Speedy McFeely

they sell wilkinsons that retrofit to the six hole vintage strat set up.

your time signature for the piece is 4/6 i think, because you have 6 beats per measure. if i was going to put a tap on the 22nd fret, i would have it in between the triplets. so instead of 16ths like the rest of the track, i would have one 32nd where the tap would be. count it out in you head. 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2-3-44-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2-3-44-5-6. it will sound almost like an extra note on the measure, but it's the only way i can play it to not sound like sonic mush. that is a fast passage to play, at least well at this late at night.

what is the time sig for the track, also your bpm. i have found that if i play an arpeggio sweep, it seems to fit better as a triplet (16th note) run in the measure. however, if the time sig is like 4/7, or and odd time, then you would have to compansate by playing eighths, but it would sound un finished. i play allot of wacky timed stuff, so when it comes to a tough solo to work out, i revert back to triplets, and modify it a little to not sound dissedent or off tempo.

5150 combo, echoplex, boss dd-2 delay. alder guitar with seymore jb in the bridge. less is more. tones is from you, not your gear. i like tubes and reverb, neo-classical as it gets, just ask Yngwie.

the buzz system has a compensating nut, and the frets are crowned in such a way that the guitar is perfectly intonated across all strings and all notes. BUZZ FEITON FRETS ARE NOT STANDARD FRETS. they are angled so the parts of the fret that actually touches the string is in the right place for intonation. the compansating nut compansates for the scale of each string to maintain a perfect 25.5, 24...etc. it is a precise system, but it's not voodoo. i had a Tom Anderson with the system for a few years, it's a big difference in sound, but not in feel. once you hear a guitar in perfect tune, it makes all other standard fretted guitars sound like poo poo. just run a google seach, you will find all kinds of explainations.

that is correct. the yellow and black is the middle pup. it is labled different too let you know it is out of phase from the others.

i use d'addario xl120's, with a sinlge 48 on the bottom. so my high b is a .009. basicly it is just like a standard 7 sting pack, with a lighter bass string, .048 vise .052. if you wanted a high a, i think you should use a .010 at the lightest, there is going to be allot of tension there.

my bad, you da man. still the RK has too many tubes for the poor man. long live solid state. he he, just kidding.

it took a little getting used to, but about as much time as it took to get used to a low b. once you go to the high b tuning, you are hard pressed to finda reason to retune and have to reset the trem balance again. really though, i have played this a few times at different gigs, and everyone asks how i get the wacky tones for my solos... they search for the whammy, but he is not there, for i am the whammy master!!

the jem is a high quality guitar. it may be made of "not so special" woods, but it is a quality piece. ibanez takes time to make sure it's japanise sig models are top notch. i have a 77fp from 1988, the first year, and it is still an awesome inturment, sounds great, and plays incredible. things like pick ups can be changed, but bare in mind that the pick ups are dimarzios, not cheap ibanez v series pick ups. the jem has many unique features, like the monkey grip, lions claw trem route, and the 77 has an awesome material top, and back. i agree with cannuck, if you can get a 77fp for 750, get it, if you don't like it, they sell for over 1000 on ebay all of the time.

did you play the import wolfgang or the american special or american standard? my axis is way heavier than my wolfgangs. you didn't like the body contour of the wolfie while playing it? i think its soo much more comfy, like a strat vs. a tele. i like a slimmer body though. i guess when it comes down to it, it's all about opinion. i'm sure that's why EB/MM still make the AXIS/EVH. you are right about the olp, it feels cheap, but if you are a beginner, or on a tight budget, i still think it's a good deal.

have him mic you thru the PA. then you will still sound good, just louder. seems like a good compromise to me.

guess i'm just PASSIVE aggressive.

i thought the road king was a triple rectumfrier? i had a dual recto for a while, liked it until the tubes needed replacing, 200 bucks later i sold it and got my 5150. the RK has like 22,000 tubes in it. good thing JP is rich

the AXIS is the exact same as the EVH, they had to move the pickup switch to avoid a suit, but it's the same otherwise. it feels almost identical to the wolfgang neck wise and weight and balance. the tone of the wolfie is a little bit warmer, the axis is a tad brighter. i think the wolfgang is a better guitar, here's why. 1. dual action truss rod, with graphite reenforced neck. on the EB/MM Axis/EVH you cannot take all of the tension off of the neck unless you loosen the trus rod, it will damage the neck and the body, so you have to replae one string at a time. 2. the wolfie comes with the d-tuna already installed, on an axis you have to pay 40 bucks and then install it. 3. the wolfie has an arched top, just cooler IMO. 4. this is just a personal pref, i like the body shape of the wolf better, and it has an angled headstock, which i like better also. now if you wanted to get a wolfie special, it is practicly the same guitar as the axis, just not as fancy, but the special is identical when it comes to feel and neck and it has a flat top. Peavey has an import special with a veneer top, it looks and sounds cool, it's like $500. so i would get one of those before i got an olp, but the olp's are nice for $200. OLP vs. AXIS, save and get an AXIS. AXIS vs. WOLFGANG, get the peavey. these are just my two cents.

i wasn't pertaining to the people who have a valid reason for not liking the HZs. Wes i'm pretty sure you have tried out several types of pick ups, (as have most of us) before you found one that works for your style. the snob remark is for all of the guys who have never heard or played them, but for the soul fact they are not their trusty 81's. i like the active pick ups, they are great, i really like the 85 and the 89. i was just arguing the other side of the fence, it's greener over here by the way.

