Removing "cheap guitar sound"

Tiltsta said:
I could come up with a giant pile of materials science and physics based technospeak that would essentially be impossible for anyone without an advanced science degree to decipher as bullshit. The alloys I listed are exotic superconductor materials used to generate and detect terahertz waves in things like in fared spectrum lasers, radiation detectors, and solar cells. I worked on these as an undergraduate student research project, as I have a minor in radiation health physics. With a little preparation time, I could probably convince a lot of people that a piece of aluminum foil wrapped around the jackplate washer would enhance toanz.
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There you go. :)
 
Honeslty you wouldn't believe some of the shit people will tell you in the basement at NAMM. The titanium floyd rose guy was almost as annoying as the crystal frets guy.
 
I never quite got the titanium floyd rose idea, but I honestly haven't really put too much thought into it. It seems to move counter to the idea of steel and brass trem blocks, where more mass is generally thought to be good. I guess there would be advantages to the string locking blocks, where hard titanium would resist being deformed by the string clamping screws, but why not just swap the saddle parts with titanium or hardened steel? It would be a hell of a lot cheaper than and entire floyd made of titanium. Fuck, I think I need to start making boron or osmium nitride saddle blocks and selling them on TGP.

Didn't James Franciscus test one of these a while back? I kind of remember him talking about these things.
 
Tiltsta said:
I never quite got the titanium floyd rose idea, but I honestly haven't really put too much thought into it. It seems to move counter to the idea of steel and brass trem blocks, where more mass is generally thought to be good. I guess there would be advantages to the string locking blocks, where hard titanium would resist being deformed by the string clamping screws, but why not just swap the saddle parts with titanium or hardened steel? It would be a hell of a lot cheaper than and entire floyd made of titanium. Fuck, I think I need to start making boron or osmium nitride saddle blocks and selling them on TGP.

Didn't James Franciscus test one of these a while back? I kind of remember him talking about these things.
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I don't remember. All I remember is this guy telling me how he made one for Eddie Van Halen and he loved it so much it had to be on all of his guitars but we wasn't getting credit. Total sour grapes in public to a complete stranger. I think either @El Borrachito or @Help!I'maRock! was with me. I do still see another guy with titanium pegs for steel string acoustic guitars every year.
 
Well, the guy is making someone else's tremolo design from a different material. Hard to claim credit for that. If the Floyd design is off patent (and it must be by now), it seems pretty hard to protect simply making it out of different material. Heck, there are 'licensed' stamped versions made from cast steel, forged steel, and cheap pot metal.
 
Also, I imagine a guy like EVH, who has access to basically every guitar manufacturer on the planet might have seen the idea elsewhere, like when he was signed to Peavey or Fender...two gigantic instrument makers. He probably could have just called Floyd Rose himself and asked him for some ideas. I'm sure he ripped off the idea from some crazy guy at a NAMM show.

It isn't like "let's use titanium" is like cracking the atom. Titanium has made the rounds from aerospace into things like car design, jewelry, firearm design, sporting goods, and a million other industries for strength and weight.
 
Updated version of an old hustle:

snake-oil-salesman-big.jpg
 
Mark Wein said:
I don't remember. All I remember is this guy telling me how he made one for Eddie Van Halen and he loved it so much it had to be on all of his guitars but we wasn't getting credit. Total sour grapes in public to a complete stranger. I think either @El Borrachito or @Help!I'maRock! was with me. I do still see another guy with titanium pegs for steel string acoustic guitars every year.
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I couldn't keep a straight face the entire time we talked with that guy. I finally lost it when he told us the prices.
 
Tiltsta said:
I could come up with a giant pile of materials science and physics based technospeak that would essentially be impossible for anyone without an advanced science degree to decipher as bullshit. The alloys I listed are exotic superconductor materials used to generate and detect terahertz waves in things like in fared spectrum lasers, radiation detectors, and solar cells. I worked on these as an undergraduate student research project, as I have a minor in radiation health physics (my part was really insignificant, and was basically a way to learn how to do X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, rather than an actual research program). With a little preparation time, I could probably convince a lot of people that a piece of aluminum foil wrapped around the jackplate washer would enhance toanz.
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:clap:
 
Tiltsta said:
Pfffft. Plated? Why are you using plated baseplates? Solid is the only way to go if you are modding anything better than a Squier or Epi. I think the plating will take out some of the cheap sound, but not as much as a premium solid slab of superconducting alloy.
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Solid? Have you seen the price of Pandemonium lately? :zoinks:
 
I go the DIY route: I play so crappy, no one notices the cheap guitar sound. They simply applaud when I stop playing. :clap:

I have been asked to play at closing time, since when I leave the stage, the crowd clears out in a hurry...lest I think they want to hear an encore.
 
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Agree about the Sonix Maximizer... just makes things sound processed. My Sonic Stomp is gathering dust somewhere.

For improving tone though... EQ is king. Won't get rid of the cheap guitar sound but it will make it sound better. I had an old Dano Fish-n-Chips EQ pedal that I put in front of a little practice amp and the diff was pretty amazing. No not Les Paul into Marshall amazing but a big improvement. When people ask how to sound better the first step is an EQ pedal.
 
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