Guitar players corner!

[Michael Stanley 2112]

Ahoy, guitar-playing bassists. I’ve looked in on this thread occasionally but I don’t think I’ve ever commented. After trying to find answers in guitar forums (fora?) I’ve decided to ask here where people generally provide helpful and timely answers in far greater proportion to snark and nastiness.

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As seen here, I have happily acquired a pair of Ibanez shredders equipped with Edge III double-locking systems. (They would be identical had the one on your right not been refinished.) Both arrived tuned EADGBE; I have no way of knowing for certain but I think they both wore fairly standard sets of 9s on them; the gray one played perfectly out of the box, while the black one fretted out on the lower strings and positions. No big deal: I had planned to take the plunge into fiddling with fancy whammy bar stuff by restringing them and setting them up in CGCFAD and BEADF#B anyway.

After no small amount of effort but fortunately little frustration I seem to have succeeded, but I thought I’d ask here: should I expect these to hold tuning perfectly? They hold tuning even better than any of my basses under normal use, but they do reliably go ever so slightly flat after a single dive bomb—just one to maaaaaybe two LEDs flat on my Boss tuner pedal, but very reliably so. Do I need to tighten the claws on these just the teensiest bit, or would that just start the whole iterative setup process anew?

If you're going to tune them that low, I would strongly suggest heavier strings (.010 at least) to prevent that "muddy" sound thinner strings can get, when loosened to that degree.

There's also a set of strings which are "mis-matched". Let me go see if I can find the Sweetwater link ...

I have these on my two guitars which are tuned that low. I think they (semi-) solve the problem of "mud".

 

[lowplaces]

Anybody here looking for a new guitar?

Every time I see Mark mentioned I think of this song. Specifically this performance.

 

[Killing Floor]

Locking nut—I ditched my Fender-style units because even one mild dive would throw the tuning off, and not just one LED in the same direction on every string as this has persisted for several days now, I’ll try unlocking the nut, tuning slightly sharp, and then locking things down again. I’ve read that one should use the bar while tuning, but have not heard details on precisely what that means.

And I know there’s plenty folks who will say not to overtune or yank on strings. It’s what I do. I don’t know if it’s right but works for me.

And more pics!

 

[Riff Ranger]

If you're going to tune them that low, I would strongly suggest heavier strings (.010 at least) to prevent that "muddy" sound thinner strings can get, when loosened to that degree.

There's also a set of strings which are "mis-matched". Let me go see if I can find the Sweetwater link ...

I have these on my two guitars which are tuned that low. I think they (semi-) solve the problem of "mud".

Oh, I wouldn’t even attempt B-Standard with 9s. I went with the Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom Slinkies for CGCFAD and Magnum Slinkies for BEADF#B. I have Mammoth Slinkies on a similar fixed bridge shredder tuned to B-Standard but for the Edge-equipped guitars I thought something with overall tension similar to 9s in E-Standard might save me some work setting up. The Magnum Slinkies in B-Standard nailed it, and it’s a good thing, because I don’t think the .062 from the Mammoth set would have fit at the saddle; the Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom must have pulled a bit harder even in Drop-C than whatever it previously had on it did in E-Standard.

 

[Tom Bomb]

I went for drop D tuning ages ago. Seemed like the thing to do at the time (Why Do I Keep F'ing Up? The Old Laughing Lady, The Loner, and Cinnamon Girl had something to do with it actually, going back a ways.) [This invalid link has been removed] strings fit the bill. I still use 'em.

Apart from that initial onslaught, I'm averse to alternate tunings. Bit of a stick-in-the-mud. Had a good crack at That's the Way — which is Db-Gb-Db-Gb-Bb-Db — a while back. Got it down. But I let it slide. I even have a lap steel now but I'm still dogging it. You're inspiring some further exploration, @Riff Ranger. Thanks for chiming in
​

 

[Riff Ranger]

I went for drop D tuning ages ago. Seemed like the thing to do at the time (Why Do I Keep F'ing Up? The Old Laughing Lady, The Loner, and Cinnamon Girl had something to do with it actually, going back a ways.) [This invalid link has been removed] strings fit the bill. I still use 'em.

Apart from that initial onslaught, I'm averse to alternate tunings. Bit of a stick-in-the-mud. Had a good crack at That's the Way — which is Db-Gb-Db-Gb-Bb-Db — a while back. Got it down. But I let it slide. I even have a lap steel now but I'm still dogging it. You're inspiring some further exploration, @Riff Ranger. Thanks for chiming in
​

Glad to hear it! Switching tunings with locking whammies pretty much equals switching guitars, hence the pair. Worth the trouble for different options and breaking away from established habits, in my case.

I favored Ernie Ball Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom Slinkies—virtually identical construction to the D’Addario set you mentioned for E-Standard and Drop-D, and continued to use them even as that migrated down to Drop-C. I then got it in my head that I wanted a wound third string like a typical acoustic set has, which led to a lot of experimenting with custom and now-discontinued sets. When the time came to brave a string change and setup with the Edge system, I looked at the many remaining Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom sets I had on hand and figured better to burn those if I botched the installation; but as stated above, I seem to have gotten it right the first time. Maybe I’ll get brave and try to sneak the wound thirds back in at some point, but I’m reminded why I always liked this set.

