Weds report for 03/14/12

[RampageFan]

Hello everyone thanks for the responses yesterday. Hopefully I’m not boring you!

Lunch: Today’s lunch will be a fish sandwich with lite bun and fat free cheese, and of course an orange afterwards.

Non G&L: When I first discovered the guitar in 1982, all I cared about was Heavy Metal. Growing up during the hairband era, I was only interested in that kind of music. I was really narrow minded! My early influences were anybody with a flashy superstrat and a Floyd Rose with a Marshall cranked to 10. Luckily I grew out of it, and my musical tastes have changed a lot. I am no longer impressed by shredding. Now I prefer players who play for the song. I am now interested in bands like Blondie, Cheap Trick, Gin Blossoms and The Pretenders. I love that vintage tube amp tone. None of these bands have a guitar hero, but they have a solid sound and great rhythm playing. I never thought I would see the day where I am learning the styles of Chris Stein, Rick Neilson, and Brian Setzer instead of George Lynch! For me, learning these styles has been like learning to play all over again. What about you? Has your taste in music changed? Do you find yourself trying different sounds and new styles?

G&L topic of the Day: Ever since I’ve been playing, I’ve always preferred guitars with ebony fretboards, humbuckers and a tremolo with fine tuners and a locking nut. I have never owned a guitar with three single coils and a maple board. At one point I want to add either an ASAT Classic or a Legacy. I want single coils and the maple board. My question is this. I’ve never played a guitar with a tremolo without the fine tuners and a locking nut. How is the G&L Dual Fulcrum vibrato? Does it stay in tune well? What are your thoughts on it? I am interested in hearing from Asat and Legacy owners. What is it that makes these guitars special to you?

I look forward to hearing your opinions,
Dave

[louis cyfer]

the dfs trem is the best trem out there. i went through the heavy metal phrase with floyds and humbuckers and the rest. now i only play single coils, preferable 3, but 2 will do in an asat or tele. my favorite trem is the dfs, but i have 6 point and 2 point fenders and wilkinsons as well, they all perform great, i never have tuning porblems, and i realized the floyd and ibanez double locking tremolos just kill tone and sustain. i played steve vai's personal guitar, and they are pieces of crap. he needs a fernandez sustaniac pickup in there to get any sustain and the tone is dead. he uses so much processing to try to get some tone back, with little success.
as far as staying in tune without a locking nut, a locking tuner helps, but if you know how to properly put the string on the post, it works without it as well. a good nut is a must, i prefer a delron 500 cl nut material, much more slippery then the graphtech saddles, but very few people have heard of them. the graphtech works ok. i like the staggered tuners to eliminate a string tree. i would suggest the s500 over the legacy, the mfd pups are better, and comes with locking tuners. i much prefer the schaller locking tuners to the sperzels and i have both.

a good player is a good player, even if they are a shredder. george lynch is great, he can play slow as well. i like cheap trick a lot, but rick neilson is such a sloppy player i have a hard time listening to his live stuff. brian setzer is incredible and there is a shredder if i have ever seen one. my taste has changed though. now i like robben ford, matt schofield, larry carlton, i love albert collins, gary moore, coco montoya, and walter trout. but my first hero, blackmore is still high on the list. i play mostly blues now, but here is a video of me shredding a little. single coils, vintage trem a twin and a tube screamer. the youtube compression added some weird high pitch digital noise to the whole thing.

[youtube]Rcr2_mfgElc[/youtube] here is another vid playing the blues. [youtube]zfkt7rR3x5s[/youtube]

[Elwood]

Hello everyone thanks for the responses yesterday. Hopefully I’m not boring you!

Not at all, your enthusiasm comes through loud and clear : )

I am now interested in bands like Blondie, Cheap Trick, Gin Blossoms and The Pretenders. I love that vintage tube amp tone. None of these bands have a guitar hero, but they have a solid sound and great rhythm playing.

+1

When I saw the light and dumped disco for black sabbath ,beattles,king crimson, (and some good raw 30's-40's delta blues) I realized how much I had missed . For me the 80's were spent listening to pre-80's music .
Love this tune...and listen to that tape warble/oil can tones on the second solo (2:55) ( is that George ?)

[youtube]fevQPZDyxdk[/youtube]

Do you find yourself trying different sounds and new styles?

I love the subtle colors in jazz, I really need to learn, learn,learn.
this one is sort of bizarre but tasty...
[youtube]cZeyIbcsuPE[/youtube]

I’ve never played a guitar with a tremolo without the fine tuners and a locking nut. How is the G&L Dual Fulcrum vibrato?
Dave

I have never really used the locking mechanisms on my equipped G&Ls.
If I played them live I would probably start, but with a well lubed nut and proper slotting...
The DFV works really well. I want to try the DFS steel saddles.

Elwood

[glvourot]

No. not boring ! Lunch today will probably be a sandwich and some fruit ( exciting ! ).

I grew up listening to classic rock , Stones , Beatles, Kinks....the list goes on. Then I hit my early teens and it was all metal, yup I had tunnel vision there for a while. Its come full circle now, and I will always prefer classic rock / guitar based music. However, these days my music interests are very diverse. I really just appreciate good musicians. Live at Daryll's house is my favorite show these days. I listen to classical music fairly often as well, ( big Beethoven fan ).

My S-500 is my first and only Strat guitar. The trem works great and it has a such a solid feel to it. The MFD's really do have some muscle and you can get a lot of sound from them fiddling with the knobs. I have always really liked the look of a maple board but all my guitars except for one of my basses have rosewood boards. Ok , time to go to work.

[darwinohm]

Great week Dave, keep it coming!! Had half of a Reuben sandwich and it was great.

