Guitar rehab
- Thread starter BFBOB
- Start date
I've had a cheapo acoustic 12-string for a decade or more. How cheapo you ask? It's a Yamaki. I bought it to get the case it was in, but that's another story. The one saving grace of this ax is that it has a zero fret. That makes it easy to convert to a six-string, which I did. It already had a significant case of belly bulge, but I figured putting 6 light gauge strings would retard the progression. I've heard it said that a lousy 12-string can make a good 6-string, and that was the case here. I like the wide neck, and it sounds pretty good. But, the belly bulge finally progressed to the point that the bridge was tilted so far that the strings were clear off the saddle, making them buzz and throwing the intonation off. Time for surgery.
I unstrung it and removed the three screws I had added at the back edge of the bridge to keep it from peeling off the top, cut a piece of plywood to fit inside the top bracing and bear against the bridge from the inside, and another to protect the outside from scarring. A couple of deep 3" c-clamps gave me a fulcrum to raise the low side of the bridge. I braced them across the shoulders, lightly wet the top on the inside and let it sit overnight.
On removing the clamps this morning I was delighted to see the bridge was about 2/3 of the way back to level. That makes it playable, but I gave it a second clamp-and-pry, this time taking it a little past level. Another day should do the trick.
I unstrung it and removed the three screws I had added at the back edge of the bridge to keep it from peeling off the top, cut a piece of plywood to fit inside the top bracing and bear against the bridge from the inside, and another to protect the outside from scarring. A couple of deep 3" c-clamps gave me a fulcrum to raise the low side of the bridge. I braced them across the shoulders, lightly wet the top on the inside and let it sit overnight.
On removing the clamps this morning I was delighted to see the bridge was about 2/3 of the way back to level. That makes it playable, but I gave it a second clamp-and-pry, this time taking it a little past level. Another day should do the trick.
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engineer2
Well-known member
Looks like a good way to fix it and it's a fun project.
I got a Washburn 6 string at a church rummage sale. Cosmetically near perfect, but the action was way too high which made it difficult to play. Set it up with new strings, Tusq parts, lowered the nut, and got the tuning pretty good with careful shaping of the bridge. My guitar playing friends like the tuning accuracy and say it plays nice for a $100 beginner's guitar. Just have to learn to play the damn thing myself, LOL.
I got a Washburn 6 string at a church rummage sale. Cosmetically near perfect, but the action was way too high which made it difficult to play. Set it up with new strings, Tusq parts, lowered the nut, and got the tuning pretty good with careful shaping of the bridge. My guitar playing friends like the tuning accuracy and say it plays nice for a $100 beginner's guitar. Just have to learn to play the damn thing myself, LOL.
Washburn makes some damn nice guitars - nice find!
If you really are a beginner, I'll give you my Lesson 1: start off learning to play the G chord with your little finger on the high E string. Beginners find it awkward at first, but trust me on this.
If you really are a beginner, I'll give you my Lesson 1: start off learning to play the G chord with your little finger on the high E string. Beginners find it awkward at first, but trust me on this.
Bad Eye Bill
Well-known member
That's good advice. I can do it but learned it the other way and almost always play it that way and I've been playing for 50 years.
Your way makes more sense really but old habits die hard.
There's a couple other ways to play a G chord, both of which sound cleaner - first is play it as mentioned, with the little finger on the high G - BUT - instead of bothering to fret the 5th string on the second fret (low B) just let your middle finger play low G AND let it "lean over" til it just MUTES the 5th string - low thirds on chords tend to muddy up the sound, muting the low B just cleans up the sound (especially if strumming the chord).
Second way - if you stay fairly serious about playing, eventually you'll get into barre chords - seems fairly difficult at first, but like anything eventually "muscle memory" takes over and it seems normal - the first step is learning how to make your index finger as straight as a board, that finger replaces a "capo" and you use your other 3 fingers as necessary to fret the OTHER notes (higher up the fingerboard than your INDEX finger) of whichever chord you're playing - find a basic guitar chord chart on the web, it'll cover most "standard" chords including the barred G chord.
The cool thing about learning barre chords is that any chord you learn that way, can be moved up or down the neck WITHOUT having to learn a new ********* - move the (barred) G chord down 2 frets and it's an F chord - up two, and it's an A chord, etc.
I've got a book somewhere titled "2400 chords for the guitar" - sounds daunting, but even if you ONLY use the lower 18 frets on a guitar, that number reduces to "only" 133 fingerings, each one played off of 18 different frets -
The slightly scary part - I've been getting more into original jazz the last 20 years or so, and almost NONE of the chords I've learned are included in that 2400...
A couple more pointers for new players -
1 - Don't let anybody tell you "practice makes perfect" - it'd be more true to say that PERFECT practice makes perfect - think about it; you found this really cool lick and you wanna play it "as fast as your fave guitar hero" - so you keep practicing it faster and faster, BUT you always make the SAME MISTAKE in the SAME PLACE every time - sooo, you keep starting over AT SPEED - I guarantee you the end result is that you can play that same MISTAKE really fast EVERY TIME...
So here's where "perfect" practice comes in - if you make a mistake, SLOW DOWN and let your fingers learn the PERFECT way to play it, at whatever speed you can do it WITHOUT a mistake, even if it's only 1 note per SECOND - eventually speed up a little at a time, then SLOW DOWN if your fingers aren't quite ready - That's what I mean by "PERFECT" practice.
That method works with ANY sport or skill that involves hand/eye/ear coordination; basically, your brain teaches your body how to do it, then brain SHUTS UP and lets the body take over.
2 - Everybody has some favorite song, either 'cause it's really cool or 'cause it's really hard and you're an overachiever
or even better, you don't **** when you play it -
Pick your own song (yeah, there really ARE 82 million guitar owners that use "Stairway to Heaven")
Now, here's the "trick" - whatever YOUR cool song is, you should START and END EVERY practice session with THAT SONG - Starting with it means you'll get in a good frame of mind right at the beginning - then you do all the harder, not yet learned stuff, and finally you END with the fun (now easier) song, so when it's time for the NEXT practice you're not DREADING it 'cause the last thing you remember is the FUN part... Steve
Second way - if you stay fairly serious about playing, eventually you'll get into barre chords - seems fairly difficult at first, but like anything eventually "muscle memory" takes over and it seems normal - the first step is learning how to make your index finger as straight as a board, that finger replaces a "capo" and you use your other 3 fingers as necessary to fret the OTHER notes (higher up the fingerboard than your INDEX finger) of whichever chord you're playing - find a basic guitar chord chart on the web, it'll cover most "standard" chords including the barred G chord.
