Help with a new guitar

[Naetharu]

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1450092863' post='2929442']
7 string guitar is like a 5 string bass - one string too many

Retuning between songs? Life's too short (the audiences' life) Keep it simple! (that goes for tremolos too).

Sounds like he's on the right path now!
[/quote]

My thoughts too - I just use a sub-octave and play up on the 2nd string 5th fret when I need to get a really deep sound in D. Works a treat and saves a great deal of messing around between songs.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1450092863' post='2929442']
Retuning between songs? Life's too short (the audiences' life) Keep it simple! (that goes for tremolos too).
[/quote]

Would be my sentiments too, except IME retuning from standard to drop D on a hard tail guitar is actually quicker than swapping instruments.

He might want to see if he can play the whole set in drop D to save having to do any retuning. The Terrortones had a guitarist that did that. It made some songs easier to play and others more difficult, but overall there were more easier ones than difficult ones so doing the whole set in drop D was a feasible option.

[tedmanzie]

Good point, and another good reason to get a fixed bridge.

[tedmanzie]

Just saw this guitar advertised on thefretboard, it does have a floating bridge but it has the d tuner which apparently means you can flip between drop D and standard in an instant. Eddie Van Halen model, 'good for metal' !
[b]£300[/b] buy it now on ebay and I'd bet he'd take £280, seems like a bit of a steal?!

Ebay (with pics)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252213081922?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Original post on fretboard (no pics)
http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/63441/peavey-wolfgang-special/p1

[BigRedX]

That Wolfgang does look like a good deal.

The only things to consider are does you guitarist have a tendency to break strings? IME any guitar with a vibrato will go horrendously out of tune once one of the strings break. On something with a locking system fitting a new string during a gig (or even re-tuning) is not a realistic option.

Also if he uses a very different set of string gauges to those already fitted it will need to go to a good guitar tech for a full set up to accommodate the new strings.

[ezbass]

Because of the drop D I would imagine that the Wolfgang comes with a flat loaded trem, otherwise I'm not sure the drop D system would work without de-tuning the rest of the strings. I could be wrong though.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1450181703' post='2930291']
Because of the drop D I would imagine that the Wolfgang comes with a flat loaded trem, otherwise I'm not sure the drop D system would work without de-tuning the rest of the strings. I could be wrong though.
[/quote]

Looking at the images, the D-tuner is part of the locking bridge so I would imagine that somehow it compensates for the changes in tension in the string.

Edit: Just read the [url=http://www.dtuna.com/faq.php]FAQ[/url] on the D-Tuna site and it appears that the system only works if the term is locked to prevent up bends.

Edited December 15, 2015 by BigRedX

[tedmanzie]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1450182555' post='2930298']
Looking at the images, the D-tuner is part of the locking bridge so I would imagine that somehow it compensates for the changes in tension in the string.

Edit: Just read the [url="http://www.dtuna.com/faq.php"]FAQ[/url] on the D-Tuna site and it appears that the system only works if the term is locked to prevent up bends.
[/quote]

that makes sense, I seem to recall EVH used to originally set his Charvel up to only do downward bends ?

[Naetharu]

Cheers for the info folks,

Sadly I missed seeing the post until after the Ebay auction had finshed but it does look nice. I'd be a little wary of D-tuners only because I have heard very mixed reports on the ones used with bass guitars. After reading through here and having a very good chat my buddy has pretty much resigned himself to a standard fixed bridge six-string which sounds like a great plan to me. He's still learning the basics of guitar playing and I'm pretty sure something simple will be the best conduit to good playing just like it is with a bass (says that man who bought himself a six string after two months of playing >.< )

[Matt P]

keep your eye out for a Vintage V100 as well, they're great budget les paul guitars, I had one a while ago and it was fantastic, really well made and a great tone, mine only cost me £90 secondhand! I still regret selling it to a friend, one day i'll buy it back.

Matt

[hairychris]

Definitely go for a fixed bridge 6. I used a D-Tuna on a Floyd-loaded guitar and it never worked particularly well, and retuning a floating bridge guitar multiple times in a set unless you have a method of locking it solid (Tremol-no is a great gadget) is a non-starter.

