Fret buzz .. SURPRISE!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Erockrazor
  • Start date Start date
RandyW said:
Both my Martin 00016GTR and Taylor 412CE sound best with light gauge strings. The recommended gauge is the one that come on them.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/model.aspx?model=412-CE

Actually the 412 has a little better bracing than the 16 but still sounds
best with lighter gauge strings.

same thing for the Martin but of course a Martin brand string.
Put a medium gauge string on it and it sounds worse. Both guitars
are designed for light gauge strings. I also have another Baby Martin
same case the recommended gauge is light. When a manufacture
recommends a particular guage there is usually a good reason for it.
Click to expand...


They sound best (to you, at least) with lights on. The factory suggests lights. That is not the same as saying it can't handle mediums. You are not going to ruin your guitar by putting mediums on it. THAT was the point I was trying to make.

There are, as I said, some small shop builders who like to build guitars which can't handle mediums, but everytime I've played one of their guitars I felt they were lacking in low end, unbalanced, and missing the dynamic range I'm used to. Now, granted, I'm used to my dad's acoustics (I grew up listening to them, after all), and he builds very balanced, VERY dynamic guitars, so my point of view is perhaps a bit biased. None the less, it is my feeling that building a guitar that light will make it louder, but it limits your low end and it completely sabotoges your ability to play loud. As soon as you start to lay into one of these guitars, they just kind of go farty.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
muttley600 said:
The only ones I can think of are paul reeds' and they are gimmick as far as I'm concerned IMHO
Click to expand...


If I may be allowed to quote one of my favorite TV characters (Omar Little from The Wire); "Oh, indeed!"

I couldn't agree more.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
muttley600 said:
??? You definitely don't want a soundpost in an archtopguitar!!! What Archtops are you thinking of dgatwood?? The only ones I can think of are paul reeds' and they are gimmick as far as I'm concerned IMHO
Click to expand...


Oh, and the PRS "soundpost" has little to nothing to do with a violin family soundpost. It's just a big block under the bridge and/or tailpiece.

It proabably does make them a little less prone to feedback, but that isn't what they claim to be doing with it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Same as the few Gretches that use a block under the bridge.

For those that are interested the soundpost's main function is to couple the back plate to the front plate and is used in bowed instruments as an aid to spread vibration around the instrument and improve the balance across its range. That is a very simplistic explanation buit n essence its true.

Why are they not a good idea on an archtopguitar? Plucked instruments and bowed instruments have one very obvious difference, The guitar top is diven by a plucked string with a finite amount of energy, the bowed instrument tops energy is supplied as a continuos stream from the bow. By placing a soundpost under or just behind the bridge you are creating a large dead spot or node there. The amount of energy then needed to get the soundboard moving is a lot more.The bow can supply that energy a plucked string can't.

Who is this Omar Little? We don't get that here. At least not whenI'm vegging in front of the box!
 
the various string tunings your chaning to can be one factor, also you might have changed your strings to not necessarily thinner gauges, but maybe softer, that allow more stretch. hope this helps

- Lou
 
muttley600 said:
Who is this Omar Little? We don't get that here. At least not whenI'm vegging in front of the box!
Click to expand...


Oh, The Wire is a great show. It is not light television, mind you, but if you like realistic crime drama, you can't get any more real (or, any better) than The Wire. Basically, it is a show about the drug trade, though that is a gross oversimplification.

As for Omar, he makes his living stealing from drug dealers. As you can guess, he's a bit of a hard ass.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top