The cool thing about learning barre chords is that any chord you learn that way, can be moved up or down the neck WITHOUT having to learn a new ********* - move the (barred) G chord down 2 frets and it's an F chord - up two, and it's an A chord, etc.
I've got a book somewhere titled "2400 chords for the guitar" - sounds daunting, but even if you ONLY use the lower 18 frets on a guitar, that number reduces to "only" 133 fingerings, each one played off of 18 different frets -
The slightly scary part - I've been getting more into original jazz the last 20 years or so, and almost NONE of the chords I've learned are included in that 2400...
A couple more pointers for new players -
1 - Don't let anybody tell you "practice makes perfect" - it'd be more true to say that PERFECT practice makes perfect - think about it; you found this really cool lick and you wanna play it "as fast as your fave guitar hero" - so you keep practicing it faster and faster, BUT you always make the SAME MISTAKE in the SAME PLACE every time - sooo, you keep starting over AT SPEED - I guarantee you the end result is that you can play that same MISTAKE really fast EVERY TIME...
So here's where "perfect" practice comes in - if you make a mistake, SLOW DOWN and let your fingers learn the PERFECT way to play it, at whatever speed you can do it WITHOUT a mistake, even if it's only 1 note per SECOND - eventually speed up a little at a time, then SLOW DOWN if your fingers aren't quite ready - That's what I mean by "PERFECT" practice.
That method works with ANY sport or skill that involves hand/eye/ear coordination; basically, your brain teaches your body how to do it, then brain SHUTS UP and lets the body take over.
2 - Everybody has some favorite song, either 'cause it's really cool or 'cause it's really hard and you're an overachiever
or even better, you don't **** when you play it -Pick your own song (yeah, there really ARE 82 million guitar owners that use "Stairway to Heaven")
Now, here's the "trick" - whatever YOUR cool song is, you should START and END EVERY practice session with THAT SONG - Starting with it means you'll get in a good frame of mind right at the beginning - then you do all the harder, not yet learned stuff, and finally you END with the fun (now easier) song, so when it's time for the NEXT practice you're not DREADING it 'cause the last thing you remember is the FUN part... Steve
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engineer2
Well-known member
Good advice! Got to learn before arthritis sets in, LOL. I think G is the only chord I have mastered.
I can tune it though: Every Acid Dealer Gets Busted Eventually or on a ukulele: Good Cats Eat Anything.
I can tune it though: Every Acid Dealer Gets Busted Eventually or on a ukulele: Good Cats Eat Anything.
Know whatcha mean on the arthritis; this past year projects have continuously raised their ugly head, didn't even pick up a guitar for almost the entire time - couldn't BELIEVE how much my fingers forgot
Been tryin' to catch up for several months, had to start over building callouses. 'bout a month of 30-60 minutes a day on one of my classical guitars (nylon strings don't get as much blood on the fingerboard :=) -
Then I switched to my all time fave acoustic, a Takamine NP17C - gorgeous guitar, solid cedar top/koa back and sides, perfect intonation, great tone (even WITHOUT being plugged in) - string height at the neck/body joint is only 3/32" - Steel strings are a LOT less "friendly" than nylon, so...
Dropped back to about 15 minutes 3-4 times a day til it didn't hurt as much, built back up to an hour or so total per day, just now reaching a point where pain isn't a limiting factor.
The arthritis - not horrible yet, but it IS taking longer to get fingers to cooperate with some of the more "interesting" jazz chords. Been taking a Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplement for the last couple years, seems to help. Wouldn't wanna KNOW how it'd be if I hadn't...
Now that the crappy weather is here til about July, there should be enough "house time" to work on finishing config of the new studio computer plus some time for playing bass (both 4 string and 6-string fretless), guitar, keys, drums; 2-3 hours a day should help. Never gonna play Carnegie Hall, just hoping NOT to embarass myself too bad.
Wife thinks I'm wonderful, at my age everybody ELSE can go **** rocks ... Steve
Been tryin' to catch up for several months, had to start over building callouses. 'bout a month of 30-60 minutes a day on one of my classical guitars (nylon strings don't get as much blood on the fingerboard :=) -
Then I switched to my all time fave acoustic, a Takamine NP17C - gorgeous guitar, solid cedar top/koa back and sides, perfect intonation, great tone (even WITHOUT being plugged in) - string height at the neck/body joint is only 3/32" - Steel strings are a LOT less "friendly" than nylon, so...
Dropped back to about 15 minutes 3-4 times a day til it didn't hurt as much, built back up to an hour or so total per day, just now reaching a point where pain isn't a limiting factor.
The arthritis - not horrible yet, but it IS taking longer to get fingers to cooperate with some of the more "interesting" jazz chords. Been taking a Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplement for the last couple years, seems to help. Wouldn't wanna KNOW how it'd be if I hadn't...
Now that the crappy weather is here til about July, there should be enough "house time" to work on finishing config of the new studio computer plus some time for playing bass (both 4 string and 6-string fretless), guitar, keys, drums; 2-3 hours a day should help. Never gonna play Carnegie Hall, just hoping NOT to embarass myself too bad.
Wife thinks I'm wonderful, at my age everybody ELSE can go **** rocks
... Steve
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Well, the Fix is In!
Let's back up a few years, when I first started wondering about fixing and preventing belly swell. I thought about reinforcing the bottom of the bridge somehow, and in fact did screw an aluminum plate to one. That brought the part that was pulling up back down, but did nothing to correct the belly. I thought of several other schemes for attaching some kind of reinforcement to level it, but thought it might adversely affect the sound, so kind of gave up on the idea.
For this guitar, I figured anything I try could hardly do it any harm, so I revisited some of my ideas, and did a little web crawling and discovered the Bridge Doctor. It's similar to some of my thoughts, but differs in that the dowel is not attached to the tail block; it just presses against it, which provides the lever force on the fulcrum to tilt the bridge to the rear. I basically copied the gizmo, but made a few minor changes, and here we are: A level bridge, and the means to keep it that way.
If I were doing it again (which I may!) I'd just buy the Bridge Doctor from the maker. They're only $25; I spent a lot more than $25 worth of my time fabbing it up, but it was interesting to do so.
In the pictures you can see that when I unclamped it, the bridge sprang back very little, if at all. It's very slightly overcorrected.
Next step, string it and strum it!
Speaking of which, I've enjoyed your comments on playing technique. On this guitar, I'm usually doing folk-style stuff (Alice's Restaurant, Don't Think Twice, Blackbird ...) for which the pinky- G works. Then throw in "Crazy on You" and the unavoidable "Stairway" and all that goes out the window.
