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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 04 2015 at 15:32
Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:


When they say "C shaped neck", is it the same as "U" or it's a different thing?
Don't take me for granted but I believe that when they talk about guitar neck shapes, C or U are indeed the same.
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 04 2015 at 15:29
Yes, never buy a guitar without having test-played it (or any instrument for that matter). Many years ago my friends bought me a Fender acoustic as a present (made in Korea). I never liked it's sound and feel but I was stuck with it. Years later my girlfriend bought me a Yamaha keyboard I didn't like either, but I didn't dare to tell her so I kept playing it.
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Meltdowner View Drop Down
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Points: 10232 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 04 2015 at 15:22
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

I once played some Floyd on a Fender Stratocaster though and I really liked the way it felt Smile
If you can afford a Strat, it is surely a very good and versatile guitar Smile. There are so many of them though that I could get lost, just look at this if you are interested

Thanks, very enlightening article and yes, I'm considering to spend a nice amount on the guitar, that's why I want to make the right choice Smile
When they say "C shaped neck", is it the same as "U" or it's a different thing?
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TeleStrat View Drop Down
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Points: 9319 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 04 2015 at 12:16
I play my '73 Strat almost every day. It has a very comfortable feel to it and with the three position switch you can get a variety of tones. It is lighter than my Les Paul Studio and has a slightly thinner neck. The frets are showing signs of wear but it is still very playable. I asked a guitar tech about this a couple of years ago but he recommended that I leave it in original condition for the sake of value.
When you're ready to buy I suggest you try to find a place where you can plug in and test play a few different guitars. I have a Sam Ash music store near me and they have a large selection of guitars and have no problem with you plugging in and playing anything they have on display. Right now they are selling standard American Strats for $1299. They also have Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck models for $1599.
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 04 2015 at 11:43
Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

I once played some Floyd on a Fender Stratocaster though and I really liked the way it felt Smile
If you can afford a Strat, it is surely a very good and versatile guitar Smile. There are so many of them though that I could get lost, just look at this if you are interested
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Meltdowner View Drop Down
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Points: 10232 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 04 2015 at 11:23
I didn't say anything about throwing it away, I even said "(and will play)". I'm considering buying a new one but I'll also do something about that one eventually. The thing is, I barely ever played on any other electric guitar to know if I really like the way it plays and by investigating about guitars I hope to learn more about them. I once played some Floyd on a Fender Stratocaster though and I really liked the way it felt Smile

Thanks for the information on the first paragraph, I'll need to analyze it more carefully in order to know what I really want.

I bought my Ibanez really cheap, the owner really wanted to get rid of it for some reason Ouch It doesn't look as pretty as the one on the photo.
I was 13 and my father immediately bought it without consulting me, so that one's on him Tongue
Anyway, if I get a new guitar, the Ibanez will be a backup guitar if anything happens on stage Smile
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 04 2015 at 10:19
Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

Considering this, I decided to save that money to invest on a new one: this one was paid a long time ago with all the hours I played (and will play) Smile

So my question to you is: what good guitars can you recommend for proggin'? Wink

By the way, cool basses Angelo Cool

I'm not a real musician, just an amateur so I'm afraid I'm not really entitled to make you any recommendations. I guess it all depends on your budget and what kind of 'proggin' do you mean. Do you play mostly chords? or mostly lead? mostly clean or mostly heavy / metal oriented?
Important defining features of a guitar are the action (how far are the strings from the fretboard), the frets profile height, the neck shape (more "U" or "V" depending if you will play mostly chords or lead), the neck radius (depending on how big your hands are), the pickups (humbuckers give a beefier sound, single-coils a thinner but sharper sound, although several guitars nowadays have switches to emulate the opposite wiring configuration), do you want a tremolo bridge... It's a world in it's own.

Your Ibanez didn't look too bad in picture, seemingly a low action guitar suited to modern playing with power chords and leads, and Ibanez is quite a good brand. The fact that a neck truss rod adjustment is necessary and a bit costly should not be a reason to throw it away if you like the way it feels and plays. With whatever guitar you buy it will come the day that a truss rod adjustment will be needed, especially if you experiment with different string gauges and tunings. And the cost of the neck adjustment should never be a match to the cost of the guitar! If you say the cost of adjusting the neck is close to the cost you paid for the guitar, either you must have bought it very cheap or you got a very expensive quotation for the adjustment, ask somewhere else!
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Angelo View Drop Down
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Points: 13244 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 03 2015 at 06:47
Thanks Meltdowner!
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I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected]
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Points: 10232 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 03 2015 at 06:40
Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

^ Thanks again Gerard! I'll see if I can do something about it this weekend, I just hope I won't screw up the guitar Ermm
I caught the flu that weekend so I didn't see anything Ouch
I met someone at work who knows a lot about guitar gear though and I asked if he could see my guitar. He made some adjustments and it sounds a lot better but he noticed that some parts are not original (and worse than those, probably changed by the original owner) and that I needed to take to the luthier to fix the fretboard, although the price he said it costs (and I later confirmed) is almost as high as the price I paid for the guitar. Considering this, I decided to save that money to invest on a new one: this one was paid a long time ago with all the hours I played (and will play) Smile

So my question to you is: what good guitars can you recommend for proggin'? Wink

By the way, cool basses Angelo Cool



Edited by Meltdowner - January 03 2015 at 06:46
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Points: 13244 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 31 2014 at 13:58
And I can assure you they sound the way the look :)
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 31 2014 at 11:32
^ Both of them look great!
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Points: 13244 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 31 2014 at 10:21
My two favourite bases. Both build from Warmoth parts (Canary necks with ebony fretboard, Black Korina bodies) and with Nordstrand vintage pick ups and Volume-Tone-Balance controls. The Jazz is just that, the Z-shape is a fretless with extended fretboard.
Apart from the woodwork, I put them together myself.

