Guitar adjustments – maybe I don’t suck so bad after all
February 20th, 2009Local, Music, Personal 7 Comments
I recently took my electric guitar into our local shop to get it adjusted by the resident luthiers, since I’d noticed lately that it was tending to go sharp on higher frets even when tuned correctly. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was just me, since learning for a year on an acoustic meant I often tended to use too much force on the fretboard of the electric and introduced accidental bending (since the string gauges on the electric are lighter, and steel rather than bronze). After a while though, I became pretty convinced that it was getting more pronounced and that it wasn’t down to my lack of skill, although that still needs plenty of work too 
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So, I was introduced to the issue of humidity and how it affects the guitar, which I hadn’t been particularly aware of before (I vaguely remember reading about environmental conditions, but hadn’t had any problems with the acoustic). Obviously wood being organic, it absorbs water from the environment or loses it, and thus can change shape slightly, particularly as so much tension is involved, meaning the original set-up needed adjusting once it had settled into the prevailing conditions at my house. I got it back the next day and am extremely pleased with the result – no more sharps up the fretboard, and a slightly lower action too which makes it easier to play. I can now wail away without wincing at a dodgy sounding chord – well, not because of that, anyway. 
What was also nice was that they did it for free – I guess not that surprising since I only bought the guitar from them a couple of months ago, but still I wasn’t assuming that would be the case so I appreciated it, and it certainly vindicated my decision to buy locally rather than save a bit of cash ordering online. My aim now is to get good enough that when I feel like buying more guitars (which I’m beginning to realise is inevitable eventually if I keep this up), I can try them out in the shop without feeling self-conscious – difficult when the store owner demos the kit by cranking out some great-sounding licks then hands it over to you! I’m not quite up to banjo dueling just yet.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:43 am
That sounds more life an intonation problem than humidity. Maybe they adjusted the bridge saddles as well?
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:31 am
Very possibly, they rattled off a list of the things they’d done and I didn’t follow all of them! Now that it feels better, I don’t mind how they fixed it
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Those last two sentences sound sooo familiar. I’m on the lookout for a better bass, but I just know I’m going to suck really bad when I need to try out some gear in the store. I have also heard other musicians play in a local shop, and that did not exactly make me feel better either. It’s the biggest obstacle for me when thinking about buying new gear.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Oh yeah – when I took the guitar in, there was another customer already there trying out a new guitar, and it sounded great. Very intimidating! I might ask for headphones when I’m trialling next time
February 24th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I’m lucky enough to have a luthier in the family to keep my guitars in top shape, but I have been amazed at times at how badly setup some of the instruments come from the factory. It pays to immediately have someone look at it right after you buy it, before you struggle with playing a poorly tweaked instrument. I know what you mean about skills. I was once buying an amp at a place right across the street from Berklee College of music in Boston, and there was a kid in the next room wailing away, and I was having some confidence issues trying the gear out and the tech just looked at me and said ‘just play it, there is always someone better in the next room, that’s just the way it is’, which was pretty good advice
February 24th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
So that looks like a decent phone, but there commercial is horrible: http://europe.nokia.com/A41146122 (click “Watch TV Commercial”). All the US smart phone commercials show people actually using the phone, demoing all its features, etc. That N71 commercial is just pretty visuals and music.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Ooops, supposed to be on this blog entry: http://www.stevestreeting.com/2009/02/22/good-smartphone-on-the-cheap/#comments