Let's back up a few years, when I first started wondering about fixing and preventing belly swell. I thought about reinforcing the bottom of the bridge somehow, and in fact did screw an aluminum plate to one. That brought the part that was pulling up back down, but did nothing to correct the belly. I thought of several other schemes for attaching some kind of reinforcement to level it, but thought it might adversely affect the sound, so kind of gave up on the idea.
For this guitar, I figured anything I try could hardly do it any harm, so I revisited some of my ideas, and did a little web crawling and discovered the Bridge Doctor. It's similar to some of my thoughts, but differs in that the dowel is not attached to the tail block; it just presses against it, which provides the lever force on the fulcrum to tilt the bridge to the rear. I basically copied the gizmo, but made a few minor changes, and here we are: A level bridge, and the means to keep it that way.
If I were doing it again (which I may!) I'd just buy the Bridge Doctor from the maker. They're only $25; I spent a lot more than $25 worth of my time fabbing it up, but it was interesting to do so.
In the pictures you can see that when I unclamped it, the bridge sprang back very little, if at all. It's very slightly overcorrected.
Next step, string it and strum it!
Speaking of which, I've enjoyed your comments on playing technique. On this guitar, I'm usually doing folk-style stuff (Alice's Restaurant, Don't Think Twice, Blackbird ...) for which the pinky- G works. Then throw in "Crazy on You" and the unavoidable "Stairway" and all that goes out the window.
Attachments
Hey, pretty cool way to solve a not so simple problem; you keep that kinda stuff up and you can add "luthier" to your resume (if you haven't already :=)
I CAUSED a sorta similar problem for myself with the first guitar I ever owned - stationed in Massachusetts in 1966, not quite 21 years old, makin' serious coin (no, really) as a private in the Army Security Agency. By "coin" I mean $55.20 a MONTH, + another $40 for "separate rations" for my new wife - living off base, paying about half of that in rent, we both ended up working part time jobs in a nearby stereo manufacturing plant - we literally kept a budget counted to the penny -
Landlord's sister lived in one of the apartments next to ours, she had this old Harmony guitar she never played, so she loaned it to me - intonation was fair, strings were so high at the 12th fret you coulda jumped off one and successfully committed suicide by fret board
Since the least painful place to play the loaner was near the nut, I started learning MY version of Malaguenia (my older sister useta play it on the piano) - Got it going enough to sound kinda like I knew what I was doing...
But that wasn't the guitar I bought; the bulletin board at the stereo place had an ad from the local music store; employees could get a 20% discount there - Due to the previous couple months of serious penny pinching, working a few saturdays, we had a HUGE nest egg of $50...
So one Saturday we hopped on our only transpo (Honda 350 bike, another scrimp & save project) rode up the freeway to Maynard, Mass, couple of my guitar playing buddies had armed me with a list of things to check - we walk into this music store; my wife is from Santa Cruz Calif - turns out the store OWNER (Pete) is from there (not sure why he was in Mass) so the two of them get into their own BS session, I spot 4 "identical" classical guitars on the wall, marked $50...
I interrupt their BS, ask Pete if I can see the first of the 4 - he hands it to me, I sit down and start checking tuning, frets vs harmonics, etc; it fails, I ask him to see the next one; turns out he was a clarinet player. He says "why, they're the same", I say no they're not, so I check #2, then #3, and finally #4 actually PASSES -
Pete and wifey still BS'ing, I start messing around playing my "one song", really gettin' into it considering the new-found lack of PAIN - pretty soon I overhear Pete ask my wife how long I'd been playing, heard her say "about a month" - then it got real quiet - I look up, and Pete's looking like he just saw a ghost or something
So we gave him $40 (20% discount) took the guitar, wife on the back of the bike holding it, and back down the freeway home - neither of us told Pete that was the ONLY song I knew, kinda wonder if that was a little bit mean...
But that's not what I came here to talk about (another Alice's Restaurant fan here :=)
That first guitar was a Tatra 1, made in Czechoslovakia - so cheap the fingerboard was PAINTED BLACK, tryin' to look like Ebony no doubt - after a while I got tired of the nylon string sound, and (still knowing EVERYTHING like when I wuz 14) I decided to put some flat wound steel strings on it - sounded completely different, played it for a couple hours then hung it on the wall and went to bed...
Woke up the next morning and found the bridge RIPPED OUT BY THE ROOTS, and dangling near the neck/body joint
After some thought (and more than a few GI quality expletives) I found some 2 part epoxy stuff in town, looked kinda like grape juice and flour, supposed to be bullet proof if ya follow the directions - the tear out was pretty bumpy, but I found that a little razor blade work would let the two halves go back together, totally meshed, and nearly invisible - so I set up a table, grabbed 3-4 encyclopedias, mixed the epoxy, worked the pieces back together, set the books on top and FORGOT about it for several days.
That was the LAST time that guitar saw anything but nylon strings; it's still together, (55 YEARS now) still plays fine, just took it out of its case today.
Guess it's true that God watches over children and fools... Steve
I CAUSED a sorta similar problem for myself with the first guitar I ever owned - stationed in Massachusetts in 1966, not quite 21 years old, makin' serious coin (no, really) as a private in the Army Security Agency. By "coin" I mean $55.20 a MONTH, + another $40 for "separate rations" for my new wife - living off base, paying about half of that in rent, we both ended up working part time jobs in a nearby stereo manufacturing plant - we literally kept a budget counted to the penny -
Landlord's sister lived in one of the apartments next to ours, she had this old Harmony guitar she never played, so she loaned it to me - intonation was fair, strings were so high at the 12th fret you coulda jumped off one and successfully committed suicide by fret board
Since the least painful place to play the loaner was near the nut, I started learning MY version of Malaguenia (my older sister useta play it on the piano) - Got it going enough to sound kinda like I knew what I was doing...
But that wasn't the guitar I bought; the bulletin board at the stereo place had an ad from the local music store; employees could get a 20% discount there - Due to the previous couple months of serious penny pinching, working a few saturdays, we had a HUGE nest egg of $50...
So one Saturday we hopped on our only transpo (Honda 350 bike, another scrimp & save project) rode up the freeway to Maynard, Mass, couple of my guitar playing buddies had armed me with a list of things to check - we walk into this music store; my wife is from Santa Cruz Calif - turns out the store OWNER (Pete) is from there (not sure why he was in Mass) so the two of them get into their own BS session, I spot 4 "identical" classical guitars on the wall, marked $50...
