They send me their eNewsletter and I share stuff from time to time. In this case, really smart advice about how to approach string height based on how it affects your tone, not just your playability. Definitely a trick of the trade, and something that got a bit lost in the era of scooped-mid shredding and Super Strats.
What to you play on that? 9’s or 10’s? If you play that “335 Quack” tone (both pickups, bridge volume on 10, neck volume backed off to maybe 8.5, Tones adjusted to taste), I have a buddy who swears he can get a Tele twang out of the lighter-gauge '9s, but he can also use his picking fingers to pop the strings a little.
I put .11’s on everything and can’t twang to save my life
Oh - speaking of which and related to that other “Superstars who can also play” thread, I am listening to Brad Paisley’s CD Play. Man, he can play. There’s a track with a ton of Van Halen licks in it and a bluegrass/celtic barnburner called Kentucky Jelly (I think) that just rips with acoustic and electric lick-itude.
It’s funny, I had a friend who was a proper shredder and he had the knack for setting his guitars up with an unbelievably low action. I’d pick up one of his guitars and it was effortless.
But.
Whenever I’ve tried to get the same feel on any of my guitars (including the super-strats) it just doesn’t work for me. The music I actually played* requires some twang, if you tried a “big” chord on one of this guy’s guitars it just got choked, try a Johnny Marr part and you’d get a bunch of lifeless plunks. Being a hair-metal type of guy all his rhythm parts were palm-muted/chuggy, he didn’t do power chords and he never ever strummed.
*and still do just not in public so much these days.
Thanks for the great link. Is that really a Les Paul with a locking nut and Floyd Rose I see in there? Oy.
Anyway, I discovered the truth of the string height/tone connection rather late in life, about 3 years ago when I bought a Taylor 710CE. I bought it used and when I received it the neck had a bit more relief in it than I prefer, resulting in action on the upper frets that was too high for me. In the process of adjusting the truss rod to straighten things out, I found that lowering the action too much resulting in a noticeable decrease in volume and tone. It took me quite a few tries to get the optimum balance.
I had already set my electrics to slightly higher than Gibson and Fender factory specs at that point because I my playing style gains more from having some string to push and pull on. When I built my Tele, I experimented quite a bit with the lowest possible action, but ended up going a little higher to get the best tone and feel.
Yeah, I can’t remember the model name but it builds off a few different Routed-for-Locking-whammy versions they have tried off and on. The one that comes to mind is the Neal Schon sig model they came out with a few years back.
Hey - if it suits a person’s style - go for it. I just find that the more complications, the more I get lost and don’t focus on the fundamentals; I’m not that good.
And I hear you about “my playing style gains more from having some string to push and pull on” - as I increasingly use Hybrid picking (using my middle and index fingers while also holding a flatpick) I pop the strings a lot; that would just not work on a critical (i.e., super low) action’d guitar…
I think there are a few major “set up groups”
Low n’ Fast - critical action, lighter-gauge strings (e.g., 9’s or even 8’s) a smaller pick, lighter touch
Medium - standard action, 9’s or 10’s, and a standard pick and touch - capable of a wide dynamic range (i.e., very light attack to big spanked chords)
Digging In - standard-to-higher action, 10’s or 11’s or higher, standard pick, but more likely to either hybrid pick or just use fingers - some string plucking and popping going on. Lots of dynamic range.
I definitely am in the latter category. All have their proponents and no one approach is best…
I’m switching to 10s after playing 11 flatwounds for the past year or so. I’m stepping away from the jazzy stuff for a while and playing with a side project doing classic country (Merle, Waylon, Willie, Johnny, etc.) and some twangier classic rock. So that’s good advice for the Quack Tone, I’ll check that out.
I’m afraid 9’s would be snapping left and right for me, and I’d have to reset the neck.
It’s (as always) a work in progress!!
I’m a 9 with a dinky pick kinda guy and I do a bit of fast playing. I’ve found that extremely low action doesn’t work for me. My Las Paul is set up with medium high action. I can dig in when I need to but can still play fairly fast.
The best thing that I have found is shaping picks. I take standard heavy picks and shorten them a bit and round over the edges. For playing fast you can easily choke up on the pick so that only a bit of the tip is catching the string or you can loosen up a bit and use most of the pick to dig in. My new favorite picks are some metal ones that my girlfriend had made for me. She sent off one of my shaped picks to a guy who makes metal picks and he did a custom order. They kick ass for electric guitars though they sound like shit on acoustics, to scrapey.
Oh yeah - round wounds for country and that quack tone should do ya right. You dime the bridge p’up and then use the neck’s volume to dial in a bit more warmth. And the more you dig in or pop the strings, the more quack you’ll get, but I am sure you are way ahead of me from a technique standpoint…
And I hear you about gauges - I can’t really even play 10’s for fear of breaking them…
**slee **- tell your girlfriend I want one just like her! Just don’t tell my wife That is very cool that she did that for you…