Gitaristentopic #569: Gitaristen zonder tone

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Op woensdag 20 juni 2012 22:38 schreef The_Dean het volgende:
Altijd tijd voor

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Op woensdag 20 juni 2012 22:39 schreef The_Dean het volgende:
Wel een vet apparaat dan straks

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Op woensdag 20 juni 2012 19:54 schreef .Masturbatron. het volgende:
ik weet het echt niet ik ben niet zo technisch met gitaren
maar variabele, ik denk dus het feit dat ik al die tijd een ongewonden g-snaar gebruikte
leuk voor benden en zo maar niet zo voor akkoorden denk ik

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Wound G String

As we all know, the third, or "G", string in most "normal" sets of strings for electric guitar is a "plain", or unwound string. This unwound third string normally performs quite badly–typical problems include: poor tone and intonation when brand-new, the rapid deterioration of both qualities as the string ages and radical volume imbalance, to name the most common complaints.

The purpose of this sidebar is to point out the obvious: that the reason that the third string has these problems is because it isn’t engineered correctly. Under any normal circumstances, a guitar string tuned to this pitch would be a wound string, like the fourth through sixth strings!

Just think about it — any steel-string acoustic guitar, for example, would have a wound third string, which would typically be eight or ten thousandths-of-an-inch (.008" or.010") smaller in diameter than it’s fourth, or "D", string. For example, standard "acoustic medium" gauges are (from first to sixth) .013"-.017"-.026"-.036"-.046"-.056", with a wound third string. The third strings on acoustic guitars do not have any of the typical string problems found on electric guitars.

I’ve been told that the adoption of the unwound third string was an historical fluke, being the result of players adding a light, .010" string to a standard acoustic medium gauge set of strings and then discarding the .056" low string. This resulted in the .010"-to-.046" "electric light gauge" set that we know today. The reason that the electric guitar’s standard, unwound third string has all of these problems is because, when tuned to the standard "G" pitch, it is being placed under an insufficient tensile load for its strength; it is just too slack for it to perform correctly (see the "Extremely Technical String Sidebar"). This causes the string’s tonal and intonation problems.

The most common complaint about the unwound third string is its tone; the suckers just don’t sound good. People describe the tone in different ways: "harsh", "clanky", "metallic", "sour", etc. Technically, the reason that an unwound third string sounds "sour" — particularly as it ages — is that the string’s harmonic overtones are out of tune with it’s fundamental note: the string is actually out of tune with itself! Because of this, the string’s poor tone is clearly related to it’s intonation problems: they are both caused by the string’s excessive stiffness. This tone/intonation problem can be heard most clearly when playing with heavy overdrive; instead of a producing a smooth, stable note, holding a sustained note will produce a pulsating, or "beating" warble, similar to playing unison pitches on two strings, while tuning one of the strings to the other. This is the sound of the string’s overtones "beating" against the string’s fundamental pitch, and it’s nasty!

Finally, when playing a vintage instrument, an unwound third string will frequently sound much too loud–this is because the instrument’s pickups were designed for a wound third string, since that was standard before 1960. Since a wound third string is generally the lowest-output string in the set, whereas an unwound third string is the highest-output string in the set, the imbalance is pretty drastic.

Prescription for Tone: the Wound Third String

Whew! What a nightmarish litany of problems, huh? Well, the good news is that the solution switching to a wound third string has very few real problems, and is a safe, easy and inexpensive experiment.

Obviously, the first step is to get some appropriate wound third strings for the set of strings that youre using. As you may remember, I mentioned that a wound third string would typically have a diameter .008" to .010" less than the fourth string in that set; this means that, for a .010" to .046" ("electric light-gauge") set, the appropriate wound third string would be a .016" or a .018", of the same type. Although these gauges are not widely stocked by retailers, most of the major string manufacturers do produce them. For example, GHS makes "Boomer" single strings (called "singles" in the trade) down to .016"; DAddario makes "XL" singles down to .017"; Im sure that there are others, as well.

After installing the "test" wound third string, check the strings fit in the slot in the nut, to make sure that the wound third string wont bind in the slot if it binds, it wont tune well, and the friction will eventually damage both the string and the nut. If the slot in the nut needs widening, I recommend that you have it done by a competent professional repair-person. The third strings intonation will also need re-adjustment. Whereas an unwound third string typically intones correctly when its slightly longer than the second and fourth strings, a wound third string typically intones correctly when its slightly (.025" to .050") shorter than the second and fourth strings. Interestingly, most vintage (and vintage-style) bridges that dont have separate intonation adjustment for each string (like the old Gibson "wraparound" S.G. and Les Paul unit), are designed to intone correctly with a wound third string.

