Guitar stuff i dont understand

[Elvis2]

Here are a few things i dont get at all.

1. "Reliced" guitars. Why would anybody pay more money for a guitar that looks chewed up? I bet the guys at the Fender factory laugh their asses off everytime they mangle up a new Fender with their house keys knowing that some silly person will pay a few hundred dollars more for the now damaged guitar.

2. Flangers and Phasers. I was tempted to add chorus pedals to this one but i actually had a nice sounding Boss chorus ensemble back in the 80s, that was the only good/useful chorus sound i have ever heard, i dont like the gurgly/warbly sound of a phaser exept maybe on a Rhodes piano, i think it sounds daft on guitar and flangers make everything sound like 80s music so unless your doing mostly Van halen covers its just a waste of pedalboard space.

3. Guitar "workout" gear. I remember once being given a Gripmaster, it was meant to increase finger strength for guitarists, since i dont need to be able to bend strings around the back of the neck i never used this thing, recently i saw another guitar workout toy that was some kind of short guitar neck for, uh, working on hammer ons while riding the bus or something, it might have been called a Shredmaster though im not dead certain that was the name of it.

4. Ovation guitars and acoustic guitars with piezo pickups. Ok, maybe some acoustics with piezo pickups sound better than others but Ovation guitars dont really sound like acoustic guitars at all do they? The fiberglass top, the plastic bowl-shaped back and the piezos.. Put that together and you have a harsh unpleasant sounding instrument often masked onstage with a dollop of chorus/reverb to lessen the sheer ugliness of the sound.

5. Floyd Rose tremelo systems. I have to admit i am not a Bob the Builder type and despite numerous attempts i have never managed to come to terms with a Floyd Rose, the stuff that locks the strings at the headstock, the fine tuning screws that fall off (on the original Floyds at least) and the general nuisance of changing string gauges, even using the same gauges from another manufacturer and then having to fine tune/adjust the whole bridge afterwards, also palm muting with these floating bridges is a bitch, if you press down on the strings with your palm the chords go out of tune, nasty nasty stuff!

For those of you that can use/live with any of this stuff i salute you, none of this works for me though.

[wilber]

I like phasers in fact I love them. I recently obtained an ehx nano small stone and it's amazing, at the slower end of the spectrum it's cool for building suispense on a held chord and then releasing tension once it hits that peak and at the watery end it's greaty for a funky semi-wahish groove machine, but flangers should remain forever in the 80's

[imported_carlospresents]

A lot of the things you list are just based on ignorance. I applaud you for that and lift my Daily Mail to you!

[Niallmo]

Originally Posted by Elvis2

Here are a few things i dont get at all.

1. "Reliced" guitars. Why would anybody pay more money for a guitar that looks chewed up? I bet the guys at the Fender factory laugh their asses off everytime they mangle up a new Fender with their house keys knowing that some silly person will pay a few hundred dollars more for the now damaged guitar.

5. Floyd Rose tremelo systems. I have to admit i am not a Bob the Builder type and despite numerous attempts i have never managed to come to terms with a Floyd Rose, the stuff that locks the strings at the headstock, the fine tuning screws that fall off (on the original Floyds at least) and the general nuisance of changing string gauges, even using the same gauges from another manufacturer and then having to fine tune/adjust the whole bridge afterwards, also palm muting with these floating bridges is a bitch, if you press down on the strings with your palm the chords go out of tune, nasty nasty stuff!

For those of you that can use/live with any of this stuff i salute you, none of this works for me though.

1: There are actually people out there who like it! While I'm happy having most of my guitars the way the paint sprayers intended I do think there are some very, very cool relic's out there. I'm not trying to fool anyone with mine, I just like it. It cost me the princely sum of £125 all told. Oh, and it sounds as good as any other strat I've played.

2: never had a problem with any Floyds. I'll take 20 minutes of fine tuning to get me hours of hassle free dive bombs! If the strings are going to flat when muting you are pressing too hard! it's supposed to be muting not strangling!

[digitalscream]

1 - Gotta agree with you there. I see them as nothing more than models with a damaged finish which wouldn't have made it through QA, so they finish the job and charge a small fortune for the privilege.

2 - You're missing the point somewhat. If all you want is something that sounds like a guitar, then sure. However, music is often about creativity and making stuff that sounds different; if it's not to your taste, fine, but there are practical uses for those things.

3 - Agreed. 99% of them do nothing but shorten the muscles and induce tendonitis.

4 - No opinion, really.

5 - Using a Floyd Rose is a skill like any other technique on the guitar - it's not for everyone, but that doesn't make it useless. The ZR trems on the Ibby S series are much better in terms of tuning, but you lose some flexibility in return for the added stability.

[guitargeek62]

1. I like relics, theyre usually very very well built guitars and just look cooler personally. The best strat ive ever played was a Namm show Fender CS 54 heavy relic, it was very well done and fooled me till i flipped it over and saw the CS logo.

