electric guitars

[maddog]

I've played around on acoustic guitars for many years. They are easy for me to tune and they usually stay in tune for a long time - unless the pegs are accidentally turned. I'm interested in buying an electric guitar. I've tried many electrics in a guitar store and compared to my acoustics the electrics were much harder to get in tune and harder yet to stay in tune. Often the fretted chords higher up the neck sounded O.K. but the basic "C" "A" and "D" chords sounded a bit sour. Is this normal or is the store trying to sell me "lemon" electric guitars?? I'd appreciate any electric guitar advice or recommendations. If it's necessary to spend half your time tuning an electric guitar, I'd just as soon stick with my acoustics.

[Incidents Happen]

nope, its true. the 'folky' chords will always sound better on an acoustic. they stay in tune easier, strings dont break as easy, etc.

i love my acoustic, its really nice. but you want an electric guitar eh? make sure you dont get a cheap squier, since your not a beginner. check out the fender american strat ( i played one and thought it was pretty neat..though i prefer the gibson les paul) just get something nice that has your kind of tone. it is true, the A C D notes will sound sour, if they are played in 1st position, but you can play those chords other places on the neck.

finger picking is also pretty lousy on an electric, jerry did some finger picking on his "Rosebud" guitar, and he did it pretty good. but other than that, it is very difficult to do fingerpicking on an electric, and having it sound good.

the strings may be too light for your needs. an acoustic has some pretty fat strings compared to electric, if you want some more sustain and tone crispality, then put heavier strings on the electric that you choose.

[Lordathestrings]

For reasons I don't understand, the intonation of an electric guitar seems to be more critical than on an acoustic. Fortunately, the bridges are usually equipped with individually adjustable saddles. A tremolo bar introduces a whole new set of problems with tuning accuracy, due to string 'creep' past the nut and the bridge saddles.

Once it is properly set up, an electric guitar should be easy to tune, and it should stay in tune. Of course, players who indulge in 'dive bomb' whammy stunts will severly test those criteria. My electric guitars are all non-tremolo types. They are all easy to tune accurately, and they stay in tune for weeks at a time. Unfortunately, a lot of shops do not invest the time and money in proper setup of their guitars. The first thing a new guitar should get, is trip to a competant guitar tech or luthier, for a thorough checkup.

As an experienced player, you should have a pretty good idea what to look for, and what to avoid, in selecting a good instrument. There are a lot of threads here on that very subject. If you still need some advice after digging through the archives, just post again. Everyone here has opinions to offer.

[Raskolnikov]

You'll also probably find electrics a bit more comfortable strung with .011 or .012 guage strings as opposed to the .009's most shops put on their instruments.

[lalimacefolle]

Anyone knows about Buzz FEITEN's system?
It says your guitar will sound in tune in any part of the neck since guitar are built with a system that's not quite right, so they are always a little out of tune (due to Pythagore's system) I would like to hear about guys who own a guitar with that system installed...

[skee1]

I also don't use a wammy bar on any of my guitars but did years ago.
I never heard of the system you mentioned Lalimacefolle.
As for the Electric Guitar verses the Acoustic on ,
going out of tune i have never played a electric or,
Acoustic that didn't go out of tune on me due to the,
the change of weather or due to hot lights ect.
I played alot of guitars in my life time and they,
all will need a string or two touched up even during,
your gig or if you change to a colder or warmer room.
And if you do alot of bending like i do those strings,
are going to go out of tune alittle even if your useing,
grover big buck tuning keys.
And i don't care if you put the best lock down setup,
ect on your electric guitar if your useing a wammy bar its going,to go out of tune quicker that the non-wammy guitar
1 or 2 strings are going to go out of tune.(use a wammy pedal).
Sometimes i have to touch a string or 2 up during a gig,
while playing.
I remember years ago watching the jonnny carson show,
plus the letterman show and the guitar guests would come,out to play thier guitars and they would have to tune them up do to the hot lights!
Anyway way welcome to the wonderful world of guitar.
(Tuning is an art in its self so play flat or play sharp)
I use an in-line Meter.......................

