General Music Chat

GA, mine's an acoustic.
But the upgrades you're thinking about suggest you might be throwing good money after bad. You should consider saving the bucks for a new guitar, when you're ready . . .

GA, mine's an acoustic.
But the upgrades you're thinking about suggest you might be throwing good money after bad. You should consider saving the bucks for a new guitar, when you're ready . . .

Lol. Yeah, it would be expensive I guess. I rather just have a company make it for me, at least it would not be a wreck. However, I should just save up the $900 dollars and get that M1000 ESP I wanted.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

My suggestion is not to set your sites on any one guitar.
Instead, every single time you enter a music store, ask to play one of the guitars.
You'll know when you've got the right guitar on your hands.
The true value of a guitar is NOT how many dollars you pay for it.
The true value of a guitar is what YOU can DO with it.

My suggestion is not to set your sites on any one guitar.
Instead, every single time you enter a music store, ask to play one of the guitars.
You'll know when you've got the right guitar on your hands.
The true value of a guitar is NOT how many dollars you pay for it.
The true value of a guitar is what YOU can DO with it.

You know what? That is very good advice, thanks man. I think hearing it from someone who has played as long as you and is as skilled as you helps. I will keep that in mind when I go tomorrow or whenever to check out the new guitars.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

Good points. I guess I don't think too much about it, but I've always practiced on a cheap guitar or an acoustic, it makes the electrics and good guitars great to play. But I guess that's how I manage to also get any guitar to sound good. For about 5 years all I had was a nylon string classical guitar, you wouldn't believe the songs I learned on that thing...Sultans of Swing for instance...Now I usually practice on the Takamine, it's great for an acoustic but probably the hardest guitar to play of my collection.

That said, I much prefer a good guitar, and with the tendon injury the neck has to be thin, no matter what the quality of the guitar, if it's too fat I'm in pain. Les Pauls are out of the question.

By the way I've also been looking through the posts with folks here checking out some of the recordings and offering opinions, I'm on dialup so it takes a half hour for them to load, so please don't hold it against me if I don't listen to too many of them. It not only takes ages, anything else I try to do online slows down to a crawl, so I just about have to let it download overnight or it's really aggravating, can't hear the song and can't do anything else...

EDIT:

I forgot, I agree with rythm man here, that first act guitar wouldn't be worth spending a lot of money on, I'd take care of whatever maintenance and repairs I can do myself with no cash outlay, other than maybe $6 for a good bone nut, and set my sights on a better guitar wwith the money that didn't go into that one. Adjust the nut, bridge and maybe even level the frets, truss rod only if necessary, an dleave the hardware alone. By the time you put a new bridge on it (with tremolo), new pickups, new tuners, new volume and tone pots you've paid for 2/3 or more of a decent strat or Epiphone LP. Some of the Korean and Japanese guitars are getting pretty decent these days, lots better than the Japanese imports of the 60's I played for years.

If it's just a little time you can spare, fine, but that guitar won't be worth sinking a lot of money into. I wouldn't hesitate to put a good bone nut in it though, it's under $10, not hard to do except for cutting the slots, that's probably not more than $30 at a shop with a good guitar tech, maybe less. That goes for acoustic or electric.

The rest is not hard, just tedious. I've sanded many bridge saddles, leveled frets on every guitar I have, completely rebuilt a couple, thinned a couple of necks, adjusted a few truss rods, and I went through a couple of my electrics and re-soldered everything in them and in one case replaced all the wiring, usually starting out because I had to replace a dead volume or tone pot...

None of it is difficult, the only thing really risky is the truss rod because it breaks so easy. I let mine settle in for a week before even thinking about further adjustments, and I oil it the night before I start (only the first time and once a year or so) and give it overnight for the oil to penetrate. One drop, that's all it takes, but it helps loosen rust and lets the threads work easier with less chance of binding. I also loosen it slightly before a tightening adjustment, to make sure it's not in a bind already.

Use this guitar to learn all that on, when you get a better one you'll be able to maintain it and won't be learning on an expensive axe you don't want to ruin.

Oh, I think you mentioned blue inlays...just mask around them and paint, tons easier than trying to remove the inlays, that's a real chore and you have to be very careful and exact. I would leave them alone myself, I'd be afraid the paint would affect the playability of the guitar.

