The ONE thing all great guitars have… | Friday Fretworks
What all great guitars have in common…
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Key points:
0:00 Intro
0:06 JAM! (Jump In Live at The Troubadour)
0:47 What makes a great guitar?
1:51 First Thing
4:16 JAM! (Terra Firma Live Session)
5:43 Second Thing
8:10 JAM! (Bistro Fada)
8:45 Third Thing
9:43 Asking Paul Reed Smith…
11:06 Tonewood etc
11:56 JAM!
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#great #guitars #have.. #Friday #Fretworks
Originally posted by UCRcsFKc_8Sjz1chAwC9jWRw at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0vovZfqXiw
So, what’s the first thing you look for in a guitar? ????
I pick the electric guitar that really rings unplugged at the store. My PrS sings
Surely all the component parts matter? tonewoods to hardware to pickups, for me, at 67yrs old and with quite some guitars behind me, something that rings acoustically, to my ears at least, sounds great when plugged in, I once owned a 57 reissue Strat back in the 90's that was heavy and dead acoustically, I changed over time practically everything on that guitar, the result? A dull uninspiring instrument, I have at present a Chambered LP Standard from 2010, acoustically vibrant and weighs a tad under 8lb, that thing is alive, when I pick it up, it fires me up, I can't get enough of it, so for me, it's cut and dried.
Everything! First the looks to get me to pickup the guitar. Then I play before buy every time even if it has to be through a headphone amp in a coffee shop. It has to sound and feel good so I know I'll bond with it. Case in point, my used walnut 2018 Gibson SG Special (reissue of a '74 but with Gibson dual rail minis, not pole peice minis) bought off Craigslist came with a slightly twisted neck yet it's my favourite player for a year and a half now, totally bonded with it, resonates beautifully and fits like a glove. Intellectually a neck twist would mean not accepting it, but playing it tells a different story.
Obviously, a Gold Top is pretty important.
All guitars have 'good tone'. Every single one. You adjust to and express the character of the instrument you are playing. Tone chasing is pure consumerist bullshit.
A great guitar has a loud resonant ring while unplugged. And soon as you get the neck in your hands, it sits right where you want it to, and fits like a glove.
That intro piece reminded me of Gilmour.
Number one and most important thing that makes a great guitar is. The person playing the guitar.
OK, I’m going to wear my heart on my sleeve here. I actually wept when Chris played us out on the LP – I had an emotional connection that just hit me – Wham! Beautiful, beautiful expression and feel. One of the greatest guitarists out there. Hope to see you on tour.
I’ve been playing for 50 years and the $200 second hand Ibanez SG copy I own now is by far the best sounding and most enjoyable to play guitar I’ve ever had. I put in Seymour Duncan pickups ($225) and replaced the guts with reproduction vintage Gibson SG electronics ($70). It’s my all time favorite; it sounds exactly like a classic SG and it writes songs for me every time I play it. I think it’s actually comparable to my 1980s PRS. The salesman at Wurlitzer Music in Boston who gave me a great deal on that PRS was Reeves Gabrels.
this guy is so musical and articulate. it makes me cry on the inside to realize how i really haven’t found my lane yet, but damn is it inspiring to know what it sounds like that someone else has..
You showed part of Jim Lill's video at the beginning. The amount of testing he went through is incredible, and I dont think you can write him off as being in the "the wood makes no difference" crowd. He showed where the differences are small or great, but more importantly how all the small differences add up.
Heh. Based on the thumbnail picture the most essential thing all great guitars have is a body.
https://youtu.be/43pkCNrXOl0?si=4mdlamwvS5LUjBHC
That accent. I don’t understand one word.
I know im french im sorry
i'm sorry, h-years?
I'm glad that you had Paul's commentary on the physics of resonance and damping. The "wood doesn't make a difference" crew seem to have this modular idea of how sound works that ignores that an instrument is an entire system and not a disparate collection of individual, isolated parts. Physics is physics. Nothing is separate from anything else, truly.
I stuggle with the idea that Playablity is really all that subjective. Sure we all have minor preferences but it this metric were so arbitery then why do Set ups have suggested specs?