The Magnum Slinkies I chose for the B-Standard guitar do have a wound .022 for the third string, which seems slightly overpowered by its neighbors, but early days yet.

 

[Pocket Dave]

I used to maintain an open-D tuned guitar for slide on one song we did, Motherless Children. That lasted maybe 2 gigs before I found a work-around in semi-standard tuning.

These days I play slide in mostly drop-high-D tuning, a great cheat/compromise, such as what I posted earlier in the thread:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/guitar-players-corner.1488019/page-43#post-27502812

 

[mapleglo]

Guitar on the left came from the factory tuned to D. It has a longer scale length (28"?). Some may call it a baritone guitar. I call it my "D-scale" guitar. I put on standard acoustic light strings - .011's.

 

[Riff Ranger]

And more pics!

Wish granted:

HM-2-ish pedal by AIB Custom Effects in France using artwork by my daughter based on a photograph of me. Good for a Cliff Burton “lead bass” sound, but primarily ordered for instant Swedish death metal guitar sound. It’s the Norwegian-American Slovakian-French Swedish Death Metal Pedal!

The gaudy budget riff machine I bought to see how I liked RGs. Killer riffs just fall out of this thing left and right. This is the one in B-Standard with the Mammoth Slinkies.

My previous thing with guitars was apparently glossy black archtops with white binding. I traded the RGA on your right toward the black RG in my first post on the previous page, but it was pretty great for ~200 USD new.

 

[Riff Ranger]

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Guitar on the left came from the factory tuned to D. It has a longer scale length (28"?). Some may call it a baritone guitar. I call it my "D-scale" guitar. I put on standard acoustic light strings - .011's.

From the mid-to-late ‘90s? I remember Ovation debuting something like that around then. I was considering the Ibanez RGD series (26.5” scale, factory tuning DGCFAD) when I ended getting the pair of RG350s that led me to join in this thread. My Schecter Omen-7 (see reply above this one) has a 26.5” scale, and my primarily bass playing fingers appreciate the extra room.

 

[mapleglo]

From the mid-to-late ‘90s? I remember Ovation debuting something like that around then.

I'm not sure when it was introduced. I bought it several years ago used.

 

[James Hart]

I used Dean Markley light top/heavy bottom sets for standard tuning since the mid 80s... discontinued, reissued and killed again. I switched to the D'Addario version for the more recent years until just under a year ago when I got a free set of D'Addario 9s and actually liked them. So the electrics have all swapped over to these NYXL0946 Nickel Wound | Electric Guitar Strings | D'Addario

 

[ajkula66]

I used Dean Markley light top/heavy bottom sets for standard tuning since the mid 80s...

Same here. Nowadays most of my electrics are strung with DR Pure Blues, 10-52, exceptions being two Framus pieces, '61 Sorella (Thomastik flats 011), and '69 5/112 (SIT Silencers 010).

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

Same here. Nowadays most of my electrics are strung with DR Pure Blues, 10-52, exceptions being two Framus pieces, '61 Sorella (Thomastik flats 011), and '69 5/112 (SIT Silencers 010).

For blues, I have a guitar strung with Reverend Willy's Mexican Lottery strings. I use the .007s (I'm a bender. when I play blues).

 

[ajkula66]

For blues, I have a guitar strung with Reverend Willy's Mexican Lottery strings. I use the .007s (I'm a bender. when I play blues).

Wow. I've never even heard of those.

As for 007s...a friend of mine who is a huge Blackmore fan had Picato 007s on his '70s Strat, just like the man himself at one time...I could never get along with that guitar...​

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

Wow. I've never even heard of those.

As for 007s...a friend of mine who is a huge Blackmore fan had Picato 007s on his '70s Strat, just like the man himself at one time...I could never get along with that guitar...​

Back in the old days (when I was just a wee scad) there was a set of strings which were branded as Gibson (I'm sure Gibson didn't actually make them) called: "Gibson Ultra Light Guitar Strings". They were .006s.

Did I use them? Of course, that's how I know of their existence.

 

[James Hart]

I played a friend's SG with 008s years ago, it was odd to me at the time, I would try them again now.

 

[Riff Ranger]

For blues, I have a guitar strung with Reverend Willy's Mexican Lottery strings. I use the .007s (I'm a bender. when I play blues).

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I only recently learned of the existence of 7s. I like relatively low tension, but I’m still astonished those are even playable! Tony Iommi plays an interesting set of gauges: .032/.024/.018w/.011/.008/.008 for Eb-Standard that second string only has about 5.4 pounds on it on his SG, and none of them have more than 10!

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I only recently learned of the existence of 7s. I like relatively low tension, but I’m still astonished those are even playable! Tony Iommi plays an interesting set of gauges: .032/.024/.018w/.011/.008/.008 for Eb-Standard that second string only has about 5.4 pounds on it on his SG, and none of them have more than 10!

I don't know about Sabbath music, but for blues, they're AMAZING!

 

[spade2you]

I have a Simon Fay Model One on loan. Here's my one take spec review. Music clip(s) to follow.