Good points. I guess I don't think too much about it, but I've always practiced on a cheap guitar or an acoustic, it makes the electrics and good guitars great to play. But I guess that's how I manage to also get any guitar to sound good. For about 5 years all I had was a nylon string classical guitar, you wouldn't believe the songs I learned on that thing...Sultans of Swing for instance...Now I usually practice on the Takamine, it's great for an acoustic but probably the hardest guitar to play of my collection.

That said, I much prefer a good guitar, and with the tendon injury the neck has to be thin, no matter what the quality of the guitar, if it's too fat I'm in pain. Les Pauls are out of the question.

By the way I've also been looking through the posts with folks here checking out some of the recordings and offering opinions, I'm on dialup so it takes a half hour for them to load, so please don't hold it against me if I don't listen to too many of them. It not only takes ages, anything else I try to do online slows down to a crawl, so I just about have to let it download overnight or it's really aggravating, can't hear the song and can't do anything else...

Do not worry, I think everyone here understands the internet thing. I hate Dialup, I would die with it (Not to mention be out of a job, lol).

As far as the guitar thing goes, I understand what you are going through with the fat necks man. My carpal tunnel can be very annoying with different things. It is harder for me to play acoustics because of it. I also have to watch myself because if I play too fast I can burn out my hands.

You must have posted that while I was editing.

I think I have carpal tunnel creeping in too, on top of the existing tendon problem. I'm not looking forward to living with it for 40 more years...the original injury was in 1968. The tendon was cut between the wrist and top knuckles, and to move the ring finger at all the middle and/or pinkie just about have to move too. Some nights I play lots of slide because it hurts too much, barre chords are impossible at those times. I've had to play most of the night holding the guitar neck almost straight up when I can't bend my wrist to reach the strings. It's like carpal tunnel with an attitude...I also had to switch from .010 gauge strings on my electrics to .009's to get it to ease up a bit, I didn't like that at all, I liked playing .010's.

But it hasn't stopped me in nearly 40 years, and I'm betting they'll have to pry a guitar out of my hands to bury me...

You must have posted that while I was editing.

I think I have carpal tunnel creeping in too, on top of the existing tendon problem. I'm not looking forward to living with it for 40 more years...the original injury was in 1968. The tendon was cut between the wrist and top knuckles, and to move the ring finger at all the middle and/or pinkie just about have to move too. Some nights I play lots of slide because it hurts too much, barre chords are impossible at those times. I've had to play most of the night holding the guitar neck almost straight up when I can't bend my wrist to reach the strings. It's like carpal tunnel with an attitude...I also had to switch from .010 gauge strings on my electrics to .009's to get it to ease up a bit, I didn't like that at all, I liked playing .010's.

But it hasn't stopped me in nearly 40 years, and I'm betting they'll have to pry a guitar out of my hands to bury me...

Yeah man, I did not catch the edit, apologize about that. I see what you mean, you guys are probably right, too expensive to upgrade it, though I still would love to build a custom guitar. I will probably use this one as a junk one, just mess with it. It is a good idea to mess with it and learn how to handle it, rather than mess with a new one. Thanks for the advice on that subject.

As far as the carpal tunnel goes, I have it fairly rough, not severe though. I already play on .009-.042 gauge strings, I have never tried the higher ones. But I plan on it once I get a better guitar, I want a fuller sound since I play metal. This guitar though, I think, I will just continue to use the thinner strings on. I know how you feel about not wanting to let go of the instrument. There are times that even when I am in a lot of pain I do not want to drop it, someone would have to pry it out of my hands with the jaws of death.

At any rate, peace out man, GuitarAnatomy.

And, THEN, when you pick up the GOOD guitar . .

hmm it probably works for some just fine, but others like me, for better or for worse, cannot abide crappy/substandard (non-good) sound.

Not saying by any stretch that I'm a pro, cause I'm not.
but I've been playing long enough to warrant a nice guitar, because...well..I like a nice sound.
I'm motivated more when I'm playing a well built/sounding guitar.

But hey, it takes all kinds of us!
Good discussion lads..

Rich