I interrupt their BS, ask Pete if I can see the first of the 4 - he hands it to me, I sit down and start checking tuning, frets vs harmonics, etc; it fails, I ask him to see the next one; turns out he was a clarinet player. He says "why, they're the same", I say no they're not, so I check #2, then #3, and finally #4 actually PASSES -
Pete and wifey still BS'ing, I start messing around playing my "one song", really gettin' into it considering the new-found lack of PAIN - pretty soon I overhear Pete ask my wife how long I'd been playing, heard her say "about a month" - then it got real quiet - I look up, and Pete's looking like he just saw a ghost or something
So we gave him $40 (20% discount) took the guitar, wife on the back of the bike holding it, and back down the freeway home - neither of us told Pete that was the ONLY song I knew, kinda wonder if that was a little bit mean...
But that's not what I came here to talk about (another Alice's Restaurant fan here :=)
That first guitar was a Tatra 1, made in Czechoslovakia - so cheap the fingerboard was PAINTED BLACK, tryin' to look like Ebony no doubt - after a while I got tired of the nylon string sound, and (still knowing EVERYTHING like when I wuz 14) I decided to put some flat wound steel strings on it - sounded completely different, played it for a couple hours then hung it on the wall and went to bed...
Woke up the next morning and found the bridge RIPPED OUT BY THE ROOTS, and dangling near the neck/body joint
After some thought (and more than a few GI quality expletives) I found some 2 part epoxy stuff in town, looked kinda like grape juice and flour, supposed to be bullet proof if ya follow the directions - the tear out was pretty bumpy, but I found that a little razor blade work would let the two halves go back together, totally meshed, and nearly invisible - so I set up a table, grabbed 3-4 encyclopedias, mixed the epoxy, worked the pieces back together, set the books on top and FORGOT about it for several days.
That was the LAST time that guitar saw anything but nylon strings; it's still together, (55 YEARS now) still plays fine, just took it out of its case today.
Guess it's true that God watches over children and fools... Steve
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Great story, Buckit!
I too still have my first good guitar- a Brazilian made Gianini classical. And I made the steel-string mistake - sort of. There was a set of strings called Silk 'N Steel made specially for classical guitars. As I recall there were three plain steel and three wound strings. I put them on and the guitar sounded great, and though the tension was supposed to be the same after just an hour or so, I could see the bridge was tilting. I got them off, went back to nylon and have kept it that way ever since. My parents bought that guitar for me in high school as a reward for having endured two truly dreadful cheapo classicals (one was all plastic. ALL - frets too) and managing to learn some recognizable songs. The Gianini cost a princely $87.50. I wanted a Goya, but playing them side by side, there was no discernable difference despite more than twice the price. Good thing, since that was out of our price range.
I gave the old real guitar to a friend, the plastic one to my sister, and still have and play the Gianini - a shade over half a century later.
But, back to the project guitar: I got it restrung and all is well! I'm leaving it strung 6 since I have another very nice 12-string.
I too still have my first good guitar- a Brazilian made Gianini classical. And I made the steel-string mistake - sort of. There was a set of strings called Silk 'N Steel made specially for classical guitars. As I recall there were three plain steel and three wound strings. I put them on and the guitar sounded great, and though the tension was supposed to be the same after just an hour or so, I could see the bridge was tilting. I got them off, went back to nylon and have kept it that way ever since. My parents bought that guitar for me in high school as a reward for having endured two truly dreadful cheapo classicals (one was all plastic. ALL - frets too) and managing to learn some recognizable songs. The Gianini cost a princely $87.50. I wanted a Goya, but playing them side by side, there was no discernable difference despite more than twice the price. Good thing, since that was out of our price range.
I gave the old real guitar to a friend, the plastic one to my sister, and still have and play the Gianini - a shade over half a century later.
But, back to the project guitar: I got it restrung and all is well! I'm leaving it strung 6 since I have another very nice 12-string.
"I'm leaving it strung 6"
good plan; I'm guessing that equates to around 2/3 as much total tension on the bridge so your fix should last ANOTHER half century (too bad neither of us will be around to see it, but it sounds like BOTH of us have had a good run so far :=)
I had a 12-string while still stationed in Mass, same store (Pete remembered me :=) - the 12-string was also a Tatra - got tired of playing "walk right in" and Peter Paul and Mary stuff, so when I got reassigned to the middle of nowhere I gave it to one of my two best buds - mighta kept it if Hotel California had been done by then :=)
Sounds like YOUR folks were a little more open minded than mine - when I was in high school there were two main camps - Elvis, and Pat Boone - the "good" kids were mostly Pat Boone, the "bad" kids were Elvis - my folks always watched Lawrence Welk (my only interest there was the kinda cute Lenin sisters)
I wasn't a "bad seed" kinda kid, but Pat Boone was boring and I hadn't yet seen the advantage of songs with WORDS - but mainly, I already had a piano, a tonette and a trombone but Elvis had a guitar...
My Dad's version was simple: Elvis = evil, Pat = good citizen - consequently, no guitar for ME til I was on my own
Guess I kinda made up for it tho, just checked inventory yesterday and there's 3 basses including one 6-string fretless, 4 different solid body electrics including a $40 thrift shop SG copy with action so low it's almost impossible to "get under" a string to bend it (still no buzz), a couple cutaway acoustic/electrics (1 classical, one steel string), another Sigma steel string (Korea made Martin) that needs a bit of sandpaper on the bridge insert, and a few other oddballs -
Before the local thrift shops found a copy of Guitar Center and AMS catalogs (and decided that somehow "used" didn't lower the value from "new", I probably bought ANOTHER 9 guitars/basses and made 'em playable before giving 'em to my kids and grandkids - costs ranged from maybe $50 to around $150 then, but hey; NO hobby's FREE :=)
The ones still in "inventory" ran anywhere from $40 up to over $2k; if my Dad was still around, I'd probably tease him; "Hey dad, see how much $$$$ you'd have saved me if you'd just gone along with the Elvis phase??!?"
OK, 'nuf "war stories" from the old fart, sorry if it wasn't fun... Steve
good plan; I'm guessing that equates to around 2/3 as much total tension on the bridge so your fix should last ANOTHER half century (too bad neither of us will be around to see it, but it sounds like BOTH of us have had a good run so far :=)
I had a 12-string while still stationed in Mass, same store (Pete remembered me :=) - the 12-string was also a Tatra - got tired of playing "walk right in" and Peter Paul and Mary stuff, so when I got reassigned to the middle of nowhere I gave it to one of my two best buds - mighta kept it if Hotel California had been done by then :=)
Sounds like YOUR folks were a little more open minded than mine - when I was in high school there were two main camps - Elvis, and Pat Boone - the "good" kids were mostly Pat Boone, the "bad" kids were Elvis - my folks always watched Lawrence Welk (my only interest there was the kinda cute Lenin sisters)
I wasn't a "bad seed" kinda kid, but Pat Boone was boring and I hadn't yet seen the advantage of songs with WORDS - but mainly, I already had a piano, a tonette and a trombone but Elvis had a guitar...
