KVR Audio

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 1:54 am

If you like Boomers try Darco's they have that spongy stretchy feel without the dreaded EB can't stay in tune for shinola vibe happening.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 2:26 am

strings? Dirty D'addarios (.009s)...the only coating I want is my DNA

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 2:34 am

haha!

I don't change them as much as I used to. They get funky......even with cleaning.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 4:02 am

I'm cleaning up my strat right now. I finally yanked off that stupid GK3 and it's ugly. Dirty darkmatter where the hex pickup used to sit and guey white stuff where the other thing did.

It's already got that magical relic vintage look after surviving a fire an attempted armed robbery.

With the strings off I'm debating If I should just save my money for a Jimmy Vaughn strat or just start pricing loaded pickguards

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:34 am

For me, Elixirs are the perfect match for J-Basses and Sting Rays. String types don't make much difference on P-Basses. On guitar, I've been using GHS Burnished Nickel strings for a long time and I'm really anxious to try DR Pure Blues, which are nickel wrapped around round cores for a tone that's supposed to stand out significantly from other brands. Also, I love using 11 gauge Blue Steels for gorgeous piano-like tones.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:41 am

tapper mike wrote:With the strings off I'm debating If I should just save my money for a Jimmy Vaughn strat or just start pricing loaded pickguards

You can buy a full set of the Jimmy Vaughan Tex Mex pickups for $99. That's a lot cheaper than the guitar or any loaded pickguards.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 3:51 pm

It's more over the debate of do I want a new guitar. My strat has a rosewood fretboard. I've always preferred maple ones. Though maple fretboard guitars have never preferred me. Everyone I've ever owned the neck has warped.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 5:26 pm

I have always prefered Maple fretboards but ironically the only maple fretboard I have right now is on my baritone (but more than one neck is maple). I believe that one of the things when it comes to having more than one guitar is that you have variety of such things (remember I went years as a one guitar guy, almost always Maple on Maple when it came to necks).

I'm not sure the warping is the fault of the wood though, if you are thinking about changing guitars for a maple neck you might want to rethink that. You may be better served by getting a maple Warmoth neck for their double expanding trussrods*. It doesn't hurt that they have some amazing necks with your choice of just about everything including fret size, radius and many back contours...better still, they are not expensive. You can always replace your neck, save the original and put it back on the guitar should you choose to do so.

*From Warmoth

Benefits of the double expanding truss rod

Extremely stable, seasonal adjustments are rarely necessary
No end to end wood compression to eventually distort the neck

edit: follow the link above, look to the left and click "Trussrods explained" for more info...in fact check out woods, and everything else...wonderful resource for anyone there

ew · Post by ew » Sat Oct 06, 2012 6:57 pm

The warping definitely isn't a result of the fingerboard wood, unless there's a dramatic difference in moisture content between the neck and fingerboard during the lamination (which I highly doubt). I could almost see it happening with a one piece neck/board with a skunk stripe where the truss rod's put in due to the difference in woods easier than from a fingerboard, but even that's a stretch.

FWIW, even with the climate extremes here in Minnesota, I've never had trouble with necks warping with any guitar I've ever had. I've bought a couple used ones with warps before, but those were straightened out gradually over a month or two by judicious tweaking and weekly string changes until they set in right. YMMV...

ew

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:07 pm

Yep, I'll agree with you there. Most of the maple fretboard guitars were cheap and it always suffered in the neck. But I did have a valley arts Custom Ray Benson Tele. It was fatter then a standard 52' tele and I've played them. You would have hated the neck on that thing. Sure enough the neck went south on it as well. Even though it had a double truss rod.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:08 pm

ew I completely agree...New England is pretty well known for extreme climate changes as well. Tbh when I was working in retail at the first and smaller store I worked at my duties also included a lot of guitar repair work and I found that most such issues was the fault of someone attempting to make adjustments they did not understand how to make.

Warmoth's double expanding truss rod does a great job of preventing this however. Unless it's an angled headstock the point of adjustment is not as easy to reach as with most truss rods.

Naturally I disagree with the weekly string changes

Okay really I dont, that is a matter of choice

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:11 pm

tapper mike wrote:Yep, I'll agree with you there. Most of the maple fretboard guitars were cheap and it always suffered in the neck. But I did have a valley arts Custom Ray Benson Tele. It was fatter then a standard 52' tele and I've played them. You would have hated the neck on that thing. Sure enough the neck went south on it as well. Even though it had a double truss rod.

ftr double truss and double expanding truss are two different things

edit: I should clarify that a bit, are you saying the guitar had dual rods or double expanding? Because it's quite possible the guitar you speak of has a double expanding

ew · Post by ew » Sat Oct 06, 2012 7:39 pm

Hink wrote: Naturally I disagree with the weekly string changes

That's only while the neck's settling back in. I usually use a gauge up or down one from my usual .010 for the first two or three changes, and then string as normal after that.

I used to change all my guitars once a week, but that was when I:
1) was playing out a lot more, and
2) had really acidic hands- my sweat's not even a quarter as acidic as it used to be. When I was living in LA back in the late '80s, our rehearsal studio was in Huntington Beach. Between the salt in the air and my hands, I'd go through a set of strings at rehearsal; they'd be completely black (and dead) after a couple hours

Nowdays, it's every two months or so.

ew

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:05 pm

ew wrote:
Hink wrote: Naturally I disagree with the weekly string changes

That's only while the neck's settling back in. I usually use a gauge up or down one from my usual .010 for the first two or three changes, and then string as normal after that.

I used to change all my guitars once a week, but that was when I:
1) was playing out a lot more, and
2) had really acidic hands- my sweat's not even a quarter as acidic as it used to be. When I was living in LA back in the late '80s, our rehearsal studio was in Huntington Beach. Between the salt in the air and my hands, I'd go through a set of strings at rehearsal; they'd be completely black (and dead) after a couple hours

Nowdays, it's every two months or so.

ew

as you know there are two camps on this subject and neither of us are alone in how we feel...the truth is the Daion I bought from Muff Wiggler Feb 07 still has the same set of strings I put on it when I changed all the pots and such (I did within a day or two of getting it). I will change strings once more than one string has broken not counting the highest string though. I only break those when I use tunings with that string being an "E" after being use to a guitar tuned with that string as a "D" for a long time. Typically I rarely break strings.

FWIW When I got the Daion it had a terrible hum, the guitar had a duncan in the bridge and the green wire was wired as the hot and the black wire went to ground. (I think my old laptop still has the pics I took) An understandable mistake

ew · Post by ew » Sat Oct 06, 2012 8:45 pm

The only strings I ever break are the octave Gs on my 12 strings. I used to break strings all the time; once again, mostly due to my body chemistry at the time.

ew

Your next guitar?