Is there any validity to this Ed Roman argument?

[jerry_picker]

Originally posted by ranalli This is 100% true and the CORE of their whole marketing concept. Guitarists for the most part are complete traditionalists which is why you see the same designs and body shapes over and over again. Gibson knows this and keeps their market in line with the old stuff....even though if 24 fret Les Pauls were the originals...the that's what everyone would be buying now and people would be clammoring about the need for 24 frets on a Les Paul.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with traditionalism (for traditionalists ).
Think of fiddles: Tony Stradivario over in Cremona came up with just the right design about 300 years ago. Most decent fiddles since are either direct copies or pretty much after his design, and the originals are outrageously expensive.

[JoeBoy]

[Jimi Ray Halen]

Exactly, JoeBoy.

24.75" or 25.5" scale

22 or 24 frets

stop tail or tremolo

it's all good.

I'm not Jimi Hendrix or anything but I don't see that much difference to where I'd not be able to play a guitar because of one of those things.

Perception is reality.

[HamsterSandwich]

I'll preface my comment by saying I know very little about harmonics, nodes, etc. If I'm being a dumbass, feel free to give me one of these... ... and ignore me.

If I'm reading the original post correctly, the ER arguement is that a 24-fretter sounds better because the neck pickup is moved away from the "node", a little closer to the bridge. If that is in fact a better sounding placement for the neck pickup, what's to stop a guitar designer from putting it there on a 22-fret guitar? All it would do is leave a gap between the end of the fretboard and the neck pickup. Who says they have to be butted up tight? Am I missing something?

[Godot]

If you have 24 frets, you have LESS flexibility as to where to put pickups, 'cause you can't put your pickups on top you your frets, yo.

Maybe someone should explain this principle to Ed.

[Shocker]

Originally posted by HamsterSandwich I'll preface my comment by saying I know very little about harmonics, nodes, etc. If I'm being a dumbass, feel free to give me one of these... ... and ignore me. If I'm reading the original post correctly, the ER arguement is that a 24-fretter sounds better because the neck pickup is moved away from the "node", a little closer to the bridge. If that is in fact a better sounding placement for the neck pickup, what's to stop a guitar designer from putting it there on a 22-fret guitar? All it would do is leave a gap between the end of the fretboard and the neck pickup. Who says they have to be butted up tight? Am I missing something?

No, you're not missing anything. People could do that if they wanted to. They generally don't.

//S

[miked58]

If I'm being redundant, I'm sorry. I'm trying to figure out what Ed seems to mean by a node. A node in a standing wave (i.e. a vibrating guitar string) is a point that does not move; for an open string, the nodes are at the nut and the bridge. In fact, the 12th fret lies under the antinode, the point of maximum (displacement) amplitude.

Nodes are the red dots:


This is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node_%28physics%29

I'm not an expert, but it seems like Ed is full of {censored}.

[The Craqster]

Originally posted by Mongoloid HE USES A BRASS END FOR THE 24TH FRET SO THAT THE NECK PICKUP STAYS WHERE IT WOULD BE ON A FREAKING 22 FRET GUITAR!!!

I'm trying to picture what you're talking about. Could you post a pic?

[RockNote]

Originally posted by jeverist Did it ever occur to anyone that Ed Roman (and Mike Fuller for that matter) might just act like assholes because of the controversy it generates? I mean if you listen to advertisers, no publicity is bad publicity. And these Ed Roman/Mike Fuller is a twat threads seem to go on for pages and pages. For every one person claiming these guys are dicks, there are ten more that see their names, go check out their websites, and marvel at how much business these "assholes" seem to do. I mean, if they can run such viable businesses while being assholes, there must be something special about their product, right? (I'm not making that argument, just hypothesizing what people who buy from them are thinking) Just a thought.

 

"If they can run such viable businesses..." - this is good thinking, but I rather doubt it's a conscious decision. Assuming you're a nice guy, how would you feel about being perceived by the world as a jerk? Naturally the controversy will drive people to the web site, but will they buy anything? This is really the question. Incidentally, the first to warn me about Ed was Ed himself. Quoting a letter from an ecstatic customer, he says something like: "It's stuff like this that makes all the BS worth it." And I thought: wait a minute - what BS?...

[A 11]

Originally posted by Darkstorm Most of eds arguments for this or that are psuedo science. Much like those used by some extremist fundy churchies for this or that. Sounds well studied on the surface sometime. But earth isnt flat. Sun doesnt revolve around earth.

The Bible doesn't say that the sun revolves around the earth. Besides even though we know the earth revolves around the sun we still refer to the begining of the day as the sunrise. Why is that?

 

Ok back to the topic. Node points don't really mean anything in a guitar. Because when the strings are fretted it throws everything off. In a piano where all of the strings are fixed it would make a difference. But not a guitar.

[Sun Devil]

Originally posted by Mongoloid K you guys know whats funny? What does Ed consider to be the greatest electric guitar on the planet???? a JET Now I dont disagree with him, I have played some and they are awesome, I hope to own one someday...... but anyway, what is one of the big unique features on JET guitars???? HE USES A BRASS END FOR THE 24TH FRET SO THAT THE NECK PICKUP STAYS WHERE IT WOULD BE ON A FREAKING 22 FRET GUITAR!!! This is brilliant, as you now get the best of both worlds, sweet sounding neck pickup with a bigger gap from the bridge, you also get wider sounds when using both pickups, and you get 24 frets. I dont see ed complaing about this feature, he actually talks about how great it is all the time, it doesnt make any sense. The argument is horse{censored}, even when you are playing in the open position, 95% of the time you are fretting at least half of the strings.

Yes, it's a typical specious "Ed" arguement. I play 21,22, and 24 fret guitars. There are some differences, but not as radical as Ed suggests. They all work just fine! Could it be this 22-fret bashing is in reality a shameless way to plug a 24-fret Roman Quicksilver?