Hot Rodding electric guitars
Almost every guitar player finds themselves on a quest for the 'perfect' guitar....perfect action,,,ideal tone. There are many great guitars out there. Les Pauls, Paul Reed Smiths, Firebirds, etc. While these are all great guitars I am the champion of Stratocaster style guitars because I believe strat style guitars vibrate like a tuning fork.
Its the 'wings' of the body that pick up vibrations (especially on stage) from the sound stream around them that creates sympathetic resonances and overtones. All guitars tend to do this but strats do it more because of their 'wings'. They're shaped like a tuning fork and so behave like one. Listen to Jimi Hendrix play the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock and you'll hear many overtones and sympathetic notes that the guitar is making because in the sound stream on stage the tuning fork design of the strat style guitar comes alive. Strats make more kinds of sounds than any other guitar.
Many strat style copies are good platforms for a professional quality instrument. There are a couple things that limit the capability of a strat copy. First, the thick epoxy and polyurethane finishes on many copies tend to deaden the body because its not free to vibrate. A resonant electric guitar must have a thin lacquer finish. This allows the wood to resonate freely. Secondly the cheapest guitars are made of plywood and these guitars will not resonate, ever.
Every kind of wood has its own frequency where it begins to resonate. This is why a body of alder will have a different sound than one of basswood or maple.
One thing that is wrong with conventional wisdom is that the strap button is that it is located on the top wingtip. This is convenient but it dampens the wing, canceling frequencies the instrument is making. I locate my strap button where the neck bolts on. This frees up the top wing to vibrate. It changes the balance of the guitar and initially takes a little getting used to but not long.
Guitars are like hot rods. You might start out with an old junker and wind up with the fastest car in town. If you make the right choices. You can build a screaming guitar a dollar at a time and it becomes part of you along the way. The pickups can be wound to sing sweetly or howl like a dog at the moon.
Its the little fine points that make the neck play perfectly and at Emily Caroline Hand Crafted Guitars we pay special attention to those 'fine points'. Call us to schedule a 'Multi-point inspection of your strat style guitar
Its the 'wings' of the body that pick up vibrations (especially on stage) from the sound stream around them that creates sympathetic resonances and overtones. All guitars tend to do this but strats do it more because of their 'wings'. They're shaped like a tuning fork and so behave like one. Listen to Jimi Hendrix play the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock and you'll hear many overtones and sympathetic notes that the guitar is making because in the sound stream on stage the tuning fork design of the strat style guitar comes alive. Strats make more kinds of sounds than any other guitar.
Many strat style copies are good platforms for a professional quality instrument. There are a couple things that limit the capability of a strat copy. First, the thick epoxy and polyurethane finishes on many copies tend to deaden the body because its not free to vibrate. A resonant electric guitar must have a thin lacquer finish. This allows the wood to resonate freely. Secondly the cheapest guitars are made of plywood and these guitars will not resonate, ever.
Every kind of wood has its own frequency where it begins to resonate. This is why a body of alder will have a different sound than one of basswood or maple.
One thing that is wrong with conventional wisdom is that the strap button is that it is located on the top wingtip. This is convenient but it dampens the wing, canceling frequencies the instrument is making. I locate my strap button where the neck bolts on. This frees up the top wing to vibrate. It changes the balance of the guitar and initially takes a little getting used to but not long.
Guitars are like hot rods. You might start out with an old junker and wind up with the fastest car in town. If you make the right choices. You can build a screaming guitar a dollar at a time and it becomes part of you along the way. The pickups can be wound to sing sweetly or howl like a dog at the moon.
Its the little fine points that make the neck play perfectly and at Emily Caroline Hand Crafted Guitars we pay special attention to those 'fine points'. Call us to schedule a 'Multi-point inspection of your strat style guitar