**Koldanar **- listen to the *Good Doctor *Le Ministre.
Wow…I was hoping for bits and pieces, but…wow. Thank you.
I do have a guitar teacher at least; I haven’t been able to go since September, as during the lesson I wasn’t able to even keep a simple major scale at the F fret going without my fingers getting confused; hopefully this problem is alleviated by now.
My teacher is a rock kinda guy, and so far his advice for positioning is “Find something comfortable” which, while appropriate, doesn’t help much. The advice you gave though…I’ll definitely have to follow through on.
I didn’t mention it, but I’m primarily an electric guitar player right now (due to lack of a good acoustic), and one big problem I’ve always had is cramping the pad of my thumb when playing (trying to barre, and having to death-grip the neck to get my finger across the strings). I’ve been looking for ways to train that habit away; awesome that you have something there for me too.
Thanks a ton!
Also, why not play standing up for a bit?
E-Sabbath - it might work out, especially if you strap the guitar high enough, but the angle’s a little harder to control, and the instrument isn’t as stable. (This is not the time to try looking like Joey Ramone with your axe somewhere between your knees and your ankles.) Working through an injury, I’d recommend reducing the variables. It may be a good idea to find a ridiculously precise position in which to maintain the guitar for a while, at least until Koldanar figures out how to play without aggravating them tendons…
Just my two cents - it won’t even buy you a latte, in fact.
I was thinking it might be easier to play at a 65 degree angle if you can lower the body of the guitar below the hips, is all. But yeah.
**Kaylasdad **started this thread about a video featuring some teeny Chinese kids playing huge (compared to them) classical guitars.
Fun to watch - reminds me of kids trained in the Suzuki method of violin playing.
**
Le Ministre** - how’s their positioning? 
I picked up a new amp (Line 6) and noticed that the static I thought was coming from my old Peavey amp is actually coming from the neck/humbucker pick-up on my new Tele knock-off (Xaviere XV-820). I read from another site:
Any experience with this or pointers?
Not yet, but I probably will in a month or two. The ground wire seems logical enough. Wire it to a screw in the pickguard and solder it to the back of the pot. This is why the Strat has that ground wire to the trem claw.
Note: I do not have my book with tele wiring in it. Please do not follow my advice without confirmation from WordMan, or talking to your local shop.
Would a ground wire touching a plastic pickguard really be effective? I’d think some copper tape on the back of the pickguard + a ground wire would be needed. My Tele doesn’t do this, but it’s a pricey American Deluxe, so perhaps they did something inside to prevent this. I’ve had my pickguard off to see how the pickup routes were done (big-ass swimming pool route, you could fit 3 humbuckers in there), but I don’t recall what the shielding looked like.
That said, I don’t see any reason not to experiment with soldering a wire to a pot and taping it to the inside of the pickguard (or some other makeshift way, for now) . If you’re comfortable taking off the strings, pickguard, and control well (it’s really nothing complex), and know how to solder, go for it.
That’s why I was thinking you’d have to wrap it around a screw in the pickguard.
I’d try the fabric softener sheet first, though, just to be sure it is, in fact, the pickguard.
FWIW I get exactly the same thing on my Squier Tele after a few minutes’ playing. I thought it might be dodgy wiring in the neck pickup area, but it is apparent that the immediate cause is static build-up on the pickguard. Discharge the static and the problem goes away for a while.
I read up on the problem, and think that grounding my pick guard will do the trick.
I am not shy about soldering, but am not sure where I find the ground on my guitar… any pointers?
The body of the pots (volume/tone knobs) will be grounded. You should see wires already soldered to them. Other grounded points will be the outside ring of the jack, and the bridge plate.
To be clearer about the pots, you’d see something like this (with two pots on your Tele, instead of four). See that wire soldered to the backs of all the pots? That’s ground.
Can you link your most helpful bits, Phungi? I’m getting my Telemaster tomorrow, and I may have to repeat your experiment.
Thanks… this is exactly what I was hoping for!
Sure thing… I will take photos, but squeegee’s link pretty much says it all.
BTW, from online searches, I have found the following solutions to “Tele Pick Guard Static” (this is not a step-by-step list, just independent suggestions):
[ul]
[li]Wipe outside of pick guard with dryer sheet (aka: Bounce)[/li][li]Remove pick-guard, rub back with dryer sheet[/li][li]Remove pick-guard, tape dryer sheet to back[/li][li]Remove pick-guard, rub back with sand paper or scouring pad[/li][li]Make sure wires trailing from the neck pickup are properly soldered together and insulated.[/li][li]Ground pick guard by attaching copper tape or aluminum foil to back, and running a wire to ground[/li][/ul]
I am opting for the last option. Will report back when done.
Please tell me you’re not going to stuff a lot of aluminum kitchen wrap in there. Do a proper job using adhesive copper tape adhered to the back of the pickguard (and if needed, you should consider doing the rest of the cavity as well while you’re in there).
Definitely… copper tape over aluminum foil.
It’s heere. Can’t wait to get it home.