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I named my guitars. I call them Ibanez, Jackson and Epiphone.

At 7/21/10 07:32 PM, SomaGuye wrote: I named my guitars. I call them Ibanez, Jackson and Epiphone.

Great names.. except for the last one, that one gave me a fever, the shivers and bad flash backs from my past with screams and blood everywhere and strings that won't stay in tune.

At 7/21/10 08:35 PM, PolishMatt wrote:

At 7/21/10 07:32 PM, SomaGuye wrote: I named my guitars. I call them Ibanez, Jackson and Epiphone.

Great names.. except for the last one, that one gave me a fever, the shivers and bad flash backs from my past with screams and blood everywhere and strings that won't stay in tune.

Yeah it's not the best and the G string will detune at the slightest bend, but it looks mighty fine.

So I had my first professional guitar lesson with this jazz guitarist named Travis. He was a pretty laid back, extremely nice, and funny guy. He liked my playing but man his playing sure was awesome. He's helped my soloing, comping, and chords already with one lesson. He ran off a bunch of jazz guitar songs for me so I'm gonna listen to them religiously. Hopefully these lessons give me inspiration to practice more. We also have the same Ibanez Artcore guitar.

If you guys wanna hear him play, he's the guitar player in this video. Also the drummer has played for our jazz band previously, he is the son of the director, he's good but a major douche, and he helps our drummers out a lot.

At 7/21/10 01:39 PM, TheUnwisePoet wrote: What about this guitar?

http://www.musicstore.com/en_EN/EUR/Jack son-RX-10-D-Randy-Rhoads-Update-Black/ar t-GIT0016164-000?recId=36262124-81dc-493 b-a035-a7d936d85add

Don't forget about me, I need help!

At 7/22/10 09:16 AM, TheUnwisePoet wrote:

At 7/21/10 01:39 PM, TheUnwisePoet wrote: What about this guitar?

http://www.musicstore.com/en_EN/EUR/Jack son-RX-10-D-Randy-Rhoads-Update-Black/ar t-GIT0016164-000?recId=36262124-81dc-493 b-a035-a7d936d85add

Don't forget about me, I need help!

You don't need help deciding which guitar you want, it's a personal choice. I have no experience with Jacksons, but I've heard that you have to spend a lot of money in order to receive good sound quality, no idea if that pricetag would provide good tone or not. I'm an Ibanez guy, they offer the best tone in comparison with the price, in my opinion.

At 7/23/10 08:28 PM, ToastedCupcake wrote:

At 7/22/10 09:16 AM, TheUnwisePoet wrote:

At 7/21/10 01:39 PM, TheUnwisePoet wrote: What about this guitar?

http://www.musicstore.com/en_EN/EUR/Jack son-RX-10-D-Randy-Rhoads-Update-Black/ar t-GIT0016164-000?recId=36262124-81dc-493 b-a035-a7d936d85add

Don't forget about me, I need help!

You don't need help deciding which guitar you want, it's a personal choice. I have no experience with Jacksons, but I've heard that you have to spend a lot of money in order to receive good sound quality, no idea if that pricetag would provide good tone or not. I'm an Ibanez guy, they offer the best tone in comparison with the price, in my opinion.

I'm actually changing the pickups in my Jackson soon because I can't stand the ones in it. It's a HSS setup, and I've already decided on a Blackout in the bridge, but I don't know what to put in the mid and neck. Anyone know any good single coils that have a nice full clean sound, but can do distortion as well?

At 7/23/10 09:50 PM, SomaGuye wrote: I'm actually changing the pickups in my Jackson soon because I can't stand the ones in it. It's a HSS setup, and I've already decided on a Blackout in the bridge, but I don't know what to put in the mid and neck. Anyone know any good single coils that have a nice full clean sound, but can do distortion as well?

Just keep in mind that it's an active pickup and that will require a battery to operate.

What would be better, buying a Tele (a regular one) or modifying my Strat by installing P-90s?

1) Ibanez ART 120 Transparent Red
2) Rise Against
3) About 4 years

At 7/24/10 07:58 AM, Sawdust wrote: What would be better, buying a Tele (a regular one) or modifying my Strat by installing P-90s?

I'd go for seymour duncan p-90 rails, they take a humbucker size slot, but they are extremely versatile, although ultimately, there is no definate option as to which is 'best', p-90's give you a more versatile sound, that's for sure, but I would personally go for the tele, that and the start would give you a broader range of sounds altogether. Swiss army knife guitars rarely work.

