Calling All Guitarists- Bassists, Too!

[mpdan]

1. Of the guitars you own, which one(s) are your favorite to play and why?

I've owned PRS guitars and played Les Pauls, but I enjoy my American Deluxe Strat. Alder body, maple top & neck with an ebony fretboard.. It has a nice strat sound, but I can get the rock tones too. Plus it looks boss.

I'll get a les paul soon enough.

2. Of the guitars you do not own, which one(s) do you covet and why?
My friend's 58 Les Paul Reissue. It's freaking nice.. It nails the tones that my strat can't touch.

3. What are your preferred pre's, heads, cabinets and cables-- and style of music?
I play through a DR Z. KT-45 - it's an EL34 based amp that has the flavor of a HiWatt. I use a 2x12 with Vintage 30s, but I plan on ordering a Marshall 1960AX (greenbacks) for Father's Day. I use a 10 ga. speaker cable and GeorgeL everywhere else. I play pop/rock stuff.


4. Strings!! Gauge? Brand? Frequency you change them?
D'Addario 9-42. About every 8 hours of playing time.

5. Name your top five favorite guitarists or bassists of all time.
Not in any particular order...

Eric Johnson
Greg Martin
Derek Mitts
John Petrucci (most of the time)
Slash

Thanks folks. I assure you this is for a worthy cause! [/quote]

[Frodo]

4. Strings!! Gauge? Brand? Frequency you change them?
D'Addario 9-42. About every 8 hours of playing time.

Hey Dan--

Every 8 hours? I was wondering about this, because I once toured with a guitarist who changed his strings at least once before every set.

I've never really been able to get an explanation out of him about this except for "just because".

Is it due to how a particular type of string gradually loses its ability to stay in tune over that amount of time? Or does it have anything to do with fingertip traction (ie: build up of natural oils or grime...)?

Just curious.

[James Steele]

Every 8 hours? I was wondering about this, because I once toured with a guitarist who changed his strings at least once before every set.

I can totally understand changing strings after 8 hours of playing time, when I was doing a cover band I changed them each weekend and that was probably a little over 8 hours of playing time. However the guy who changes them each set I don't understand. That's probably overkill.

[kassonica]

1; 50th anniversary Strat, 91 Mexician Strat (waynes world), 74 Gibson 335, I use the 50th for a lot of recording and giging, the 335 mainly for recording mexician is back up now and in need of a lot of repair (one gig 2 many)

2; Fender lead 1 Great gtr but i beat it up too much in the 80's

3; Silverface 73 princeton Just a great recording amp, 74 Marshall Combo A rare beast but for rock there is nothing else, 80 Polytone all transistor but tis warm great for jazz and clean tones, 1960 Scarla a 3 watt jobby with a 6 inch speaker but unique all valve and plug it through a quad box and it screams

4 D'ddario 10 -46 but i'm yet to find the perfect strings for me, the 70's super bullets were the best of best. I change em whenever really unless recording then once a week

5; Jimi hendrix, Jim Modgine (midnight Oil) John Mclaughlin, Steve Jones, Wes Montgomery

[chrispick]

...the guy who changes them each set I don't understand. That's probably overkill.

I actually think changing strings that often is a bad idea. For me, they usually need to be on the neck a while to retain intonation. And, to my taste, they're usually a bit too bright when first strung. I usually restring the night before a recording session so I can stretch and pull them until they're right.

[Shooshie]

...the guy who changes them each set I don't understand. That's probably overkill.

I actually think changing strings that often is a bad idea. For me, they usually need to be on the neck a while to retain intonation. And, to my taste, they're usually a bit too bright when first strung. I usually restring the night before a recording session so I can stretch and pull them until they're right.

That's what I would think. Even in my limited guitar experience, I've noticed that strings stretch for the first 24 hours or so.


Shooshie

[reekguitar]

I actually think changing strings that often is a bad idea. For me, they usually need to be on the neck a while to retain intonation. And, to my taste, they're usually a bit too bright when first strung. I usually restring the night before a recording session so I can stretch and pull them until they're right.

Chrispick, maybe to a certain extend but when playing them for too long, intonation can get real bad, don't you think?
Also, very much depending on the way you sweat. I have a friend, when he comes in for a visit, I pray to god so he doesn't touch my guitar because I know that strings will be dead after he touched them!

[chrispick]

...the guy who changes them each set I don't understand. That's probably overkill.

I actually think changing strings that often is a bad idea. For me, they usually need to be on the neck a while to retain intonation. And, to my taste, they're usually a bit too bright when first strung. I usually restring the night before a recording session so I can stretch and pull them until they're right.

That's what I would think. Even in my limited guitar experience, I've noticed that strings stretch for the first 24 hours or so.


Shooshie

I go through a crazy pull-wiggle-and-stretch routine every time I change strings. And then I pick up my guitar.

But seriously folks...

I change strings about every two weeks or so, sometimes more often if I'm playing a lot. Beyond that, they tends to lose their brightness and intonation hold.

