Wednesday Lunch Report: 12 June 2013

[Greenblues]

Here's a view from my workplace in Chiba, Japan. You can see the fringes of Tokyo on the horizon, 40 minutes away on the expressway running parallel to the edge of the glass. In the foreground, is a lunch box prepared by my wife consisting of rice, ground chicken/pork, fried egg, steamed asparagus, pickles, carrot & burdock root salad, and a green-tea brick pack. It's all about the same size as the Costco hotdog I ate yesterday and about as filling.



Unfortunately there's a typhoon headed our way, so it's a bit overcast. It could mean I'll be waiting a while at Narita airport for the customers I have to pickup today, but I have plenty to read while I'm waiting. It will also give me plenty of time to think about whether or not to sell the Little Lanilei amp. I had intended to get rid of it along with the VT20, but needed to test it first. So I went into a nearby rehearsal studio for an hour (at $5/hr.), and made some noise. Eventually, I started enjoying myself with the test rig below.



I also tested a new true-bypass A/B box to replace my Boss LS-2, and used it to switch between the Little Lanilei and the studio's ubiquitous Roland JC-120. The cool thing about this set up is that I can also select loop channels on my Boss RC-3. So I recorded a clean single-note part through the JC, and then some wah-wah chords with the LL while RC-3's built in drums play through both through the Echo Park in stereo! It also meant I could switch between the wah and fuzz without connecting them to each other, thus avoiding the infamous vintage wah-to-fuzz impedance issue (and a stubborn wah switch.) Lots of fun.

I don't have a particular preference for true-bypass stomp boxes, but my experience with vintage-styled wahs & fuzzes is that they sound best interacting with the guitar's pickups without buffers. So if a pedal is going before one of these, like my compressor, it should be true-bypass. If it comes after, I think I prefer a buffer in case it has to drive a long cable from the front of the stage to the amp at the back of it.
Do you have a preference for true-bypass or buffered pedals? How does it work within your signal chain?

For today's G&L topic, I'd like to know how to make fine adjustments to neck angle the micro-tilt screw? I don't mean the factory setup, but specifically if you wanted to make the angle a bit shallower, how many turns (or fractions of a turn) would you make? How much do you loosen the neck screws when you make adjustments? Do you retighten them in any particular order? Does anyone use shims? Responses from 3-bolt owners especially appreciated?

[louis cyfer]

why do you want to change the neck angle? i have used shims before as well as micro tilt, but i have noticed a change in sustain (on some notes, not everywhere) between the neck making full contact with the neck pocket, and having a shim or a micro tilt.

[blargfromouterspace]

You have very good lunches, GB. It was going to be toast for dinner tonight, but seeing that makes me want something better. Perhaps a trip to the local Japanese restaurant...

No preference for true-bypass or not - if the pedal sounds good and doesn't mess with the signal when its off then it's all good.

I've never had to add tilt to a neck - how does one know if there is a need for it?

[louis cyfer]

i do prefer true bypass pedals, but there are some that have great buffers, so they sound great. but putting together many pedals with buffers almost always creates a problem. the ethos, the wet reverb neunaber, and the sex drive by durham have awesome buffers. the buffers in the boss, digitech, line 6 and ibanez pedals are horse crap.

[LeoFThe Champion]

okay ,
First of all good luck with the Typhoon.
I agree with Louis , buffers are cool but bring your bucks. the Klon Centaur has an awesome buffer. pete Cornish has an awesome buffer . boss sux as do many low end . I love pedals and use true bypass if I can. As for shims Loius is right and wrong. He is right about wood and wood contact being best for tone .But it is a weakness in Leo's design , they do get a ski slope and the only way to fix it is a refret or a shim.Maple necks don't get it ,it's the rosewood and Ebony that do.
Anthony

[Greenblues]

Nobels pedals have surprisingly good buffers, too. Can't say anything good about the buffers in Guyatone pedals, though.

[KenC]

I have quite a few three-bolt G&Ls, but only one has needed a Micro-tilt adjustment. My SC-2 had been sitting in a closet for thirty years and the action was borderline unplayable. Truss rod and saddle adjustments helped to a degree, but the action was still quite high above the upper frets. A slight tweaking of the Micro-tilt worked wonders.

It was a while ago, but I think I just loosened the two screws closest to the headstock slightly to give it some play, and backed the third screw out farther than I expected to adjust the Micro-tilt. I can't remember how many turns it took to get the neck angle just right, but I want to say it was more than I thought it would require. Once I was happy with the action I tightened the screws closest to the headstock, and then snugged down the third one.

The thing I have used Micro-tilts for a lot has been breaking a neck free from the pocket during the first string change, so I can check the body wood and date stamps. I will take all three screws completely out, and then slowly turn the Micro-tilt until it starts pushing the neck free of the pocket.

Ken

[darwinohm]

GB, beautiful view from your office and the lunch looks great. I would like the lunch that you wife has packed for you!

No opinions on the pedals. It is nice that you can rent a practice space for that price. Good chance to test the pedals.

Neck adjustments. Everything about setting guitars up is very logical and if a neck needs plane adjustments, the micro tilt works fine. I posted last week that I like to use brass shims. As Louis mentioned, sustain is important and the connection between the neck and body is important. That is why I don't use soft shims. I want the best contact possible to the body. Many may disagree but there are reasons why things are done certain way and the micro tilt does a solid connection. About 20% of my G&L's have been shimmed for low action. It is important to not have the saddles laying on the bridge plate and I have seen many guitars where the low and high E saddles are bottomed out. -- Darwin

[louis cyfer]

You have very good lunches, GB. It was going to be toast for dinner tonight, but seeing that makes me want something better. Perhaps a trip to the local Japanese restaurant...

No preference for true-bypass or not - if the pedal sounds good and doesn't mess with the signal when its off then it's all good.

I've never had to add tilt to a neck - how does one know if there is a need for it?

if the saddles can't be adjusted far enough to achieve proper action, either can't go low enough or high enough, you have to add tilt to the neck (one way or the other). any other reason is not justifiable imnsho.

[Greenblues]

Sustain, huh. That's also important, and I guess I don't need my action that low. Low action makes it harder to bend strings for me, anyway. I guess I'll just play with the set-up again, and see what happens.

Like Ken, I also expected adjusting it gradually like a truss-rod was the way to go, but it actually requires quite a bit of rotation, doesn't it. It seems the consensus here is to just leave it alone.

Nice tip about the brass shims, Darwin!

[blargfromouterspace]

You have very good lunches, GB. It was going to be toast for dinner tonight, but seeing that makes me want something better. Perhaps a trip to the local Japanese restaurant...

No preference for true-bypass or not - if the pedal sounds good and doesn't mess with the signal when its off then it's all good.

I've never had to add tilt to a neck - how does one know if there is a need for it?

if the saddles can't be adjusted far enough to achieve proper action, either can't go low enough or high enough, you have to add tilt to the neck (one way or the other). any other reason is not justifiable imnsho.

Thanks Louis.