General Music Chat

Maybe it's just me, but I've had 6 Gibsons over the years, and I always find it a funky proposition to get the G string to really SOUND in tune. The axes are intonated properly, and read ok on a tuner, but the Gibsons always sound a little off as compared to my Telecasters, which to my ears sound dead on.

My paul does have a little G string fetish too. I believe it may be in part due to the rather unique neck length.
But truth be known had same effect on my Strat. Seems the G was first to go out of tune. It is also the one I bend most often. so may just be my style of play.

I usually have more trouble with B strings, also think Gibsons soiund way closer to intonated than Teleceasters, especially the older style 3 saddle jobs, I hate those. No matter what you do you can only intonate 3 strings, the others have to be halfway off and I can hear it.

The number one reason a well intonated guitar sounds out of tune is you're pressing too hard when fretting the strings. My acoustic gives me fits, I have to be careful with it or anything from about the 5th fret or so will be off, but the B will be flat instead of sharp, which is what usually happens. The Peavey Patriot seems to be really sensitive to it, I have trouble with it a lot on open chords. Everybody thinks that guitar sounds really good when I play gigs, most bands try to get me to use it more. It's like a Telecaster sound from a Strat body, bright and chimey. Always the B string though...The Washburn and Cort, both Gibson-ish, don't give me any trouble at all.

I've noticed this with the Gibsons, too, & it's the main reason that I don't like them.

I think it's the p/u's. They seem to bring out certain off-color harmonics to my ear. I think this is one of the main reasons I avoid southern rock, since Gibson is the guitar of choice for most SR bands.

Yeah, it's funny how the tuner shows them to be in perfect pitch, yet they only sound right when they're slightly out of tune. Maybe it's like a piano, I dunno, but I'm not a fan of Gibsons (but I DO like piano).

My problem has always been B string tuning / intonation with fender guitars.

Funny.

I don't really like either gibson or fenders anymore.

Theres a simple fix.

Buy a 12 pack and by halfway thru you wont notice it anymore, if not drink the rest real quick and it will for sure be gone.

So THAT's why all the SR rock fans are always so poop-faced! (Sorry, Craig!)

Philby you may have a point, pickups bringing out overtones, but on the other hand I have two double humbucker guitars, Cort CL 1500 and Washburn BT 2 Billy Thorpe model that both have no problems at all. I'll have to check the scale length, the BT 2 is a cross between strat and les paul, strat body with humbuckers and 3 on a side tuners I'm not sure what the scale lenght is though. The Cort is a hollow body, sounds fantastic and stays in tune really well, I've never had any tuning problems with it at all. The one that gives me the most grief is the Peavey Patriot. Great guitar, I love the way it plays and sounds, but intonation gives me fits, and it's more sensitive to temperature changes than any of the others. And it's the only guitar I ever bought that only took me 30 seconds to decide I wanted it...unplugged no less...I didn't plug it in until I played it for a couple of minutes, I knew it was mine before I ever plugged it into an amp! It's always been a bear to keep the B string from sounding just a bit off, usually sharp, so I pull up on it and it drops right back into place, and that's sitting on a stand untouched, not after playing and hitting the whammy bar...let an air conditioner vent come on above me and intonation goes out the window though and that really sucks...

I have the same problem with my Goddess. I check tune between ever song now just as a matter of course.
Once she settles in to the ambiant temp. she does quite well.

Actually I have 4 Les Pauls and they all take a little time to settle into room temp, plus the g-string takes a lot of abuse, Id say for solos that I use it more than any other string, wither in combination or by itself.

My Lesters actually stay in tune pretty good, as said before I think its mainly the transitions in temp that work on them, I leave one on a stand at my house all the time and never take it out and it rarely goes out of tune. Also when you play chords the g-string gets a lot of use, lately Ive noticed my low E going out more then the G, but we go back and forth to Drop-D all nite.

Also, since Ive been playing so much, I think that my touch on the guitar is getting lighter and lighter so Im not wrenching the guitar out of tune as much. I used to really manhandle the guitar a lot more than I do now.

I used to change the strings every gig, but lately on Blackie my main Paul I use all the time, you know Pete the one I messed up with the sticker, Ive done 6 shows and not changed the strings, they are a little dead but they have really settled in.

Im doing a wedding tonight so I may play the Strat most of the night for a change and also to play with a little less edge, for stuff like Wonderful Tonite, Mainstreet and Mustang Sally. Strats Clean up a lot easier than Pauls do.

My Aria bass goes sharp when I 1st start to play it. Once I get it warmed with my hands, it gets consistantly in tune.

I don't think that's the case w/Gibsons, though. I really think there are harmonic overtones that just don't fit my ear well, & drinking doesn't seem to help...LOL...perhaps it does have something to do with the hummers with neck length or somesuch.

Pete will shoot me over this Strat I stickered up, I think you have to give folks something to talk about. Its not all about the music, its the whole image and being unique in any way gives you an edge.







Pete that Black Les Paul was bought just for gigs, Ive retired my nicer ones except for special occasions.

Well the stickers with the band names on them are quite nice actually.. not a fan of the rest though hehe
Solid axe.

Hey they're your guitars, put on stickers if you want to, that's your business. I wouldn't, and don't really like to see them done that way, but I will say...

Shame on you!

I'm still thinking about a pinstripe job on one of my el cheapo Tele copies, but it will probably be masked and painted after a trial run with some tape to see how it will look.

I didn't think to mention the ambient temperature issue, that's always a problem, and I now get my guitars inside and out of the cases first thing so they can come to room temp while I set up, at least 45 minutes, I prefer over an hour when possible. That's why air conditioner vents give me fits, one place locally has one directly above me and I can't keep a guitar in tune more than 2 songs or so, and also usually have to wear a jacket all night because it freezes me. I get cold easy though...the A/C comes on and halfway through the song I'm outta tune...

Sitting in the house on the stand, all of them stay in tune really well, in fact when I recorded Sihlouette of A Daydream all I did was check the tuning, didn't have to touch the tuners at all and it hadn't been put on a tuner in over a month. The Cort CL1500 stays in tuine that well too, I almost never have to tweak it. Surprisingly the strat style floating bridge guitars both stay in tune fairly well at home too, (Squier Strat and Peavey Patriot) usually I find one or two strings very slightly off, just enough to hear the difference. One division on my Qwik Tune is a very slight difference...but that's all they vary sitting on the stand.

One place in Baton Rouge (mid 80's) the owner let us put a baffle in front of the A/C vent over the stage to force the air to the front of us since it gave us so much trouble with intonation. We'd bring something with us every time we played there. Direct the air somewhere else and no problems. Until then we were all retuning every couple of songs. (2 guitars and bass)

JW that would be a nice looking strat without all the ugly stickers...

couldn't resist...

Hey has anyone ever used one of those self-tuning guitars, or are they relegated to the beginner? Seem pretty high priced for a beginner, to me.