My Dad's version was simple: Elvis = evil, Pat = good citizen - consequently, no guitar for ME til I was on my own
Guess I kinda made up for it tho, just checked inventory yesterday and there's 3 basses including one 6-string fretless, 4 different solid body electrics including a $40 thrift shop SG copy with action so low it's almost impossible to "get under" a string to bend it (still no buzz), a couple cutaway acoustic/electrics (1 classical, one steel string), another Sigma steel string (Korea made Martin) that needs a bit of sandpaper on the bridge insert, and a few other oddballs -
Before the local thrift shops found a copy of Guitar Center and AMS catalogs (and decided that somehow "used" didn't lower the value from "new", I probably bought ANOTHER 9 guitars/basses and made 'em playable before giving 'em to my kids and grandkids - costs ranged from maybe $50 to around $150 then, but hey; NO hobby's FREE :=)
The ones still in "inventory" ran anywhere from $40 up to over $2k; if my Dad was still around, I'd probably tease him; "Hey dad, see how much $$$$ you'd have saved me if you'd just gone along with the Elvis phase??!?"
OK, 'nuf "war stories" from the old fart, sorry if it wasn't fun... Steve
MBfreak
MEMBER EMERITUS
On the subject of practice makes perfect.
Etta Baker started at the age of three and played for at least 88 years more. Piedmont Picking, she learned from her father.
And she wa absolutely wonderful. During an interview when she was around 86, the reporter noticed that some of the time she used two crossed fingers to press down one string on some difficult parts. " Yes , I do it now, my finger strength is not what it used to be"
She was a wonderful person and an absolute stunning musiscian.
It is NEVER too late to change your playing style.
Ola
Etta Baker started at the age of three and played for at least 88 years more. Piedmont Picking, she learned from her father.
And she wa absolutely wonderful. During an interview when she was around 86, the reporter noticed that some of the time she used two crossed fingers to press down one string on some difficult parts. " Yes , I do it now, my finger strength is not what it used to be"
She was a wonderful person and an absolute stunning musiscian.
It is NEVER too late to change your playing style.
Ola
ZRX61
Well-known member
In related news, I just bought one.... haven't picked one up in probably 40 years.
I'm guessing at this point muscle memory has become muscle amnesia...
I'm guessing at this point muscle memory has become muscle amnesia...
good chance - I hadn't picked up a guitar for maybe a year and a half (used to play nearly every day for years) - when I picked up my steel stringed acoustic/electric, it took almost 27 SECONDS for the pain to become evident - set that aside and spent the next MONTH or so on my nylon stringed acoustic/electric ( a Cordoba) - initially about 10 minutes 2-3 times a day, up to at least half hour twice a day- then when I went back to the steel string, I could handle maybe 15 minutes 3 times a day. Now I try to maintain a total of at least an hour a day.
That plan was relatively painless (no blood on fingerboards :=) and if I rub a thumb across any left finger I can feel "subterrainian" calluses - back when I was playing 6 nights a week I could tap my fingers on the bar and people would SWEAR that I'd used my finger nails.
If you have access to a nylon stringed guitar, I'd recommend doing it the way I described depending on how serious you are.
Memory - I'm STILL trying to remember latin and jazz #'s I used to play back in the late '60's, a few of 'em are slowly comin' back. I bought volume 1 of Mickey Baker's Complete course in Jazz Guitar about 1980, the second paragraph in Lesson one starts "Below you have 27 chords which you must learn to use right away" - I looked at the chart, found out I knew a whopping THREE of 'em.
To this day I've never gotten past Lesson THREE, but I use all but a couple of those first 27 well enough for the technique known as "chord leading" - which is where you use several different inversions of a chord so as to put the MELODY note on the highest string... Steve
That plan was relatively painless (no blood on fingerboards :=) and if I rub a thumb across any left finger I can feel "subterrainian" calluses - back when I was playing 6 nights a week I could tap my fingers on the bar and people would SWEAR that I'd used my finger nails.
If you have access to a nylon stringed guitar, I'd recommend doing it the way I described depending on how serious you are.
Memory - I'm STILL trying to remember latin and jazz #'s I used to play back in the late '60's, a few of 'em are slowly comin' back. I bought volume 1 of Mickey Baker's Complete course in Jazz Guitar about 1980, the second paragraph in Lesson one starts "Below you have 27 chords which you must learn to use right away" - I looked at the chart, found out I knew a whopping THREE of 'em.
To this day I've never gotten past Lesson THREE, but I use all but a couple of those first 27 well enough for the technique known as "chord leading" - which is where you use several different inversions of a chord so as to put the MELODY note on the highest string... Steve
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ZRX61
Well-known member
Annoying the neighbors with the new guitar (Strat clone) postponed for a day as Amazon not only sent it to the wrong town, they left it sitting there ALL day... it's STILL there.
On the upside I did get a Black Friday deal on it for $136 + tax ($149 total), down from $230 + tax, today's price is $170+ tax.
On the upside I did get a Black Friday deal on it for $136 + tax ($149 total), down from $230 + tax, today's price is $170+ tax.
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Well, I guess it could be worse; your guitar could be sitting out in the rain instead of 55-60 degrees and dry - at that low price, I hope you get lucky and it's actually playable - the GOOD news is, a LOT of problems with less expensive guitars (solid body, that is) can be corrected with a few basic tools and an understanding of harmonics and neck geometry. Pretty much all solid bodies (especially with bolt-on necks) have enough adjustments on everything to get you out of(or into) trouble - let us know how it goes... Steve
ZRX61
Well-known member
It's still sitting there. I think they've either lost it or damaged it.
Friday & Saturday story: Delivered by 10pm Sunday
Sunday story: Delivered by 10pm Sunday, until 11pm when the story changed to 10pm Monday
Monday story: Delivered by 10pm tomorrow... or maybe Wednesday
My suggestion that an Amazon employee get off their *** & actually go find it wasn't well received...
As for issues with a cheap guitar:
It will be getting regular Slinkies & Grover tuners.. which seems to cover known issues. & possibly a bit of file work on the ends of the frets depending on their finishing, some are great, some are like razors. Also polish the frets & get the action sorted.
It's a sunburst Strat clone from Donner. Lots of YT reviews.
Friday & Saturday story: Delivered by 10pm Sunday
Sunday story: Delivered by 10pm Sunday, until 11pm when the story changed to 10pm Monday
Monday story: Delivered by 10pm tomorrow... or maybe Wednesday
My suggestion that an Amazon employee get off their *** & actually go find it wasn't well received...
As for issues with a cheap guitar:
It will be getting regular Slinkies & Grover tuners.. which seems to cover known issues. & possibly a bit of file work on the ends of the frets depending on their finishing, some are great, some are like razors. Also polish the frets & get the action sorted.