Next to these I use an Ibanez Prestige 3005 and a Gretsch Broadkaster.




Edited by Angelo - December 31 2014 at 10:22
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Points: 9319 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 31 2014 at 09:46
I usually play my '73 Strat, '99 custom shop Tele or '05 Les Paul Studio.
My every day amp is an '05 Fender Blues Jr. I also have an '05 2 x 12 De Ville but it's too loud for my music room.
I use a Pedaltrain with a Dunlop "Cry Baby" wah wah, Danelectro Daddy O, Cool Cat and DanEcho.
 
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Meltdowner View Drop Down
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Points: 10232 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 18 2014 at 18:08
^ Thanks again Gerard! I'll see if I can do something about it this weekend, I just hope I won't screw up the guitar Ermm
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 18 2014 at 05:44
Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

I had to read that first paragraph many times to understand it. I don't understand much about the guitar parts and configurations, for now I wouldn't mind a guitar that plays in tune and that I can feel what I'm playing: the way it is now I can't play in drop D and I can barely play the tapping intro of Giant Hogweed Ouch
BTW if you play in drop D think also about the strings gauge. A normal 6th string, say for example a 0.48 is designed to play an E at its normal tension, when you downtune it to D the string is looser so it will buzz at the frets more easily, especially in a light-play guitar like yours. A thicker string needs more tension to achieve the same pitch, so in this example trying with a 0.52 could help avoiding the fret buzz when tuned at the same D pitch because the string will be tighter.
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 18 2014 at 03:06
Originally posted by stegor stegor wrote:

Thanks Infocat & Gerinski (Frank & Gerard if I may). I don't play live so nobody ever sees my instruments because they hang on a wall in my basement. I was looking for a place to share this one. I paint better than i play - so I paint guitar.
It's an amazing job you did there, both the lightening and the painting, congrats!
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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 18 2014 at 02:30
Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

I had to read that first paragraph many times to understand it. I don't understand much about the guitar parts and configurations, for now I wouldn't mind a guitar that plays in tune and that I can feel what I'm playing: the way it is now I can't play in drop D and I can barely play the tapping intro of Giant Hogweed Ouch

Of course by 'luthier' I didn't mean here someone who actually builds guitars, just someone who knows how to set them up, some music stores have such a guy, or otherwise they will send the guitar to someone, but by experience I know that many of the guys in stores who say they can, actually can not.

If you want to try a bit by yourself, the first thing you can do is lift a bit the string(s) which buzz and see it that solves the problem. On the bridge you must have little allen screws to adjust each string height, and you must also have adjustment for each string scale length (the length from the nut to the small piece in the bridge where each string sits). First of all make sure that the length of each string is correct so that when you play on the 12th fret it is exactly one octave up, if you have a tuner you can use it to check this (I guess the GT-8 has one?). As you probably know, the lower strings need to have a bit longer scale and the high strings a bit shorter to play in tune. Sometimes people change the strings to other gauges and forget to adjust this so then the guitar will not play in tune. This is always the first adjustment to check.

Then, if some string has fret buzz, increase its height with the small allen screws until the fret buzz disappears. If you see that in order to avoid the buzz you have to lift up the string too much (so it gets too far from the fretboard) this means that you will need to adjust the neck rod, and this I recommend not to try yourself or you can mess your guitar up, this should be done by someone who knows.

When you have a floating tremolo bridge (as I believe you do by the pic you posted) things can get more complicated but hopefully these simple steps can solve your problem. 

Good luck!


Edited by Gerinski - December 18 2014 at 05:50
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Polymorphia View Drop Down
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Points: 8856 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 17 2014 at 21:56
Originally posted by Meltdowner Meltdowner wrote:

Originally posted by Polymorphia Polymorphia wrote:

Most music stores will do that too if you take it there, but they tend to be less trustworthy. Still, I have my guitar and mandolin at a local music store with some set-up stuff being done.
Most music stores here take the guitars to the luthier, so the luthier probably costs less. I would really like to get a mandolin someday, and learn to play it of course. I have a brazilian cavaquinho but it's not very fun to play Ermm
I'm looking to sell mine. It will probably be on ebay once I get it back. So heads up if you're looking to buy it.
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Points: 3167 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 17 2014 at 21:32
Originally posted by stegor stegor wrote:

Thanks Infocat & Gerinski (Frank & Gerard if I may). I don't
play live so nobody ever sees my instruments because they hang on a wall
in my basement. I was looking for a place to share this one. I paint
better than i play - so I paint guitar.


Your art looks solid as hell! Do you have any paintings on canvas?
http://pseudosentai.bandcamp.com/



wtf
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stegor View Drop Down
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Points: 2029 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 17 2014 at 20:19
Thanks Infocat & Gerinski (Frank & Gerard if I may). I don't play live so nobody ever sees my instruments because they hang on a wall in my basement. I was looking for a place to share this one. I paint better than i play - so I paint guitar.
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