Jester700

I think the V-Amp2 sounds OK. IMO it's in the same class as the original POD, but not as good overall as Yamaha's DG Stomp. I never tried the Vox.

The amp's not a bad buy, but it's not made that well. A pal has one and the pot shaft broke (not the knob - the SHAFT) - it was plastic.

Jeremy, what do you do with the dents? Drop fill first, then sand level?

He's wrong; the need for a truss rod has nothing to do with the neck/body joint, and the biggest effect of the truss rod is well away from there - more in the 5th-9th fret area.

Even harder than stainless would be some types of high carbon tool steel or ceramic. But these would be even harder to shape into frets, and in the case of ceramic, probably too brittle anyway.

I'm happy with my stainless frets.

You can put hum's in a single spot....buy stacked hum's. They are true hum's in a single coil size pack. I have some here in a box in my shop but don't recall the brand offhand. I can look if you want.....or ask Scott Rosenberger.....I'm sure he'll have the brand and model.

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There are 2 kinds of single-sized hums. Stacked and side-by-side. Keep in mind that they will sound different. Stacked ones basically sound like single coils but without any hum. Side by sides basically sound like full sized humbuckers. Both have compromises, but that's the idea. So, which sound do you want?

Another note - though some full sized hums can be split to do a passable single coil sound, the few "single sized side by side" hums I've had weren't very good at it.

You could use a dummy coil, but IMO you'd get better results replacing the 2 pickups you use with stacked humbuckers. Same idea, but better implementation. Yes, these won't be exact clones of true singles, but they'll be closer than the dummy coil idea. If one pickup is RWRP, you can wire it so only the top (active) coils are used when the 2 are both on. This WILL give you true "2 single coil" sound, and will still be humbucking.

There are lots of parts to this puzzle. The traditional definition of tension is pretty straightforward, and is a function of string, pitch, and scale length. Longer scale=higher tension at the same pitch & the same strings. BUT... as mentioned above, other things enter into it when you're talking about the practical aspects of guitar playing - mostly that means bending.

The same strat will feel different if lock nuts are tightened down - that's because even though the tension is the same, there is more string length to stretch *without* the lock nut. It'll feel "looser". That's why non-locking reverse headstocks feel different - they're looser on bass strings, tighter on treble strings than "normal". Again, this is only while bending - the overall tension is the same.

With the jazzbox tailpiece, you gain a lot of extra string length to stretch, so bends are easier. Of course, with typical jazz strings, it still ain't that easy... ;-)

I'm boycotting DiMarzio for their legal tactics, but the site comes in a close second!

Yeah, hotter buckers usually split better, and splits work best when combined with another pickup IMO (rather than on their own). The Duncan JB splits well, as does the Stag Mag (but the Stag Mag is designed specifically for this).

Good Luck on the assignment!

1. Solidbody electric guitar, I have no single brand favorite

2. Yes, several (I think 14)

3. 2 steel string acoustics, 1 classical (nylon string acoustic), 2 basses, 9 solid body electrics

4. All but 2 or 3 came from eBay

5. A mutt that I put together from Ibanez and Carvin parts

6. Yes, 4

7. 1 Carvin guitar amp, 2 peavey guitar amps, 1 Fender bass amp

8. The biggest amp is 50 watts

9. 25 years

10. Maybe an 8. I'm a part time teacher; I just don't think I'm a particularly good one. My students obviously disagree. ;-)

Ah. Sorry. By "keep as much sound as possible in the recording room" I thought you meant to keep it from getting OUT. So, then...

Yeah, foam will work to disperse slap & flutter echoes and tame the high end. But do consider the other means that I mentioned - they work, too. And you probably won't need to cover entire walls; just put some absorptive materials up until the overall balance is what you want. What are the walls? Studs & wallboard?

Remember also that foam won't do squat for the bass. You will hear thumps from outside, as others will hear your kick drum and bass guitar. Pure physics - you need mass to absorb that, and NO foam has it. Concrete does... ;-)

If you look at the absorption coefficient of the various foams at different frequencies, you'll see that the deeper the wedges the lower the absorption goes (in terms of frequencies). But at 125Hz they ALL suck. So you end up with a room that is muffled and boomy, and recordings sound that way. Best IMO to just make the room SOUND good. And if the room is bright or has slap echoes, judicious use of foam works great. But then, so do drapes, mattresses, bookshelves, and several other things. If you really need soundproofing, it's gonna be a major project.

A 3.5" speaker will not handle 150W over the entire audio range. You feed a 150W 80Hz signal to that and it's toast. It was probably measured at 1k or some such single frequency, which means nothing.

A guitar's low E is about 80Hz, so you want to cover that (and maybe lower). A 12" speaker does this well, and so can a 10" if it's designed to. Smaller than that and you usually start to get some rolloff. But it also greatly depends on the cabinet and how it's made - closed, open back, or ported. The highs are REALLY muted by all these speakers because there's no tweeter - just a relatively big woofer that doesn't reach very high. That's why one big effect of modelers' "cabinet sims" is to suck out a lot of highs.

Even beyond amount of bass, small speakers & cabinets aren't generally as efficient as big ones. It sounds counterintuitive, but you can actually get by with SMALLER amps if you use big, efficient cabinets.

