Guitar geek thread: Yay! My guitar sucks! (and why this is good news)

Cafe Society
1

I would just like to brag on myself for a minute. I’ve played drums for 15 years but in my new band I play guitar, which I had messed around with for years but never really got serious about. I bought a $99 used guitar when I started about a year and a half ago, figuring that since I sucked so bad at playing I wouldn’t know the difference.

Well, everybody congratulate me, because I just realized that the gradually-intensifying sensation I’ve had lately that my guitar is a piece of crap can only mean one thing: I can sort of play now. Go me!

I can now clearly hear that the intonation on this guitar is pretty well hosed; barre chords sound okay but open chords are a out-of-tune disaster. I think I now actually know enough to know why I might want the Buzz Leiter tuning system.

Also (though it’s nothing to do with my guitar) when the internet guitar gurus talk about “liquidy” distortion I can hear what they mean, and I’m even starting to have fantasies about putting an EQ in my amp’s effects loop to control my tone better.

I still can’t tell whether my pickups are any good, and I haven’t come close to finding anything wrong with my $500 Traynor amp that can’t be easily attributed to operator error. But still, I’m getting there! Woooo!

I’m hoping that this will turn into a general guitars-and-gear thread. Got any guitar stories you want to share?

2

I just started a couple months ago, and I like my guitar fine so far.

Nothing much to contribute, but I’ll be reading this thread.

3

Ahhhh my friend… welcome to a lifelong [del]compulsion[/del] [del]obsession[/del] hobby that will take your money, your time, and your ability to have a coherent discussion with people who do not know what a ground loop is.

My own [del]curse[/del] joy in life has filled my house with 8 different guitars, 6 amplifiers, a host of microphones, guitar pedals, crossovers, EQs and rack mounted effects units. You can’t walk anywhere in my house without stepping over a mic cable. Mic stands are like spindly trees throughout my house. Sometimes they are like coat racks, or kayak paddle stands. Two even perform double duty as a stand for my steel drum.

So go! Go and collect what you need, friend. And when anyone bitches at you, do what I do: I play some frikkin tasty licks and wail like the motherfucker that I am, and then I laugh and say “fuck you; I can do THAT”.

4

Thanks. So, have you tried these magical nuts?

Hmm… that didn’t come out quite right. :rolleyes:

What I mean is have you put any of these specialized nuts (Buzz Leiter, Earvana) on any of your guitars? The idea is that they sort of micro-adjust the string length to somehow counterbalance the sharping when you fret a string. Makes sense to me, but I’ve only read about 'em, never talked to a real person who’s used them.

I know my guitar’s cheap, but I’m thinking I might prefer to spend money setting it up the way I like it, rather than buying an expensive guitar… and still having to spend *more *money to set it up the way I like it.

5

So, you’d be a glass is half full kinda person, wouldn’t you?

6

Developing your ear is excellent! That shows you’ve made excellent progress…more than most people who attempt guitar. You’re probably going to stick with it. Awesome!

7

Actually, no, not usually. I’m normally pretty grim and mopey. :stuck_out_tongue: But I figure being a good player with a crappy guitar is way easier to fix than being a crappy player with a good guitar.

8

I haven’t bothered with any of those. I just learn how to play each guitar so that it sounds right. Guitars are like women (and cats): they’re all different, and it’s up to you to figure out how to make them purr.

BUT, you can cobble together a decent guitar, only if the body you start with is decent. Adding a new neck can mean moving the bridge, moving the pickups, etc. if it’s not the same length, etc. Remember that most guitars are designed from the ground up, so placement and parts are picked specifically for that configuration, usually by people who know a lot more than we do. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it’s a lot of work. A LOT of work.

I know because I did it: I have a '65 Fender Mustang body that I glommed a Jazzmaster neck onto (I happened to have one laying around). So I had to re-measure and redrill the bridge holes, then I had to re-orient the pickups to get the best sound. That meant a new custom pick guard, which I had to route out myself (with no template, I might add… freehand DIY ftw!). New nut on the neck, new phat frets… once I glued the monkey head with the long white hair to the headstock, I had a phat, 1-of-a-kind geetar. Sounds great for punk rock and country, but terrible for anything else. I spent a lot of time and effort on something I could have just paid $200 for at a store, but I learned a lot.

