How particular are you guys about the details of your gear?

Mark Wein

Mark Wein

Grand Poobah
Staff member
I mean like knowing the difference between ceramic and alnico magnets and 8k vs 10k in pickups and all that.

I'm coming to realize that for all of my preferences I really know very little about all of that stuff.
 
I can usually find guitars of a wide range of specs that really speak to me. I have my preferences, like relatively flat radius, 24.75" scale, rosewood fretboard, carved top, low output humbuckers, etc., but even more important is how all the specs come together in the end.
 
I'm a gear hound by nature. Hell, in my job, I have to know tech specs down to minute details; its in my DNA.
So, I love that shit and I think I have a good grasp on most of it.
Then I pick something up that proves me totally wrong...
:facepalm:
 
I don't really know about electronics, and I don't really care that much. I go purely by feel and sound :shrug:
 
Not particularly.
I've come to realize that I prefer two pickup guitars, maple boards, 22 frets, and fixed bridges, but that's about the extent of it.
 
I ignore dc resistance because its only an indicator when all other specs are the same.

So yeah, you can say I'm particular.


Help!I'maniPhone!
 
DC resistance in pickups is really only an indicator in pickups of the same exact construction.

I'm very particular about knowing the ins and outs of the electronics of my gear. For instance, with my new mesa amp, I read all the "how to dial in a tone" stuff on the net, but I actually only "get it" now because I have the schematic and understand the circuit.

I think it's a good idea to understand how your signal chain works - helps in knowing where the big tweaks are and how things might interact.

That said, if you like what you hear and it's working for you, that oughta be the most important thing.
 
I'm not super particular about most specs because in the end a guitar is more than just the sum of its parts when you get it in your hands and hear it through your rig. Sure, in some circumstances, like selecting replacement parts, the specs are important in helping you narrow down choices.
 
General details yes. As for microscopic details it depends on the items. Always the item must be playable and usable to my playing style. After that the standard is to replace parts if necessary. I have found that if the guitar is very reponsive, I will not change pickups unless inherent noise is present. This after the usual shielding that I do on my guitars.

In regards to amps, I like to replace tubes and possibly speakers if I choose to do so.
 
Not at all. As long as the neck is comfy and it stays in tune, I am fine with it.
 
I seem to gravitate toward pickups with alnico 2 magnets, as I'm just fond of lower-output humbuckers. I just really like warm-sounding pickups, but other than that, no. I don't care what type of metal the bridge is made out of, whether there's a big brass block on the trem, etc. etc. And as far as how the actual electronics all work, with caps and transistors and whatnot, I'm clueless. I always swap out my own pickups, and have for years, but I do it by looking at diagrams, and not because I have any clue what's going on. For me, it's as much about the feel of the neck and how it balances on a strap than anything else. I just want it to be comfortable to play. Everything else, even the tone to be honest, is secondary for me.
 
I do my own setups, I calculate custom string gauges to even out the tension across the entire neck, I know the total tensoins on all of my guitars... I know the resistances of the pups, Since I do the setups I know where everything on each guitar is at that moment in time. I create a card that goes into each guitar case with all the important setup info, EVERYTHING that I could possibly know without cutting it in half to see what else it has going on.

I'm the guy that had an archtop fitted with two violin posts to increase the sustain by miles....
I've had custom brass nuts made in a machine shop... I've changed the electronics on many to better fit the purpose of that specific axe...

I've done just about everything reasonable to a guitar at some point in my journey....
Including swapping out pup magnets, coil tapping where the pup didn't easily allow, actually cut in and tapped the magnet wire....and it worked great.....

So how much do I know about the detils of my guitar?
Nothing... absolutely nothing....
 
Going through stuff I like by trial and error, I've found a few common themes. For example, there's a quality to EL84 amps I really like. I hear it in Peavey Classics, the Epiphone Valve Jr. I had for a while, and the Mesa Boogie DC-3 I tried last week. The amps are pretty different in terms of construction and quality of components but they all have a similar "chirp" to the top-end that I love.

With guitars, I know the individual components and how to fix things I don't like. I mostly know what to expect in terms of fretwire, fretboard radius, nut width, etc.

When you put all the pieces together, though, I end up loving things I thought I wouldn't like at all. A Telecaster with a neck humbucker is the last guitar I would have chosen 20 years ago and now it's my #1. A slim archtop with a neck P90 and slim neck made no sense to me on paper but I love playing my Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin. I was always a little frustrated with my Taylor until I found strings it liked, then it suddenly clicked and became a joy to play.
 
I'm particular about how I set my guitars up, but in terms of the construction details, as long as I can get it to sound good, play well and feel right, the devil can take the rest!
 
Things either work for me or they don't. I tend to like specific things, but it's too easy to crawl up your own ass with that stuff. Just go play, dammit.

It gets to be an excuse to not play, after a while.
 
Not even slightly.

All of the tone wood, bumble bee cap, ceramic, alnico, nitro laquer voodoo is completely lost on me.

The older I get, the more I suspect that guys who occupy their minds with such trivial things are simply insecure about their ability and looking for answers in everything other than their fingers.



Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 4
 
I know specifications pretty well (it helps to have an uncle who passes on a little of grampa's luthierie knowledge to you, and I do have a bit of an electronics background), but so much of the electronics stuff is snake oil audiophoolery, and just because a guitar is made of uber expensive materials, doesn't mean that it sounds good - look at the Danelectros. They were and are made of relatively low cost materials, and they sound VERY cool. Nowadays, I just base my choices on how good the guitar plays and sounds to me.
 
25.5" scale. I think that about covers it. I haven't played a hundred guitars to know if that's from ignorance or preference, but I have a good feeling that it's preference.
 
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