LR - Thursday April 5

[astutzmann]

Today's lunch was NOT a salad. More of a small antipasto plate. I love that.

I played my partscaster yesterday and it sure made me miss my G&Ls. Due to the high humidity here, it has started buzzing on the low e string. I'll let is sit for a few more days and if its still buzzing, I'll have to tweak it. I hate buzzing.

G&L Question

If I wanted to own every type of G&L tone, I would expect to try a number of guitars, but,

to complete a tonal set of G&Ls, how many do you need to have?

I'm going to guess (not counting bass', sorry), asat classic, bluesboy, deluxe, special, legacy, s-500, comanche (or Z-3?), legacy hb, invader.

Is that it, 9? Or am I missing something? If I'm right, I have to buy 6 more, lol.




Non G&L Question

How often do you do a setup on your guitars (either yourself or professionally). Is it whenever its needed or is it more of an annual kind of maintenance?

I found with mine, the humidity swings in the northeast are bad and I have basically been having them done once a year, in the fall time frame when the weather cools and the humidity goes down

[louis cyfer]

do you have a humidifier? a whole house evaporative humidifier?

[astutzmann]

I do, but it struggles to keep up.

in the winter, I keep a jug of water in the room with my guitars, but I really need to find a better solution.

[louis cyfer]

I do, but it struggles to keep up.

in the winter, I keep a jug of water in the room with my guitars, but I really need to find a better solution.

that is not a humidifier. i am talking about an actual one, that cover 5000+ sq feet. put out 14 gallons of water into the air a day. it is a machine. if one struggles to keep up, you put it in two.

[RickT]

The two defining G&L tones to me are the big MFD pickups in the ASAT and the '50s sounding alnico pickups in the George Fullerton Strat body. Those are the classic G&L tones. Some might argue that the small body SC guitars need to be in there as well.

RickT

[CGT]

I have more than enough on my plate exploring the tone of my ONE Legacy and that will take a lifetime of playing and tweaking to get everything out of it. That being said, I could definitely go for a Bluesboy or an ASAT Classic to have at my disposal all the tones I want.

I tend to set up my guitars every few years (I have the Gibson and the G&L done professionally) but I tinker with my Squiers to learn what I can about the process.

[darwinohm]

Good Day, Alf. Had a bowl of Chicken Noodle for lunch after a morning of mowing grass, a rarity this time of the year in Minnesota. Warmest winter on record!

I would use my Asat Special , either of my Z guitars, or the F-100 Return and it would cover anything that I could do. The Asat Specials are very versatile.

I check neck relief every time I have a gig. I like the relief at .005 in. The rest doesn't normally change but I do setups on each at least twice to three times per year. This year everything was more stable as a result of humidifying the room. I like to tinker with guitars so this suits me just fine. I use about 40 sets of strings per year and use 10-46 on all of them now. I also like hybrids (9 to 46) on some T types but not more than one or two. Good stuff so far Alf and the week is almost over!-- Darwin

[astutzmann]

thanks for all the answers

Darwin, maybe we'll talk strings tomorrow.

Louis, yes its a really house humidifier, but I have a ranch style bungalow, long and narrow (3300 sq feet on one level, plus a full basementl). You are right, I need another and that's why I'm thinking of just one for the music room.

[gitman001]

Hey Alf,

Don't forget the MFD buckers like in the f100 or 25th anniversary.... looks like your in for 7 more Then if you are really fussy with getting all the tonal possibilities don't forget the subtle difference the semi hollow body makes in a lot of those models. That should bring the total to around 13. Now that would be one mighty fine lefty collection!

I have been getting more comfortable with tweaking the truss rods lately, it always used to freak me out for some reason... my s-500 is getting dangerously close to needing a fret dress, that certainly is not something i will try myself!

Scott

[Boogie Bill]

We typically don't have the big humidity swings in in the Pacific Northwest that many other parts of the country have. And the guitars I'm not using are kept in their cases. I'm typically at 45 to 50% relativity year 'round in the house.

I usually do a setup when I acquire a guitar, but not much after that. I have made some changes over the years like lowering the actions, going from primarily a rhythm guitarist to now THE guitarist in my band. Of course I do inspect things when I'm changing strings, but otherwise I'm good.

The complete tonal set of G&L, hmm? Well, it basically comes down to dull, plain jane, slab of an ASAT body and single tone control, versus the curvy, sexy, sensous body of a Legacy body with the PTB controls. And the fact that the S-500 and Comanche have the sweet switch, giving seven pickup combinations--well, I prefer my girls to be flexible enough to enjoy multiple positions--if ya' know what I mean.

So for me, the Legacy, Legacy Special, S-500, and Comanche do the bulk of my work. I also have an ASAT Deluxe, but I usually select a Les Paul or 335 when I need 2HB tones. To me, the AD would cover the tones I'd expect from the Legacy HB and the Invader. I know the S-500 can do what the ASAT Classic can do, which is one of the reasons I sold my ACSH a few years ago.

I suppose the two I would "need/want" to fill it out my G&L tone set would be the ASAT Classic Bluesboy, and the ASAT Special, as these are pretty unique.

But I really like cuddling up with those hot Legacy bodies--those knob are FUN to play with!



Bill

[KenC]

to complete a tonal set of G&Ls, how many do you need to have?

