John Mayer Tearin' it up playing Voodoo Child...Man's got chops

LovinItsWhatIGot · 16 days

I agree, although I liked the juxtaposition of the walking bass line from Hey Joe underneath the chorus. I may have to add that to my rendition of this tune, now.

LovinItsWhatIGot · 16 days

As others have said, proper setup is key. I set my bridge for no float...meaning it sits flat against the body at rest. This gives the bridge a definite "return" point after trem abuse, with the caveat that you can't pull up on the bar. I've also had good results using a Graph Tech nut & locking tuners...the guitar hardly ever goes out of tune.

stratman14 · 21 days

Rule for life: Put decals on straight or don't put them on at all.

sunriseprojector · 25 days

Get in with the sales staff at your local music shops & make sure they always have a stack of your business cards. This takes time, but if they get to know/trust you, they will be your best source of referrals (customers regularly ask them for teacher recommendations). I was able to maintain 20-30 students per week during my teaching days this way.

Note: this method won't be effective if the shop has its own lesson studio, since potential students will be directed there.

Charizarlslie · 26 days

This is outstanding. Absolutely outstanding! Beautiful work & thank you for sharing.

Now for a bit of opinion for your next build, to give it mass appeal (so please only take this as opinion, you do amazing work): make just the upper bass bout smaller, by maybe 1/4" or 1/2" around the edge. Unless you need the mass there for balance, it just looks slightly off-kilter without the rest of the body being as far offset (like a less-exaggerated opposite of a Fender Jag-Stang body, where the lower treble bout is huge). Also, the bevel on the backside could stand to be less extreme. It's there to conform to your body, and from the pics it looks like it might only fit either a very skinny person or someone with massive moobs/boobs. All the other proportions are spot-on, so keep 'em! Then, instead of doing a "swimming pool" route for the pickups, only route for each individual pickup.

You have a long, awesome career as a luthier ahead of you, regardless of what you think of my opinionated ramblings. Great job!

*edit to correct late-night grammar

LeMusaraigne · 26 days

He was an extra in this scene: http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dazed-and-confused-1993-jason-london-michelle-burke-wiley-wiggins-christin-hinojosa-pic-1.jpg

jokes_on_you · 27 days

Word. Link to the Whitney version for those not famililar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jeUINzHK9o ...performed in my home town with the Florida orchestra {tear}

donniemills · 29 days

Sounds like you've got it figured out. An old rule of thumb is to put the bass player by the drummer on the hi-hat side, so they can hear each other well and visually communicate easily. Of course, it's only a suggestion and set-up should be done as best fits the space & musicians in it.

WholeWheelofCheese · 29 days

Yes, the vibrations transfer from the bridge & nut into the guitar's body/neck. A good electric guitar has a body that resonates with the strings in a pleasing way. Bad guitars have spots that are either "dead" or "spike" that usually manifest themselves though the amp as bad sounding notes/ranges of notes/chords. After all, the strings don't exist in a vacuum, and their vibrations are affected by the wood, the bridge, the nut, etc.

WholeWheelofCheese · 29 days

I'm going to copy/pasta two of my previous comments on wood/resonance from a similar thread into one comment here:

With electric guitars, you can easily tell if the body has a shot at resonating properly without even pulling it off the wall: While it's still on the hanger, grab the lower bout with one hand (by the volume/tone controls/output jack) and pluck the B string with your other hand. Feel vibration? If yes, it is worth playing to see if you like the sound. If no, that particular guitar would probably prefer be a counter top or skateboard or some such and shouldn't be bothered with.

I'm an advocate of giving electric guitars a full "acoustic check-up" before even plugging them in. After all, a nice sounding instrument gives you a starting point that will only be improved by good pickups/effects/amplification. Examples:

1) Strum a first-position chord, and while letting it ring, reach over with your picking hand and grab the end of the headstock. There should be a noticeable amount of vibration there (slightly less on semi-hollow & set-neck guitars, but still noticeable).

2) Put your ear against the upper horn/bout of the body as you play. Sounds that are choked, harsh, boomy, or spikey are a bad sign. Nice, round, even, woody, deep tones are a good sign. Also, pick a note and hold it. Listen to how it sustains/decays. Different woods allow notes to sustain/decay differently, and some will be more pleasing to your ear than others.