Don’t buy a new guitar yet. Trust me, it’s worth taking your time and finding one that you really like to play. My Schecter C-1 Elite cost me about $800, and I was advised to change the pickups… but I found that I liked the different tone the factory-installed pickups had. When I want a different sound, I use a different guitar. But the point is, I played this thing for like 4 months at Sam Ash, sometimes for as much as 2 hours at a time. I played lots of other guitars during that time, too. Some I rejected because of price, but most I rejected because they just weren’t that much fun to play: they were heavy, the frets were too small, the finish on the neck wasn’t compatible with my, er, “violent” playing style, the tuners were crappy, etc. The Schecter was fun to play, felt great around my neck and in my hands, and was within my price range of “cheap”, especially after an extra 3-4 months of saving for it.

But you know what my favorite guitar is? Not my '73 Les Paul Custom, but my $180 Epiphone SG. Sounds great, best neck I own on a guitar, and now that I had it pinstriped by that guy from the motorcycle show, it looks good too.

9

Here’s where I bought my first guitar. Inexpensive and a vast range of quality.

10

I think this will play better in Cafe Society, so I’ll move it thither.

twickster, MPSIMS mod

11

Nice OP - and congrats for realizing what you are learning.

I’ve played for over 30 years and still feel like there is so much I don’t know. I have pulled apart more guitars and done more hard listening over the years so I could figure out what works for me. That has culminated, like with Bo, in my building a guitar. That’s a link to the latest thread in my guitar-building project; if you are interested, work back through the links and start from the top down.

I also agree with **Bo **- I haven’t tried / lived with any modified temperament systems like Feiten or Earvana. I am not a precision-intonation anal retentive (if you are one, you know it), and given my manhandling style, just pull chords into sharper tune as part of the fingering - it becomes second nature after a while. But I do make sure my guitars are structurally sound and set up properly - that’s just basic.

But learning how to listen to a guitar - wow, that’s a lifetime’s work. After playing for 20+ years, I went on a Guitar Quest™ - I would isolate something I wanted to try out, like a basic design, semi-hollow vs. solid or size of the neck profile or the pickup types and layouts - you get the idea. I’d find a good example, buy it, live with it and learn what I liked, then sell it on eBay after 6 - 12 months and move on to the next one (I sold guitars to guys in Hong Kong, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and the U.S. - guitars are a pandemic ;)). Talking about training my ear. But what was really cool was getting my first “special” guitar - everybody has a story about one, so you think pretty much any well-made guitar must be special - that’s the only way to account for everyone’s stories! But when a truly special guitar gets in your hands - and you have been investing the time to learn how to listen, and the obvious, distinctive difference jumps out? It took me almost 30 years, but I get it.

I have shared pics on the SDMB before, but it’s a 1973 Les Paul Custom '54 Black Beauty Reissue - or, if you find that a mouthful: Gracie, named after the cat in the picture - both are divas that purr when you treat the way they want to be treated.

Keep listening hard - and moving through next-stage guitars that you realize suck in their own way - and you’ll end up someplace cool.

12

Too late to add: and here’s a thread with a long-winded rant on tube ampsfrom me…

13

I’ll compose a full guitar-geek essay later, but a quick answer to the OP. Open chord tuning problems could just mean that the nut slots aren’t deep enough and the tension of fretting low on the neck pulls the notes sharp. What’s the action like at the first fret?

I’ll see if I can find my old What guitars have you owned thread. (My list is quite long)

14

I don’t recall if I have seen it - I look forward to your list!

**SC **- what do you think about the classic trade-off here: What you are recommending he look at is spot-on, and part of a standard set-up that should be done on a guitar perhaps yearly. And if the OP is handy, I am all for using the beater guitar he/she has for experiments - lord knows I ruined my share of parts and guitars doing the same ;). But at some point you have to acknowledge that you are putting lipstick on a pig - and there is a risk that he/she won’t learn what works on a guitar (in terms of modifications and set up work) simply because that guitar won’t respond to mods as well as a better-built guitar.

