Wednesday Lunch Report

[sirmyghin]

Hey Everyone,

Today's lunch is going to be some pasta, what I put on it is still in the speculation stage. Maybe just some salad dressing or something. Just need to fill my gut.

Today I am going to talk necks

My experience with the G&L neck has been quite good. I am always a bit amazed however, and how sensitive your fingers are to small distances. 5/100ths of an inch is about the difference in thickness between my Carvin neck and my G&L neck. Both have the same nut width, and both have 6100 size frets. The G&L feels bigger, chunkier, but still very comfortable. The Carvin profile is a 'flat C' where the G&L sort of has the full C curvature (I am hesitant to use D on the carvin, as it has no shoulders, wider area without as great curvature centrally however).
The other thing I noticed is to me, neck carve is a moot point. I play thumb on back of neck, only the are under the nail is ever touching the thing. So as long as there is no big shoulder or something in my way (as if anyone would make a square neck) I can play it easily. So the G&L is comfy, and fast. Love the satin finish they use too, I don't stick to it so it is a win. Carvin uses finishes that are too thick for my liking, not to mention sticky (I had a gloss that I bumped down to sating and still stick, their gloss and satin are the same).
I like that G&L offers many different neck options. You cannot sell multiple lines of guitars all with the same neck profile (hint hint carvin if you read this...). Sometimes different things just need different shapes. I can do some things with greater ease on the ASAT than I can the contour. (So i guess carve is not completely irrelevant, but minimal). What are you takes on neck carves, and G&Ls repertoire of them?

I am a gym goer. I train for strength, and not size. So lots of low rep, heavy training. I go at 7 am to get it out of the way, and start my day doing something worth while. I love to do things like Deadlifts, squats and clean and press. I do not bother with isolation exercises, as they are good for building but not terribly useful for overall strength. Not to mention without the increased body shock by random stimuli, not very good for triggering growth overall. I do not use machines as they deprive supporting muscles, this is again not good for stimuli. The more muscles you can involve in a lift the more you body is likely to trigger growth due to shock and stimulus overload. Hormone production is key, this is why the very large compound lifts are great for size or strength. Do you lift?


As far as music goes, today is wednesday, the grueling half way point. What better way to get through that half way point than with some heavy metal. I love the abandon players can use when going over the stuff. The shredded guitars, complete carthartic release involved in the solos, the ballsy in your face riffs. Gets the heart pounding and keeps you going. A day is not complete without some metal for me, although typically I don't play much of it on guitar. I find it more entertaining to listen to than to play (solos aside). Often in more recent metal I find that verses/standard riffs to be dull, repetitive, boring. So I do not play them, Crazy train has that effect on me too even (just to give an example). I can barely make it through the song as I just get tired of doing the same thing over and over. A lot of this is the same reason you never heard me strum through a song, I just cannot do it, I get bored. I guess the guitarist side of me is leads or bust. Any other Metaleers out there?

[darwinohm]

Kyle, I finally have some time this week to jump in. I just had some Potato Salad for lunch with some cold pork roast from last night.

Necks, one of my favorite subjects. I know many who post that are very tuned in to what neck they like. I am quite the other way in that I have not found a neck that I don't like. They all work for me and all of mine are 25-25.5 scale except for one guitar and I just happened to play it early this morning. I had not played my Les Paul for a long time and tried it this morning. I generally play in a dark room this time of the year as it helps with my accuracy on the neck. I move up and down the neck a lot and I did notice the difference in scale. It is not an issue when I see the dots but in the dark, it is noticeable. The necks on my guitars range from a larger neck on the Ovation VXT to the thin c shape on my MM John Petrucci. The others are in between. The Parker is special and has a feel of its own. I have vintage 7.5 , Fender 9.5 and G&Ll 12s and others. They all work for me. What I will say is that the finish does make a difference to me. Gloss, satin, and tung are fine although tung can get sticky. Nitro tends to be sticky unless it is waxed just before playing. No one will ever convince me that nitro is of any benefit on a solid body guitar. Poly is durable and will last forever. Many new Gibsons that I see have rough paint work from the factory. I talked to a Gibson Rep at the GC about a year ago and mentioned that there paint work and workmanship in general was lacking. I pointed out examples on guitars and he shrugged his shoulders and talked about labor costs. Gibson still uses nitro and it shows. We all have are preferences.