I have a ton more guitar buying-related knowledge kicking around in my head, so feel free to ask questions about other aspects of finding the right ax.

miguelflores0928 · 1 month

Those are called pole pieces (in this case, "adjustable pole pieces"). You can balance/adjust the individual string output (volume) with them. For example, if one string is noticeably louder than the others, you could lower that string's pole piece slightly to reign it in.

You can also alter the sound of the pickup somewhat by raising or lowering all of the pole pieces. You can learn more general information about how pickups work here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pick_up_%28music_technology%29 and humbuckers here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humbucker

I leave the adjustable pole pieces flat on my humbuckers, but I do like the sound of staggered pole pieces on a Strat (example, with plastic cover removed: http://www.swingguitars.com/img/product/pickup/product/pickup_bbp02.jpg).

Just make sure that your pole pieces aren't so close to the strings that the magnetic field impedes their vibration. This is a bigger issue with single coils than humbuckers, but still worth paying attention to.

Ultimately, it's all about personal taste. But often, "less is more" when it comes to these types of adjustments.

As always, The Google will be happy to provide you with information if you ask it about humbucker pole piece adjustments.

*edit: spelling

Cybraxia · 1 month

You speak the truth. I used to gig & teach with a Steinberger that had passive EMG pickups, and they sounded great. I usually don't even like EMGs, but it's all about the end result.

Attuma · 1 month

Right on. I'm an advocate of giving electric guitars a full "acoustic check-up" before even plugging them in. After all, a nice sounding instrument gives you a starting point that will only be improved by good pickups/effects/amplification. Examples:

1) Strum a first-position chord, and while letting it ring, reach over with your picking hand and grab the end of the headstock. There should be a noticeable amount of vibration there (slightly less on semi-hollow & set-neck guitars, but still noticeable).

2) Put your ear against the upper horn/bout of the body as you play. Sounds that are choked, harsh, boomy, or spikey are a bad sign. Nice, round, even, woody, deep tones are a good sign. Also, pick a note and hold it. Listen to how it sustains/decays. Different woods allow notes to sustain/decay differently, and some will be more pleasing to your ear than others.

Attuma · 1 month

This particular test was devised by Cary Verheyen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Verheyen), but my opinion on using the B string is that it has the best frequency for this purpose. As in, the low E string may pass noticeable vibrations through even "dead" woods, and the high E may not pass enough vibrations to be easily perceptible. Not highly scientific, but it is a good way to quickly determine if an electric is worth trying out.

Here's a picture to better illustrate the hand position I was talking about: http://imgur.com/gRHpn

Attuma · 1 month

Yes. Also, with electric guitars, you can easily tell if the body has a shot at resonating properly without even pulling it off the wall: While it's still on the hanger, grab the lower bout with one hand (by the volume/tone controls/output jack) and pluck the B string with your other hand. Feel vibration? If yes, it is worth playing to see if you like the sound. If no, that particular guitar would probably prefer be a counter top or skateboard or some such and shouldn't be bothered with.

davidthefrotz · 1 month

Could also be clamping too hard at the bridge. Those clamps should be tight, but wrenching them too hard turns them into string cutters pretty quick.

1Bam18 · 1 month

Thanks, you're right. He uses more of a modified clawhammer for leads & pick for rhythm. Updated my post for accuracy's sake.

NancyGracesPORNdungn · 1 month

Thanks! I kinda guessed on those descending chords. The guitar playing isn't clear, so I just went with what was implied by the vocal harmony & bass line...but that's why I say alternate voicings & substitutions are fair game!

I'd love to see more fun little transcriptions in this subreddit...songs like this come to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6MsGsNkFqI

1Bam18 · 1 month

Just a heads up, there are some guitarists that use "hybrid picking" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hybrid_picking_guitarists) which is a combination of pick and fingers. There is no accurate answer for them in your survey.

NancyGracesPORNdungn · 1 month

Starts in the key of G. First three notes are D (5th fret A string) F (3rd fret D string) G (5th fret D string).

Chords:

G (I'm goin...) C (sun always...) G (shines...) D7 (need to ease my mind)

Descending chords (been plantin' them apple seeds...): G E# (E# is an F, they are enharmonic tones) C/E D#add6

End of phrase:

G (I'm gonna go out) C/E (jackin it in) D7 (STOP...San Diego).

The "jackin it jackin it jackity jack" is over a G chord, then the second verse is the same chord progression as the first.

There is a modulation to G# at about 52 seconds.

The progression in G# is this:

G# C# G# D#7

Descending chords: G# F# C#/E# Eadd6

G# C#/E# D#7 (STOP...San Diego!)