IMO, this is unique to settle fine-tuning.
Having built several partscasters, you get a sense of how construction affects resonance. Don't cut corners on bodies and necks (or anything, really – but especially bodies and necks). Spend a little more and get something with quality wood and decent, thin finish. I've tried out a few cheap bodies and every one of them sounded dead. Usually heavy and with thick poly finishes. They also can be inconsistent in terms of routing and drilling, which makes a difference on things that you wouldn't expect, particularly in the neck pocket. If the neck doesn't fit good and snug where you have to work it into place, it's not going to sound good (in my experience), and it will fight you on setup. My best guitars are my two MJTs where everything fit in place perfectly and they both sing unplugged and plugged in. I also have a one-piece swamp ash Warmoth Esquire that is fantastically responsive and resonant. Two of them have Musikraft necks and one, my Strat, has a 50s Mexican Fender neck that is shockingly good. All of them fit the bodies perfectly. In short, I've found that a guitar that is built with care using quality components down to the smallest detail is usually going to sound great. At least in terms of bolt-on Fender-type guitars.
Of course a guitar that resonates unplugged sounds better plugged in than one that doesn't simply because the pickups are picking up the string vibrations, and if the string vibrates louder and longer, the pickups consequently will pickup those vibrations.
If everyone did their vibrato like Chris Buck the world would be a better place. Slow to medium speed vibrato that is.
I'm not a PRS guitar fan, but Paul Reed Smith is right. The body interacts with the string. Anyone who's placed their ear on the back of the electric guitar can tell that instantly. And if you have more than one electric guitar, and place an ear to the back of each one after hitting a note or a chord, you'll hear a difference. The pickup, being electronic in nature, doesn't pick up the acoustic properties per se, but being that the string is interacting with the body and the pickups are mounted to the vibrating body, it all comes into play somewhere. And, of course, much of it can be overcome by amp settings, dirt / OD / EQ boxes, etc. That goes without saying. But the construction of an electric, and its natural resonance does affect the tone. Good set up also helps. The better I set up my Ibby (which wasn't set up well when I got it from the guy who gave it to me) the more resonant it became unamplified, and it also sounded a LOT better amplified (more volume, better sustain, more body to the notes) — so I think PRS is onto something. Of course, being a guitar builder and designer, why wouldn't he?
I am very much going to disagree on the first guitar making you WANT to play. That is a pipe dream for someone who comes from some means, which we did not. For us, the first guitar was whatever we can afford after months of mowing lawns. Absolutely be THANKFUL for the Dads who trust you enough to allow you to learn on their guitars, BUT, the ability to have something which is YOURS is more important. The achievement of finally being able to buy YOURSELF something OF YOUR OWN, that is what is important. That achievement is the culmination of all the very literal blood, sweat, and tears you endured, so you do everything in your power to take care of your treasure. THAT is what makes you want that guitar, and want to play it.
So, for my generation, our first guitars were a $100 Squier Bullet, the blue one with the white pickguard, and a matching white humbucker in the bridge position, because the local shop ONLY carried that ONE colour. Those matching guitars were what you all gigged for years, until you got a JOB, and earned enough money to buy an actual Fender.
That outro piece is one of the best things I’ve heard in a while. Is it part of a released song? Would love to hear more..
What's the nut width on a RevStar? I've got a Pacifica I regret buying cor the neck's too narrow for me
A nice guitar does make a difference, but I think 90% is in the players hands. A good guitar player can make anything sound good?
Squier appeals to my being raised in a not wealthy home , where everything had its use, and its use was a demand of necessity.
Fickle guitar/gear junkies kind of turn me off anymore , always fiddling and blaming their shortcomings on the equipment. I know that makes me bad consumer , not buying a new guitar every other week. Try to develop a relationship with what ya have, and get out of the weeds – it's just music!!
Is that album 2 solo at the end?? I hope so ????
I have a 1984 Squier Telecaster that is my favourite guitar, I bought it from new and it is faultless IMO, before buying it I had tried three different Fender models, all had issues.
