[delb0y]

Re. "levers" or "whammy bars" or "tremolo arms". I love the sound when such a thing is used well - whether it's a subtle tremolo added by Hank Marvin on the long clean notes of Shadows' songs, whether it's Eddie Cochrane adding some low sweeping lead-ins to rock'n'roll bass lines, Brian Setzer having massive fun with rockabiily chords, Eddie Van Halen taking a string so low that it looks like a piece of coiled rope, or Jimi Hendrix creating sonic mayhem by bending every note including feedback into shapes and places that even HP Lovecraft didn't know existed.

Yep, levers are great and I love them.

Except they're horrible and awful. I've never had a guitar where one could use the lever and everything was still as in tune the moment after as it was the moment before. Even when professionally set-up there was always something different after a wild bit of whammying. I used to have the deaden the strings on my strat with the left hand and yank the tremolo arm up briefly to get everything back in place.

In the end I sold the Gretsch and the Hohner and had a guitar gech set my Strat up with a block of wood in the spring compartment so the bridge (and consequently lever) couldn't move. Bliss! Tuneful bliss.

If I was just starting out with an electric guitar and wasn't worried about replicating anyone whose style depending on such things I'd stay well away from levers!

[Neil C]

Vicki,
Sound advice from Del re levers - too complicated

I completely understand the point about being intimidated in a guitar shop. There is always someone could wailing away and i think I'm not worthy and don't bother. But do just try a few, see how the feel when you wear them, standing and sitting down. See if you can feel how the neck feels and the depth of the body compared to an acoustic. And how does it sound?

I suggest you try a few and keep it to one amp. And let him know you're just trying them out, do not suggest you're buying and I wouldn't but on the first time if you're still finding out about them.
if its a decent shop you can say i'd like to try a few in this price bracket and try the vintage squires, and any others that you or they suggest. spend some time, go between them and the go home and reflect.
And keep practicing too
 
Neil 

[Boydie]

Couldn't agree more with DELBOY regarding tremolos - I have also "blocked them off" in my Strats, which also means if a string breaks mid song I can finish the song without the guitar going out of tune immediately

I am on a "pro guitar tech" course next week to learn all about set ups etc.

I will post a thread after the course but after 30 years of playing I thought I had better learn how to do the "set up" thing - I have always subscribed to the "pay a pro to do it properly" school of thought but as my guitar collection has grown I can't afford to get each one done regularly!

[Neil C]

Boydie,
I've thought of blocking on my strats as i seldom use the thing too.
Interesting course - could you post the details as well?
 
Neil

[tina m]

i didnt agree with the advice given to vicki from the start but i kept quiet bcos i was sure you boys knew vicki better than me
i got the impression she wanted to try a electric to see what she could do with it bcos she was interested in getting different sounds & diffrent styles to her acoustic..in other words to experiment..
my advice wouldve been to buy a cheap one..just check the electrics work & theres no fret buzzes & its got a nice low action...& if she then likes what she finds she can do with it   she can take it back to the pawn shop & get something better & she will know more by then about what she wants & how to choose it
of course if she doesnt get on with the guitar shes not wasted much money
but now shes got scared off by all the choice & the cost & may never get the chance to try one
the electric i learnt on was very cheap but it was enough to persuade me this thing is the instrument for me

omg i cant have all these terrible things said about tremolo arms either!
if it wasnt for whammy bars i wouldve given up guitar as boring years ago ...they are a one way ticket to all sorts of fabulous out of control sounds..i dont play live so the tuning troubles isnt a problem
& i just get my 2 guitars setup once a year
i keep a 3rd guitar for strictly rhythym & thats got a 'tremolo no' i had fitted in it to lock the bridge
neil you need a tremolo no

[CaliaMoko]

Well! Interesting!

Tina...I'm not so scared I would never try again, never fear! I've decided not to get an electric yet because I can barely play guitar and I think I need to be better first. I can probably list the chords I can play on two hands. I can't bar (barre?) My biggest fear at this point is...I would get an electric and then it would just sit there not getting played because I'm comfortable with the acoustics but not the electric.

I really like the idea of trying one of the cheap ones for awhile and then taking it back and trading up. I don't know if I ever would have thought of that on my own, so thank you, Tina!

I know a couple guys in the area who are great guitar players, so I think I might try to connect with them for a little coaching and have them show me a few things on their electrics and let me try them out. I never thought of that idea before, either.

So this thread has actually been more useful to me than I thought last night, when I was feeling like I had asked for a bunch of advice for nothing. Nope, it's all good, and I thank you all very much. I especially liked getting the variety of opinions, because then I can see the topic from different points of view.

These forums are awesome! (What's the correct way to refer to this community? A forum? A group of forums? Something else?)

Vicki

[Skub]

I am on a "pro guitar tech" course next week to learn all about set ups etc.

