Tips for finding a good 'un

[Bradock PI]

A guitar playing friend suggested listing to length of un-amped open string sustain. Then with an amp extremes of tone dullest at neck and brightest at bridge as a starting point.

What's a good duration for a hard plucked open string sustain (amped) anyone time them?

Anyway what are your top tips for finding that diamond in the rough or at the other end of the scale that gem of gems?

[MDV]

I tend to look at construction quality and accoustic tone. You cant change those later.

Amped sustain is no greater than un-amped unless youre getting feedback. Its a property of the guitar, not the pickups or the amp (of course very powerfull pickups or very high gain amps can still deliver strong sound with low levels of string vibration, but they cant make the string vibrate any longer, and thats what its all about).

And of course, how it feels to play.

I only even plug a guitar in if it passes these tests.

What constitutes a pass is up to your tastes and standards.

[ailean]

Until recently I tended to think as Mark has said above and there is a lot of truth in it. However buying a guitar recently, we tried 2 guitars, same make/model/year. One really resonated well and sounded good acoustically, the other was a bit flatter and didn't resonate as much in the body. However, plugged in the flatter guitar sounded much much better, and projected sound better and has a better spectrum of sound.

So the caveat I'd add to Mark's post is don't discard a guitar before you've plugged it in. If it's made well and has at least a little mojo played unplugged then give it try through an amp.

Oh, and try the guitar on a good clean channel, if the guitar doesn't project a good sound clean, then it's missing some mojo.

My 2 pence anyway :)

[MDV]

Interesting, thanks. Do you think maybe pickup height had anything to do with the discrepancy?

Anyway, I'll be a bit less dismissive in the  plugging in thing in future, lower the bar a bit. I mean, it cant hurt, right?

[dave_mc]

i try my best to try the guitar unplugged, but half the time i forget. :lol:

[tomjackson]

Don't just think about sustain, attack is very important too.  I like a nice fast snappy attack and generally this is usually a trade off with sustain, to a certain point.  Also depends what you are playing, if your into funky rhythm guitar or lean blues you might be more concerned with a good sharp attack wheras if you play ballad rock you might want a softer attack with increased sustain.

That said, any decent guitar made with good timbers should sustain naturally and for a decent length....

[Adam.M]

Just plug the damned thing in, if it feels good and sounds good and looks good and you can tell it has good parts or can see potential in it, and if it pulls you in and makes you want to play. Then it's good.

Every single Gibson (Les Paul/SG only) has sounded shitee and dead acoustically but when i plug certain ones in it surprises me. But were talking one in ten here...

I usually know within a few small seconds weather or not a guitar is going to work for me or not, but then again i've been through about 20-25 now at least....

[Bradock PI]

I often wondered about the strings sometimes a guitar may have sat in stock and then on the wall for a long time and a new one comes in next to it same model with newer or maybe even different strings- much impact or not?

[MDV]

Yes. Strings, age, guage and brand, are a big deal.

[Zaned]

Until recently I tended to think as Mark has said above and there is a lot of truth in it. However buying a guitar recently, we tried 2 guitars, same make/model/year. One really resonated well and sounded good acoustically, the other was a bit flatter and didn't resonate as much in the body. However, plugged in the flatter guitar sounded much much better, and projected sound better and has a better spectrum of sound.

So the caveat I'd add to Mark's post is don't discard a guitar before you've plugged it in. If it's made well and has at least a little mojo played unplugged then give it try through an amp.

Oh, and try the guitar on a good clean channel, if the guitar doesn't project a good sound clean, then it's missing some mojo.

My 2 pence anyway :)

I would probably still get the one with the better acoustic sound. If it sounds better acoustically, I'll eventually be able to get a better sound out of it electrically too..that's my philosophy.

Pickup height, AND the other electronics. Especially if it wasn’t a high end model, there are easily great differences in pot values, even though they are listed as same :/ 'Higher tolerances' :) Well, sadly you can see this in higher end models too..

About finding a good one, it was some video where Carl Verheyen suggested that you pick an open B-string while the guitar is hanging on the wall, and feel the bottom of the body to see if it resonates. If it doesn't, move away..that's one test, use it or not  8)

Then if it feels good and has a good acoustic sound, plug it in. I'll pretty much know by this point if the guitar is a keeper or not. Most of the guitars built today sound at least 'OK'. But I won't buy those. When you find a guitar that sort of 'speaks' to you, you'll know it  :) I remember when I tried my McCarty for the first time in the shop. I must have played it for 45 minutes on the store. Not because I was trying to make up my mind whether it was good enough or not..I was just having too much fun. I knew the minute I plugged it in that I was gonna buy it.

-Zaned

[JamesHealey]

Attack of the notes, some guitars feel soft some feel stiff I like a certain degree of stiffness this tends to come from harder denser woods which make the guitar heavier but if you have a guitar that is too heavy you loose sustain.

so it's finding the balance between the tone I like and keeping it light, and made of the right woods to get the right tone.

Im also big on hardware it's gotta be stable and stay in tune after a nuclear explosion if it's neck joint is poor etc.. this won't be the case.

[ailean]

Interesting, thanks. Do you think maybe pickup height had anything to do with the discrepancy?

Anyway, I'll be a bit less dismissive in the  plugging in thing in future, lower the bar a bit. I mean, it cant hurt, right?

It was a Gibson Standard LP 2008, both plek'd,  and I checked the pickup heights, both the same as far as my eyes could tell. Don't get me wrong, they both sounded good, but the one we bought resonated well through the neck but not so much through the body, but when plugged in... our one just blew the other one away, you could tell from the first note. I was surprised to say the least.

So my philosphy has changed a bit, as long as it doesn't sound like a plank acousticaly, it might be a gem.

[MDV]

Duly noted, I'll see what happens next time I'm in a gutiar shop.

James, yeah, attack is hugely important as well, and also dominated by the accoustic sound of the guitar.

Its worth bearing in mind that different action and neck relief (and combinations of action and neck relief, there are various sweetspots that vary with tuning) also quite strongly affect a guitars resonnance.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Some fair points being made
I like a guitar to resonate when I pluck a note - usually a good sign
You don't need sustain for hours as usually music doesn't have a single note played that goes on and on and also sometimes hearing a note decay sweetly and in a sensible time is more musical

But picking up a guitar and playing chords acoustically and finding that the guitar sounds sweet and musical is a great sign
Fresh(ish) strings are a must but you kind of know when there is something magical happening
Even if looking for a hard rocking guitar I would wish it to have a sweet tone

A lively guitar sometimes needs less high gain pickups than a less lively one however
I made some guitars for a guy in a band called DIrty Deeds (signed to Beast Records) who toured with Iron Maiden and we found that where he had used a Duncan Distortion in his Ibanez before he had to use less powerful ones in the Felines - we ended up using a Duncan Custom (This was 10 years ago - before BKP existed)
We needed a less powerful one as he got feedback too easily with the high gain one - Maiden were using HUGE sidefill monitors and he had nowhere to run to escape the noise. The lower gain pickup worked great for both tone and feedback

[MDV]

A lively guitar sometimes needs less high gain pickups than a less lively one however

Thats an interesting point.