Why is it that some guitars seem to have a magic quality that you just cant define?
I also have a 2008 LP Studio that is as standard, its a great playing guitar, my friend was also impressed by it and he bought one of the same production year that was also standard and I set it up for him, he loves it but I didnt, it is just not he same as mine, it didnt have the same sustain as mine or as warm, I looked at everything with it next to mine to try and figure out why, I never figured out what was different until he brought it to me with sound issues, the cap was fat and it sounded muddy and so I changed it like for like, all of a sudden it sounded like mine, my friend was elated that I was finally happy, he said he could never notice the difference between the two guitars, once that new cap was in though he also noticed it was warmer and with a sustain that was equalised and not just dropping out
I believe that the cap was faulty from the start.
I'm not a great fan of lead guitar playing… despite being a guitarist myself, but that snippet at the start did manage to send a few shivers down me… very nice, sir.
I will add that the goldfoils that I got are quite microphonic as well. I also got a set of PAF style unpotted pickups (Seymour Duncan antiquities, unpotted version), Installed on a cheap firefly 335 clone, Which they also transformed).
Microphonic pickups present problems, but they also produce a unique sound that cannot be replicated in potted single coil, and humbucking pups! They're more unruly, but more alive, is how I'd characterize them – and also more complex-sounding in the PAFs I've compared. Some people like me absolutely love them. And in the PAF world especially, there's an entire class of cork-sniffers who will ONLY put unpotted PAFs in their LPs.
Nice to hear some juicy Gilmoresq lines. Look forward seeing you live one day!
I really don’t think you give cheap pick ups their due. I lile Lollars And other expensive boutique brands. However, the three goldfoil single coil ferrite version pickups that I got for less than $110 for the entire set from GFS (Guitar Fetish), are completely unique and completely amazing sounding. And they transformed one of my guitars from one that I was thinking of selling to an absolute Keeper.
I have now ordered a set of two of their Filtertron-style pick ups. Which ended up (with shipping) at around $90 for a set of two!
Whether it’s pedals, or pick ups, we all get hung up on the boutique brands. But we shouldn’t. Guitar Fetish produce pick ups that sound great and are incredibly affordable.
I saw Jim Lil in your clip. He performed a lot of testing over a number of videos in search of “tone”. Thank you for videos.
8:11 pleased to hear some Stephane Wrembel;)
Hey Chris , did youy ever try a D'Angelico "Bob Weir "signature ? I got one last year ..best guitar I've ever had and I've had loads , since the 1970's.. ..the Squier Jazzmaster is great , I have one too
Great video – but the last solo… simply stunning!
That's interesting. I always listen to Paul's every word, and respect his opinions. I've been playing these things since 1968, and I've played, and owned quite a few. Even a '58 burst, when it was 12 years old. LOL The only reason I sold it is I got a new Fender Thinline Tele, and enough $$ for 4 months rent. That's important when your 2 behind and your GF keeps asking if you paid the rent yet? I have 50 things I think are important on the guitar. The basic's, the body and associated things, and the neck. I like big beefy necks, they are hanging on to the other end of the string! These days I like building my own guitars. I drive around with an electric chain saw in the back of my truck. I've brought home some very interesting wood to make bodies from. My wife thinks I'm nuts. LOL One of my best finds was a mahogany sound board from a piano made in the 1880's. Left for the junk pickup, I did chainsaw surgery on it and removed the sound board. I've found other bits of furniture with valuable (to me) wood also. A Brazilian rosewood door was a good find too! These days, I use Warmoth for necks. They can build them better than I will now. They make me nice thick/fat ones too! LOL With anything else I want. Yeow, sorry for running on. Peace, –gary
Some great points made here. I've played 2k guitars that to me don't play as well as my 300 quid classic vibe Tele. I think a large part is the player and what they feel in an instrument. Different strokes for different folks. I'm in the school of thought that the wood doesn't make a massive difference to the tone though!
Beautiful playing ????
Thank you Chris for the continuous output of superb videos.
I hope that, with your career as a performing artist taking up more time, you still find the time for us. ????????