mjmiller1824

In resale yes. Otherwise forget it. Get what plays well. You can fix electronics. I have one 2000+ dollar guitar (that I bought used). The rest are cheap as hell but upgraded in the electronics and I wouldn't trade them. Ever (I've given up one trumpet and one guitar case in my life. The trumpet was stolen by the ex-wife of a friend who borrowed it to learn and the guitar case was destroyed in a car accident. I don't get rid of instruments) You can make an instrument that plays well and sounds good for less that what you're paying. And for an extra 600 pounds I would look into a chapman custom or carvin. Just my two cents. Fender has wildly inconsistent quality. I've got a MIM jazz bass that I'll get fixed for sentimental reasons, a squire affinity series that I love like a child, and there was a MIA P bass that I rejected because it sounded dead and played like a log with a couple of nails in it. And I've seen the opposite too. A fender"Starcaster" acoustic that had a neck bend so bad that I could slide my hand between the neck and strings. The name and the MIA tag will keep value. But you might not have a decent instrument to actually play out if.

I should also mention that I've reset the neck and the tuning posts on this guitar but the tuning machines are dead stock.

I'll also say I've got an epi special, the cheapest guitar epiphone has ever made, with .013 guage. 26w on the g or you'll never intonate the damn thing. I've never had a problem. I usually keep the guitar at d standard, but it's functioned fine at e. It's a risk, but not one you should really worry about that much. I like these for low tunings http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3769&productid=67&productname=ECG26_Chromes_Flat_Wound__Medium__13_56

I've been using the Dunlop 3mm picks for the most part. But I do have a custom made out of a Korean 500 won coin that responds more or less the same way. I'll post pics if I can find it.

Honestly I know you've made your decision but something FireKorn left out is the easiest way to do it is pick the version your guitar is already wired for. If you don't have a battery and preamp already get a passive. Otherwise get a clean sounding active with an even frequency response curve. But both the pickups you posted are passive.

What you're talking about is digital emulation, there is nothing analog that I know of that can do it without being obscenely expensive (I.E. get someone to write you a custom program). The algorithm isn't that hard, you could use the harmonics of the string (no note you play on guitar is pure) or more simply set a certain range and use tabs to get a predictive program to guess what note you're going for. But emulations like this are usually crap. Now if you used a midi guitar pick up you could have perfect control. But you would still be dealing with sampled sounds and those, aside from the seriously high end (2k plus per instrument) samples are just no substitute for the real thing. Especially when they try to emulate an analogue instrument.

Actually I have, I've tried every major distributor out there and it appears that custom ordered modulars are the only way to go. But they have an order minimum of 25 to 50 pieces depending on the manufacturer. I'm going to do a proof of concept set up first with toggles and ordinary 2.50 each pots and then worry about ordering the pots custom when I go into production. Or not depending on what kits I offer.

Well I wanted to start a thread for people to ask about general guitar mods. Wiring, neck profiles, frets and fretboards, trems, body profiles, pickups, active vs passive, strings and the mods you need to carry heavier strings in cheap guitars, bridges (for instance tely vs, tunomatic + tail piece vs, roller bridges. Seriously let's try to concentrate mods in a single thread. I've got years of experience, I know there are a few other members who know there way around building and modding guitars. Lets talk about them (It's the only place on this forum I'm useful :-p

Well the spider functions similarly to an edge or FR. Here is an exploded view http://www.wammiworld.com/x2720.phpThis is the style I have http://www.wammiworld.com/x22-23xx.php, it is a flat mount and does not require a rear routing for a spring cavity.

The advantage of the DC series is in it's electronics. With switches for in phase out of phase, and coil splitting as well as an on board active pre amp that gives you trem and bass boost, you can get almost any sound out of it. Additionally carvin pickups use 11 individually height adjustable poles instead of 6 for improved sustain and a more even tonal response. I like the fret board and the neck shape is great. I'm eventually going to get around to stripping the paint off the guitar and going with a more natural look and feel. I prefer unlacquered necks myself. Some of the DC series also had Kahler trems in them which I think I've waxed poetic about on here before. I love that they're self contained in a way that no other trem is and that their height adjustment doesn't rely on my turning screws in wood. So overall I'm a fan. Although I will say get a nice padded and WIDE strap if you're going to get a DC. They are heavy. Unbelievably heavy. I think I've carried lighter bowling balls (a bit of hyperbole but really they are freaking heavy). And it actually doesn't get much use these days. I'm playing an Indonesian made Blackburn MkII by Volcan that I picked up in Korea as my main guitar and have serious plans for if I can find the parts. I keep the Carvin tuned to E flat and pick it up when I want to play in E flat pretty much only.

You miss understand me. Well sort of. I think you should not worry about upgrading this particular cheap guitar. I really don't think it's worth it. But if you like playing it, play it. Put money aside for a different guitar sure. I think I've mentioned that I got a DC400 from Carvin used on ebay for about 400. I had to put some time and tlc into it but it works great now.

I've never liked gimick strings. If you can prove better tonal response sustain ect, great, but colored? Forget that noise. Correct picking with come with time. DL the "Sweet Child O' Mine" CDLC on here and RR the crap out of the main riff.