As for rewiring cabs to decrease impedance & increase wattage: be careful. IF the amp isn't rated to drive the impedance you end up with, it can heat up beyond its design. That can trip thermal protection, blow fuses, or at worst toast the amp. So make sure the Mackie is OK with 4 ohms.

So basically, you're looking to build this:

Bose Musician Personal Amplification System

If I save up enough pennies, I'm definitely getting one of those someday.

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As always, listen first. I have no experience with that particular setup, but the concept brings to mind a bunch of questions, and I've never seen a Bose product that was worth half of the hype...

lovekraft hit the nail on the head. The one spec you missed in the first post was the important one - efficiency. Basically, when you double the amp power into a speaker, you increase output by 3dB. So going from a 96dB speaker (usually measured on axis, 1 meter away, i watt input) to a 102dB one would be like quadrupling your amp power. As a rough guide, 10dB is usually considered "twice as loud", so that 6dB is a good bit of difference.

Whatever setup you want to try, I would try to look at an existing implementation of it. Have you listened to the Bose 901? One listen to them would be enough to swear me off wanting to try that... Other opinions may differ, of course.

You can DEFINITELY tell, but whether it's worth it depends on your taste and the split sound of those specific pickups.

I bought a Badlands CD a couple of months ago thinking I'd be treating myself to some kick-butt Jake Lee. I was stunned at what I heard - it sounded like a garage band and each song sounded dissapointingly similar. There's no possible way that Jake Lee played on that CD. I wish I could remember the title of the CD - I just threw the thing out the same day I bought it. I remember reading the band member list and not seeing him on there but I can't remember any of their names.

Are there two Badlands groups out there? Is it possible I got a real old one or something (before he joined?)

Can anyone recommend one of the real Jake Lee  / Badlands CDs?

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Well, the first one was just called BADLANDS, and the first song on it was called HIGH WIRE. I love that album, but it is a pretty raw sound - that's what they were going for. The second one, Voodoo highway, wasn't as good, IMO.

I have 3 Carvin necks now, and I just wanted to add my vote - they rock.

The lawsuits are definitely real history. There was a Mackie one and one other I read of, but I can't remember the brand. But they've "copied" a LOT more than those.

The thing is, if they make something look & act similar to another product but sell for less, that doesn't bug me (though it may sometimes be infringing - I dunno). After all, they could make a virtual clone of something that still sounds NOTHING like the original. But if they do illegal things in reverse engineering the guts - that's another story. We'll see if the new pedals are just lookalikes or also soundalikes.

Oh, yeah - some basics. The P90 was Gibson's earlier pickup, and it was a single coil model. Some call it a "soapbar" because it kinda looks like one. It was more muscular than the strat or tele single coils, becauseit had a big magnet underneath instead of magnetic polepieces, and more winding - maybe 8k resistance instead of the 6k or so typical of strat pups. Great for blues, but also cool for classic rock.

The PAF was Seth Lover's creation - the humbucker. It used 2 coils with 1 magnet underneath like the P90. Although each coil was weak by itself, together they were thick, full, and midrangey. Probably the most popular classic rock pickup.

Why not look into PAFs made by DiMarzio or '59s made by Duncan? Every bit as good as a Gibson product, and cheaper.

Or, go ballz out and pay $125 each for custom wound ones.

hey guys, i was wondering, is it ok if i sand the back of my guitar's neck to make it a little slimmer? right now it's not that fat but i wanted it to be a little slimmer and flatter.

And if i do that what do i put on the neck in terms of finish...i mean what is originally on there.

Thanks.

You can. As Wes says, you run the risk of weakening it, but that depends on how much you sand, how far up, and how thick it is to start with. I did it on a Carvin neck with great results, but I suspect it had a lot more wood to start with, plus they use graphite rods for extra stability.

If you do, you can tung oil it for a natural feel, or use a spray on or wipe on polyurethane. I generally use a wipe on satin poly for ease of application & cleanup, and it turns out OK.

I guess you could do that to lighten up the body.  Just remember that you will be taking the balance away from the guitar.  The result could be a neck heavy instrument and there is no real way to fix that, aside from adding weight to the body,  .

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Well, you could shave the neck down & install lighter tuners and/or tuning keys...

The Schaller/Floyd replacement arm can be screwed tight to stay put,

yes,but without modifying it with tape,it still backs off and becomes loose...because like i said,trem bar masters do not want it to be up in the way.

i mean really...all this is is a way to avoid learning the teqcnique of proper bar use. i never have a problem reaching down and grabbing it anymore.all that mess was only a problem when i first started trying to use it.

but whatever.have fun trying to keep your picking hand really tight and still so you can play with that bar in the way without bumping it

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That's pretty presumptuous. I've been playing floyds for 20 years, and I can use 'em fine either way, but I still PREFER them staying where I put 'em. It's not "proper technique" - it's ONE WAY of doing things. The fact that more (or even the vast majority) of players prefer it differently doesn't mean squat to me. When it's "up in the way" it still isn't in the way - I often pick close to the neck and don't move my hand that much. Ask many jazzers who play this way.

Alder, IMO. I like basswood OK, and I like the lighter weight. But overall I'd choose alder.