the bridge. When you then tug on it while playing, there's more give. Yes, been there, done that.

Everyone has their string preference. I've tried most of them under the sun, and the main differences are the string material (steel is much harder than nickel-plated), and if they're coated or not.

Apart from that, I prefer brighter strings with a relatively easy tension / flexibility. I used DR Hi-Beams for a while and I've recently discovered the Ernie Ball Cobalt series, which have a really awesome feel.

derFunkenstein wrote:

I refit my Strat kit over the weekend with a new tighter-spacing bridge (from a MIM Standard Stratocaster; the USA strats use a different mounting mechanism which means a whole new way to drill), some Fender-branded locking tuners, and a MIM maple neck (which had the guide post holes to match the tuners). I have a Squier Strat with a maple neck and thought the colors looked nicer together, plus something about a maple neck "feels" like my hands move faster. I dunno. At any rate, I'll put up new pics eventually, but it plays quite a bit nicer just by tighter spacing. The strings aren't falling off the instrument.

Tell me this isn't a guitar you just want to put in your mouth and then rub all over your body (click it for full sized image).


lickable guitar by derFunkenstein, on Flickr

derFunkenstein wrote:

Tell me this isn't a guitar you just want to put in your mouth and then rub all over your body (click it for full sized image).

I hate strats.

Well, more like I hate the strat look. Having said that, great choice of pickups and excellent finish.

Not that I can play guitar but if I could and had to play a Fender, it'd be a Telecaster.

A friend of mine has a MIM Telecaster. It's a nice guitar. I see Telecaster and think "country twang", though it can do a lot more than that. As a kid who was a big Van Halen fan, when I thought "guitar" I would see "Strat" in my mind. So it made sense that this is what I'd build and play.

derFunkenstein wrote:

A friend of mine has a MIM Telecaster. It's a nice guitar. I see Telecaster and think "country twang", though it can do a lot more than that.

Metal guys occasionally use teles, in fact. Just not with the original pups. And on the other hand, I personally really dig the clean and blues tones you can get out of a "metal" guitar.

There's far too much pigeonholing when it comes to guitars and amps, I'll say.

derFunkenstein wrote:

As a kid who was a big Van Halen fan, when I thought "guitar" I would see "Strat" in my mind. So it made sense that this is what I'd build and play.

Yep, I can see that. As a life-long follower of the progressive rock traditions (ask JBI) I've always gravitated toward Gibsons. There isn't a Strat/Tele in the world that could do justice to Steve Hackett's guitar solo in "Firth of Fifth".

Along the same lines if one wants a bass guitar to be part of the melody, it needs to be a Ricky. Seeing their best salesman 6/21 with the daughter.

Daryl Stuermer plays that solo with Genesis from time to time, and he's playing it on a Strat. So... you know...

Captain Ned wrote:

Seeing their best salesman 6/21 with the daughter.

Tip: if you're starting out, buy a guitar you're totally comfortable playing, not the one your idols have.

Buy cheap but not too cheap. Stick with the $300-ish range. Also avoid anything with a vibrato system of any sort, unless you're forking out $600++ for the guitar. Vibrato systems in cheaper guitars only act as detuners.

Then again, since you were a roadie, you probably know all this and much more.

derFunkenstein wrote:

Daryl Stuermer plays that solo with Genesis from time to time, and he's playing it on a Strat. So... you know...

Seen it several times. It ain't the same. That solo demands the Gibson sustain.

I had a very heavy heart leaving TD Garden 9/11/07 knowing that I would never again see them in action. I was lucky in that the first time I saw them (August 1982, Saratoga Performing Arts Center) they were in the run-up to the reunion show with Peter Gabriel in England, so I got to see one of the few last live performances of "Supper's Ready" in its entirety.

EDIT: I rest my case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye88TsHrHO4

morphine wrote:

Captain Ned wrote:

Seeing their best salesman 6/21 with the daughter.

Tip: if you're starting out, buy a guitar you're totally comfortable playing, not the one your idols have.

I meant to say daughter & I are seeing the band that's sold most of the basses Ricky has sold since Tom Sawyer.

Oh, heh.

morphine wrote:

Oh, heh.

I've seen the set lists (and have a ROIO). While the first set may go over my head, the second set and encore will have me reliving teenage days of blasting down VT back roads while in the back seat of a late '60s Chevy Nova with a road soda in hand and "stereo" cranked to 100% THD.

The only way to top this would be for Ian Anderson and Martin Barre to fix whatever happened between them and give us Tull fans a final tour. I can afford the tickets. That's a check-box in daughter's bucket list of "dad bands" that I fear will never be ticked.

morphine wrote:

Tip: if you're starting out, buy a guitar you're totally comfortable playing, not the one your idols have.

This is why my first electric guitar was a Squier standard strat (and this new one is all standard as well) - the "vintage" or "custom" models had extra-thick necks that weren't comfortable at all. Every Les Paul I've ever picked up (all 2 of them, anyway ) have all had thicker necks. An Ibanez something-or-other that looks like a hardtail Strat which I've borrowed on occasion also had a thinner neck. And I don't pick my acoustic up much anymore, either. I have short fingers and probably have an RSI that I should see a doctor about, and the thinner necks are so much more comfortable to play on.

Strokes for folks. I actually like the Ibanez necks, I usually go for wider radius and thinner ones. The standard-ish Les Paul neck is a good balance for me.

For example, even if I actually liked Strats, I could never play them. I cannot play a guitar with a middle pickup (my pick just hits it), and my fingers hit any volume knob that's too close to the strings (unless it's recessed relative to them). Just recently I got a great deal on a used guitar on eBay (still to arrive, more info later). Before that happened, I spend literally days scouring every manufacturer's website, looking for a guitar I could actually play, because of those two requirements.