At 7/24/10 07:58 AM, Sawdust wrote: What would be better, buying a Tele (a regular one) or modifying my Strat by installing P-90s?

Just buy that Tele that we all lust over...

Will I have problems tuning this guitar to Drop C?

At 7/25/10 10:42 AM, TheUnwisePoet wrote: Will I have problems tuning this guitar to Drop C?

Well you'd either have to take it to a shop or have a huge process of trial and error setting it up yourself, because of the locking trem. I'd call those problems.

At 7/25/10 10:42 AM, TheUnwisePoet wrote: Will I have problems tuning this guitar to Drop C?

Seeing as your asking such a question, it's safe to assume you never seen or played on a floating bridge so the answer is yes. I have written a couple of posts on how to tune such a bridge on thread in the past but I'm definitely not going to scout through all my posts to find it.

As an overview: you'll need to tweak the truss rod, put heavier strings on and decrease the tremolo's spring tension, which will probably involve removing a spring or two. It's do-able yourself, but if you aren't familiar with tremolo systems then it's probably worth getting a technician at a guitar store to set it up.

Tuning the guitar to Drop-C with the bridge fully operational

1) Tune all the strings a full step down.

2) Slacken the spring claw at the back to re-establish balance

3) Tune again

4) Slacken again. By now the bridge should be in the position you want it. It may take more,
depending on how you do it and how you want it.

5) Drop the D, and tune it all over again a few times until its perfectly in tune.

6) Look into the guitar's manual (Probably won't come with it) to see how many quarter turns to make counter-clock/clock wise on the truss rode.

7) Precisely recalibrate the intonation screws on the bridge to compensate for the increased gauge of the springs.

8) Pray that you didn't screw up.

A word on springs
The more springs the more tensions. People most often use 3 springs in a ||| configuration. Next comes the /|\ configuration. It makes bending the lowest and highest strings a little easier. To be honest, I didn't notice much difference.
Some people use 2 or 4 springs. I don't see why not. But to me, 3 springs is perfect.

But there is hope if you don't want to take the risk, but you will have to sacrifice the ability to do dive bombs with it and buy an extra piece of hardware (Which removes all the fun and makes the purchase of the Floyd a bit unnecessary).It's called a Tremol-no and it fits inside the bridge cavity and it prevents the bridge from moving up and down.

Tuning the guitar to Drop-C without adjusting the springs + buying a Tremol-no

1) I would have the guitar set-up in standard tuning with the Ernie Ball 10/52's. Take it somewhere for the initial setup if you aren't comfortable doing it.

2) Get a Tremol-no installed. Again take it somewhere if you aren't comfortable doing it, but it isn't that hard.

3) When you want to go to drop-C, lock in the Tremol-no and tune down. Check for frets buzzing and adjust bridge up slightly if necessary.

4) If you want to still be able to do dive-bombs, only tighten the one screw on the T-No. If you want your Floyd to act like a hard tail, tighten all three thumbscrews.

Making a fake Drop-C
Place a capo on the 2nd fret.

If you don't want to even DO that, look for a guitar with a fix bridge, my suggestion being an Ibanez. I have a Jackson, it's fantastic but Jackson has absolutely nothing worthwhile buying for under 500$ US. To make life sweeter, go look on Craigslist, eBay, Kijiji or any other world/local auction sites for USED GUITARS. I'm telling you, if I knew about it earlier, I would of bought used. There's 6,800,000,000 people on this planet, which 1,586,272,555 have internet access, some of those people have financial issues and need money quickly and end up selling shit for cheap. Last summer, I saw a kid selling a mint ESP M-II (Neck-through) (Well over 2000$ new) for 500$ because he needed cash for college, I nearly shat myself.

I don't know if it's my low-quality pickups or my amp, but I get this weird feedback when I play that's kind of staticy, I don't know, the sound is hard to explain. I did drop my amp a while back when I was leaving my friend's house and I slipped on some ice, but I don't always remember the feedback being there. And it's only when I play, not if the amp is on and the guitar is sitting still. I'm leaning towards the pickups, because it's a $200 Ibanez with stock pickups, so yeah. Any thoughts?

At 7/25/10 07:35 PM, ToastedCupcake wrote: but I get this weird feedback when I play that's kind of staticy

There are a few possibilities.
1. Noise slowly building up from your pickups being too close to the amp
2. The cable or jack in the guitar being physically damaged
3. It's just your mind fooling you.

