The Great Ongoing Guitar Thread

[Fiddle Peghead]

Originally Posted by WordMan

Fiddle Peghead - any thoughts on my "why Martin for Bluegrass and Gibson for Rock" post? You said you had a POV you weren't sharing to bias things - what were you thinking?

On a completely facetious level, because rock and rollers strive to be flashy, while bluegrass players do not.

I've actually got both a Martin D-18 and a Gibson Hummingbird, unfortunately the Martin is 200 miles away so I can't compare the two, and my memory is not good enough to, well, remember exactly what the Martin sounds like.

I am aware that Elvis was also known to play a Martin.

[E-Sabbath]

Trouble lives!

Found someone with a only slightly battered sunburst JT90. Put the old neck, bridge, pickups on it.
Went to this awesome place I accidentally found. http://www.starguitars.net/ Guy knows what he's doing. From what I saw, he's a master on acoustics as well.
Spent some money. Turns out that when my local place put the nut on the first time they didn't cut it right. It's like night and day. Even compared to the stock Blondie.

I now have two offset teles again. I'm not complaining at all.

[E-Sabbath]

After checking that Veena out, I have determined that after I get A: really good and B: rich, I'm gonna save me up and get a Ravish Sitar pedal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWid2B6c13E

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by Fiddle Peghead

On a completely facetious level, because rock and rollers strive to be flashy, while bluegrass players do not.

I've actually got both a Martin D-18 and a Gibson Hummingbird, unfortunately the Martin is 200 miles away so I can't compare the two, and my memory is not good enough to, well, remember exactly what the Martin sounds like.

I am aware that Elvis was also known to play a Martin.

If you think rockers are flashy (and most are) then let's not get started on the Country guys- man, some of the guitars I have see have been over the top with countrified bling it's not even funny.

You need that D-18 back in your stable. I have one, too - pretty different from a Hummingbird.

E-Sabs - great news! Glad it worked out.

[Fiddle Peghead]

Originally Posted by WordMan

If you think rockers are flashy (and most are) then let's not get started on the Country guys- man, some of the guitars I have see have been over the top with countrified bling it's not even funny.

You need that D-18 back in your stable. I have one, too - pretty different from a Hummingbird.

E-Sabs - great news! Glad it worked out.

Which is not to say that all bluegrassers are subdued and genteel. Witness my favorite, Jimmy Martin.

[Shakester]

Originally Posted by WordMan

Given your ambient approach to guitar, etc., if you like the basic ergonomics of the Kyser one-hander, you should know that they make partial capos, like the one Le Ministre modified himself, but which enable you to capo an alternate tuning - and you can switch to different capos to yield different tunings. Might be fun if you explore that approach in your playing.

I did notice those alt-tuning Kysers, and it did start me thinking. There are possibilities there that might work in my style, as you correctly surmise.

[Shakester]

Originally Posted by WordMan

If you think rockers are flashy (and most are) then let's not get started on the Country guys...

Two words: Nudie Suits.

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by E-Sabbath

Trouble lives!

Found someone with a only slightly battered sunburst JT90. Put the old neck, bridge, pickups on it.

So what was damaged on Trouble? It sounds like the body itself needed replacing? That's fairly unusual.

ETA: congrats on the resurrection!

[E-Sabbath]

Lent it to a friend who begged. He got inspired and played Pete Townshend. He bought me a new one, then I bought me a new one, then I gave the first new one to WordMan.

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by E-Sabbath

Lent it to a friend who begged. He got inspired and played Pete Townshend. He bought me a new one, then I bought me a new one, then I gave the first new one to WordMan.

Then I shimmed the neck and gave it to my son, who is playing mostly Radiohead and Zep riffs on it...but has recently started listening to The Who. This may come full circle

[WordMan]

Story on MSNBC.com here.

I plan to DVR the PBS History Detectives ep; seems interesting.

PS: Just checked the odometer - this thread was at exactly 319,000 views. Lotta mileage, but still running smooth.

[WordMan]

Here is a link to a video making the rounds in guitar circles - a guy from the Chicago Music Exchange plays 100 of the top rock riffs, in chronological order, from start to finish in one take - about 12 minutes.