2. Not even gonna go there...........

3. Kinda like saying why go to a gym to go on a treadmill when you can run outside...... horses for courses.

4. Some piezos sound extremely good, many (cheaper) ones dont....often. No comment on ovations tone, its another guitar sound so what does it matter if it doesnt sound the same as a D-28 or a J-45?

5. Theyre great. Not for me, but theyre great.

[echosonic]

1. "Reliced" guitars. The signature relic guitars are particularly stupid (SRV strat for example). I must say that artificially aging a guitar to make it look as if it was a preCBS Fender is stupid beyond belief - sad trainspotters buy relic guitars. A guitar sounds good or sounds bad. End of.

2. Flangers and Phasers. Used to love them. These days I realise how difficult they are in a mix.

3. Guitar "workout" gear. I'd buy a gripmaster, if only because they are an infinitely cooler "stress reliever" than those squashy branded things you pick up at trade shows.

4. Ovation guitars and acoustic guitars with piezo pickups. Piezos are OK, but I don't trust them in a mix. What's wrong with sticking a good mic in front of your acoustic?

5. Floyd Rose tremelo systems. No opinion. I'm sure they're fine, but dive bombing is a redundant guitar skill[/quote]

[TTony]

relic'ed guitars ...

When I spend my hard earned on a new car, I expect it to be shiny and undented. I don't expect to pay more to get one that's been scratched, dented, and raced round Tesco's carpark by Darren and Tracey at 2am.

Why are guitars different

Great marketing, but IMHO, it's a case of the emporer's new clothes ...

[Sporky_McGuffin]

Originally Posted by TTony

Why are guitars different

Because cars aren't sold on mojo-marketing.

[Lew]

Originally Posted by Elvis2

Here are a few things i dont get at all.

1. "Reliced" guitars. Why would anybody pay more money for a guitar that looks chewed up? I bet the guys at the Fender factory laugh their asses off everytime they mangle up a new Fender with their house keys knowing that some silly person will pay a few hundred dollars more for the now damaged guitar.

2. Flangers and Phasers. I was tempted to add chorus pedals to this one but i actually had a nice sounding Boss chorus ensemble back in the 80s, that was the only good/useful chorus sound i have ever heard, i dont like the gurgly/warbly sound of a phaser exept maybe on a Rhodes piano, i think it sounds daft on guitar and flangers make everything sound like 80s music so unless your doing mostly Van halen covers its just a waste of pedalboard space.

3. Guitar "workout" gear. I remember once being given a Gripmaster, it was meant to increase finger strength for guitarists, since i dont need to be able to bend strings around the back of the neck i never used this thing, recently i saw another guitar workout toy that was some kind of short guitar neck for, uh, working on hammer ons while riding the bus or something, it might have been called a Shredmaster though im not dead certain that was the name of it.

4. Ovation guitars and acoustic guitars with piezo pickups. Ok, maybe some acoustics with piezo pickups sound better than others but Ovation guitars dont really sound like acoustic guitars at all do they? The fiberglass top, the plastic bowl-shaped back and the piezos.. Put that together and you have a harsh unpleasant sounding instrument often masked onstage with a dollop of chorus/reverb to lessen the sheer ugliness of the sound.

5. Floyd Rose tremelo systems. I have to admit i am not a Bob the Builder type and despite numerous attempts i have never managed to come to terms with a Floyd Rose, the stuff that locks the strings at the headstock, the fine tuning screws that fall off (on the original Floyds at least) and the general nuisance of changing string gauges, even using the same gauges from another manufacturer and then having to fine tune/adjust the whole bridge afterwards, also palm muting with these floating bridges is a bitch, if you press down on the strings with your palm the chords go out of tune, nasty nasty stuff!

For those of you that can use/live with any of this stuff i salute you, none of this works for me though.

1. This has been covered so much in so many places by so many people, but the bottom line is simple, some people like it and put their money where their mouth is.

2.Ok...

3.Yea, gimmiks dont stand the test of time.
Hand exercises can be important before regular practice, I had some really nasty r.s.i a few years ago and hand exercises before play helps keep it at bay.

4.Ovations sound like Ovations, I have heard plenty of good and bad tones from them, an obvious example of good tones is Al di Meola.
Martin's sound like Martins and Les paul's sound like Les paul's.
"Good tone is in YOUR head"--Frank Zappa

5.The seasick palm problem is not exclusive to Floyds, it is exclusive to floating trems and the only cure is a better technique, being aware of it is most of the battle won.
If the screws are falling off, stop un screwing them so much.
Break your strings in properley when you first install them and set your fine tuners halfway with the guitar tuned to pitch.
Yes a Floyd takes longer to change strings, it also hold's it tuning better than anything else through abuse.

I dont know if you are being tongue in cheek or a troll, but you dont have to use it if you don't like it.
It would be a boring place if we were all the same!

Edited because someone said about divebombing being reduntant, go check out some Jeff Beck or Scott Henderson on you tube and watch how they use the trem.
You wont see any animal noises or 80's cliche tricks, you will see a creative and musical use of the trem.