It's a sunburst Strat clone from Donner. Lots of YT reviews.
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smokeysevin
Well-known member
I started down the rabbit hole of instrument work and fab about a year ago and it has been really enjoyable and a great excuse to get some new specialized (read expensive) tools.
Hopefully I will get a chance to start on guitar number 3 and 4 soon with some elm that a buddy of mine had from a felled tree in his yard that he had kiln dried and rough milled. The little stuff like hardware and pickups will nickle and dime you to death though.
Sean
Hopefully I will get a chance to start on guitar number 3 and 4 soon with some elm that a buddy of mine had from a felled tree in his yard that he had kiln dried and rough milled. The little stuff like hardware and pickups will nickle and dime you to death though.
Sean
Lassen Forge
Well-known member
They're still excavating the truck wreck it was involved in (that they don't want you to know about) and are hoping they find it in one piece and undamaged (good luck), when they find the remaining pieces (or decide to scrap the truck contents) they'll send you a boilerplate "No longer available, issuing refund" email... or make it look like they've misdelivered it when they actually destroyed it and are processing a replacement for it (hopefullly with out you finding out)...
Not saying I've ever seen that happen with the half-dozen or so Amazon truck wrecks I've had to respond to, everything from cargo fires (pool chemicals + Lithium batteries + chainsaw gasoline) to one literally nose-down off a 160 foot embankment into a railroad right of way... One jackknifed and turned the snowy highway into a slick (and wrapped the trailer arond a stand of ponderosa pines), 10 minutes later another came by, jackknifed off the highway after hitting the diesel iceberg, and ended up with the trailer at a 50 (or so) degree angle from the side of the road over the shoulder and slow lane. (Damn, I miss that fun). That stupid smile - well, the only smile I got was from the OT dealing wiht their wrecks...
Good luck.
Z, sounds like your brain has forgotten a LOT less than your fingers may have
I have a couple guitars and basses that were well over $1k new, result of a few years of 6 nite gigs AND a full-time day job; but one of my favorite's is a thrift shop find - it's a copy of the Gibson SG, picked up for $40 - actually has a rosewood finger board, tuners wouldn't hold for ****. I pressed a couple strings against the first fret and the one next to the body, had just a teeny bit of "air" at around the 10th fret so I grabbed it.
A set of Schaller (knockoff, actually) tuners, one (missing) knob, and I got the action so low (without buzzing) that you couldn't bend a string without your finger slipping over it. I raised the action a little, and it became my go to for gigs that made me nervous (think "blues brothers" cage, but WITHOUT the cage)
Still got that one, still works/sounds/plays like a dream. Got a total of just over $80 in it, INCLUDING Shaller strap locks.
Sounds like you got your bases (guitars, that is) covered, if they ever FIND it... Steve
I have a couple guitars and basses that were well over $1k new, result of a few years of 6 nite gigs AND a full-time day job; but one of my favorite's is a thrift shop find - it's a copy of the Gibson SG, picked up for $40 - actually has a rosewood finger board, tuners wouldn't hold for ****. I pressed a couple strings against the first fret and the one next to the body, had just a teeny bit of "air" at around the 10th fret so I grabbed it.
A set of Schaller (knockoff, actually) tuners, one (missing) knob, and I got the action so low (without buzzing) that you couldn't bend a string without your finger slipping over it. I raised the action a little, and it became my go to for gigs that made me nervous (think "blues brothers" cage, but WITHOUT the cage)
Still got that one, still works/sounds/plays like a dream. Got a total of just over $80 in it, INCLUDING Shaller strap locks.
Sounds like you got your bases (guitars, that is) covered, if they ever FIND it... Steve
ZRX61
Well-known member
The latest update is that it's arrived at the same depot for a second time (two minutes short of 24 hours later).... which isn't an improvement as it was meant to go from San Bernadino to Palmdirt.
Monday, November 29
10:42 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility.
Santa Clarita, US
Sunday, November 28
10:44 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility.
Santa Clarita, US
2:40 AM
Package left an Amazon facility.
San Bernardino, California US
Saturday, November 27
9:38 AM
Package arrived at an Amazon facility.
San Bernardino, California US
Carrier picked up the package.
On the upside, this allows me to binge watch a bunch of YT videos.. that mainly seem to be pointing out everything I've forgotten since I last picked up a guitar...which I think would have been 1983.
Monday, November 29
10:42 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility.
Santa Clarita, US
Sunday, November 28
10:44 AM
Package arrived at a carrier facility.
Santa Clarita, US
2:40 AM
Package left an Amazon facility.
San Bernardino, California US
Saturday, November 27
9:38 AM
Package arrived at an Amazon facility.
San Bernardino, California US
Carrier picked up the package.
On the upside, this allows me to binge watch a bunch of YT videos.. that mainly seem to be pointing out everything I've forgotten since I last picked up a guitar...which I think would have been 1983.
ZRX61
Well-known member
I've already started looking at a new tool genre
As for the guitar, IT'S HERE!!... However, roomie came back from Tucson today so it's still boxed up the garage until she hits the rack for the night & I can sneak it into my room.
I was watching the tracking progress & intercepted it by opening the garage door as the van came around the corner. This negated dog alarm & door bell etc.
Plus roomie doesn't go back to work until Wednesday so I still won't be able to make noise for a couple of days... I also need a headphones to plug into the amp for silent practice. Either from Amazon or I'll swing by the local Guitar Center this week.
Damn, life's little frustrations never stop
Depending on your budget, if you want REALLY quiet listening (BOTH directions) I have a couple pairs of these in my studio
www.google.com
In fact, you can see one of my pairs hanging on the left side of the Bass Pod Pro processor in the second pic...
Might be quicker on amazon prime, but I won't try to convince YOU of that (at least til you forget the last couple days
anyway, unless they've been changed they come with the 1/8" mini plug and an adapter to 1/4" - they're NOT "bass-hyped" like rappers and kids like, but they ARE flat and the good seal still gives a nice strong response - no loss at 30 hZ (the low B string on my 6 string fretless bass) - this, compared to my studio bass rig that's a Peavey 1-15 international cab with two MORE 15" black widows on a separate sub amp... Steve
PS - Amazon offers the newer version in a bundle with extra soft parts, same price...
Depending on your budget, if you want REALLY quiet listening (BOTH directions) I have a couple pairs of these in my studio
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Closed-Back Studio and Live Monitoring Headphones
Closed-Back Circumaural Headphones with Folding Design and 32dB of Acoustic Isolation
www.google.com
In fact, you can see one of my pairs hanging on the left side of the Bass Pod Pro processor in the second pic...