I am about 2 minutes in and am really impressed with the craft of it. And the riffs are cool, too

http://vimeo.com/43426940

[WordMan]

Watched the whole thing. Pretty damn impressive - really great technique throughout, moving from standard picking, hybrid picking, fingerpicking, slide, hammer-ons, on-the-fly retunes to Dropped D and back - he works for it. He adapted a few songs correctly played in Open G or other alt tunings so he could play them in standard tuning - no arguments, but it limited his access to, say, Rolling Stones songs. And to not have Can't You Hear Me Knockin', Gimme Shelter, Honky Tonk, Start Me Up and others on a list of all-time riffs is simply incorrect. But given the complexity of what he was doing anyway, it amounts to a quibble.

The only egregious things I noted was that when he played Sedated by The Ramones, he used up-and-down strokes. Bzzzt!! Pencils down! Incorrect answer - if you aren't playing Johnny Ramone licks with all downstrokes, you aren't playing Johnny Ramone licks. Suck it, Trebek!

Otherwise, I tip my cap to him - really fun and I recognized all of the riffs pretty much immediately - the last one is St. Vincent, who I have heard of but hadn't heard - so credit to him. And apparently he is playing a '58 Strat - the CMExchange is using the vid to pimp their inventory of vintage guitars, just like Fretted Americana does with videos featuring Phil X. Pretty decent tones throughout - you miss hearing a Les Paul or other ballsier guitars on many of the riffs, but again, given his execution, it's not that big of a deal...

[Enginerd]

Originally Posted by WordMan

The only egregious things I noted was that when he played Sedated by The Ramones, he used up-and-down strokes. Bzzzt!! Pencils down! Incorrect answer - if you aren't playing Johnny Ramone licks with all downstrokes, you aren't playing Johnny Ramone licks. Suck it, Trebek!

I thought the same thing when he got there - although some of the others weren't exactly "right," that was the one riff that was really off. Still, that was a fun 12 minutes.

Bill Kirchen does a similar thing (without quite the variety in technique) in his live shows with Hot Rod Lincoln (he gets started at 2:30 if you don't want to listen to the whole song).

[Fiddle Peghead]

Originally Posted by WordMan

Here is a link to a video making the rounds in guitar circles...

Good stuff!

Might as well mention my very minor nitpicks: How do you not play the classic opening riff from "Sweet Home Alabama" instead of the one he played from later in the song?! Oh, and it's probably the simplest riff in rock and roll, but I think the opening of "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks should have been fit in there, just for influence alone. But all in all, thoroughly enjoying.

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by Fiddle Peghead

Good stuff!

Might as well mention my very minor nitpicks: How do you not play the classic opening riff from "Sweet Home Alabama" instead of the one he played from later in the song?! Oh, and it's probably the simplest riff in rock and roll, but I think the opening of "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks should have been fit in there, just for influence alone. But all in all, thoroughly enjoying.

He didn't include Black Dog, Sunshine of Your Love, a Bo Diddley beat song (e.g., Who Do You Love by George Thorogood), Whip It, anything by UFO, Iron Maiden, One Thing Leads to Another by The Fixx (a classic New Wave riff, and I am sure there are tons more, like Dancing with Myself, I Want Candy, Blister in the Sun, Save it for Later, etc). So yeah, it could lead to a ton of discussion about choices....

ETA: By the way, I started an independent thread here, so that non-guitarists who are tired of slogging through the GOGT (I know, hard to believe, but it is possible ) might see the video...

[Fiddle Peghead]

Originally Posted by WordMan

So yeah, it could lead to a ton of discussion about choices....

Absolutely. I'm not complaining in any way. Might even learn about some new riffs if others mention their missing favorites. Unfortunately, I know all the ones you mentioned!

[CookingWithGas]

Originally Posted by Enginerd

Bill Kirchen does a similar thing (without quite the variety in technique) in his live shows with Hot Rod Lincoln (he gets started at 2:30 if you don't want to listen to the whole song).

I have his live album and have seen Bill Kirchen do this two or three times. It's really more of a tribute than an attempt to truly imitate these players. The longer it goes, the less accurate the impressions. I am wondering what this bit included the very first time he did it--I figured maybe he just did two or three of his biggest influences, then it grew organically from there over the years.

