Members wades_keys Posted August 28, 2007 Members Share Posted August 28, 2007 A quickie knob-twist between songs is one thing, but to sit there for a minute or two fighting to get in tune is unbearable for everyone involved. That guy is a rookie that does not belong anywhere near a stage. If I can tune a 6 relatively well, by ear, in less than 10 seconds, then anybody can. Hell, I've seen Eric Sardinas reach up in the middle of a song and tune his g string, without missing a beat. Jake E Lee could do this too, back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opus Antics Posted August 28, 2007 Members Share Posted August 28, 2007 Heck, and if you can't do what Wade described, just get a tuning pedal that automatically mutes when engaged. You can tune all 6 in seconds without anyone hearing a thing. It takes me seconds to tune up before a gig and nobody hears a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members maverick59 Posted August 28, 2007 Members Share Posted August 28, 2007 Those seem like unnaturally wild temperature fluctuations, but if that was your experience, I'll take it as such. You couldn't have been the first or only musician with that problem. Sounds like a miserable place to play! I've never had a guitar (or banjo, mando, steel, dobro) player complain about what you describe. Leaving the instrument in the sun yes -- Yeow! or the car, but never about spotlights or the house AC. Typically we use a rack (or 3, or 4) of colored PAR64s overhead and those can get hot if they're close, but a Super Trouper located at the back of a large venue doesn't have much heat by the time the light hits the stage. On the other hand, some of those robotic follow spots are a tad warm. I'm not a guitar player, so I bow to your experience. I learned something today. Nope. It's the steel in the strings that stretches and contracts almost instantly with temperature changes. I recorded a live CD on a big stage in a civic center that had an air conditioner vent right above me about 10 feet up. Every time it kicked on, I could feel the temp change and my guitar would go immediately sharp about a quarter tone. And then the light guy would hit me with the spotlight, and it would go back down. We couldn't use about half the songs we recorded because the tuning would fluctuate two or three times in one song. I finally found a place I could stand that was in the lights most of the time and farther away from the AC and it helped a lot, though I wasn't able to move around much.Try it sometime in your own house. Tune your guitar, then go stand in front of the AC for 10-20 seconds and see what happens. Then turn a blow dryer on it right after that and watch the fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted August 28, 2007 Members Share Posted August 28, 2007 Those seem like unnaturally wild temperature fluctuations, but if that was your experience, I'll take it as such.You couldn't have been the first or only musician with that problem. Sounds like a miserable place to play!I've never had a guitar (or banjo, mando, steel, dobro) player complain about what you describe. Leaving the instrument in the sun yes -- Yeow! or the car, but never about spotlights or the house AC. The last gig we played, all of our stringed instruments went almost a semitone sharp after being brought in from the cold. It seems like it helps to leave the instruments on the stage, on their stands, for a good 30 minutes or more to let them adjust to the room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members skuller Posted August 28, 2007 Members Share Posted August 28, 2007 Sig says it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lonotes Posted August 29, 2007 Members Share Posted August 29, 2007 It always amazes me to see players spend two grand on a guitar, and another $1500 or so on an amp, and then spend $20 on a tuner. Buy a decent tuner. Most cheap tuners only tune to +/- one cent. That means that one string can be one cent sharp, while the next string is one cent flat, and both will read as if they were spot on. With a two cent difference between them. Now if the other guitar player is another cent flat, that's three cents from your sharp string. Where's the bass player in all of this? It's possible that he's yet another cent flat. Now we have a span of four cents, with everyone still reading perfectly in tune. Get a good tuner. They're out there, they're just not cheap. They are possibly the most important piece of outboard gear in your whole signal chain, yet everybody treats them as an afterthought. $250 for a distortion pedal, $20 bucks for a tuner? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I don't care how creamy the crunch is, if it's out of tune, it's crunchy crap. Most guitar players give more consideration to the picks that they use, than to the tool that will get them in tune. How can you eat any pudding if you haven't eaten your meat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted August 29, 2007 Members Share Posted August 29, 2007 They are possibly the most important piece of outboard gear in your whole signal chain, yet everybody treats them as an afterthought. $250 for a distortion pedal, $20 bucks for a tuner? Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I don't care how creamy the crunch is, if it's out of tune, it's crunchy crap. Most guitar players give more consideration to the picks that they use, than to the tool that will get them in tune. Man that hits home - it's so true! The POD built-in tuner is {censored}E, {censored}E {censored}E. Cheap needle tuners are {censored}E, {censored}E {censored}E. I get pretty good results out of my old Sabine tuner - it's no strobe tuner, but it's far more accurate than any "built-in" tuner I've seen in multi fx. I think people assume that built-in tuners are accurate, especially if the gear was fairly costly. I have yet to see ANY built-in tuner, that is worth a {censored}. I wish I could afford a Korg DTR.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lonotes Posted August 29, 2007 Members Share Posted August 29, 2007 I wish I could afford a Korg DTR.... Talk to me in about a month. I have one that I don't use, and I might be persuaded to part with it. I'm working in Ohio right now, but I'll be home in mid-October. And now, back to our regularly scheduled topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted August 29, 2007 Members Share Posted August 29, 2007 Talk to me in about a month. I have one that I don't use, and I might be persuaded to part with it. I'm working in Ohio right now, but I'll be home in mid-October. And now, back to our regularly scheduled topic. October, is my birthday month. Definitely, talk to me then. That'll be my b-day present to self. What's the topic again? Oh yeah cheap stuff....I've got a Rondo SX bass with my name all over it, for Xmas - I figure with some Fralins and a rewire job it'll still set me back only 400 bucks or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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