Might be quicker on amazon prime, but I won't try to convince YOU of that (at least til you forget the last couple days
anyway, unless they've been changed they come with the 1/8" mini plug and an adapter to 1/4" - they're NOT "bass-hyped" like rappers and kids like, but they ARE flat and the good seal still gives a nice strong response - no loss at 30 hZ (the low B string on my 6 string fretless bass) - this, compared to my studio bass rig that's a Peavey 1-15 international cab with two MORE 15" black widows on a separate sub amp... Steve
PS - Amazon offers the newer version in a bundle with extra soft parts, same price...
Attachments
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ZRX61
Well-known member
I have a local guitar god for advise & stuff... who just happens to owe me a favor as he dinged the gas tank of my ZRX1100 with a guitar several years ago (I should have him sign it..). He currently has a "Stevie Ray Revisited" show & plays with BosStyx tribute band. Might just go the "here, set this up" route.
He also does a mean Gary Moore
He also does a mean Gary Moore
ZRX61
Well-known member
Odd, big scratch on the pick guard...peeled the protective plastic off the pick guard.. scratch remained...
well ****...
Then I notice there are two layers of protective plastic & I can't work out how the hell I managed to peel one layer off without disturbing the second layer.
Removed second layer, all good. That was just bizarre.
well ****...
Then I notice there are two layers of protective plastic & I can't work out how the hell I managed to peel one layer off without disturbing the second layer.
Removed second layer, all good. That was just bizarre.
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ZRX61
Well-known member
They cost almost as much as I paid for the guitar, especially considering they sell the mini amp it comes sells alone for $50:Damn, life's little frustrations never stop
Depending on your budget, if you want REALLY quiet listening (BOTH directions) I have a couple pairs of these in my studio
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro Closed-Back Studio and Live Monitoring Headphones
Closed-Back Circumaural Headphones with Folding Design and 32dB of Acoustic Isolation
In fact, you can see one of my pairs hanging on the left side of the Bass Pod Pro processor in the second pic...
Might be quicker on amazon prime, but I won't try to convince YOU of that (at least til you forget the last couple days
anyway, unless they've been changed they come with the 1/8" mini plug and an adapter to 1/4" - they're NOT "bass-hyped" like rappers and kids like, but they ARE flat and the good seal still gives a nice strong response - no loss at 30 hZ (the low B string on my 6 string fretless bass) - this, compared to my studio bass rig that's a Peavey 1-15 international cab with two MORE 15" black widows on a separate sub amp... Steve
PS - Amazon offers the newer version in a bundle with extra soft parts, same price...
Donner DA-10 Mini Guitar Amp Small Electric Guitar Amplifier 5W Portab - Donner Musical instrument
15-100
www.donnerdeal.com
It's kinda cute, looks just like a full size amp, but the front is barely larger than my cellphone. headphone socket is 1/8in.
This is the kit I got (it shows the wrong amp):
Donner DST-100 HSS Electric Guitar Kit
Donner DST-100 39" Beginner Electric Guitar Kit with Amplifier is a full-size ST-style guitar with an HSS pickup configuration. It is perfect for beginners and comes with all the necessary accessories to start playing right away. Learn more about this affordable and high-quality guitar kit.
www.donnerdeal.com
Tried the auto tuner doodad it comes with, it works but the tuners on the guitar are really sloppy. Tuned it, went back over them all again, couple needed a slight twist.
Def getting Grovers & Regular Slinkies in the very near future
Strings - I use 10-46 gauge strings on all my electrics except one, but I prefer D'addario half-rounds for the lesser string noise (probably NOT a good choice if you use the bumpy round wound strings for an effect (like your bud did on the vid))
Headphones - if you want good isolation it requires fully surrounded ear cups (circumaural) - I won't recommend any of the new "chinese word salad" names, and I only recommend stuff I either own, have used, or had trusted friends recommend. Of those, the least expensive high isolation type is around $35-$50 or higher.
If you wanna know more, say so and I'll list the few I'm familiar with that will do what you asked for... Steve
Headphones - if you want good isolation it requires fully surrounded ear cups (circumaural) - I won't recommend any of the new "chinese word salad" names, and I only recommend stuff I either own, have used, or had trusted friends recommend. Of those, the least expensive high isolation type is around $35-$50 or higher.
If you wanna know more, say so and I'll list the few I'm familiar with that will do what you asked for... Steve
Oh, tuners - personally, if I was trying to keep costs down I would first make sure all screws and nuts (on the original tuners) were as snug as I would do 'em BEFORE dropping ANOTHER $50 on a 6 on a side Grovers (from the pic on amazon I'd guess that one takes the mini's) - it could also be that the nut is kinda grabby from being new, sometimes all it takes is rubbing its grooves with a pencil lead.
Plus, the further up the neck you play the more important it is to dial in all the length adjusters on the bridge so that harmonics agree with fretted notes. Best done with octave harmonic vs. fretted octave. Not quite as important when playing "cowboy chords" as it is with more exotic ones.
Some strings seem to be more susceptible to stretch (going out of tune) when new - 'bout all you can do with those is tune 'em a little high and let 'em "sleep on it", then re-tune. HTH... Steve
Plus, the further up the neck you play the more important it is to dial in all the length adjusters on the bridge so that harmonics agree with fretted notes. Best done with octave harmonic vs. fretted octave. Not quite as important when playing "cowboy chords" as it is with more exotic ones.
Some strings seem to be more susceptible to stretch (going out of tune) when new - 'bout all you can do with those is tune 'em a little high and let 'em "sleep on it", then re-tune. HTH... Steve
smokeysevin
Well-known member
Honestly, this is a decent start to an initial setup and test.
Between CS Guitars, Crimson Guitars, Big D Guitars, and Andertons there are a ton of good resources out there for getting back into it.
If you want to go down a rabbit hole, checkout 5 watt world.
Sean
Between CS Guitars, Crimson Guitars, Big D Guitars, and Andertons there are a ton of good resources out there for getting back into it.
If you want to go down a rabbit hole, checkout 5 watt world.
Sean
Sean, thanks for that; I just watched the vid, and after doing about 50 or so guitars there are a couple of SLIGHTLY different ways I accomplish the same thing; I've hung out and/or modded several boards mostly oriented toward studio design and building, but also getting into instruments/electronics, etc;
I've bookmarked your link and will probably NEVER waste my time actually typing stuff about setup again when a few mouse clicks will do. Nor will I mess with making my own fingerboard shields when polishing frets. Gonna go check Amazon to see if any of Anderton's stuff is available WITHOUT paying $100 shipping from England :=)
Thanks again, pretty sure you just gave me back a few more hours of actual PLAYING time ... Steve
I've bookmarked your link and will probably NEVER waste my time actually typing stuff about setup again when a few mouse clicks will do. Nor will I mess with making my own fingerboard shields when polishing frets. Gonna go check Amazon to see if any of Anderton's stuff is available WITHOUT paying $100 shipping from England :=)
Thanks again, pretty sure you just gave me back a few more hours of actual PLAYING time
... SteveZRX61
Well-known member
That's what I did, tuned it, checked it, put it to bed.