[Fiddle Peghead]

Regarding the Kirchen clip:

"Nick Lowe's ex-grandmother in law" and Martha Raye (the Big Mouth)

[CookingWithGas]

Originally Posted by Fiddle Peghead

How do you not play the classic opening riff from "Sweet Home Alabama" instead of the one he played from later in the song?!

Because the segue from that lick into Walk This Way was brilliant!

[Fiddle Peghead]

Originally Posted by CookingWithGas

Because the segue from that lick into Walk This Way was brilliant!

Seque, schmeg-way. We're talking about the signature lick from one of the great songs of the seventies. And its rhythmic nature would contrast with that of the WTW lick in an even more interesting and cool way, don't you think?

Okay, the real, and embarrassing, reason is even though I've heard that lick a thousand times, I had to play the song over in my head from the beginning before I could finally convince myself it was identified correctly!

[CookingWithGas]

Originally Posted by Fiddle Peghead

Seque, schmeg-way. We're talking about the signature lick from one of the great songs of the seventies. And its rhythmic nature would contrast with that of the WTW lick in an even more interesting and cool way, don't you think?

Okay, the real, and embarrassing, reason is even though I've heard that lick a thousand times, I had to play the song over in my head from the beginning before I could finally convince myself it was identified correctly!

OK, you've convinced me. On reflection I agree--the opening is what is recognizable. And it also would have led in perfectly to WTW.

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by E-Sabbath

Lent it to a friend who begged. He got inspired and played Pete Townshend. He bought me a new one, then I bought me a new one, then I gave the first new one to WordMan.

So what did you finally do about the pickguard? I assume that was for this guitar, but maybe that was for the other version of that guitar ??

[E-Sabbath]

The replacement body had a pickguard with it.
... and, of course, now GFS has a new shipment of JT90s, including a new color. And a facebook page. That has a 'buy an offset, get a free case' deal.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Guita...om/47638982339
Anyhow. Rock on.

[Fiddle Peghead]

:

Originally Posted by CookingWithGas

OK, you've convinced me. On reflection I agree--the opening is what is recognizable. And it also would have led in perfectly to WTW.

[E-Sabbath]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Guita...om/47638982339

Guys. You have to check this. GFS bought a warehouse full of returned guitar bodies and necks. There's all this kinds of awesome stuff there. I see Deans and Fenders and Yamahas and what might be a PRS doublecut.

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by E-Sabbath

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Guita...om/47638982339

Guys. You have to check this. GFS bought a warehouse full of returned guitar bodies and necks. There's all this kinds of awesome stuff there. I see Deans and Fenders and Yamahas and what might be a PRS doublecut.

Wow. You could get a great deal if you know what you want and what to look for. If I was going to gear up for a 3rd parts-o-caster project, I would be all over this...

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by E-Sabbath

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Guita...om/47638982339

Guys. You have to check this. GFS bought a warehouse full of returned guitar bodies and necks. There's all this kinds of awesome stuff there. I see Deans and Fenders and Yamahas and what might be a PRS doublecut.

There's nothing up on the guitarfetish site about all this, but I expect we'll see something there eventually, right? Or do they have other plans to get rid of this stuff?

[Le Ministre de l'au-delà]

Yet another article about the 2012 Montréal Guitar Show. I have to go to the next one in 2014...

[E-Sabbath]

The facebook says it'll take a _while_ to inventory it all, but yes, that's where we expect to see it. Odds are it's Samick stuff.

I see Ibanez, Fender... Gibson... maaybe PRS. Yamaha. Dean, maybe.

[Fiddle Peghead]

Going down to Radford, VA tonight from up here in central Jersey. Bringing back my standard late 80s Strat, decent early 90s Martin D-18, and completely awesome '78 Les Paul Custom, after being away from them for about a year.

Hell yeah!

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by Fiddle Peghead

Going down to Radford, VA tonight from up here in central Jersey. Bringing back my standard late 80s Strat, decent early 90s Martin D-18, and completely awesome '78 Les Paul Custom, after being away from them for about a year.

Hell yeah!

Have a happy reunion. Let us know how it goes

[BubbaDog]

Have any of you had the chance to play a Rainsong or any other kind of graphite based acoustic.

