Learn How to Set 'Em Up Or Pay a Good Techie

The best guitar in the world will sound like drek if it is not properly setup.

Setup refers to:

Action - Height of the strings above the fretboard

Relief - The bow in the neck

Intonation - the open string and the twelfth fret notes match, an octave apart

Pickup Height - This is crucial...and how you arrive at it can vary wildly


I was playing with my PRS and I rotated the pickup selector switch as it had been at an "angle" to my mind. I always expected it one place and found it somewhere else.

Later while talking about this with a friend who had asked, "Which guitar?" I realized I fall into ruts and become a one trick pony. Each guitar has a unique voice.

I have the PRS for humbucker sound  , the Tele for single coil and the Vox for P-90s/humbuckers.
But I seem to prefer the PRS or the Tele...so what's wrong with the Vox?

Unlike more modern incarnations (which use a screw and a spring) the Vox uses rubber tubing to provide the spring force to push and maintain the pickup height.
So when you back the height screws out and would like to see the pickup rise...it just sits there with the screw backing out, aimlessly.
So Gracie sat for a week or three with the screw head looming large but the pickups just as flat as ever.
And because of that, I could not get much more than muddy sound from her.
She sat.

Grrrrrr...

After futzing with a thin icing spatula and getting nowhere I decided to just pull the outer pickup rings themselves.
Voila...They may appear to be separate rings, but infact it is a one piece assembly much like a real P-90.

That is a Gibson P-90

And for comparison, the Vox version

You can see what appears to be a separate ring surrounding the pickup when, it is all one piece. It is more like a top cover affixed to it than a surrounding ring.I went through the rest of the setup procedure and all of a sudden I have the guitar I was looking for.

If you don't know how to do a setup, there are many books on the subject, Dan Erlewine's comes quickly to mind.

Dan's Page

If you'd rather not apply a hex wrench or screwdriver to your guitar, by all means go out and find a reputable technician and pay to have it done. (Reputable does not include any chain operation)

Her knobs are now black aluminum with purple abalone and her fretboard is ebony; she is my Gracie and sounds like a dream.

I Am Not Abe Lincoln

I try to please all the people all the time, and then wonder why it failed.
If failed is the right word? Two people out of a room of thirty five does not constitute 'fail.'

I've thought and spoken of embracing yourself. How one must be happy with themselves before tackling the rest of the world. And we reach a point where we think we have indeed, embraced our inner player...I have heard my voice and I like it.
Just not all the time? Why not? Who am I trying to satisfy?

That is a perfectly human reaction. So why fret?

I was playing my guitar with music I have sat "in on" many, many times.
I heard the sound I was after in my head and I pursued it. Nailed it, too.

Let's try this again. Pick another tune.
No rut? I was thinking "outside the box."
Actually I was just taking the time to think and then play, rather than react and play alone.

One of the wisest men I knew was very slow to answer.
To the point that people who were unfamiliar with his style would begin to step in for him, thinking he wasn't going to say anything.
But no, he was thinking. And his replies were the most well thought out replies you could imagine.

Gee, what? It works the way it is supposed to work? I am fast on my feet, glib. But that is a rut...a reaction and then a response - call & answer.

What if you think while playing? Stop reacting to and instead, think and react with what is happening NOW.

Live in the now?
Is that what they meant? Think as you live, not in reaction to what has happened, but with what is happening now...

So I stopped trying to do what would please someone else, and began to play what would please ME!
Selfish is a virtue.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/12/please-make-me-be-selfish/?hpt=hp_bn12

A Day of Bad Jamming Is Better Than a Good Day At Work

I have a neighbor that through sheer grit, determination and no sense of when he is being a royal pain, hosts more jam sessions than the average bear.

I try to take advantage of these as sources of other contacts more than a chance to play...usually.

And while a good number of them eventually have become productive from my standpoint, there is still a fair amount of garbage to sift through.

Today was such a day.
It has been very warm this summer in California and having to endure withering heat and then to try to play is a tough road. Heat saps creativity. Causes drinking and excess of a cerebral sort that also sap the creative flow.

And this guy is so cheap - he thinks a fan and an open door will solve the air dilemma.
After some back and forth it was concluded to turn his window AC unit on...I could swear it belched dust, it hadn't been used in such a long, long time. After an hour or so, the heat in his living room began to dissipate.

Let the music commence! Ha...one participant was dozing...heat and beer, no doubt.
We began to play and the neighbors began to load up on Rics lawn, having a listen. Ric notices them and goes to open the door.
"The heat..."
"Oh yeah..." He waves. We go back to jamming. None of the invitees are spectacular, in my mind. Nothing clicks, and yet it had been a good session.

I learned something of my phrasing that was missing. I found relative keys without thinking about it...I sounded good at times.

Even the worst jam session beats a day slaving in the salt mines.

Turn A Few Knobs, Why Don'tcha?

In the quest for perfect tone, one aspect we lose sight of is that the target is always changing.
I mean always.