ZRX61
Well-known member
Jeeze, back to spiders, I can hit three out of four notes on one string two out of five times... so I figure spider sessions every day for a month will be a good (re)start
On the upside, that cute little amp works, but I can barely hear it. There may be a Fender Champ 20 in my future (he says, while looking at ad's for Marshall amps & 4x12's....)
& having checked everything else out on the guitar, these Donner tuners really do ****. Ya know what it feels like just as you strip a screw thread or shear a bolt? That's what these feel like... like something inside them is made from playdoh.
Roomie decided she needs another day off tomorrow to recover from Thanksgiving with her family, I have to run some errands on Thursday & will be heading over to Guitar Center for a look around.
Wall hook thingie for hanging guitar arrived today & that's going to be attached to a vertical partition in the closet. It came with 4 really cheesy little screws that I have no faith in, so partition will be drilled & hook thingie attached with nuts & bolts.
Getting back to you guys & guitar fab.... doesn't Grizzly sell kits?
On the upside, that cute little amp works, but I can barely hear it. There may be a Fender Champ 20 in my future (he says, while looking at ad's for Marshall amps & 4x12's....)
& having checked everything else out on the guitar, these Donner tuners really do ****. Ya know what it feels like just as you strip a screw thread or shear a bolt? That's what these feel like... like something inside them is made from playdoh.
Roomie decided she needs another day off tomorrow to recover from Thanksgiving with her family, I have to run some errands on Thursday & will be heading over to Guitar Center for a look around.
Wall hook thingie for hanging guitar arrived today & that's going to be attached to a vertical partition in the closet. It came with 4 really cheesy little screws that I have no faith in, so partition will be drilled & hook thingie attached with nuts & bolts.
Getting back to you guys & guitar fab.... doesn't Grizzly sell kits?
Yup, that and (IIRC) competition shooting is where it all started - supposedly the owner couldn't find decent reasonably priced tools for his hobbies - but it doesn't look like that part was profitable enough; maybe you need a fretboard radiusing sander?
Luthier supplies
www.grizzly.com
From Amazon - no longer available
Lotsa other options tho -
guitarkitworld.com
All those and more from a google search for electric guitar kits ... Steve
Luthier supplies
Search - Grizzly Industrial, Inc.
www.grizzly.com
From Amazon - no longer available
Amazon.com: Grizzly H8068 Telecaster Guitar Kit : Musical Instruments
Amazon.com: Grizzly H8068 Telecaster Guitar Kit : Musical Instruments
www.amazon.com
Lotsa other options tho -
DIY Guitar Kits | Build Your Own Electric & Bass Guitar
Build your own electric or bass guitar with our DIY kits. Everything included: body, neck, pickups, and hardware. Free shipping on every kit. Starting from $179.99.
guitarkitworld.com
All those and more from a google search for electric guitar kits ... Steve
ZRX61
Well-known member
The upgrades have started.. regular Slinkies & some Fender tuners for the Crapocaster today. Forgot to buy a windy thingie, I'll pick that up next time I've over that way & then change the doodads & strings. Clean/crunch distortion thingie button on the amp stopped working the second time I used it.
Looked at various amps while at GC this morning. Still thinking Champ 20 which seems to be the exact same price everywhere ($139).. but kept glancing at the $1000 stuff a few feet away.
Looked at various amps while at GC this morning. Still thinking Champ 20 which seems to be the exact same price everywhere ($139).. but kept glancing at the $1000 stuff a few feet away.
ZRX61
Well-known member
Odd thing looking for the Slinkies. They had all manner of strings & quite possibly every option from Ernie Ball.. except regular Slinkies. I thought they were sold out. I find an employee & mention they have every possible string option except exactly what I'm looking for.
He told me they kept the regular Slinkies up front locked in a display cabinet because "everyone steals those".
He told me they kept the regular Slinkies up front locked in a display cabinet because "everyone steals those".
ZRX61
Well-known member
Ordered windy thingie from Amazon, Donner sending replacement amp. They originally asked for a video of my finger pressing the button to show it doesn't click... FFS. Then after I asked WTF they were thinking they agreed it was a stupid request.
Windy will be here tomorrow, I'll do the strings & tuners upgrade on Monday.
I can now hit four out of four notes on one string multiple times until I get bored doing it.
Have to (re)stretch tendons in one finger to get it to better cooperate (ring finger).
Windy will be here tomorrow, I'll do the strings & tuners upgrade on Monday.
I can now hit four out of four notes on one string multiple times until I get bored doing it.
Have to (re)stretch tendons in one finger to get it to better cooperate (ring finger).
I wasn't sure what you were calling "spiders" - found this
www.guitarhabits.com
Wifey's asleep ATM, but manana looks like a new era of masochism; thanks, it's good to have a VARIETY of ways to inflict pain
The Eight Amazing Spider Exercises for Dexterity - GUITARHABITS
Bigstock photo The spider exercises are one of my favorites. The spider is a cross string picking exercise that is designed to develop dexterity in both hands. If you’re having trouble with either your right hand or left hand coordination and you want to see real improvement then these are the...
www.guitarhabits.com
Wifey's asleep ATM, but manana looks like a new era of masochism; thanks, it's good to have a VARIETY of ways to inflict pain
ZRX61
Well-known member
Windy tool arrived today, replacement amp arrives tomorrow. Plan is to swap out the tuners & strings on Monday....Providing I don't need to ream the holes & the ball ache that involves.
Luckily my step dad decided he didn't need his tin of assorted reamers & gave them to me several years ago... I probably don't have the correct size. No idea what size the Donners are, but the replacements are 9.76mm/0.385in... so an RCH under 3/8in
I'm going to remove the lower E & pop the tuner off. If I need to ream the hole or get the Fender bushings I'll put it back together until I source whatever I need that I don't yet have.
There was more finger improvement today...
Luckily my step dad decided he didn't need his tin of assorted reamers & gave them to me several years ago... I probably don't have the correct size. No idea what size the Donners are, but the replacements are 9.76mm/0.385in... so an RCH under 3/8in
I'm going to remove the lower E & pop the tuner off. If I need to ream the hole or get the Fender bushings I'll put it back together until I source whatever I need that I don't yet have.
There was more finger improvement today...