I like the idea of having a guitar that is a little tougher in the elements but I'm also concerned about what you hear is how it stays. That is you won't get any benefit from aging the guitar.

I'm thinking about buying a mid level acoustic soon (price range $1200 to $2500) and I want to get some feedback from some source other than random reviews on the internet.

Pros, Cons, I'm just trying to get an education.

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by BubbaDog

Have any of you had the chance to play a Rainsong or any other kind of graphite based acoustic.

I like the idea of having a guitar that is a little tougher in the elements but I'm also concerned about what you hear is how it stays. That is you won't get any benefit from aging the guitar.

I'm thinking about buying a mid level acoustic soon (price range $1200 to $2500) and I want to get some feedback from some source other than random reviews on the internet.

Pros, Cons, I'm just trying to get an education.

Head over to the Acoustic Guitar Forum and search - ton of threads there. I've played a couple and since their necks are slim and fast, I.e. not to my taste I don't spend a lot of time digging in. Folks at the AGF who like them do so a lot, so I think the basic guitars are solid. One of them - Composite Acoustics?? - recently stopped production. We are in a golden age of wood acoustics so graphite guitars tend to have an audience who really needs durability and/or digs innovative approaches - not as common among guitar traditionalists...

[BubbaDog]

Thanks Wordman,
I keep forgetting the obvious. This is the second time you pointed me to that forum.

Maybe this time it will stick.

[F.Pu-du-he-pa-as]

Question for you all:

I've decided to start playing classical guitar again after a 3-4 year hiatus. I always try to take it slow with the practicing-- lots of warm-ups, easy pieces, no more than an hour a day or so, stopping if/when my hands get tired. However, after a few days of this, my wrists always start hurting. Any advice on how to get back into things that won't produce this effect? What am I doing wrong?

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by F.Pu-du-he-pa-as

Question for you all:

I've decided to start playing classical guitar again after a 3-4 year hiatus. I always try to take it slow with the practicing-- lots of warm-ups, easy pieces, no more than an hour a day or so, stopping if/when my hands get tired. However, after a few days of this, my wrists always start hurting. Any advice on how to get back into things that won't produce this effect? What am I doing wrong?

Calling Le Ministre! He plays a lot of classical.

It sounds like you may be positioning your hands inefficiently, or perhaps you spend a lot of time at a computer or doing other repetitive activity and the guitar adds to that. But I am not a classical - or even trained - player, so can't help with advice on positioning...hands, wrists, sitting posture, raising a foot and where you rest your guitar on your leg (and which leg) - can all have an effect, as can the actual exercises you do. Are they overly ambitious?

[E-Sabbath]

I wish I could help, F.Pu, but the only thing I can think of is to make sure you have something to put your foot on, which WordMan already said. But Le Ministre is the man to listen to here.

In other news...
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Factory-...c_410-1-4.html It's like Samick threw a Warmoth party and you're invited! Disassembled and partially finished guitar parts for all!
Want to find something to abuse? Necks for twenty five bucks. Bodies for thirty. Go ahead. Try to put together the guitar of your dreams. You can do it.

I've gone for a stratoid neck (It may be a Strat neck, it has a lawsuit provoking shape) and a swimming pool routed stratoid body with a floating trem hole. Going to re-use the parts I upgraded that bottom-of-the-line Squier with. So if I start with a Squier, replace the electronics, the hardware, the neck, and the body, is it now my Grandfather's Axe?

[squeegee]

Steve Jobs, a person who legendarily obsessed about detail, once proposed inventing a new Pantone color for the exact shade he wanted his new Macintosh computer to be. Nothing else would do. At the time, saner heads prevailed.

I'm now on my fourth installation of a "white" Telecaster pickguard, and I think I finally have almost the right shade of off-white-aged really-close-to-matching-that-binding white pickguard. Almost.

[Ximenean]

I just did an interesting experiment on my beloved Squier CV Strat -- swap two wires around so that position four (normally middle + neck pickups) becomes bridge + neck. Supposed to make it sound like a Tele, and by George it works! You do lose the middle + neck combo, but you still have position two for the classic Strat sound. I think it's a good trade. It makes the guitar so versatile. I'm now thinking how I can add a few switches and make every combination of pickups possible, because it would still be nice to get the middle+neck position back.