Mark
P:S If you find a guitar that is in tune on the lower part of fretboard then out of tune on the higher part of the,
fretboard .Then it could be the intonation needs ajusted.
Also the truss-rod might need ajusted take it to a pro,
don't try to fix it your self.
Now if your buying a guitar from a music store make sure
you mention the above to salesmen unless you want a lemon
as you say.Also try to take some-one with you that knows,
if the neck has a bow in it or if the intonation needs,
ajusted.Remember that alot of poeple in most music stores
try these guitars out and they could have made some,
ajustments plus messed them up before you tryed them out,
including the poeple who work at the music store.






[Edited by skee1 on 02-10-2002 at 04:46 PM]

[Led Zeppelin]

Originally posted by Incidents Happen
finger picking is also pretty lousy on an electric, jerry did some finger picking on his "Rosebud" guitar, and he did it pretty good. but other than that, it is very difficult to do fingerpicking on an electric, and having it sound good.

Listen to "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley.

[Incidents Happen]

i never said it was impossible, i said generally...fingerpicking is meant for acoustic. some people get it to work, and those people are professionals

[Led Zeppelin]

Listen to it anyway

[skee1]

Originally posted by Incidents Happen
i never said it was impossible, i said generally...fingerpicking is meant for acoustic. some people get it to work, and those people are professionals
Really your right about the spanish acoustic .(Incidents)
When the spanish guitar was first made it was meant ,
to be played with fingers not picks!
But with the arrivial of the electric guitar we took,
finger-style alittle farther down the road we used,
a pick and fingers i still use a plectrum pick and 3 fingers for my style plus a b-bender so i guess i'm a
(unknown hellecaster) from 1962.(pro as you said)
Theres alot of great electric guitar players up here,
on guitar-tricks that use finger style picking.
But i would listen to the one (ZEP) told you to listen to!

Mark
p:sYou can learn alot from other guitar players by,
listening to them plus try to USE bits and pieces of,
thier stuff but create your own style and never stop,
listening to all styles if you want to be good.
Plus try to be like a sponge and soak it all in.
Being your young take your time the world wasn't built,
in a day.(Theres no-hurry.(The trick is to be great,
you have to take the style of your favorite guitar player
farther then him plus use your new idea's and create new,
stuff..................................




[Edited by skee1 on 02-10-2002 at 05:52 PM]

[PonyOne]

As far as electrics go... look at some of the Epiphone, Fender, ESP and Yamaha offerings. If you're switching from acoustics, I'd recommend either a Fender Telecaster or Epiphone Les Paul; something you can really strum on.

Advice: a former gitarist played acoustic for a long time, over 3 or 4 years, before pickng up an electric. He went out and bought a guitar solely on looks, he didn't even plug it in... for a dual humbucker guitar the output was inadequate. It was a semihollow body so it was better suited to his playing style, but he started to use distortion -and gobs of it- but still played it like he was strumming an acoustic.

It sounded bad.

Just take somethig that fits your price range, sounds and feels good and solid, and annoy the crap out of the store clerk (they probably deserve it anyway) with questions; try it with and without distortion, jut do whatever comes, and if you like it, there you go.

My only warning: stay away from the super-bottom-of-the-line Squier Strats and all Washburns. At only about $150 they may seem like a good buy for a beginner, but they AREN'T. Bad tuners, bad pickups, bad paint, bad wood. Some of the nicer Squiers aren't all that bad for the price (in the $220 range), but I'd shoot for an Epiphone or Fender.

