Here's what I'm getting myself for Christmas this year.

[DrNomis_44]

Amazing how most factory setups are done that way.

Yep, and I agree, what's even more amazing is that the guitar still has it's signed Q.C. (Quality Control) sticker on the back of it, it is signed by the person who inspected the guitar after it had been assembled and set up at the factory, makes you wonder, eh?

But anyway, I'm not going to quibble about it, since it was relatively easy to sort out, it gave me an excuse to exercise my guitar-setup chops, besides, for some perverse reason I seem to really enjoy doing setups on guitars, maybe it comes from my days as an apprentice fitter and machinist, I dunno....haha.

[Simon Barden]

Some people like splayed-out springs, so that not all the springs are under the same tension and so have the same resonant frequency. They'll even adjust the spring claw so that one end is nearer the edge of the cavity than the other to change the spring tensions. Eric Johnson used 3 springs on the bass side, then a gap, then one spring on the treble side. But then he didn't have the trem floating, so no upward bends were possible.

[DrNomis_44]

Some people like splayed-out springs, so that not all the springs are under the same tension and so have the same resonant frequency. They'll even adjust the spring claw so that one end is nearer the edge of the cavity than the other to change the spring tensions. Eric Johnson used 3 springs on the bass side, then a gap, then one spring on the treble side. But then he didn't have the trem floating, so no upward bends were possible.

I've also seen some pics of Eric Johnson's signature Strats, and they had five springs installed, I always thought to myself "How on earth does he manage to stop the enormous string and spring tensions from bending the mounting screws of the vintage style trems on his guitars?", I've read somewhere that he uses pretty heavy gauge strings on his Strats.

When it comes to trem springs, I guess it's really a matter of what happens to work for a particular person.

[Simon Barden]

He was certainly using just 5 back in 1991, though he could have later moved to 5 (or wanted people to think he used all 5 by specifying them for his signature model). It partly depends on the position of the string claw. If it's set quite near the trem block then the springs will be under less tension to start with, though the force required to move the trem arm once you get past a certain point will still be greater than with fewer strings.

But just because they are fitted, it doesn't mean they were used. My Dave Gilmour Strat came with 5 trem springs fitted, but DG only uses 3.

[DrNomis_44]

He was certainly using just 5 back in 1991, though he could have later moved to 5 (or wanted people to think he used all 5 by specifying them for his signature model). It partly depends on the position of the string claw. If it's set quite near the trem block then the springs will be under less tension to start with, though the force required to move the trem arm once you get past a certain point will still be greater than with fewer strings.

But just because they are fitted, it doesn't mean they were used. My Dave Gilmour Strat came with 5 trem springs fitted, but DG only uses 3.

I find that three trem springs tends to suit 42-09 gauge strings pretty well, I've got 42-09 gauge Elixir strings installed on my BC Rich Warlock guitar, my Headless Guitar has 46-10 gauge Ernie Ball Titanium Reinforced strings on it, I can definitely notice a difference in string tension between the two guitars, the heavier gauge strings feel tighter even though both guitars are tuned the same and use the same scale length (25.5 inch).

What are those Dave Gilmour Strats like to play?, I'm guessing that they are much like regular Strats, the shop where I bought the Warlock from has some 7-string, 8-string, and 9-string guitars in stock, I had a close look at one and was surprised at how thick some of the strings were, they need to be to be able to tune to lower pitches without being very floppy, it just goes to show why the guitar is such a fascinating musical instrument, well it is to me, and it has a very long history going back to ancient times.

[Simon Barden]

The DG Strat is obviously a Strat, and in sound it's actually very similar to my Kinman equipped rosewood necked Jap Strat (apart from when it's got the 'neck pickup always connected' switch turned on). But the neck is its true gem. I haven't played another Strat with a neck like it (though there must be some out there), its got a slight V feel to it and it's just superb to play. It's a 7.25" radius, but it's been fretted so well that I can set the strings lower on it than on just about any of my other guitars. I actually have to set the strings up a bit than they need to be, otherwise with the gloss maple fretboard and slightly sweaty hands, the strings can slip under your fingers when bending.

It was bought new in very late 2010, and now costs £1k/A$1.7k more to buy from new, so I can only assume its used value has also gone up. It's the slightly cheaper NOS version rather than the full reliced copy.

[DrNomis_44]

The DG Strat is obviously a Strat, and in sound it's actually very similar to my Kinman equipped rosewood necked Jap Strat (apart from when it's got the 'neck pickup always connected' switch turned on). But the neck is its true gem. I haven't played another Strat with a neck like it (though there must be some out there), its got a slight V feel to it and it's just superb to play. It's a 7.25" radius, but it's been fretted so well that I can set the strings lower on it than on just about any of my other guitars. I actually have to set the strings up a bit than they need to be, otherwise with the gloss maple fretboard and slightly sweaty hands, the strings can slip under your fingers when bending.

It was bought new in very late 2010, and now costs £1k/A$1.7k more to buy from new, so I can only assume its used value has also gone up. It's the slightly cheaper NOS version rather than the full reliced copy.

The early Fender Telecasters had necks with a 7.25 inch radius on it, and so did the early Strats too, later on, Fender changed to a flatter 9.5 inch radius, I think the neck of my BC Rich Warlock has a 16 inch radius on it which is very flat, but I'll have to confirm that using my radius gauges next time I put new strings on it.

I've gotten to the point where I'm used to going from a guitar with a 25.5 inch scale neck, to one with a 24.75 inch scale neck, they do have a slight difference in feel, the shorter scale length seems to make playing certain chords easier, Paul Reed Smith makes his guitars with a 25 inch scale, which is in between the Fender 25.5 inch scale length, and the Gibson 24.75 inch scale length.

[Simon Barden]

A smaller radius is easier for playing chords on, but harder to set up for a low action. I'm not a big fan of too flat a neck on electrics. My Warmoth parts Tele has a 12" to 18" compound radius board - and that just doesn't feel right to me.

[DrNomis_44]

A smaller radius is easier for playing chords on, but harder to set up for a low action. I'm not a big fan of too flat a neck on electrics. My Warmoth parts Tele has a 12" to 18" compound radius board - and that just doesn't feel right to me.

So there is always a trade-off between playability of chords and action-height, I try to get the action on my guitars as low as I can without serious fret-buzz, mostly because my hands aren't that big, I find that a low action makes it easier on my fretting hand, if I try to play a guitar with a higher action than I'm used to, then I start feeling some pain between my left hand thumb and index-finger, my index finger muscles start to hurt too, that's because a higher action needs more force to fret the strings than a lower action.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


I just bought myself a brand new Boss MT-2 Metalzone pedal today as a sort of "late xmas present" for myself, I used to own one in the mid 90's but I lost track of it and can't remember what I did with it, anyway, I tried it out with my new BC Rich warlock guitar and I've found that I can get all those high-gain Heavy Metal sounds I've been after, sure, I could have just kept using my Tonebone Hot British pedal, but it has a nasty habit of getting brittle and hummy at high gain settings, and the distortion gets a bit ugly sounding, on the other hand, the Metalzone just stays smooth even at the maximum gain setting.

Back in the mid 90's when I bought my first Metalzone pedal, I seem to remember it costing me something like Au$350.00, this time round, it only cost me Au$160.00 all up, so I'm pretty pleased with that.

Now, I will be able to get that demo recording done for you guys, so stay tuned.