Playing different guitars

[Danster]

I notice that in this issue of the Pulse, Eric mentions three different types of guitars he uses. I'm just wondering if it is difficult to adjust to using different guitars. Like, which of the following would be likely to give problems when switching guitars: fret size, nut width, scale, neck radius? I only have one guitar, and no kidding, I've gotten screwed up when I go to a guitar store and try to play a guitar which has some type of neck inlays other than dots, and that seems like such a minor thing. And I've attempted to play two different acoustic guitars of some of my family members, and it feels almost like its a totally different instrument... very uncomfortable. So Eric, or anybody, how much trouble is it to switch between different guitars (or are the necks, frets, etc. of all of your guitars the same?).

Cheers,
Dan

[RM II]

Of the 6 guitars I own, I really only use 4 of them. I have two Peavey Vandenbergs, a Jackson Rhoads, 2 BC Rich Warlocks, and a Jackson/Peavey hybrid strat shape.

The major differences are the Vandy and Warlock have 24 frets while the hybrid and Rhoads have 21. The Warlock NJ that I use has a wider neck than all the others. The Warlock and Rhoads are neck heavy.

They all seem to have comparable size frets. The neck thickness on the hybrid is a little thicker (Jackson neck).

I never seem to have an issue switching between them and I think the key is they're mine. I own them and have gotten used to them from playing them so much. Anybody else's guitar does feel awkward to me. I really can't explain it (not feeling the differences a whole lot, that is). It did take me some time to get used to the Warlock because of the neck heaviness coupled with the wider neck.

[EricV]

Hi there,

well, I always get to play a lot of different guitars. In the studio ( cuz sometimes, they have guitars there, and I get to play them ), when I teach ( I occasionally like to check out the guitars if students etc. ).
What´s difficult for me to adjust to is not the frets or neck etc. It´s
a) the string action
b) The bridge ( i.e. when I play guitars with Gibson-style bridges... )

But it´s a good thing. I always switched guitars a lot, so I am used to it. But when it comes to practising, I usually play the Vandenbergs, which both have kind of the same necks.

What I do when I pick up a different guitar is I "calibrate myself".
That means, I strum the strings a few times, bend a few strings to adjust to the string gauge on the guitar.
Then I play some of my standard licks, which helps me to adjust to the guitar itself.
After this procedure, which I do on every new guitar I pick up, I am ready to go... It takes a while, but then I feel fine on a different guitar.
Of course, since I have been playing the Vandys for years now, the old "old glove" thing is going on... I feel completely comfortable with those.
Eric

[RM II]

Something I just thought of revolves around the subject of the guitar just not suiting you due to playing style.

For example, I bought a pretty nice Charvel about 10 - 12 years ago, played it, played it, and played it trying to get used to it. Didn't work out for me and I ended up selling it. The biggest problem was the way I hold my pick hand on and around the bridge. With the Charvel, I kept hitting the volume knob because it sat way too close to the bridge. That was something I couldn't get used to and couldn't change without investing some more money. Bye, bye guitar.

[EricV]

This reminds me... One thing I didn´t like about the Vandenberg guitar was the position of the toggle switch, so I brought it to a luthier and he replaced it with the volume knob of the neck pickup... so the toggle now is on the bottom, where the volume knob used to be. Works great for me
Eric

[metallibeast]

I use 2 pretty contrasting guitars. A Les Paul and 7 string Ibanez.
The Les Paul's neck is really fat where else the Ibanez is really thin. The width of the Ibanez neck is also much wider.

The main problem for me was the size of the neck, especially if I played the Les Paul right after the Ibanez. It atually felt quite uncomfortable cuz the neck on the Les Paul was way too fat.

But however after playing a few times the problem juz went away.

The other problem would be the bridge. After playing the Ibanez I felt that the bridge on my Les Paul is kinda high.

I guess you gotta play for a while to get use to the different guitar. After a while you won't feel that awkward.


-Beast

[RockSuperstar]

I used to work i a music store, where i would often use maybe 30 guitars in the course of a working week.

From this I tend to find that swapping between guitars isn't difficult as such, more so I tend to spot one that is badly set up more easily.

If a guitar is in peak condition, then familiarisation time can be kept to the minimum......

[thesnowinmyhand]

Interesting point you make there Metallibeast, I had the same problem. I just to play in a death/doom type of metal band where I did mostly rythm guitar parts and a lot of those fast muted power chord rifs. To do this I had a Ibanez RG-series with dimarzio's in it. After a couple of years of playing however I got myself a McInturff Taurus Standard (which is a Les Paul type of guitar for those out there unfortunate enough never to have played one :D :D ) and that difference in the hieght of the bridge is very noticeable. I had problems playing those thing on the taurus with lots of muting because it just felt awkward.
On the other hand the difference in the necks nevered bothered me.. (maybe thats because the brilliance of the Taurus neck).

anyway just my 2 cents....

Robert

[Bizarro]

Here's my 2 cents from what I've experienced... All guitars have their own quirks and so on, but the main differences that mess me up are:

1. Volume knob position: After learning on a Charvel, a strat volume knob is too close! I would turn down the volume when playing. Solution? Move the volume knob!

2. Bridge height: Les Pauls drive me nuts! They are so high up that it takes awhile to figure out how to pick on it. Palm muting is also a challenge because the tunomatic is so different than a whammy setup.

3. String spacing: My guitars range from just over 2" to nearly 2 1/2" at the bridge. This means that all my tricky alternate picking work gets blown away if I go from my 2 1/8" strat to a steel string, etc.