Today I am listening to Weather Report, tomorrow it is The Nazz. How far apart can those two be?
No wonder people start to pull out their hair and begin thinking of capacitor changes, or a new amp. Maybe boutique pickups would solve this weeks dilemma?

I have an equalizer in my pedal-board...to shape the frequency response. How often do I adjust the ten bands? We tend to fall into patterns...ruts.

My OD has two sets of tone controls. I do move them every time I change guitars; but only to recreate the same sound with the different pickups. Another rut.

My amp has knobs.

I don't use the "Drive" channel, but there is one knob for treble middle and bass bands.

If you were to reflect for a moment you quickly see that I have many ways to shape the basic sound as I play.

How often do I try for the opposite sides of the rainbow?
Not.often.enough.

Once we catalog a sound we like, why move the knobs? With so many, it is entirely possible to never recreate exactly the same sound. Should I be logging an entry for each sound?

Nah...the answer is craft a sound that matches the sound you are hearing in your head...and they are not all the same. Wayne Shorter does not sound like Todd Rundgren.
Easy, actually...but humans like the easy way out.

When I bought the many OverDrive pedals I have acquired through the years, it was looking for a particular tone. Why expect one pedal to nail Eric Clapton today and Hendrix tomorrow?
(Actually,  a HALO can...)
Harmonic Amp Like Over Drive

But it is a rare thing, indeed.

I tend to play Fender single coils, humbuckers or P-90s. Three very distinct sounds.
So why aim for the middle of the target only when there so many shades of sound and color if you vary from the center...think outside the box?

Sharing...That's All There Is

The universal truth that all humanity has been searching hi & lo since time began. And we never felt that the answer was within our grasp. We are omnipotent, we went to the Moon, we fly with impunity. And yet, in our collective heart we know this to be a brave face towards mortality.

Here it is:
Be Selfish to Extremes.
Share Everything.

Follow these two things and you will be healthier and happier.

I was leaving a venue in which I heard music of my generation, done my way - No, not FreeBird - Watermelon Man...ala Herbie, by a four piece band in their kiddie fedoras?!
I was so impressed I began to enjoy myself.

I walked into an alley with a group of young people, one of whom had a joint.
"Nothing for me?" I asked.

He gave me the rest of his joint. We traded skin and parted. Sharing. Be it random or most intimate. If you are lucky enough to know intimate exchange...you are favored, blessed, well looked after.

Why we hippies shared everything...it was fun! It was so cool to share my food and since you have some weed, we'd take care of each other.

But those moments are what make life - Mick said it...Life's just a cocktail party, on the streets...
And the mix, is up to you!
Be a wallflower your entire life, or get up and dance.

I am out of breath, I dance so much.

My Inner Emelda

There are many accessories that guitarists have use for.
Picks
Strings
String Winders
Patch Cords
Straps

Most of these objects have very little to do with fashion...with the one exception of straps.
Levi is one of the larger manufacturers of guitar straps.
Of every material, length and price.

And like Emelda Marcos, I have a collection of straps that far outweighs my needs as dictated by the number of guitars I have at any given moment.
Why?

Certainly NOT because I like the way they look. I couldn't care any less. I don't see them. They are to hold my guitar, the more securely, the better. The best strap I owned was a gawd awful looking Ernie Ball strap that was stiffer than a Victorians collar. It was a gaudy, silly looking thing.
Gold color with black outlined stars and the name "Ernie Ball" done the same as the stars.
I was disappointed when it finally broke.

I buy straps because of how long they will last. The stiffer, the more hard plastic, the better I like it.
I also need a strap that has a range of adjustment. I like my guitar held rather high, so the minimum strap is more important than how low it'll go.

I was recently playing at a fair setting and the bass player spoke about the strap I had brought.
"Dude, it doesn't go with your shirt."

I was ready to dismiss the thought when it struck me.
I do dress for gigs. I look good when I play dress up - don't we all?
So if I care about my own look, shouldn't I try to match the strap, much as I would match my shirt and tie?

Yes, it is low on the priority list, but it does mean something.

Tension Is What Causes Change

Big Trouble Little China - there is a scene in which the troubles of the world are boiled down to this:

"But there is one thing even David Lo Pan must acknowledge. All movement in the universe is caused by tension between positive and negative furies."

Without tension there are no dynamics, no movement...entropy.

Musically, in life...this can be applied anywhere.

I am currently very content with my music, with my guitar, with my sound. And then it takes effort to sit and play take after take to achieve perfection. To even attempt perfection.

A rut is the outcome when one is content.

Tensions are to be savored. No, not conflict. But tensions. Two desires working in different but not opposing directions. They can be made to work in harmony...another musical term.

But it takes effort and it doesn't always directly affect music. You have to have a long term outlook.

A sense of patience.

This works...in a piece of music as well. No, really? 

Dynamics are life to music. And seemingly everything else.

This is why I dislike compressor pedals.