Last verse modulates to A and stays there. So, the chord progression in A is this:

A (The cars...) D (honk and say hello...) A (from his window...) E7 (guy shootin video)

Descending chords (if the good lord jesus...): A G D/F# E#add6

End of phrase:

A (tell him that I'm) D/F# (jackin it in) E7 (STOP...San Diego).

That's a rough, rough outline. Chord shapes/voicings can be Googled & played around with/substituted. Enjoy!

lazy-protip: Learn the progression in G with barre chords, then move everything up one fret for G#, and up another fret for A.

pro-protip: learn it in all three keys using different voicings for maximum musical learning.

Fenderr0xx · 1 month

Hey, no problem...I'll try to clarify a bit.

The term "float" refers to how high off the body the bridge rests at its equilibrium (i.e. normal) position. So, float is what allows you to "pull up" (raise pitch) with the vibrato (whammy) bar. If your bridge has no float, you can only "push down" (lower pitch), because the bridge is already sitting flat against the body at equilibrium. The more float you have, the more you can raise the pitch.

Picture examples: Using a Fender bridge, but the concept still applies to a Floyd

No float (can only lower pitch):

http://i.imgur.com/lv3IU.jpg

Float (can raise or lower pitch):

http://i.imgur.com/fgmjv.jpg

So, as you can see in the first picture, the bridge already rests flat against the body so there is no way to raise the pitch. I like this set-up because you can break a string and not go out of tune due to losing your equilibrium, because the guitar's body provides a definite stopping point for the bridge. It also makes double-stop licks & bends a little easier to execute cleanly, because the bridge doesn't "give" as much due to extra tension when a string is bent.

In the second picture, the bridge rests slightly away from the body, allowing approximately a 1/4 step of pitch raising. Some players like this because they feel it provides a more natural vibrato effect, with the ability to both raise and lower the pitch. This is how most non-hardtail Fender/Fender copies roll out of the factories. But, a broken string means bye-bye tuning, because the position of the bridge is maintained by the equilibrium between the strings' tension and the trem springs' tension. Upset that balance, and the bridge will move and put all the remaining strings out of tune.

So, applying these concepts to a Floyd:

A Floyd Rose is a much larger bridge than the Fender "Synchronized Tremolo" pictured above, mainly due to all the machinery involved with the fine tuners/locking mechanism. Also, due to the locking mechanism, you can achieve much more radical changes in pitch without going out of tune. So, to accommodate the larger hardware and the wider range of motion, a lot of manufacturers do this:

http://i.imgur.com/hQt3k.jpg

Note that maybe an inch or so of wood has been routed (removed) under the Floyd in this picture to allow for pulling up on the bar. Without the routing, the Floyd would simply hit the body of the guitar, and not be able to raise the pitch as much.

So, on your guitar (and on EVH's actual Frankenstrat), there is no routing under the Floyd to allow you to raise the pitch significantly (you may have a slight float in your setup, but again, without the routing the bridge will only move so far).

TL;DR: I was just asking how you liked it with that bridge set-up. Also, +1 for authenticity!

Fenderr0xx · 1 month

Pretty cool. What do you think of having a definite stop point (the body) with the Floyd? That's how I like my "synchronized" type bridges, but I have only played on floyds that had the usual body routing (i.e. floating).

i_always_forget_my_p · 1 month

Here's a simple procedure for getting a decent "starting point" tone out of an amp. It's good to have a method, since just about every room sounds different, even when using the same gear.

1) Start with all your tone knobs at 0.

2) Strum the open strings and bring the bass up until you hear it just start to "take over" ...you'll know when it happens. Stop there and back off just a little bit.

3) Keep strumming and repeat the procedure with the mids.

4) Same for treble.

You now have a decent starting point. This is in no way intended to give you a "perfect" sound, and you will need to tweak the settings to taste. But, it will get you in the ball park. It also helps if you are using an unfamiliar amp and need to quickly get a decent sound out of it. Note: this all goes out the window if you are a metal/crunch-crunch guy, but it does apply for most other styles of music.

Edit: I agree with benanabock777 about backing off the gain. If you pay attention to most recordings, you'll find you don't need nearly as much distortion as you initially think.

evilmercer · 1 month

Somebody pushed the button as he was replying

Schnitzelnator · 1 month

I have always thought of ISPConfig as a great learning tool for beginners, with the caveat that if a person can't install/configure/secure/maintain the services that ISPConfig provides, they probably shouldn't be running a hosting service.

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