guitar discussion

[mrquincy]

If you don't have one, buy yourself a string winder.... it makes the job a lot easier than trying to turn the pegs with your fingers.. They are only a couple bucks and makes the task a lot simpler.

 

[Mudcat]

Yeah mon. I have had a 12 string guitar which I have been changing strings on for almost 40 years.

Gots me a string winder.

 

[Matty]

Then I'm curious as to why you would hesitate about changing your own strings on a Strat. Clearly you're not a rock star like Daffay who won't risk chipping a fingernail.

 

[Mudcat]

Sometimes when one hasn't done something before, if one is wise, one asks questions. One can go straight to google - I came here.

The Strat has a different mechanism than the pegs on an acoustic and it is not immediately obvious what is going on. There are tiny parts with screws and springs that look, if you haven't dealt with them before, like they could be delicate and complicated.

I do many stupid things as I go about my day but asking that question was not one of them.

 

[Matty]

Aight, was really just curious.

 

[senco78]

Sometimes when one hasn't done something before, if one is wise, one asks questions. One can go straight to google - I came here.

The Strat has a different mechanism than the pegs on an acoustic and it is not immediately obvious what is going on. There are tiny parts with screws and springs that look, if you haven't dealt with them before, like they could be delicate and complicated.

I do many stupid things as I go about my day but asking that question was not one of them.

makes a good excuse to turn and fiddle w/ those parts to see what happens

 

[Mudcat]

I myself did not do any of that. I did not touch that stuff - I did not look at it sideways. I had visions of stuff being unleashed and flying all over like the old snake-in-the-can gag

 

[Mudcat]

The next question is tuning devices. I have this tuner - I would not even care to guess how old it is - 20+ years?

It has always done the job but I just find it unsettling how it works with the electric.

What you got is lights for all the notes of a scale and a green light in the middle for "in tune" and then red lights on either side for flat/sharp and they blink faster the more out you are.


FWIW here's a pic of one:

Okay fine. With the acoustic, you just fiddle with the peg until you get the green light indicating "in tune" and it stays green and there is no doubt.

With the electric it never stays green. You can get it so it's green when you first strike the string but it will always slide flat momentarily. So you can try to inch sharper ever so slightly - but then it will start out showing sharp and then slide to "in tune"

It never just shows in tune and stays there. Never.

I have been working under the assumption that the most important thing is what it shows immediately after you strike the string - and my results are fine - but it is off-putting.

 

[Mudcat]

And the tuner built into my recording software is even more skittish and indefinite.

If they can put a man on the moon and make a cubic watermelon, they should be able to make a tuner that sets me completely at ease.

 

[Matty]

I don't use tuners. Electrics are trickier to keep in tune. The 2nd and 3rd strings are always a bit off, you need to retune depending on the key your song is in. Tuning it perfectly as per your tuner isn't gonna be satisfactory.

That is, unless your guitar was built as per Buzz Feiten's system. I dunno that this thing ever took off outside of some niche guitar builders.

 

[Tron]

Then I'm curious as to why you would hesitate about changing your own strings on a Strat. Clearly you're not a rock star like Daffay who won't risk chipping a fingernail.

Calm strike rating please, Matty

 

[mrquincy]

@ Mudcat; Don't use a pick to strike the string when tuning, use your finger. Also do not pick the string too hard either as the note will be flat until the string slows down a bit.
Also, have you had the Strat's intonation set-up? if not, the guitar won't be in tune over the whole neck.

 

[Mudcat]

That sounds backwards to my experience. You make it sound like the note will start flat and then level up, whereas what always always happens is it slides downward and flatter with time after the string is stuck.

Basically what I do is simulate how I am going to be playing. I guess if I was going to fingerpick or play softly, I would tune that way. But 99+% of the time I play with a pick so I strike the string with a pick - average hard - and look at where the tuning is immediately. In other words

in-tune--->flat

is better than

sharp---> in-tune



The logic makes sense to me and whatever, it works.

 

[Matty]

Muddy, your logic is only good if all you intend to do with your guitar is play open strings.

If you tune using a pick, pluck very close to the bridge to minimize pitch fluctuations.

Also, what MrQ said about intonation. You can do it yourself, but it's best left to a shop that uses a fancy strobe tuner and an experienced dude.

 

[Mudcat]

It's all academic anyway. What I do works. Just ranting as I am always looking for an excuse to use my smiley

 

[Matty]

From experience, everyone likes their electric guitar tuned a certain way, based on the way their hand clamps down the neck and the way they strum.

If I pick up Joe Rain's guitar right after he deems it perfectly in tune, I find that the top 2 strings are sharp.

Shit is relative, and very fickle.

 

[mrquincy]

The way that I understand intonation is that you have to tune the neck from the tuning pegs to the 12th fret and from the 12th fret to the bridge. If you note the 12th fret on any of the strings, in theory it should be one octave higher than the corresponding open string.... First tune up your guitar to where u think is good....then....

This is where the fine tuning comes in...Hold your finger on the 12th fret, hit the string and see where it's at. If the note is sharp, you need to tighten the corresponding bridge screw ie: make the string longer and it will go flat and vice versa. Try noting your guitar and see how badly the intonation is out. Bear in mind, only press down the 12th fret as hard as you normally would because string tension will become an issue if the action or the frets are too high.

You may know all of this already but I thought I would run through it a bit as it took me awhile to figure it out for myself.

 

[reno cool]

A bunch of foking perfections all of ya. I'll play with a missing string for all I care