If you go to a 7 string guitar to avoid retuning he'd need to learn the songs with completely different finger positions. It'll completely muck up his chords so probably a non-starter as well.

As for suggestions for an instrument, maybe a Fender/Squire Tele with humbuckers, or even a PRS SE. I was very impressed with the last couple of Squire Teles that I tried, and the PRS SEs are arguably the best built guitars at a budget and are generally reasonably priced used.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1450217662' post='2930735']
Cheers for the info folks,

Sadly I missed seeing the post until after the Ebay auction had finshed but it does look nice. I'd be a little wary of D-tuners only because I have heard very mixed reports on the ones used with bass guitars.
[/quote]


D-tuners (Hipshot extenders) work fantastically well on bass!!!
I have them on three of my basses as I needed to alternate between standard and drop-D a lot in the past. I'd have them on guitar in a heartbeat to avoid faffing about. They're very reliable.

They'll work just as well on guitar, provided there's a fixed bridge, or a floating trem that only does down-bends.

[Naetharu]

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1450809857' post='2936115']


D-tuners (Hipshot extenders) work fantastically well on bass!!!
I have them on three of my basses as I needed to alternate between standard and drop-D a lot in the past. I'd have them on guitar in a heartbeat to avoid faffing about. They're very reliable.

They'll work just as well on guitar, provided there's a fixed bridge, or a floating trem that only does down-bends.


[/quote]

Interesting. I was really impressed with the idea of them but I heard a couple of reports from bass players that use them saying that they were a bit iffy when it came to keeping things in tune. I might have to re-investigate these then since they would be a dream for me what with all the swapping about between drop-d and standard we do in a gig.

[Naetharu]

[quote name='hairychris' timestamp='1450270899' post='2931197']
Definitely go for a fixed bridge 6. I used a D-Tuna on a Floyd-loaded guitar and it never worked particularly well, and retuning a floating bridge guitar multiple times in a set unless you have a method of locking it solid (Tremol-no is a great gadget) is a non-starter.

If you go to a 7 string guitar to avoid retuning he'd need to learn the songs with completely different finger positions. It'll completely muck up his chords so probably a non-starter as well.

As for suggestions for an instrument, maybe a Fender/Squire Tele with humbuckers, or even a PRS SE. I was very impressed with the last couple of Squire Teles that I tried, and the PRS SEs are arguably the best built guitars at a budget and are generally reasonably priced used.
[/quote]

I'd heard quite a few people say that the SE machine heads can be quite slippy which worried me. Otherwise I think they are wonderful looking instruments - I almost bought one for myself since I was taken with the beautiful spaulted maple top. Alas I hated the flat radius of the fingerboard so it was a non-started but boy was it a pretty guitar for the money.

Saying that, we're not looking at the Mensinger guitars (The guitar brand from the folks that make Maruszczyk basses) and wow the look good. The quality/price balance looks to be the same as Maruszczyk, which is to say I have no idea how they can sell stuff that good at that price.

This one is on top of the list:



Hand made, with the option of a custom spec on anything. The price is coming up at around £550 for one of these, with Husserl pick-ups, and with the bridge position as a stacked humbucker with a coil-split on a push-pull pot.

Seems a steal for the money...

[mcnach]

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1450998233' post='2937817']
Interesting. I was really impressed with the idea of them but I heard a couple of reports from bass players that use them saying that they were a bit iffy when it came to keeping things in tune. I might have to re-investigate these then since they would be a dream for me what with all the swapping about between drop-d and standard we do in a gig.
[/quote]

Seriously, if you do drop-D regularly, they're fantastic.
If you maintain it, ensuring there's a drop of grease on the moving parts, the tuning is remarkably stable, back and forth.

I got mine from a seller in the US, I forget the name now... they came at around £45-50 and not one time I had to pay extra tax. I may have been lucky but...
I can't remember the seller's name, but if you search old threads on the Hipshot D-tuners it'll be mentioned there as I wasn't the only one buying from them.

[BigRedX]

Do you find that the string tension is high enough when you tune down to D? I'm lucky enough to have a guitar for permanent drop D tuning and even with my standard 52 - 10 set I find the E string too floppy when down-tuned to D so I buy an extra 56 to replace the 52 for tuning down to D.