ezbass

First of all - welcome to GC. Now let’s seen if we can help. It’s your floating bridge that’s giving you the trouble here I think. What’s happening is that the string tension is pulling the trem bridge up and as soon as it does this the strings go out of tune against each other, which is exacerbated by the increase in string gauge (regs are 10-46 I think). It depends on whether you want to keep the bridge floating or not. Having it float allows for up bends as well as down. If you want it to do this, I’d take off the back plate, and tighten the screws holding the spring claw about half a turn maybe. Then go back and retune the guitar, which will take time, as each time you tighten one string, the others will lose their tuning as you are experiencing. However, if you bring them up to pitch equally so that they’re there or there abouts, the differences will become less and less until it holds tune across all 6 strings. It takes time and is often irritating, no matter how long you’ve been playing (they will also go out of tune as they settle in too, but that’s part of playing the 6 stringed beast). The other method is to have your bridge set up for down bend only. In this instance, tighten those claw screws down so, that the bridge doesn’t lift when you bring the strings up to pitch, this will lessen the de-tuning effect of the strings on each other, although you will still get a bit, this is easily corrected with a bit of tuning adjustment. However, there is a knock on effect of altering your bridge setting in that it can affect the height of your bridge saddles and the action might feel a bit different in that it’ll be a bit higher if you ‘lock down’ the trem for down bends only. There will be plenty of YouTube videos that will show you how to do all of this. I hope that helps.

Surfing the guitar based web, as you do, and came across these https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/soap-bar/fantom-p90-dog-ear I see expenditure in my future

Another beauty, the figuring on that yew is amazing.

First of all . Our very own @Andyjr1515 builds all sorts of guitars, this is one of his acoustic builds... I imagine he would be able to answer your question.

Well that’s an eclectic bunch. I like them all for different reasons, but the skateboard lap steel is my favourite and I don’t know why. I like to tinker with my guitars and basses, but this is whole level above my fiddling; kudos.

Ah ha! You can tell when someone has experience of forums when they list all their gear; nice work and nice collection. Still early days here, but it’s starting to pick up steam.

As we are acquiring new members, some of whom are beginners, I wondered if it might not be a good idea to have a library of videos aimed at those folk staring out. Therefore, I thought I’d start the ball rolling with a couple from Rick Beato. You may not like his style (I run hot and cold with his channel) but there might be something useful in these two videos. I always think that you should take what you need/works for you from these type of things, as sometimes one can spend a lot of time trying to nail one of the ‘important’ techniques described when it might not apply to your playing. Anyway, on with the show... And, as a bonus, one from Rhett Shull...

DiMarzio pickups never fail to deliver IMO. I have DiMarzios fitted to my Tele. GLWTS.

It’s always going to be a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Ah, but behind that lurks the beginning of a callus. Don't forget to take it easy when they get sore, it's frustrating, but pays dividends in the end.

I initially used what pick felt right as a beginner, but eventually moved to what gave me the best tone, which meant thicker for my purposes (at one point I played with a 2mm Tortex). I still mess around with various picks, but always seem to come back to a Dunlop Jazz 3 (as used by Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa). It’s a personal choice at the end of the day, as is how you hold it; Robben Ford uses a conventional shaped pick but uses it upside down (as does Dave Kilminster IIRC). Invest in a pack of various gauges and see which one you like to the tone & feel of best, but be prepared to chop and change as you develop as a player or as the song or guitar dictates. Then there’s fingerstyle, hybrid style, thumbpicks, fingerpicks, metal, plastic, GAH!

Shame about the biographies stipulation, as Andy Summers’ One Train Later is a great read and insight into how he, as fundamentally a jazz player from the beginning, was in so many bands of others genres but still had his own, totally relevant voice in those settings. If the type of book you’re looking for exists, I’ve never come across one. I imagine any generic ‘self help’ book would suffice, in that they often deal with self belief, focus, etc. Hopefully, others on the forum may be able to offer more guidance/suggestions.

I don't suffer with this condition or anything like it, so I can offer no first hand advice I'm afraid. However, I'm thinking a way forward might be to try using a thumb pick, but hold it like it's a normal pick until the tremors kick in and then use it whatever way will allow you continue playing until they subside or develop a style of your own with said device, part Oldfield/Knopfler, part you.

@backwater Lovely bound Tele (not that I’m biased you understand ).

They’re avoiding extraneous noise for the video, plus they can look cool doing a side of the hand roll off.

Rick Beato’s channel is quite good, although he often gets on my nerves. https://www.youtube.com/user/pegzch Rhett Shull is great for gear, good player too. https://www.youtube.com/user/rshull07 Lari Basilio is my favourite player at the moment, she’s awesome and a lovely person in the flesh too. https://www.youtube.com/user/larissabasilio As predominately a bass player, a lot of my videos are bass related.

In short, no. The only reason that one might want to do this is so that you can plug in silently (jack plug pop notwithstanding).

Build threads are always a source of interest, not matter what level of expertise; I look forward to yours. Should you need any advice, there are a number of experienced builders here who are always happy to help. With regard to modern gear, you are not wrong. My first decent level guitar (although still pretty low in the scheme of things, a bolt on neck Aria LP) cost me £125 in ‘76, the equivalent money today will get you really good quality, well respected guitar. To paraphrase an old cliche, “New players today, they don’t they’re born.” It’s great the quality and choice is so good now, I’m just a jealous, old curmudgeon .

All true, as can a lighter string gauge (although you can sacrifice tone if you go too light). It's always best to try before you buy and it's nice to build up a relationship with your local guitar shop, but in the current climate that's not going to be easy, unfortunately.

Electric will always be easier on your fingers initially, but learning on an acoustic was always a rite of passage and made you appreciate the difference when getting an electric. There’s also the need for an amp with electric (at least eventually). I’ve not played any of the guitars you mention, but most ‘name’ guitars are good these days and I own an Epiphone acoustic myself (an EJ200). However, I’ve always said that Yamaha don’t make a bad instrument of any kind or at any price point, so that would be my first choice without actually trying them

I’m pretty sure they do but, having not tried them, I don’t know if they’d lose their P90-ness. You’d think not, given their success with other single coils. If you do it and it’s all positive, I might swap out the dog-ears in my Casino Coupé.

You are welcome, I’m glad it has proved to a positive experience (although it’s hard to go wrong with DiMarzio IMO).

I've seen both of these in YouTube comparisons (I just can't seem to find the videos though ) and both are well regarded. The Vintage sticks more to the LP aesthetic with the control layout, but both are solidly in the Les Paul camp. As Dad says, you can pick up a bargain used, but you lose that peace of mind that new (and therefore returnable) gives, unless of the course if the used ones are from a shop. Nice choice to have to make.

Wow, those are some really nice guitars to learn on. Strings can be a bit of a minefield, especially for acoustic guitar. However, I’d suggest one of the mainstream, middle of the road brands like D’Addario or Ernie Ball. As a beginner (or even beyond) I’d probably go light gauge 11-52, as these won’t wreck your new fingers too quickly and won’t be too thin sounding. https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/03121018032318--daddario-ej26-custom-light-acoustic-11-52 https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/171122317049008--ernie-ball-2004-earthwood-8020-bronze-light-guitar-strings