Alf,

I can only address the older instruments, but of my ten G&L guitars the only overlaps in tone are the Nighthawk and Skyhawk (they're pretty close at least) and the two maple ASATs. Everything else is very distinct. The swamp ash Jorgensen Sig is different from the maple ASATs, even though they have the same pickups and circuit. The SC-2 sounds very different from the ASATs to me, even though they have the same pickups, circuit and body wood.

I do my own setups now. I don't follow a schedule, but if it feels like on is needed I make the adjustments.

Ken

[Lefty]

thanks for all the answers

Darwin, maybe we'll talk strings tomorrow.

Louis, yes its a really house humidifier, but I have a ranch style bungalow, long and narrow (3300 sq feet on one level, plus a full basementl). You are right, I need another and that's why I'm thinking of just one for the music room.

Sounds like a great house to live in, Alf!! I added a small humidifier to my guitar room just to keep the humidity up when the forced air furnace is running a lot. A $20 Walmart humidifier works for me during the dryer winter months. I like to keep the humidity at about 50%. You may need a De-humidifier at your place in Florida!

[louis cyfer]

thanks for all the answers

Darwin, maybe we'll talk strings tomorrow.

Louis, yes its a really house humidifier, but I have a ranch style bungalow, long and narrow (3300 sq feet on one level, plus a full basementl). You are right, I need another and that's why I'm thinking of just one for the music room.

Sounds like a great house to live in, Alf!! I added a small humidifier to my guitar room just to keep the humidity up when the forced air furnace is running a lot. A $20 Walmart humidifier works for me during the dryer winter months. I like to keep the humidity at about 50%. You may need a De-humidifier at your place in Florida!

is your humidifier evaporative? or the steam kind? some of the walmart ones are putting out steam. you can actually see the vapor coming out.

[astutzmann]

Evaporative, drip, no tray, drain. Goes on the furnace, they are about $300 here

[louis cyfer]

Evaporative, drip, no tray, drain. Goes on the furnace, they are about $300 here

i was asking lefty actually, sorry for the confusion. i like the ones that have the wick, like a hepa filter soaking up water, and a fan pushes the dry air through the filter that is wet, adding humidity. mine can put 14 gallons of water in the air in a day.

[astutzmann]

Hi Louis

most of our homes used to have the filter type, but are now moving to the drip/drain type. The only reason is that the filter in a pan version causes mold if its not taken care of.

Most people don't even know that they have a humidifier on their furnace so they never check it and after years and decades of use, they either go dry and don't work, or they start to mold.

[louis cyfer]

Hi Louis

most of our homes used to have the filter type, but are now moving to the drip/drain type. The only reason is that the filter in a pan version causes mold if its not taken care of.

Most people don't even know that they have a humidifier on their furnace so they never check it and after years and decades of use, they either go dry and don't work, or they start to mold.

yes. they need maintenance. mine is not part of the furnace, a separate stand alone unit. in the living room. i change the filters every 3 months. the system is automated as far as humidity, but i do have to add water and bacteriostat. i am hyper sensitive to mold, severely allergic to it, i can't afford to have any.

[Lefty]

thanks for all the answers

Darwin, maybe we'll talk strings tomorrow.

Louis, yes its a really house humidifier, but I have a ranch style bungalow, long and narrow (3300 sq feet on one level, plus a full basementl). You are right, I need another and that's why I'm thinking of just one for the music room.

Sounds like a great house to live in, Alf!! I added a small humidifier to my guitar room just to keep the humidity up when the forced air furnace is running a lot. A $20 Walmart humidifier works for me during the dryer winter months. I like to keep the humidity at about 50%. You may need a De-humidifier at your place in Florida!

is your humidifier evaporative? or the steam kind? some of the walmart ones are putting out steam. you can actually see the vapor coming out.

Louis, mine is evaporative. It only puts out about .8 gal/day max. but that seems to be enough to keep humidity in the room at about 50%. Of course, I live in the Bay area, so it's not overly dry here except when the furnace runs for extended periods. I only use it if the humidity drops belpow 45% in the room. It's manual, so you have to turn it on/off as needed. Like all, it requires maintenance and filter changes.

[louis cyfer]

thanks for all the answers

Darwin, maybe we'll talk strings tomorrow.

Louis, yes its a really house humidifier, but I have a ranch style bungalow, long and narrow (3300 sq feet on one level, plus a full basementl). You are right, I need another and that's why I'm thinking of just one for the music room.

Sounds like a great house to live in, Alf!! I added a small humidifier to my guitar room just to keep the humidity up when the forced air furnace is running a lot. A $20 Walmart humidifier works for me during the dryer winter months. I like to keep the humidity at about 50%. You may need a De-humidifier at your place in Florida!

is your humidifier evaporative? or the steam kind? some of the walmart ones are putting out steam. you can actually see the vapor coming out.

Louis, mine is evaporative. It only puts out about .8 gal/day max. but that seems to be enough to keep humidity in the room at about 50%. Of course, I live in the Bay area, so it's not overly dry here except when the furnace runs for extended periods. I only use it if the humidity drops belpow 45% in the room. It's manual, so you have to turn it on/off as needed. Like all, it requires maintenance and filter changes.

that's good. i am sure over there that is enough to get the job done. the ones that put the steam out are not good for guitars.