good good my future is a guitar or heroin (or Zoloft :)) so thanks all this advice was all news to me But I won't be good enough for heroin until I get fret buzz really down, so that will take awhile. peace and love
----- Original Message ----- From: "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltabl...@yahoo.com> To: <FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 11:50 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: To Curtis re Guitar > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Rick Archer" <r...@...> wrote: >> >> you may want to post this too. the basic set up i do > > This is good advise for someone who wants to do their own guitar work. > I have done some of this myself. In the end taking your guitar to a > guy who does this all day every day is a better choice for beginning > players. A new player doesn't understand the variables in fret buzz, > to be able to adjust this properly. For example I am a barbarian on > guitar playing with heavy finger picks and snapping the strings Delta > style. I have to have a higher action to accommodate this style. > Most new players are too tentative with their guitar at first and wont > discover the fret buzz till they are half way through a bottle of > bourbon and have played the chords to "Wild Thing" for the hundredth > time when they finally let loose. But a good set up guy knows where > you are going to end up once you start really wailing on the thing! > > The guy at my guitar center is big on the Breedlove brand. They have > a lower end (about $300) guitar with a solid spruce top that sounds > great. If you can afford it the solid top makes a big difference > because it will sound better over time. The composite layered woods > used in cheaper guitars are held together with glue which degrades > over time so the guitar sounds deader and deader the more you play it. > It doesn't matter as much if the sides and back are a composite which > makes the guitar cheaper. > > But some players do fine starting with a cheaper guitar to test their > interest and if they get into it they can graduate into a higher > quality. Maybe by then they are ready to jump to a solid wood American > made classic like a Taylor or Martin. When you finally do get a > quality guitar in your hands there is a magic to it. It takes your > performance to a new level. But I am not a guitar fetishist. I have > high quality guitars and beat the shit out of them. I don't keep > looking for the next guitar for a special new sound. I concentrate on > my side of the equation! > > > > is to tighten the truss >> rod fully by turning the screw in the sound hole counter clockwise > all the >> way. don't over tighten or you'll strip the threads. you can then > check the >> arc of the neck by pressing the strings at the first fret and last > fret for >> clearance. then i remove and shave or sand the bottom of the bridge > saddle >> until the strings are low enough for easy play without fret buzz. (a > good >> luthier will measure the string heights during each step of the > process, but >> i never measure. he'll also put a straight edge on the frets and tap the >> high ones to the right height, but i'm not that picky.) over sand > the saddle >> and you can shim it back up, or buy a new saddle and start again. that's >> usually all you need to do. i leave the truss rod fully tightened > and lower >> the saddle more to compensate, but that's just my preferrence. i > seem to get >> less fret buzz and lower clearance that way. if you do a search, i'm > sure >> the proper measurements and procedures are available all over the > internet. >> this is a cheap guitar. if i had an expensive guitar, i'd let a pro > do the >> set up for me. >> > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > To subscribe, send a message to: > fairfieldlife-subscr...@yahoogroups.com > > Or go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ > and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links > > > >
