This week we talk with Jeff Brooks about guitar repair, setup and modification. In the Rapid Fire section we talk about: Favorite guitar pedals; Favorite pickups; next guitar mod we’ll do.
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The Home Recording Show
The Internet's Best Home Recording Podcast
Great show, or greatest show?!
I’m a tinkerer and started teaching myself setup on my first Korean telecaster and got more and more “into it” until this last string when I completed the project. The only original part on that tele is the neck pickup. Assembled and set up all myself. And it’s so very nice. (Big plug for the dimarzio fast track-t tele bridge pickup, one of the first mods I did, still get compliments about the tone everywhere I play)
There’s an emotional connection when you do all this yourself. Wouldn’t trade it for all the convenience in the world.
I still got a lot of tips from this episode that I’ll add to my arsenal. (graphite grease and the fret dress will be the next on the list!
I wonder if I can poke Jeff’s brain a little further about drop D tuning. I play In a rock band that bounces between standard and drop d for different songs. Im not having “trouble” with it but I wonder if there are any tricks that might help the guitar stay more stable when changing the tuning between songs. I’d like to save time here but most of the time I find I need to adjust at least the a and d strings tuning to compensate for the change in tension when I drop, or come back up to standard.
Should I expect this to happen with most any guitar? Is there some setup trick I can use to make the guitar “like” the changing tuning a little more?
Thanks for all the great info!
Also: (I know I should email Jeff directly)
And best distortion pedal ever is the effectrode tube drive. It’s expensive but worth every penny. It’s literally the front end of a big multi channel tube amp. Between the active tone control and the ability to mix and match the three tube stages right on the front, put this in front of a single channel amp and you can add any distortion sound from a big Marshall, Mesa, fender, or vox. I don’t work for them or anything! 🙂 I just can’t praise it enough.
Great show. For pedals, particularity tube screamer style, check out Maxon. If I remember right they made the tube screamers for Ibanez back in the day. Their ROD880 is a little piece of tube heaven.
Side note, the last djembe I recorded sounded great using a M179 on top with a D112 shoved in the bottom. Was surprised to hear you recommend the D112 as I thought it slowly turning into a dirty word heheh.
Oh, and I liked the music during the comments section, but I am a nerd like that.
@ Dan “Was surprised to hear you recommend the D112”
Me too, not sure how that word came out of my mouth so easily. Realistically almost anything on the back end of the Djembe would be helpful, something slow moving that can handle air blasts would be preferred.
Great show guys, but are you sure you are talking about Guitars?
“Lubricate your nut slot” is my new motto, also nobody like a G-String riding high.
BTW Ryan you’re wrong, i have no interest in guitars, but listened to the whole show, very entertaining (i know i got no life).
I”ll Never give out the name of my Distortion Pedal!
… knowing how the HRS drives up prices on EBAY, gotta keep this one to myself!!!
Guys, great show as usual.
Now I have to tinker with my guitar (again) and lovehate you a little for that.
Maybe another cheap trick for headstrock ring on D- or G-string: add a string tree. cheap and effective
Also: Makes the G-string ride low!
Oh and another one…
Those afraid of playing with their truss rod should definitely not start filing their saddle.
best,
stephan
Another cheap way of tinkering with sound is string choice. Not just the gauge (heavier strings = thicker sound) but also material (stainless steel vs. nickel) or flatwound was “regular” strings or uncoated vs. coated strings can change the way you sound as well as the feeling while playing.
Regarding the mic storage comments: Someone suggested to me that silica kitty litter (like the silica packs you get with mics) can be used to draw out any moisture in mics, so I store my condensers in a small briefcase size tupperware half filled with it. I lay the fake leather mic bag in there and place the mic on top, and then put the lid on to ensure that the cat doesn’t drop a deuce on my meager “mic locker”.
Oh, and slightly related:
I guess Dan beat me to it, but I have to say that if Jon is suggesting a D112 might be located below a djembe’s bottom, under its hole, should us HRS listeners start referring to this blow-hole as something in particular?
excellent episode. thx for disspelling the voodoo
Fellas,
I thoroughly loved this show! The guitar interview was so informative and enjoyable to listen to. Keep up the great work!
A cool guitar mod I found on a forum involves having two different output jacks for difference pickups so you actually have a stereo output. http://forum.recordingreview.com/f8/stereo-guitar-demo-36944/
I just listened to this show for the second time. I have been working on learning to level frets and have had some serious frustration with fret buzz. After getting the frets leveled, I have found the action of 2mm on the low E feels best to me. If I play lightly, it won’t buzz. If I dig in, buzz.
Due to my circumstances in life, I don’t have the opportunity to interact with other guitar players to figure out what seems to be normal with a guitar setup. Of course the guys at Guitar Center say a guitar is fine no matter how bad it sounds. I don’t really take their advice since their motivation is making a sale. The opinions on buzz and string action are varied to say the least. Anyone on here have an opinion they would like to throw out?