Love your topics. Many of us turn out to be a product of how we grew up. I grew up on classic rock and country and have never looked ahead. We still play it and the crowds love it. Most of my performer heroes are gone. Kind of dates me I would say. I never got into shredding and didn't even listen to it. There was a 20 year period where I was pretty much out of touch with music due to the demands of a job. I do not miss stress in fact retirement in my opinion is the best job I have ever had and I have been lucky to have jobs that I liked, just stressful. I hope you younger folks can retire before you get too old to enjoy it.

I have owned most of the trems out there and am a trem guy. I like vintage Fender, modern Fender , the DF is great and as many of you know, I am a Bigsby fan, especially when they are installed correctly which many are not. I have never had tuning issues with any of my guitars although I have worked on others that would not intonate well. I have worked on an American Fender a fellow band member owns that is difficult to keep in tune although the lower frets are terrible due to too many cowboy chords. I also prefer locking tuners especially for string changing. I do not have a preference for any pickups in particular and like all that I have but remember, I am primarily a bass player. Keep us honest!-- Darwin

[Ches]

Hello everyone thanks for the responses yesterday. Hopefully I’m not boring you!
Good topics. I'll have to check in more often.

Non G&L: When I first discovered the guitar in 1982, all I cared about was Heavy Metal. . . . I am no longer impressed by shredding. What about you? Has your taste in music changed? Do you find yourself trying different sounds and new styles?
I never got into shredding. To me, it's like listening to someone who talks too much. Just because their jaws are flapping doesn't mean they have much to say. I can appreciate the skill involved, but it rarely sounds musical to me.

I grew up with classic rock and have kind of stayed in that neighborhood. I do enjoy modern country (classic rock with a drawl) and certain types of jazz. The band is trying more stuff from the 2000's, but to me, it's still in the classic rock camp.

G&L topic of the Day: How is the G&L Dual Fulcrum vibrato? Does it stay in tune well? What are your thoughts on it?
I never had a single tuning issue with a DF vibrato. Of course, every one of them was blocked in one form or another! I typically blocked one side and cranked down the springs, basically turning them into a decked Fender style trem. That worked best for me as I rarely used the "talent lever" on my trem equipped guitars. I bought them because I preferred the body style more than the hardware.

[Kit]

I grew up listening to the radio with my older sisters to Elvis, The Pretender, Johnny Mathis, etc. until I got caught up in the British Invasion wave. My favorite kind of music has always been melodic, and I like clever key changes to make a piece of music sound interesting. This has held true to this day and I find plenty to like from music from the last 5 years as I've found from 60 years ago. I guess that's why I more or less skip over metal because it rarely struck me as particularly melodic.

Although I hardly ever use the whammy bar, I really like some of the old surf music and how Jeff Beck integrates the use of his whammy into his playing. I have never had a guitar with locking nut or fine tuners, but with how I use the whammy those features are not really necessary. Of the guitars I have with tremolo I've never had a problem with staying in tune with them. My SC-3 has the dual-fulcrum, the Godin has a Wilkinson trem, and I'm not sure what is on my Melancon. Like I said I rarely use the whammy, but here's our hobby band's practice version of "Killing Moon" that I do.

Kit

[gitman001]

Hey Dave,

What about you? Has your taste in music changed? Do you find yourself trying different sounds and new styles?

When i was younger i was totally a shredder! I think that is what ultimately took me down the G.I.T. path. It's funny, because going to school opened my eyes to music - i became more of a musician than guitar player. I think that is ultimately the natural progression for a guitar player anyway, i was lucky enough to learn it when i was 18. I love music, regardless of style.... i am always trying to adapt.

How is the G&L Dual Fulcrum vibrato? Does it stay in tune well? What are your thoughts on it? I am interested in hearing from Asat and Legacy owners. What is it that makes these guitars special to you?

I am a huge saddle lock fan, but i have both a legacy and s500 with the DF ( and something new showing up soon! stay tuned!) I have never had a tuning issue with them at all. If i had the choice i think i would always go with saddle lock - i don't even know if i know where the term arms for the DF's are!
Scott

[louis cyfer]

I never got into shredding. To me, it's like listening to someone who talks too much. Just because their jaws are flapping doesn't mean they have much to say. I can appreciate the skill involved, but it rarely sounds musical to me.

i agree with that, but just because someone speaks slowly doesn't mean they have much to say, and someone that speaks a lot and fast may have brilliant things to say. i think listening to what the merit is, regardless of the speed is what is important. speed is a skill that can be used effectively at times. having any skill added to a repertoire is a plus, anything that adds to the vocabulary of expression by the player is great in my opinion. look at johnny hilland for example, uses speed very musically. using speed for speed's sake is not musical, but people can play fast and very musically at the same time. there is skill in listening, for example vivaldi concertos, they can be very fast, and some listeners, can not separate the notes, it becomes a blur. kind of like a race car driver going a 120 mph is pretty slow to them, they can enjoy the scenery and relax, while someone who is not used to going fast, at the same speed everything is a blur, can't see a thing.

[RampageFan]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I appreciate your input on the bridges. I keep going back and forth on which model I want. I just know that I want something totally different from what I've played before. I am really interested in single coils and tube amps.

I should clarify my original post. When I was growing up, the only classic rock I knew were just the hits played on the radio. I was only interested in metal. In the last 10 years or so I got into classic rock. So that's all new to me! I have gotten into the tones of the 60's and 70's.

Louis: Wow! I didn't see that coming! You really have talent. I could never play that fast. As much as I try, I can't do it. I've tried for almost 20 years to learn sweep picking and there's just something I'm missing. I just don't sound right when I try it. My lead playing is more in the style of Ace Frehley, Angus Young. A lot of blues based leads. And you right about speed, my favorite player is Randy Rhoads. He was fast and melodic. He was really fluent in the way he played.

Thanks again everyone,
Dave