The pickups are actually pretty sweet on those guitars. The last time I worked on one they were set up for coil tapping and had a nice crunchy sound. But.... the body is crap. The trems are crap. GIOs are shit IMO. The wood is little better than Styrofoam. And the necks are a nightmare to actually work on. Just play your guitar. Get a new one when you can afford it. If you want to trade if for something get an Epi Special. The electronics on those are shit but the plywood bodies really have nice sustain once the posts for the tail piece are recemented and the necks are reset a bit tighter. And I love the neck feel.

Hum is just a fact of life with overdrive or distortion, and it's particularly and issue with high output pickups. BUT. It could be a grounding issue. Try switching to a power strip with a built in power surge circuit. Make sure your outlets are grounded properly that means make sure they are wired properly if I'm close I'll come help you check it out but get a friend if you can't be sure the outlets are right ( just because the little plug in light says they are grounded doesn't mean they are you actually need to check the wiring). If you still have problems, make sure your amp is properly grounded.

So for strings, who ever told you 9-42's are for beginners is an idiot. Play what feels good. I have 9-42s on my e-flat and e guitars. And 13 to 57s on my D guitars. The heavier strings hold drop tunings better. But more to the point I prefer Ernie Balls, but D'addario or even Martins will work if you like them. And there are many pros that will even play 8s. Seriously dude strings are entirely preference. What that person might have meant is that it's easier to control 9s (light strings) which is true. Heavier strings will give you more sustain in general. But if your fingers are used to the 9s just go with it. I've had to shove a damn sock on the first fret of my one guitar strung with Ernie Ball 9-42s because the strings are really hard to shut up. So do what feels right and sounds good.

I gotta say even if it doesn't sound right...if it feels right? Play the heck out of that guitar.

A locking strap from a brand I'll look up tomorrow. Even half broken it works well. The nylon cheapos are nice though. Ernie ball in particular. I have a busted ass carvin strap. All the padding turned to dust years ago. And for my bass I use an Ibanez foam padded strap. I can rock like fleaish with that strap. Easy movement of the bass. Disclaimer: I can't actually play like flea...

The Vox and high end Line 6 amps are fine. But really it's do you want flat out copies of someone else's tone? I've owned and played with a lot of amps and software at this point. And if you want to dial in someone else's tone perfectly ask them how they do it. Many artists have given interviews or will respond to emails on the subject. Otherwise just find a sweet set of effects and play with them. There was another set of questions about this earlier I think.

It's been months can someone help with this? Anyone? I'm back in the states and trying to get this off the ground as a prototype if nothing else.

Cool, actually I use guitar rig 5 in the demo mode, part of the reason for my question is the idea of having something that you can just get an idea of what you want something to sound like without dropping a couple hundred bucks per vst. But a few questions about EZmix. Is it controllable by footboard? And does it have a decent acoustic simulator? Most of my guitars are in the USA right now and traveling with an electric and my laptop is convenient but it does have it's limitations.

What the title says. Has anyone successfully done anything like this? I'm thinking it's possible but I'm not sure how. It would make working in Music Creator 6 so much nicer.

Truthfully I'd second most things in this thread. The zoom is great the Line six is amazing but a bit pricey and the only complaint I've ever had with digitech gear is that it tends to go wrong in a relatively short period of time. And an older pod particularly if you can get a short board with one used might be a really good option for you. ps. Oh and if you're not looking to record. Download the demo of Guitar Rig 5. It's a pain in the ass to record with but you can easily get any sound you want to out of it. And the only restrictions on the demo are no saving presets and only half an hour at a time play time (but you can restart it immediately and go back at it). At the moment I'm looking at building a new giggable rig and I'm thinking a portable rack with a Line six HD pro and a power amp with a short board for control but seriously just look around. I don't know where you're located or what the used market is but you can score a really sweet deal I'm sure if you just look around. p.p.s and Korg makes some great sounding stuff, but their options are a bit limited. I think their top of the line only has 72 total amps, effects, and cabs modeled all together. But they will sound amazing.

I should clarify then. I only buy modeling amps at this point. I like Line 6, Behringer, and Vox for these purposes. I went with the VOX VT 50 212 over the Line 6 Flextone II based on price and the fact that I felt I could get the sounds I was interested in without having to pay the extra for the Flextone (Clean to a blues crunch to metal) although for heavier sounds I find I prefer playing through my larger cabinet (whose name escapes me at the moment and is 6000 miles away so I'll just have to leave it at larger cabinet) which is the size of a marshall 4x12 but is actually made for a keyboard and is only a 2x12. The extra resonance gives a nice heavy sound. And I've had a couple Behringer amps (none of the current V-tone line) and although their build quality won't stand up to being bounced around too much they have all had a nice sound I particularly liked the Bluedevil. Maybe someday I'll buy amps for specific sounds but I have neither the space nor the budget for that at the moment. My wife already gripes about how much space my guitars take up and I'm bringing another one home from Korea with me.

Something about it.... yeah. No I think it's a beautiful guitar even if it's initial design throws me a bit. Solid clean lines, tunomatic bridge, simple controls. Looks like a peach.

Other than that I have two suggestions for brands. Behringer or Vox. Both are excellent value for money.