1. the distance from the pick up to the strings is very important because of the magnetic field created by the pick up. when the strings move within this magnetic field it creates an electric current, this in turn creates the sound you hear. if the strings are too far away from this field, or out of it entirely, then you'll have weak output, and if they are too close then it will interfear with the string movement, thus making it sound out of tune, or like complete ****. 2. impeadence is kind of hard for me to explain, think of it as noise. the less noise the quieter, thus more noise = a hotter pick up, if someone else could explain this better in reference to pick ups please due. 3. line level is a different level of output. it is a much weaker signal, like the rca cables on the back of a tv. they are red and white. well these are also a much cleaner signal, and with it being quieter also, it makes it possible to plug directly into a computer sound card and not be distorted, or too loud for the input. 4. earthing or grounding the strings is not dangerous, in fact if you didn't ground the strings via the bridge it would buzz you right out of your room. grounding makes the noise go away, and shielding makes the quiet quieter. they are refering to a malfunctioning tube amp sending the electricity to the ground of the guitar instead of its cable or chassis ground. electricity fallows the path of least resitance, this being you, and ZZAAPP!!! so if you were to put a proper shield or a capacitor in the input cahin of a guitar, it would protect you from such an insident. 5. a preamp is a way of controling the output of an electronic source. it is like your guitar amp there is a pre amp, which controls the EQ, and the gain, and it make the intial output, then this signal goes to the power amp, which controls volume of the amp. so if you had an active pick up, you would need a way to make the very quiet output of the pick up louder and you wanted to adjust or set the EQ levels then the pre amp is the way. the pre amp is just the first amp, hence PRE-amp. and the reviews are mostly by EMG snobs, they are the same people that say "Vintage" guitars are better because they were first. the HZ4 and the 81 sound very similar, but the passive HZs allow you to wire it however you wanted, ie coiltap, out or in phase, parallel or in series. however the passives are still passive, so they are a little noisier, but propper shielding will make this an almost moot point. does this explain anything?

they have the same body shape as the axis/EVH, but that's about it. the pick ups can be changed and you could add a floyd. the neck has a different profile also. the axis has a round fat neck, and the olp has a MIM strat type profile. they have nice photo flame tops. i had one for a while, i sanded off the finish on the neck, replaced the pick ups with dimarzios, and replaced the bridge with a floyd and locking tuners. it sounded ok and played ok too, not bad. for $200, what more can you ask for.

if you want JP tone, then you need a MESA/BOGGIE triaxis preamp. you can get a seriously close petrucci tone. it's basicly a very crunchy bright distortion. i have a 5150, and i get a similar tone by setting the bass on 6, mids on 2.5, and treble on 8. i also have the presnce on8.5 and resonance on 2. then a little reverb and quiet delay. for leads he used a little more mids, but i can't figure out if he uses different amp settings or some kind of booster, like a pedal. good luck. ps JP uses meas MKII C+ heads, they are rare and expensive. pps most of his tone comes from his fingers, not his gear...unfortunately.

there are also ground boxes that you plug your guitar cord into, before the amp, then this box gets plugged into the wall socket, not for power but for building ground, work good, also quiet the signal a little.

i like to tune mine like this 7-low e, 6-a, 5-d, 4-g, 3-b, 2-high e, 1-high b. you can get some very cool tones this way. i use it for leads allot, you get a whammy esque sound in the upper registers, it's pretty cool.

i like the hz4s. i have a ZW set in one of my guitars, and hz's in another, and i like the hz better for the versitility they provide. i can wire my hz's any way you can think of, so you maintain a bunch of tones and styles. they are quite quiet if you shield them correctly, and they have an ecapsulated inner shield so they are very capable of being play under floresent lights. derek was right about the hight though, you have to think of these as a normal passive pick up, because they are passive. the hz's are more my style for various reasons, and one of the best things about them is that little quick connect deal they have. i am planning on trying a new set on pay day. i also want to try out the single coils too. i think if you can get over the panache of having 81's and actually listened to the hz's in a good guitar through a good amp, you will be very pleased with the versitility they provide.

the cap is probably the best soultion. if you could find a fuse that is small enough, it would most likely be expensive. if you properly shiled your guitar, and in a cap, then you will be safe from a tube amp. however, it is a moot point if you have a solid state amp, use a wireless, or active pick ups. if you use an old (some prefer "vintage") tube amp, then a little protection is diserable, but if you can afford a "vintage" tube amp, then you should be able to afford a $125 uhf system. the idea sounds good on paper, but electricly speaking an electric guitar shouldn't make any sound at all, but FM it works.

EVH's original "angeled" pick up was due to the fact that his charvel guitar body was originally routed for single coils, the super strat was still in its conceptional stages. he routed it himself with a chisle and a hammer, thats why it looked like ****. however there was magic in the air that day, because for years and years people have been in search of that tone, i myself have given up the serch.

just take the blue pill!!!