I am not into metal, and probably will never be. I like some shredders style but most of it gets boring quickly. I listened to a band this summer that had a great lead player and the lady singer had a good voice. They lead player played everything distorted and the lady sounded the same on every song. After a half hour we left as it got old. I am personally stuck in the 60's , most of our crowds love it and I can't seem to get tired of it. We have a gig this weekend and it will be four of us. This will be a back to the basics in old rock and roll. I am really looking forward to this as this is about as good as it gets for me. We normally have a six member group. You get four guys cooking and it rocks. Boy, I am in a rut.

Keep it coming Kyle, that ASAT probably plays as good as it looks!

[ChrisPcritter]

Pasta sounds good...

The neck on a guitar is the most important part followed closely by action and how high the strings are off the body (no ric's in my herd). I like all kinds of music (except rap) from old folk to metal, Michael Jackson to Michael Schenker.

While I enjoy playing any guitar for a short time I prefer to practice with the guitar that fits my left hand the best which means thin neck like my old S500 purple sparkle..
Keep Rockin...

[zombywoof]

I am with the above poster - neck profile and nut width are probably the most important aspects of a guitar (next to sound) for me. The bigger and wider the better.

Work out at the gym ? Nah. I am just a lazy slob. I do have one of those Health Riders though. Got it at a garage sale for $5. I do use it when the thought occurs to me but I find myself wishing it had a cup holder for a beer and place to put an ash tray for a cigar.

Guitar stuff - My favorite description of metal remains: recycled Hendrix riffs played twice as fast and half as well. I am not impressed by shredding, blowing your brains out on a hot solo, or other guitar pyrotechnics. What grabs me and shakes me up is how Albert King could write a whole volume with just four notes and suck the air out of a room with one bend or the way Bukka White would cross his hands and play both over the body and the neck of the guitar. Little music in a big way.

[bassman]

Necks are a primary element of a good playing experience. You have the feel of the neck, the weight of the instrument, the balance as you wear the instrument and the sound of the pickups and controls coming through the wood of the body and neck.

My biggest complaint with G&L bi-cut necks is bad truss rods. I know its not supposed to happen, but I have at least three G&L instruments with truss rods that I consider either broken or compromised in their function. When the rod doesn't work the setup either suffers or the instrument is unplayable.

I have a G&L Tribute bass that has a flawless truss rod and a very nicely adjusted neck as result. Hooray for Tributes, because if it wasn't for them, G&L may still be using the old design.

I am all for the new design in necks for G&L. I'm sorry but I have been burned by bi-cuts one time too many.
I do like the three bolt neck attachment though but I don't think we will see it used again.

Music- Kyle you confuse me a bit. You say you like rock but you bore easily when the songs repeat sections. Rock is based on repetition.

If you are playing lead guitar all of the time you will bore your band mates. You may want to learn and develop some good rhythm chops to keep the groove happening when you are not soloing. I recommend this for all guitarists because lead guitarists are a dime a dozen whereas good rhythm players are very rare.

[darwinohm]

Bassman says:

If you are playing lead guitar all of the time you will bore your band mates. You may want to learn and develop some good rhythm chops to keep the groove happening when you are not soloing. I recommend this for all guitarists because lead guitarists are a dime a dozen whereas good rhythm players are very rare.

Bassman speaketh with great wisdom on this.-- Darwin

[sirmyghin]

Bassman, you misunderstand, I get bored playing the rhythm parts FOR METAL, with very few exceptions. Iron maiden being one of them as it is kind of fun to 'gallop' (eighth double sixteenth). It is the straight 16th rhythms followed by sustained power chord choruses of most metal that brings me near to tears if I have to play it. I need intricacy and nuance, especially in the rhythm. Rock usually has a bit more syncopation and variation, and can be much more entertaining. My rhythm chops are also up to snuff, no need to worry there, but when I do step out in a band I play bass. I am more than capable of grooving on that too. I play guitar for my own enjoyment and recordings only, and although I do enjoy I do not see myself playing it out. Times may however change. I do not deprive one side to fuel the other.

A good lead guitarist is just as rare as a good rhythm guitarist I will argue. There is a difference between people who can wank well and those who can play well. It would be like comparing Guthrie Govan, to Kirk Hammett (boo metallica). And for those who do not know who Govan is... enjoy.

[youtube]-yPEewaalik[/youtube]

Zomby - As far as Albert King et all, and minimalist playing, sure it is alright, but I really don't see the point. There are good examples of musical playing from every style, but typically I would not take such limitations lightly, there is as much rehashed 12 bar blues nonsense out there as there is generic metal. As far as recycled hendrix, maybe in the Sabbath side of things, not so much from the melodic/power metal side. A heck of a lot more classical music influence than anything there. Then again I assure you what I am listening to you have not even heard of. You would not find it in America, I am not talking about 80's hair metal, that stuff is absolute garbage.