[squeegee]

Originally Posted by Ximenean

I just did an interesting experiment on my beloved Squier CV Strat -- swap two wires around so that position four (normally middle + neck pickups) becomes bridge + neck. Supposed to make it sound like a Tele, and by George it works! You do lose the middle + neck combo, but you still have position two for the classic Strat sound. I think it's a good trade. It makes the guitar so versatile. I'm now thinking how I can add a few switches and make every combination of pickups possible, because it would still be nice to get the middle+neck position back.

You could add a single micro-switch that just swaps between what you did (pos 4 = bridge + neck) to the stock arrangement (pos 4 = middle + neck). It would be a bit fiddly until you got used to it, but it's the simplest thing and requires the least work. If you wanted to go full bore there's obviously other ways to do this, the most obvious would be no pickup selector at all, just 3 on/off switches, one for each pickup. I'd personally hate that arrangement, but that's just me. In any case, there's buttloads of room for extra gizmos under a strat pickguard, so you can go hog-wild with whatever switching weirdness you like.

[squeegee]

You could also get one of these and really have a ball: Brian May-style 6-switch Strat wiring kit, pre-drilled pickguard included, $35.

[squeegee]

Sorry for triple posting, but here's another from the vendor above: Superstrat wiring kit with 3 switches that can be used as on/off/phase-inverted-on in any combination. Again dirt cheap if you don't mind a little soldering.

[WordMan]

Originally Posted by squeegee

Steve Jobs, a person who legendarily obsessed about detail, once proposed inventing a new Pantone color for the exact shade he wanted his new Macintosh computer to be. Nothing else would do. At the time, saner heads prevailed.

I'm now on my fourth installation of a "white" Telecaster pickguard, and I think I finally have almost the right shade of off-white-aged really-close-to-matching-that-binding white pickguard. Almost.

[squeegee]

I'm currently trying to learn Classical Gas (the "Eric Clapton - not!" version) on my new Taylor acoustic, and finding it devilishly difficult. Man was not meant to play without a pick, dammit.

[Saintly Loser]

Originally Posted by Ximenean

I just did an interesting experiment on my beloved Squier CV Strat -- swap two wires around so that position four (normally middle + neck pickups) becomes bridge + neck. Supposed to make it sound like a Tele, and by George it works! You do lose the middle + neck combo, but you still have position two for the classic Strat sound. I think it's a good trade. It makes the guitar so versatile. I'm now thinking how I can add a few switches and make every combination of pickups possible, because it would still be nice to get the middle+neck position back.

Check out Deaf Eddie (http://www.deaf-eddie.net/tonecharts.html). He makes a switch that lets you get every possible combination of pickups on a Strat. It's a rotary switch, and drops into one of the tone control locations. Completely stock appearance after installation. No need to add switches.

I put one of these into a Strat a few years back. Lots of fun, endless possibilities.

[Ximenean]

Originally Posted by Saintly Loser

Check out Deaf Eddie (http://www.deaf-eddie.net/tonecharts.html). He makes a switch that lets you get every possible combination of pickups on a Strat. It's a rotary switch, and drops into one of the tone control locations. Completely stock appearance after installation. No need to add switches.

I put one of these into a Strat a few years back. Lots of fun, endless possibilities.

That sounds perfect, thanks (and thanks to squeegee for the suggestions too).

[Le Ministre de l'au-delà]

There was an interview with Randy Bachman in the Toronto Star today.

His five favourite guitarists - Lenny Breau, Hank Marvin, Neil Young, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Lenny was no surprise, that's who taught Randy his first licks; Neil, Jeff and Jimmy, totally get it. Hank Marvin, though? I've never heard any Hank in Randy's work - that's an unexpected one...

[WordMan]

Hank's one of those guys. Never part of my circle, but I notice how he crops up in interviews by Peter Green, Brian May, etc - other thoughtful Brit guitar players. Not too far of a jump to a favored Canadian in that era.

[E-Sabbath]

The Shadows are one of those forgotten rock bands that were critically important for a period. Like the Pixies, for a later generation.