LR for July 27th - Soon

[sirmyghin]

It is me stumbling to my first meal again, a granola bar and a large tree ripe nectarine. On Wednesdays I get together with a dude and jam usually, this one will be no exception. He is a drummer but plays guitar and bass also so we usually have a good time. It is great practice.

G&L Question of the Day : Truss Rods

Staying on G&L and their innovative nature, I go to the truss rod. Is theirs effective, yes, but it is pretty standard far. I hate fighting the strings at the headstock to adjust the freaking rod. The angles are wrong, and without a ball end allen key it can be a battle. G&Ls rod is the smoothest turning I have in my collection, but one of the harder ones on the headstock to get at. Music Man has the truss rod at the neck heel, vintage style with a wheel that allows you to turn it with everything intact. I like this a bit more, it is easier to get at. Warmoth, I think, has a truss rod you can adjust from a nut on the side of the neck near the heel, absolutely nothing in your way. This one is really good. I think that some of these ideas need to be carried through by other companies, the whole truss rod on the headstock adjustment is a tad... dated. There are better ways we can do this. What do you think?


Non G&L topics

On a lighter note today, my wife and I play a fair bit of board games and such. We are running out of players in the area over time, but used to hold game nights much more frequently. We typically play Settlers of Catan, or Carcassone, or some combination of the above and it is a great time. I am not a fan of risk, however, I find Catan much more enjoyable. It is a much less overt game. I really enjoy scrabble but my scrabble partner is rather MIA for the last year so I haven't gotten much of that in. What board games do you play, if any?

[darwinohm]

Sirmy, Wednesday is a great day in my retirement gig. This is when I start to transform into weekend mode. This is not always easy!

Truss rods are an interesting animal. I have many that adjust easily and others that are stubborn. A couple of my G&Ls also fit into that latter category. I happen to like the Music Man truss rod for adjustment. I think that overall it is a less problematic system. I think that the Fender double truss is a waste of effort as back bow is rarely the issue.

Not much of a game player, too much of a tinkerer. I have trouble keeping up with my mind. Am I approaching that time in life when my mind will fail to keep up????????-- Darwin

[Boogie Bill]

Truss rods--well, they work or they don't. Lots of different ways to do it, but as long as it works, I don't care how it get's done. I did have one Gibson that had a slight backbow (even with the rod fully released) with 10-46 strings, making it not as fun to play. I don't find the G&Ls' adjustment at the headstock that difficult--it was certainly an improvement over the vintage Fender neck that had to be removed to be adjusted.

I love board games. Settlers of Cataan is one of my favorites. My friends stopped playing Trivial Pursuit with me years ago--I got a better education than they did. LOL! But Scrabble, Clue, Monopoly, Risk, backgammon--hey, if there's a game--I'm ready to play!

Bill

[stagecoach]

Truss Rod - I have tried setting guitars up but can never get it to how I like, so I have a great luthier that does the work. So I don't have any opinion.

Board Games - my favorite one is called "Squatter" (squatter referred to those who occupied large tracts of Crown land in order to graze livestock). Always liked this because you more play against yourself and the elements, rather than the other players



http://squatter.com.au/

[zapcosongs]

Truss rods: Never gave them much thought. Of the ten or so guitars I have, I have only had to make adjustments on two of them. They worked as designed - an easy tweak. (btw, neither of the guitars requiring such adjustment were G&L).

Regarding games: When I was a kid, I really enjoyed Battleship and Stratego. My favorites now are Pente and Blokus. Both are easy to learn, but difficult to master. I like that. - ed

[sirmyghin]

Stage - Looks like an interesting game, never heard of it, not living upside down however.

Bill - Settlers is indeed great, I am quite fond of the Knights and Cities expansion, it can make for a lot of trickery.

Ed- never played pente, but I have Blokus Trigon, played the squares version too, it is an interesting game for sure.

Truss rods are indeed better than the vintage at the heel, but with the amount of adjustments I need to make due to weather and such (and pickiness, a picky, specific player will likely notice this on a much greater level). The worst is my 5 string bass, the A string runs dead center over the channel.

[gitman001]

Hey Kyle,

Great stuff so far this week, too bad i have not been around to jump in! Truss Rods - For me, until a few years ago, they used to scare the crap out of me.... i was always to nervous to do my own adjustments, after a little practice and understanding i feel comfortable with it now. All of my G&L rods are smooth as butter as well, so i guess if it ain't broke they won't fix it (dated and all!).

My wife and i love a good Blokus Duo battle. We have spent many hours trying to outwit each other with that game, one of our faves. I almost have the complete Gigamic collection of games. Katamino is my favorite single player game (it puts solitaire to shame ) and there is just something about a great looking game made out of wood.

Scott

[sirmyghin]

Gitman- I grew up in a town where a guitar tech didn't exist, then again a music store. So, also being part of the internet age I did a bit of reading and voila, I have been adjusting truss rods since I was 15 years old. I don't understand why so many players are afraid of them, or won't do their own setups. I would like the find the idiot who somehow started all this fear of adjusting your instrument (which is a tool, and nothing else), and kick em square in the crotch. I mean setting up a guitar is dead simple, even with a evil nefarious floyd rose on it. You just need to be patient.

Never heard of Gigamic games, I'll have to check them out.