Members u6crash Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 Almost a year ago I picked up a Groupon deal to attend a class at the Chicago School of Guitar Making. I'd never heard of the place, but after reviewing the website I was really intrigued by the classes and products. So I signed up for Guitar and Bass Setup and Maintenance. It's a nice small class of nine students and the teacher is quite affable. I feel like I've learned quite a bit already even though I've read both Melvyn Hiscock's "Make Your Own Electric Guitar" and Dan Erlewine's "Guitar Player's Repair Guide". Nothing beats hands on demonstrations. One of the first things he talked about were truss rods. He explained how most adjustable truss rods can rob the instrument of tone. This was demonstrated with a few necks. He had three that he made with quartersawn maple, one which was made with a 3/8" non adjustable hollow square rod (as used in early Martins) and two reinforced with carbon fiber. All three of these made a nice marimba sound when thumped with the thumb. A fourth neck from a Johnson bass with a single adjustable truss rod was shown to have a dead sound and a bit of rattle. He explained why he likes single adjustable truss rods better than double expanding truss rods and why the truss rods in MIM Fenders is better than the one in the MIA counterparts. Basically the head is too small on the American models. There were some other stories he told about the evolution of the modern truss rod, but basically it got me thinking that thousands of violins and cellos don't have adjustable truss rods and they've survived without warping. Of course he did kind of acquiesce the point that if you're playing through a JCM2000 and doing any amount of signal processing (distortion pedals, etc) that it isn't really going to matter that much. Anyway, every class is part lecture and part demonstration. Today was mostly lecture, but my guitar had the right amount of f'ed up features for a demonstration and he adjusted the truss rod, changed the strings, and string height while demonstrating relief and clarity on the upper frets. He also pointed out how 90's American Fenders (like mine) have black oxide adjustable screws for the saddles which are susceptible to corrosion. He oiled them up and said it was just in time. He mentioned the bridges used on Strats tend to be "twangy" (which I believe he was using a polite euphemism for "buzzy") and that it was a matter of user preferences, but GraphTech saddles can help eliminate that. Anyway, this is class one of four and I'm looking forward to what else I'm going to learn down the road. If there is something like this in your area, I highly recommend it. And if you're in reasonable distance to Chicago, I'd say this is probably worth your time: Chicago School of Guitar Making On top of guitars, the instructor, Ian Schneller, also makes guitar amps, hi-fi stereo amps, and speaker enclosures. Fans of Andrew Bird might recognize the horn speakers from his live act: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 The part about the truss rod makes sense, my warmoth pro, which has a lot going on inside sounds sterile. I would never get a guitar without a truss rod though. Single or sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members etawful Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 basically it got me thinking that thousands of violins and cellos don't have adjustable truss rods and they've survived without warping. This is true. . . but they also don't have the same string tension on them as a typical guitar does and, especially in the case of violins, their necks are much shorter which will naturally provide more resistance to warping than a longer neck will. I won't dispute the theory that no truss rod would provide better tone, that makes complete sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PunkKitty Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 I took that class last year and learned a lot. It's a good class. I'm thinking of taking one of his amp building classes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gas Hed Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 I took that class last year and learned a lot. It's a good class. I'm thinking of taking one of his amp building classes. An amp building class would be the bomb - I have to check for them in the Philly area. In my opinion, the amplifier is the most important part of your chain. Would be interesting to experiment in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cbh5150 Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 Cool stuff, and thanks for bringing this to my attention - it might be something I want to do next year, esp. the amp-building class Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sk8centilli Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 Groupon never offers anything that cool in Kalamazoo... however, I'm happy to hear the class is fun and worth your time. I've never heard of Andrew Bird, but those amps kick ass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ancient Mariner Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 "He mentioned the bridges used on Strats tend to be "twangy" (which I believe he was using a polite euphemism for "buzzy") and that it was a matter of user preferences, but GraphTech saddles can help eliminate that." He meant twangy, especially the pressed steel saddles. Swapping pressed steel for cast steel or graphite changes the tone and reduces the amount of attack in the 'twang'. If a saddle buzzes then something is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members McCain Posted October 23, 2011 Members Share Posted October 23, 2011 One of the first things he talked about were truss rods. He explained how most adjustable truss rods can rob the instrument of tone. This was demonstrated with a few necks. He had three that he made with quartersawn maple, one which was made with a 3/8" non adjustable hollow square rod (as used in early Martins) and two reinforced with carbon fiber. All three of these made a nice marimba sound when thumped with the thumb. A fourth neck from a Johnson bass with a single adjustable truss rod was shown to have a dead sound and a bit of rattle. So don't thump the neck? jk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paulojcduarte Posted October 24, 2011 Members Share Posted October 24, 2011 The part about the truss rod makes sense, my warmoth pro, which has a lot going on inside sounds sterile. I would never get a guitar without a truss rod though. Single or sure. Didn't a forumite built a few of them without truss with hard exotic woods and was waiting for the change of seasons to report back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted October 24, 2011 Members Share Posted October 24, 2011 Cool, I would like something like that. Hands on experience is great. As I have built more and more I have started making more and more parts that I use like pickups, bridges, etc.... I have learned quite a bit doing it (and it's fun which is the main reason I build guitars) but it also helps you when you build stuff. The reason a violin doesn't have a truss rod is that if a violin neck warps (and they do) the fingerboard is planed because unlike a guitar, it's more about what is on the top that counts. You set the action by carving a new bridge. Also, a good violin will have a somewhat concave fingerboard. It's a different instrument then a guitar. Having built a few violins I can tell you that. If you have a good enough piece of wood you can have a non-truss rod neck. I collect Martin guitars below are two of the six that I own. The one on the left has a non-adjustable truss rod and the one on the right has no truss rod. I can assure you that neither has any issues with the action and both sound nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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