Once you have the guitar re-adjusted to your satisfaction, you should find that all of the problems previously mentioned have just gone away, leaving a couple of minor new ones in their wake: the wound third string is somewhat more fragile than an unwound third string, and the wound third string must be bent substantially farther than an unwound third string, to achieve the same change in pitch.

For most players, the problem of fragility is not significant; violent use of the Strat whammy-bar can cause premature string breakage, but otherwise, its generally no big deal. However, the question of bendability is, for most players, rather significant. Many players just assume that a wound third string is out of the question for this reason alone. Im challenging these players to re-evaluate this assumption do you really want to put up with the Tonal Disaster that is the unwound third string, just to bend the third string like a Blues-Weenie rattling off an arsenal of recycled cliches? Is it really worth it?

I realize that for many players, an unwound third string will always feel like "home"; thats fine, but for the rest of us (yes, I use a .018" wound third string on my hopped-up post-modern Strat-thing), the decision to use an unwound third string should not be taken blindly. For example, it is possible to switch to a wound third string for the instrument (or instruments) which you use primarily for rhythm parts, or to switch back to an unwound third string just for recording solos.

Or, you could just learn to live with a real "G" string. Think about it.
http://images.onstagemag.com/files/46/0202Setuptxt.html

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Op woensdag 20 juni 2012 22:35 schreef Svyatagor het volgende:
Bariton Tele gekocht.

http://www.fender.com/en-(...)s.php?prodNo=0148700

In sunburst.

Nu moet 'ie nog vanuit Duitsland hier komen.

Heb er voor de zekerheid ook een EMG 89R bij gedaan, want hij moet ook lekker kunnen scheuren en ik ben niet zo heel enthousiast over de stock humbucker die d'r op zit.
Maar ik denk dat ik de installatie van die EMG door een zekere Friese gitaartech ga laten doen (als 'ie tijd en zin heeft), want dat is nog niet zo heel simpel. Tenminste, ik mis een goede handleiding.

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Op woensdag 20 juni 2012 22:43 schreef .Masturbatron. het volgende:

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yes ik wist het!! kut G-snaar ik ruk em er nu af

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Op woensdag 20 juni 2012 23:01 schreef brother52 het volgende:

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Ik weet het niet hoor maar ik heb er ten minste nog nooit problemen mee gehad. En ik denk de meesten niet.

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Op woensdag 20 juni 2012 22:59 schreef brother52 het volgende:

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Tof ding en de prijs valt me ook nog alles mee. Mexicaan?

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Op woensdag 20 juni 2012 23:07 schreef Svyatagor het volgende:

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Ja, volgens mij wel MIM. Maar da's prima. Thomann geeft er nu ook nog 40 euro korting op, dus uiteindelijk is 'ie ruim 500. Viel mij ook mee.

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Op donderdag 21 juni 2012 01:25 schreef CoiLive het volgende:

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Ik vind dat ding zo ongelofelijk sexy. Nog steeds. Alleen zou ik hem in het rood hebben gekocht. Hen nog nooit op een Bariton gitaar gespeeld. Wel mijn akoestische een tijdje in C# gehad, maar dat trok die toch niet helemaal. Het klonk wel heerlijk en was ook, voor mij, perfect om bij te zingen. Waar woon je? Kan ik hem komen proberen?

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Op donderdag 21 juni 2012 11:08 schreef genakt het volgende:
Word gewoon uitgemaakt voor hipster Door gitaristen hierzo

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Op donderdag 21 juni 2012 10:43 schreef Z het volgende:
Die dream 90's lijken me wel wat, als zijn ze niet echt mooi. En dan maar hopen dat de gitaar niet teveel als een Les Paul gaat klinken.

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Op donderdag 21 juni 2012 16:45 schreef mr-green het volgende:
Heeft het nut om de pickups van mijn LC telecaster (standaard) te vervangen? Ik wil wel een wat scheurender geluid.

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Op donderdag 21 juni 2012 21:02 schreef mr-green het volgende:
Hmmm, ik kan natuurlijk ook een kit kopen en dan zelf een strat gaan bouwen... moeilijke keuze

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Op donderdag 21 juni 2012 21:52 schreef The_Dean het volgende:
Ja, maar niet iedereen heeft zo'n budget. En dan moet je meteen duur spul niet vernaggelen, dat is best spannend. Dan kan je beter oefenen met een goedkoop setje, en als dat bevalt een echt bouwpakket kopen.

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Ik ga ook 'binnenkort' nog eens een kit proberen van GFS. Body, nek, elementen, hardware, alles.
En dan niet zo'n kant en klaar setje, maar los uitgezochte onderdelen.

Wat het precies word vertel ik lekker nog niet