It'll be interesting to hear what you think of the course,Paul. Aside from playing the things,working on them is very rewarding. The only advice I would offer is to get yourself kitted out with a few decent tools,they'll make the job so much easier. A good set of nut files,don't bother with any of those welder nozzle cleaners you see on the bay. I went through all that,making my own out of feeler gauges and the like,just spend the money and get the right thing.

A tool for fret leveling and a crowning file will also be good things. Lots of good stuff on http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/ but beware it can be a spendy rabbit hole.    

It's not rocket science,btw,if you have a set of hands at all and take your time you'll get there.

[Boydie]

Thanks SKUB

I completely forgot you were a builder! Doh!!!

This is the course:
http://www.guitartechcourses.com/guitar-courses/professional-guitar-setup-course/

James sounds like a great guy and I can't wait to get learning - not sure if I will get the bug enough to want to get properly in to it - or even build one - but Inagree 100% about getting the right tools for the job so will check them out

[pompeyjazz]

Hi Vicki. My recommendations. 1. Take somebody who knows about guitars with you. 2. Set a budget. 3. Buy the best guitar you can for the money you have
 4. Try it out at home. 5. If you like it then either keep it or trade it up. If you don't like it then hang it on the wall as a decoration.

Cheers John

[CaliaMoko]

...If you don't like it then hang it on the wall as a decoration.

 

[CaliaMoko]

Changed my mind again...I bought an electric guitar at a pawn shop. Cheap one. It's a Squier Bullet by Fender. I considered all the input I got here, and I talked to a former professional friend (formerly a professional musician, still a friend) of mine who gave me additional useful advice. I didn't meet all the suggestions, but I did play the guitars and choose one with action I like. And it's a cheap one.

I'll go through, and follow, instructions for "setting up" (never knew about that before) and ask questions if I have any. Since I haven't spent any time improving my guitar playing first, I'll just have to do that with this guitar.

Now I have to put another guitar hanger on my wall...err...my honey has to put another guitar hanger on the wall. I would do it, but he likes to do that stuff, so I'll let him. Maybe. We'll see.

By the way, in the setting up instructions I skipped over the nonsense (to me) phrase "feeler gauge" and was trying to measure with a good drafting scale. When I explained to my sweetie the sizes I was trying to measure, he said I needed a feeler gauge and he went to the garage and got a couple of them. So now I know what that is.

So, thanks for all the input and good advice.

Vicki

[Skub]

Happy NGD.*


*new guitar day!

[Neil C]

Look forward to hearing the results in a few days. No pressure.
 
Neil

[tina m]

vocki i have no idea what this feeler gauge thing is....but i do know that set up is something you dont do yourself unless you know a lot about guitars ...even i dont do that ...you get a pro to do that bcos you can easily mess up your guitar  ..dont alter anything on the guitar!
 
anyway i am realy delighted youve got yourself a electric guitar

[ShinyThang]

Drat! I'm late to the party with this one. Going electric can mean never having enough gear! I went acoustic for the best part of 25 years after playing electric rhythm in a gigging, local band. but now, I've gone back to electrics and the acoustics are sulking in the corner. The techniques are quite different and it felt like coming home to me. I haven't read all that has been said but;

Squire Guitars: Well, I try out Fenders in shops whenever I get the chance and haven't yet found one I'd prefer to my Squire. Mind you, it is a bit like Trigger's Broom because it's had a lot of new parts. I replaced all the electrics, including the pickups because they were poor.

Tremolo bars: I read too much here about 'blocking them off' and I need to stand up for them. I have my Strat set up as the standard 'floating' bridge where the normal tension of the strings pulls the bridge up so that your trem bar can increase and decrease the pitch. David Gilmore is my guitar God and I suggest you look at how he uses the trem bar before you 'block' it off. If your guitar goes out of tune when you use a tremolo bar then you're either using it like a whammy bar (differnet thing IMO) or there's something else wrong with your guitar. I don't like the Strat/bullet type trem bar though because the thread wears and then you get a 'slack' spot which affects the sound and feel. I overcome this by wrapping PTFE tape around the thread but this has to be refreshed regularly.

Additional gear: Well, you may be lucky and get a killer sound straight into an amp but the probability is that you're gonna try a pedal or two, or three ... or four .... But don't fret. There are some really good, cheap pedals out there now. if you don't want an amp you don't need one. Try a Behringer Tube Amp modeler TM300 pedal $25 and go direct into your hi-fi speakers or DAW or whatever. That's mostly what I do and my bass playing friend was blown away by the sound I get in my kitchen through Hi-Fi speakers! You can crank up the drive if you want a dirty sound just like a normal amp. If you want a dedicated distortion I can recommend the NUX HG-6.  $25 - $43 on Amazon. I've got an fairly costly BOSS DS-1 which is no better than the 'cheap-as-chips' NUX.

Best of luck with it

And Tinam, that Tremol-No thing looks briliant! I had no idea these things existed and now I wants one!