Then add to that the fact that I wanted a hard-tail guitar with EMG 81+whatever pickups, and I was left with a severely short list. Seems like every effin' guitar has a Floyd Rose these days. I actually like the things, but I can't stand the PITA that is changing strings on them, or the fact that you can't really change your tuning without a lot of trouble.

I actually have my tremolo cranked down with 5 springs rather than the standard 3. Did wonders for my tuning. I don't use it (as evidenced by the arm's absence in my photo), and I could probably look into a hardtail mod, but 5 springs and cranking the screws holding the trem claw all the way to the back of the cavity helped considerably. I could see the pick on pickup thing could be an issue, particularly if you want the pickups as close to the strings as possible. I only have mine raised about 1/3 of the distance from the pickguard to their max height (and max height is right up on the string). I never have a problem with the volume, but I do tend to bump the switch. Most of the time I play it in position 4 (mid and neck pickups combined, reverse wound middle cuts a ton of noise on high-gain settings) and sometimes I'll bump it into position 3. The tonal change is more apparent than the added noise, so i just pull it back into place.

That's the one thing I'd like to change - you'd have to cover the whole dang body with the pickguard to do it, but if the switch was above the strings, like it is on an LP, I'd dig it.

morphine wrote:

Metal guys occasionally use teles, in fact. Just not with the original pups. And on the other hand, I personally really dig the clean and blues tones you can get out of a "metal" guitar.

There's far too much pigeonholing when it comes to guitars and amps, I'll say.

Those P90-equipped Teles can really scream. Fender makes a "modern player' model that has a humbucker at the bridge, too, and I'm sure that's not for any 60s country cover band. And you're right, too much pigeonholing. I'm totally guilty, tho.

derFunkenstein wrote:

I could probably look into a hardtail mod

It's called the Tremol-no. $25, IIRC, 5-minute installation, removable.

derFunkenstein wrote:

reverse wound middle cuts a ton of noise on high-gain settings

Are you using a noise gate of some sort? That's pretty much a requirement for high-gain anything.

morphine wrote:

It's called the Tremol-no. $25, IIRC, 5-minute installation, removable.

Holy crap. Never heard of this. Will definitely look into it more.

edit: https://www.allparts.com/tremol-no - more like $80, but may well be worth it.

morphine wrote:

Are you using a noise gate of some sort? That's pretty much a requirement for high-gain anything.

There's a gate built into my amp, and it's always on. Also, if I'm recording through Guitar Rig 5, I turn that gate on as well. Just high enough that the smallest hint of buzz is poking through, in both cases.

derFunkenstein wrote:

edit: https://www.allparts.com/tremol-no - more like $80, but may well be worth it.

$50 here

derFunkenstein wrote:

There's a gate built into my amp, and it's always on. Also, if I'm recording through Guitar Rig 5, I turn that gate on as well. Just high enough that the smallest hint of buzz is poking through, in both cases.

If you haven't tried already, you should set up the gate so that it's more aggressive when on, but releases more quickly. So lower the threshold but also the decay. For reference, in my Pod X3 Live with the Atomic 112-50, it's at -61dB with 3% decay.

Nice. I didn't even think about MF, because Googling the device took me to its website, and its website said "go buy it from Allparts.com". I should use my brain more.

morphine wrote:

Then add to that the fact that I wanted a hard-tail guitar with EMG 81+whatever pickups, and I was left with a severely short list. Seems like every effin' guitar has a Floyd Rose these days.

No shortage of these. For example, Schecter usually has for each a model an "FR" variant, and a fixed bridge one. Like this: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DME6CRB

or the fact that you can't really change your tuning without a lot of trouble.

Change tuning? Don't you have a guitar per tuning?

meerkt wrote:

For example, Schecter usually has for each a model an "FR" variant, and a fixed bridge one. Like this: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DME6CRB

Guess which guitar I just got from eBay.

But you have to keep in mind, being listed in the manufacturer's site does not equate to being available in a store. I found several interesting models that only existed in cyberspace.

Change tuning? Don't you have a guitar per tuning?

Here, let me PM you my birthday and address...

I'm not sure if it had to include specifically EMG 81, but here are non-Schecter options:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/ ... ric-guitar
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/ ... ric-guitar
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/ ... tar/516629

Didn't get that PM.

meerkt wrote:

Didn't get that PM.

Very funny

Your search is the same as mine, but here's what narrowed it down so much. For the record, the one I got from eBay was a used Schecter Hellraiser Extreme C1-E in need of some touchups. Pray that it's not totally busted when it arrives. Got it for ~1/3 of the price new, which should give me a pretty good margin for fixes with an awesome local luthier. Also, neck-thru-body and coil tap. Yum.

As for my search, allow me to detail what made it difficult.

- EMG 81+60/85/89. That narrows it down, but it's not the end of the world.
- No volume knobs next to pickups, unless they're recessed vs. the strings. 80-90% of guitars go out the window immediately, I kid you not.
- No tremolos. There go almost all the remaining ones.

Here are the ones I had on my list. I like a lot of LTD models, but ended up dropping them as their prices went up 50% in Europe for no reason and I read bad things about the recent models' quality. As for ESP proper... the prices went up like 200%.

Schecter Damien Elite 6
Schecter Damien 6 Platinum
Schecter Hellraiser C-1
Schecter Hellraiser C-1E Extreme
LTD EC-2015 40th aniv.
ESP E-II Eclipse series - multiple
LTD Eclipse series - multiple
BC Rich Mockingbird Pro X Hardtail
Jackson SLATTXMG 3-6 Soloist
Jackson SLATTXMGQ 3-6 Soloist
Ibanez ARZIR20FB