Let's see your guitars

[Slapstick]

Thanks, guys. I'm even struggling with a C chord right now. Hitting other strings with my fingers, and by the time I put my fingers up on their tips, they are not long enough to reach. I'm sure it will come with time and practice. I just need to stick with it past the unpleasant part instead of bailing, which I tend to want to do.

One last thing then I'll leave you alone. Since the C cord is causing you some problems you can play a sort of simplified version while you practice. Place your index finger on the 2nd string 1st fret and just strum the high 3 strings. You get all high notes of the C cord with just one finger and it works for most songs. When your confortable with that then practice placing the middle finger on the 4th string 2nd fret and strum the those 4 strings. Adds a bit of a low note to it and you only using 2 fingers. After your confortable with that then practice the 3 finger C cord. Nothing says you have to play the full cord so let your ears judge what sounds right. I would suggest you look up cord charts for 1 and 2 finger cords, it makes it a lot easier to play in the beginning as your fingers start to learn where and how they need to respond.

 

[phylodog]

I promise all that goes away, just don't give up. One day you'll pick it up and realize that you're not hitting other strings and that troublesome C cord will ring true. You won't even be sure of whats changed you'll just know that it has. So will the other cords with practice.

This! It is a gradual process and while some days are really challenging, other days I find that I can all of a sudden do things easily that I struggled with for a long time.

I’m three years back into it after not playing for about 25 years. I started with some lessons this time and the instructor quickly moved me past some things I’d been struggling with.

I try to keep a running list of songs I’d like to play. If they’re within reach of my current abilities I’ll put some time in and make progress before moving on to another to keep my interest up. It’s awesome to go back to a song and try again after a month of playing other things to find out that you can now play things you couldn’t last time you tried. I get bored quickly and this is the best way I’ve found to remind myself that I am improving.

Little Wing by SRV is a prime example. It’s one of my favorite guitar songs ever and the day I can play it and make it sound good will be a magnificent day for me. That day will be years down the road but most every time I decide to try to play it again it gets a little easier, sounds a little better and becomes a little more effortless. Some days I try and it’s obvious right off the bat that my hands and brain aren’t working together well and I’ll just put it down or switch to something I play well.

 

[ancjr]

I get my basses back tomorrow, Lord willing.

 

[ancjr]

Got two basses and a guitar back today from being adjusted. Can't stress enough how much of a difference it makes. I can now play several songs on one of them that were physically impossible previously. They all sound and play better than they did.

 

[Jsomerset]

Got two basses and a guitar back today from being adjusted. Can't stress enough how much of a difference it makes. I can now play several songs on one of them that were physically impossible previously. They all sound and play better than they did.

Had a friend that had his 60’s Gibson Dove PLEK’d. He said it was crazy better than when it was new.

 

[ancjr]

Had a friend that had his 60’s Gibson Dove PLEK’d. He said it was crazy better than when it was new.

Yes, I've seen that before. I really wonder how far you can take accuracy before you reach the limits of precision a piece of wood can reliably hold, or what would actually make a practical difference on a bass.

 

[Jsomerset]

I think since it is a cnc that the finger boards can be removed and with a change of mill bits a fine tuning of the neck, head, nut and nut bed is also possible along with the finger board itself. That would be the ultimate goal I would hope.

 

[thompal]

Had a friend that had his 60’s Gibson Dove PLEK’d. He said it was crazy better than when it was new.

The PLEK is an amazing thing. I'm curious how long the perfectness will last on an acoustic.

 

[ancjr]

The PLEK is an amazing thing. I'm curious how long the perfectness will last on an acoustic.

That's what I'm thinking. You can't machine a piece of wood to a tolerance that it will hold over time like you can something solid and homogenous.

 

[Jsomerset]

Don’t have an answer for the long term. He never complained about it being a waste of money and he surely would if he didn’t think he got what he paid for. Unfortunately he is no longer with us for me to ask.

 

[chezuki]

Ooh, hangers are “multi-purpose”.

 

[Leo]

One of the things about a plek machine. It is an expensive and complex machine. What is the going rate for a pleK job? $200? Even at that, I am not sure you would ever pay off the machine when you are paying the operator. $200 is 4 hours of bench time for a luthier.

A luthier would love to have 4 hours of paid time for that job. Most people bawk at paying one hour for a fret recrown. Two hours can make a comfortable and detailed fret level and crown job, including polishing the frets. Heck 3 hours buys a refret job on a bolt on neck. Pretty easy to hold a couple thousandths with proper radius blocks.

After everything is perfectly flat, you re adjust the truss rod so the the strings bend the neck for .010" to .012" string relief. (a little more for a heavy string acoustic).

Even if you think you are really plek'ing to a ten thousandth, by tomorrow it is different. Easy to demonstrate this. Leave the guitar in the driest room of the house for a couple days. Say 30% humidity. Tune it perfectly with a top grade strobe tuner. Don't touch the strings. Take it into a room with a humidifier in it, say a comfortable 45% humidity. Come back in 8 hours, you are out of tune. The strings did not change, the wood did. Temperature screws with it also. If a .002 feeler gauge does not slide easily under a fret rocker, the frets are as perfect as they will ever be.

It is a cool machine.

 

[Twangbanger]

This seems to make more sense as a production machine for a high-end manufacturer, who wants to send their guitars out with the most playability.

It seems like every time you adjust the truss rod or especially if you refret, you'd need to do the process again.

 

[Leo]

Nice! Any pics?

The surf green one is a pawn shop no name body, a no name Ebay neck, lipstick tube pickups and parts from GFS and Amazon.

The cigar box is a Squier bullet neck and the electronics from a Jay Turser Tele clone. I have a latch for a jewelry box to keep it closed so the cigars don't fall out.

The Tele is all take off parts from customers guitars. Two Hot Rails pickups with a split switch in the tone control for twangy and thick sounds.

The White Strat is a Mighty Mite body, a custom 12" radius neck, low output Alnico 2 pickups (think warm and smooth for Jazz), and other parts from Amazon.

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I have guitars that I actually bought all at once as a whole guitar too, but like a lot of AR's they can be fun to put together. A few of them are actually stock, but not many.

 

[Leo]

Well, an hour ago I had a nice clear picture posted, but now it is gone, any idea what I did wrong.?

 

[Snapdragon]

I saw it. You didn't delete it in the last edit?

 

[ancjr]

I do the ctrl+p image upload and it works as long as I give it enough (a lot) of time to upload.

 

[Leo]

I loaded it again, hopefully I did it right.

 

[Snapdragon]

I can see it OK. On this forum you can just copy/paste images, so I just do Ctrl C at the source of the picture to copy, and the come over here and do Ctrl V to paste.

 

[mammynun]

1993 Ibanez RG-770