[Frodo]

....
Also, very much depending on the way you sweat. I have a friend, when he comes in for a visit, I pray to god so he doesn't touch my guitar because I know that strings will be dead after he touched them!

That's SO funny.

Yes. Guitars are very personal items. I have four 'suck' knobs on my guitars and even I would hesitate to let someone else play them.

[monkey man]

As someone who's done very little playing in the last 20 years, but has had various basses and guitars waiting in the wings on their stands, I've been able to determine that sweat plays a huge role in their degradation.

Wiping strings off with a cotton cloth after playing seems instrumental (!) to me in preserving their life.
I agree with ChrisPick that they need a stretch-in period (I do that same "pull-wiggle-and-stretch" dance, man), and also that the newies require a smidgen of wear/use prior to recording.
To my ears, there're dull, medium and bright guitar sounds; the "brand new" string sound adds zing in the stratosphere where guitar HFs are concerned.
As engineers we don't generally want this super-high-frequency sizzle, as it conflicts with cymbals and the like, intelligibility of vocals and with other instruments.
Add to that the fact that guitar HFs can come across pretty harsh when distorted.
Further, most guitar parts are effectively band-passed whilst mixing.

Oh, and where the bass is concerned, well, it's the bass.
As long as enough HF information is present to help convey their articulations, basses are quite happy being just that.

Disclaimer: These comments were written by an inexperienced, but rather opinionated monkey.

[Frodo]

Disclaimer: These comments were written by an inexperienced, but rather opinionated monkey.

Hey Nicky-- no need to qualify. This is the kind of discussion I hoped would arise from having included the question. While changing one's underwear may perhaps be more universally understood, changing guitar strings is easily and ironically a more personal matter for a great many different reasons-- from the perspectives of the guitarist and engineer, and both preferences must be reconciled.

Usually, it's the guitarist that wins for the sake of just keeping him/her comfortable for the purpose of tweezing out the best performance possible. This is much harder to do if the guitarist is unhappy.

Most importantly, it's just great to see so many chime in on the topic. The similarities are just as fascinating as the differences.

[donreynolds]

My favourite GTRs to play are my 81 Carvin DC200 koa I have got it so easy to play you could breathe on it, and a very special guitar that My dad and I made it is priceless to me. We even put our name on it. I think of him every time I play it. (he is still living) It was made of brazilian mahogany with neck through, Zak Wilde EMG's and an old Shadow sh-75 MIDI guitar converter built right into the guitar. I even routed out a pick holder in the back. I have a takamine cutaway, nothing special about the way it looks but it plays awesome. I have 83 (i think) Ibanez Roadstar 2 series that absolutely has the best general tone for anything I play. I also love playing a Carvin Classical cutaway that I bought a few years ago.
My favorite strings to use are
Carvin light and Xl. they never wear out!
for Acoustic it D'Adarios bronze lights and classicals

Here are some pictures of them

I can't think of any that I would like to have that I don't own. All these work for me in all occasions
I used to have a whole rack of processors, but now I have whittled it down to a Boss gt-8 ( awesome when you know how to set it up) into a good clean amp head and into to a pair of custom 2x12 british greenback celestions in two cabinets. I use a Carvin 4x12 if I just want to add a little more pressure level. But nowdays everyone wants minimal stage volume??? and let the PA do the work.

My favorite guitarist that have influenced me the most are
1. Jose Feliciano
2. Rufolph and Michael Schenkter
3. Angus Young
4. Neal Geraldo
5. Steve Lukather
6. Neal Schon
7. Eddie VanHalen
8. and last not least, John Williams

I know this is more than 5 but that's my influence in general

[donreynolds]

I mispelled Rudolph!

[Frodo]

Don-- great rundown, man... and such evidence of unfakable passion! Amazing stuff.

Neal Schon, eh? I've always enjoyed his playing but don't hear many guitarists talk about him that much. Of course, Lukather has chiseled out a whole corner of his own. Ages ago, I heard Toto at a NAMM show. That guy played the worlds longest solo and went from strength to strength without a trace of running out of steam... it was just so musical even while it burned the place down.

I'd like to add Dori Cayimmi and Paul Jackson, Jr. to my list of faves.

Yes, JW's Bach is a wonderful way to start the morning.

[chrispick]

Neal Schon, eh?

I think Neal Schon's early Journey is tremendous (his solo in "Lights" is great), although I'm not too fond of the band or their songs. Same goes for Alex Lifeson (Rush).

Know who else is great and a personal inspiration that I forgot? Lindsey Buckingham, mainly for the way he arranges guitar in pop songs (plus, he had unreal chops).

Anyway, back to the topic of amps: I just ordered one of these after test driving one:

http://www.gibson.com/Products/Amplifie ... %20Junior/

5w through a 15w speaker. Point-to-point wiring. JJ tubes (12AX7 and EL84). Boutique-quality innards (or so I'm told). Mostly, it just sounds like I think a recording amp should sound.

Hopefully, this'll be the one?