4. Pickup locations: I dig deep sometimes, and strat middle pickups tend to limit the depth of my picking! I usually lower the middle pickup down quite a bit to compensate.

As you can see, my problems are with my right hand. My left hand doesn't care what's going on as long as there are strings and frets! But having said that...

The only issue with my left hand is with skinny necks. Skinny necks are hard to play in a band situation for 4 hours, especially with bar chords! My hand cramps up. I'd really like to get an asymmetrical neck and see if that is the ideal performance neck. Unfortunately it takes several hours of playing to determine if a neck will make my hand cramp, and I can't/won't hang out at Guitar Center that long!

When I first started playing it was hard to play on different instruments. I've done my best to conquer that problem by acquiring many guitars and playing the heck out of them!

Sorry for the wordy response! Can you tell Nateman and I are in the same band?

[nateman]

you wish that was a wordy post! i've made longer posts than that in my sleep... but you certainly use more exclamation points than i do. (almost as much as i use parentheses!)

as to the thread topic, i think i can provide some evidence on the other end of the spectrum from the guys who say they're pretty comfortable switching because they've had a lot of experience playing different guitars. for five years, i played my acoustic guitar exclusively (other than occasionally wandering into a guitar store and playing around with other guitars, very quietly so as not to embarrass myself). then when Bizarro loaned me his Fender Squier Strat (an extended loan, as it turned out) so i could try electric stuff for the band, i hardly knew what to do with it! i have not practiced my general technique well enough to have the "tools" i need to get used to a new guitar, so it took me a while. i got reasonably comfortable with both the strat and my acoustic, but then i recently loaned my acoustic to someone for about six weeks, and when i got it back it almost felt like i'd never played it.

so i think how easy it is to switch depends on how much you've played the guitars you're switching between, how much you've played different guitars in general, and how open your fingers are to new ideas (i.e., how good your general technique is). some people may always have problems with some types of guitars, depending on their hand anatomy and/or their experience.

[Danster]

Thanks to everyone for your replies. Several of you have mentioned the bridge being an issue. I don't get it. I can see how different bridges would be a problem if you anchor on the bridge, or anchor to the guitar body near the bridge, but Eric also mentions the bridge, and Eric uses a floating right hand, so what's going on with the bridge? Incidentally, where I live (not a big city), there are no Les Pauls in any of the stores, so I've never felt what those bridges are like. The only Gibson I've seen in town is an SG.

Originally posted by Bizarro
Volume knob position: After learning on a Charvel, a strat volume knob is too close! I would turn down the volume when playing. Solution? Move the volume knob!Yeah, that's a problem I have also had on my Strat-like guitar. I could play further from the bridge, and solve that one, but I like the stiffness of the strings that you get close to the bridge.
Pickup locations: I dig deep sometimes, and strat middle pickups tend to limit the depth of my picking! I usually lower the middle pickup down quite a bit to compensate.I also often bang into that middle pickup, but it really doesn't bother me.
As you can see, my problems are with my right hand. My left hand doesn't care what's going on as long as there are strings and frets! But having said that...It seems to me it would be quite difficult to regularly play two different guitars where one has regular frets and one has medium jumbos (or larger). I played a guitar with tall frets in a store, and it felt (and sounded) pretty weird.
Unfortunately it takes several hours of playing to determine if a neck will make my hand cramp, and I can't/won't hang out at Guitar Center that long!I've been to a Guitar Center in another city a couple of times, and it made my ears cramp! :D

Cheers,
Dan

[EricV]

Originally posted by Danster
[B]Thanks to everyone for your replies. Several of you have mentioned the bridge being an issue. I don't get it. I can see how different bridges would be a problem if you anchor on the bridge, or anchor to the guitar body near the bridge, but Eric also mentions the bridge, and Eric uses a floating right hand, so what's going on with the bridge?

I figured that this would be confusing, and it´s a rather subtle thing. You´re completely right, I use the floating hand, so it shouldn´t bother me, but it somehow does.
It depends. I mean, a non-guitarist sometimes must be confused about a guitarists preferences and perception of things.
Two necks which should be exactly the same might feel all different to a player. Or a player might be bothered if the sound is lacking just a little bit of gain. That extrabit of gain might not be audible for a listener, but it feels different for the player.
Weird stuff.
Well, what I meant is... the bridge etc. of the Vandenbergs is pretty much strat-style. But when I play on my old Flying V, it just confuses me that the strings are away further from the body.
I know that shouldn´t make a difference but it does. Also, I do have contact with the strings when I mute, so I need a sec to adjust once I pick up the V again.
Sure, I notice a difference once I play medium or low frets, while being used to high ones ( all my main guitars despite the Strat have been refitted with 6100 fretwire ). But it takes just a little while, and I do have no problem with it... I need to adjust.

I forgot one thing, though... the pickups.
That´s something that I have a hard time adjusting to sometimes.
Worst case: I´m about to play a show with the EVB, the instrumental stuff, and I do have my regular amp on stage, but I have to use guitars I haven´t played yet.
Now, the PV Vandenbergs are all equipped with DiMarzios. I am used to those, I know how those sound and react, my amps are set to settings where they work well with those pickups, and I am used to them regarding dynamics etc.
If someone would hand me any guitar with really low output pickups, I´d have a harder time adjusting to it. I´d play different. I could play all my songs on such a guitar, but I sure would play different cuz it would "feel" different with low output pickups.
Especially when it comes to high gain-leadsounds.
Eric