[Seiko_Hejiro]

Yea, one time a while ago i went in search of a good electric guitar to upgrade to from my ole Mexi-Strat.
Now, i was looking for a guitar fit for metal, i'm assuming you're looking for something that would be fit for jazz or country or something far elss heavy...etc insert genre here...anyhow, some of the best gutiars for less heavy music that i ran across then, were mostly Gibsons, i was considering Epiphones until i realized they were the crappier version of Gibson guitars, kinda like Squire is Fenders cheap line of guitars.

Basically, it comes down to this, you can search around for a vintage Gibson Les Paul or an SG. Those are fairyl good, in my experience most vintage equiptment sound much better than the new stuff. Not exactly sure why, but it does.
Other considerations to make would be a Gretsch guitar of some sort either one of their hollow or solid bodied gutiars, both lines are fairly good, though rather expensive.

Oh yea, and most guitar stores do in fact take little to no time properly setting up their guitars that are on display.
Anyhow, happy guitar hunting.

[James8831]

to add Seiko_Hejiro is very right about guitar stores, go to a smaller one/one that cares about setups(not box shifters) some of the better stores advertise good setups as part of their selling point,ok they may be more expensive, but they are less likey to be poorly intonated.

The least likely guitar to screw up tuning or intonation is (still) ,IMO, the humble Telecaster because there is nothing which moves,per se, the bridge is most solidly fixed and although i prefer strung through, mexican made Teles can be very nice.

This is closely followed by a Gibson or good copy, but when you change the strings with a stop tailpeice you can alter the intonation (saddles can be inadvertantly moved,etc) this applies more so on copies.


Cheaper Strat copies Fogetdabout using the tremelo.

[ScottyTooHotty]

My personal opinion is park your ass in a guitar shop for a few hours and play EVERYTHING!! Everyone has a fave make/model they like. I personally lean towards Strats, but I don't recommend them to everyone. It really depends on what you're looking for, what kind of style of music you want to play and how it feels to you. If you play enough of them you'll know when you find the right one. You'll pick one up that fits you right, neck size, action, fretboard, sound etc.. The only guitar I've ever had that came even close to staying in tune all the time, had a Floyd Rose locking tremolo system. Even then, I had to make the minor adjustments on the bridge. If this is your first electric, I'd recommend staying away from tremolo's right now, but play a few anyway when you're looking around and see if they might suit you. I've only got one acoustic and I only have it because I need it on certain songs, but my opinion is the electrics tend to go out of tune more because you have more play on the strings. You'll be bending more and higher than you will on an acoustic and eventually (sometimes quicker than you like) the strings will go a little out of tune.

[maddog]

Thanks to all who have taken the time to send some advice in my direction. If there is any more electric guitar advice out there, I'm still very interested in hearing it.

I don't understand why an "in tune" electric guitar can sound great when barred chords are played higher up the neck but sound out of tune when the basic first position chords are played. - And why an "in tune" acoustic guitar sounds great when ANY chord is played. I would think a guitar is either "in tune" for all chords or it isn't. I'm not looking forward to relearning most of the songs I know so that I can play them on an electric guitar without the sour sounding basic chords that I'm used to playing and which sound great on an acoustic. Did I misunderstand this concept?? (Please say yes!!)

[lalimacefolle]

Like I wrote above, this is due to Pythagore (I don't know the name in English, it might be Pythagorus) Who invented the formula to find the frets' spacing. He didn't think about the strings gauges, or the little imperfections of the strings. Buzz Feiten invented a way to sound in tune everywhere on the neck. I've heard it was amazing, Van Halen, VAI, Satch, jazz greats all use this system. Anyone owns a guitar with this system (high ends washburns have it, I've heard...)

[lalimacefolle]

http://www.buzzfeiten.com/

Check it out...

[Lordathestrings]

It makes sense as a retrofit to existing guitars. Further examination of the math involved might lead to slightly different fret spacing, instead of jigging the tuning and intonation of each string to achieve the best compromise.

I've been meaning to get a junk guitar to experiment on. I have some theories about fretboard radius that I want to try out. This could be an entertaining year, in many ways!