Now - I know nothing about that git - it make take a set-up and re-slotting really well…just thinking out loud.

15

Aahhh, another guitar thread - these are getting more and more common these days.

I’ve never used one of those funky compensated nuts. Most guitars with intonation problems can be fixed with a setup and/or a properly cut nut. Unless the neck is warped, in which case it’s NEW GUITAR TIME!!!

I hardly have time to play anymore because I keep building guitars for other people. Since my Tele build for Eonwe, I’ve built a chambered strat for my tattoo artist (Ghost Town #002):

and am currently working on a carved top Blues Master clone (Ghost Town #003) for a work friend of mine:

Carving a top by hand is NOT easy…

16

I can’t find the old thread but here’s a taste in variety and length of my G.A.S. history:

Avon (Jap) SG copy - really not good, but I learned a lot messing about with it.
Fender Telecaster
Explorer - self built (from real timber not parts) really quite a decent guitar.
Yamaha FG accoustic (not a jumbo) - this one got a bit smashed
Yamaha FG accoustic - replacement
Twin neck copy (make forgotten)
Epiphone Casino - Tabacco sunburst (like John Lennon used in that Liverpool band :cool:)
Washburn Bass
Honer Strat copy
Yamaha SG - electric 24 fret thingy (not the Les Paul-y type one)
Gibson LP junior - Red twin cutaways
Vox Straty sort of thing
Casio Midi guitar (the proper guitar one, not the plastic thing)
Washburn headless (Status copy) bass
…this goes on a bit

…skipping to the shredding era…

Fender Performer - 24 frets locking trem
Charvel Soloist - 24 frets locking trem
Ibanez Gem (or something) - 24 frets locking trem

Ibanez S660 (or some-such) - 22 frets NO locking trem (hooray!)
Les Paul Gold-Top P90s - refinished by some idiot
PRS EG24 (or however they name their guitars)

More FX than you can shake a stick at MXR, Boss, Coloursound, lots of 'em now considered classic. Pretty much all gone.

This is a long way from being a complete list, but I really ought to some work :slight_smile: and I’m sure I have the whole list saved somewhere I shouldn’t have to type it all out again.

Briefly back to the OP, buy tools, tinker.

17

Blues Master?! Are you making a Gustavsson replica?! Dude, that’s swinging for the fences (note: Johan Gustavssonis a Swedish guitar maker who’s Blues Masters, which look like Les Pauls in a Telecaster shape, are highly prized for getting close to the tone of a true '59 Sunburst). But the pics look cool and your Strat top-notch. I will definitely think of you if I am considering something one-off for a future build project. Ever built a neck-thru '64-ish Firebird?

18

Just the Blues Master shape - don’t think I’ll ever get close to the JG tone. Besides, you’ll notice it’s a bolt on neck…

Never done a neck-thru. That would require building my own necks which I haven’t tried yet. But who knows what the future brings when it comes to guitar building…:smiley:

19

I remember at least one of the guitar-building threads.

A few weeks ago, my landlord was having a linden tree removed from our yard. (Long story.) I’ve got a friend who’s a woodworker and I told him about it. He asked me to have them save any large, straight-grained pieces I could get. The tree crew did it, but looked at me like I was nuts. We wound up with three pieces, each about 16" diameter and 2’ long. He said air-dried basswood is hard to come by. He wants to learn turning and make bowls out of them.

But according to Wikipedia, basswood is popular for guitars. Should I have gotten in touch with you guitar builders; was I sitting on a treasure and didn’t know it?

20

He he. When I was 18 I went to an guitar building evening class (the instructor made accoustics) and I was ridiculously ambitious, making an Explorer shaped electric (with a though neck!) out of mahogany bought from a timber yard (can you even do that any more?). The instructor supplied some ebony for the finger board (I swear that’s more like working with stone than wood).

It’s got a though neck with Gibson style neck-pitch, it astonishes me that doing that without machining it is possible at all, let alone that I did it!

There’s no way I’d start anything that hard these days, but the guitar turned out really well, the only reason it never became my main guitar is that I got the Tele just as I finished building it and I got used to the Fender feel.

I’d get it out later but I think it’s got to be the Gold Top tonight.