At 7/25/10 07:48 PM, PolishMatt wrote: There are a few possibilities.

I don't think it's any of those, like I said it's only when I play. Like for example, if I was just going back and forth between frets 5 and 7, in between playing each note, I'd get a weird static-like sound. I really think it's just my low-quality pickups being well, low-quality.

At 7/25/10 08:29 PM, ToastedCupcake wrote: I don't think it's any of those, like I said it's only when I play. Like for example, if I was just going back and forth between frets 5 and 7, in between playing each note, I'd get a weird static-like sound. I really think it's just my low-quality pickups being well, low-quality.

I've had this problem too, it's like a weird buzz isn't it? It really bothered me once because it was only on a certain string on three frets of the neck but it went away so it might just be old strings. I know I have to change mine.

At 7/25/10 10:06 PM, CapnCrunchDaPimp wrote: it might just be old strings.

I don't think it's that either, I just restrung my guitar about a month or so ago with some DImebag DRs, and they last pretty long I've heard. Who knows.

So I took the pickups out of my Jackson and there isn't room for a battery, so it looks like I'll be sticking with passive pickups because I don't feel like having a hole cut in the cavity. So now I'm not really sure what pickups to put in it, anyone want to suggest some?

At 7/26/10 12:31 PM, SomaGuye wrote: So I took the pickups out of my Jackson and there isn't room for a battery, so it looks like I'll be sticking with passive pickups because I don't feel like having a hole cut in the cavity. So now I'm not really sure what pickups to put in it, anyone want to suggest some?

DiMarzio D-Activators. It would be a shame to put anything else in those cavities. Also, there HAS to be enough room in there to fit a 9V, Jackson cavities are big, do some cable management and recheck. Also, that picture is dark, it's impossible to see the cavities.

I can't wait for my birthday, I'm getting a new Ibanez and some Seymour Duncans, or I might get a new amp instead of the pickups and just get the pickups later down the road, I'm not sure.

At 7/26/10 03:15 PM, PolishMatt wrote: DiMarzio D-Activators. It would be a shame to put anything else in those cavities.

I like the DiMarzio X2N as well. I use it as a bridge pickup.

At the moment I'm leaning towards a Bare Knuckle Nailbomb in the bridge and Trilogy Suites in the middle and neck. The D Activators seem a bit bright to me. Better picture of the body.

At 7/25/10 12:06 PM, PolishMatt wrote:

At 7/25/10 10:42 AM, TheUnwisePoet wrote: Will I have problems tuning this guitar to Drop C?

...

I don't feel comfortable to do any of those things. I will just stick with the Ibanez I wanted first for now. But I'd go with this one if it doesn't give me any problem dropping to c

A Schetzer and Strat

I only go whammy bar babe :)

At 7/27/10 09:46 AM, TheUnwisePoet wrote: I don't feel comfortable to do any of those things. I will just stick with the Ibanez I wanted first for now. But I'd go with this one if it doesn't give me any problem dropping to c

That's the exact same guitar... the only difference is that the bridge is black instead of chrome. In your situation, these guitars would suit you better. Some of them cost more but It would be worth while saving up an extra hundred because the quality jumps leaps and bounds between 250 and 350. Some of them have 7-strings, which would be perfect for you if you want to play heavy stuff, in standard it's already heavy as fuck.

Ibanez RG2EX1 - 269.99

Jackson JS32RT - 279.99

Ibanez RG RG3EXFM1 - 349.99

Ibanez RG7321 7-String - 399.99 (This is your best choice, IMO)

ESP LTD Stephen Carpenter 7- 439.99

At 7/27/10 08:40 AM, SomaGuye wrote: The D Activators seem a bit bright to me. Better picture of the body.

Muhammed Suiçmez uses them and that should tell you everything you need to know. Also, they're the only pickups that sound like they're active. That's a good thing they're bright, that's exactly what's needed for good solos and chugs. Especially helps with the low octave stuff that can get muddy easily.

At 7/27/10 11:07 AM, PolishMatt wrote:
Ibanez RG7321 7-String - 399.99 (This is your best choice, IMO)

How is it to play on a 7-String, there's too much difference? Also I'm looking for a guitar with whammy bar...

At 7/27/10 03:09 PM, TheUnwisePoet wrote: How is it to play on a 7-String, there's too much difference?

I found it a wee bit awkward for a few days whilst I got used to the E string not being the highest and so playing six string stuff would mean I would always be playing a string further up, but now I can switch between six string stuff and seven string stuff as naturally as can be.