Post
by Mad-Mike » Sun Nov 11, 2007 7:56 pm
I used to think that a buzzstop would be necessary for sustain, but now I'm on a continual research to figure out how in the heck I get a ridiculous amount of sustain out of my non-buzz-stopped CIJ Jaguar running 009-042 gauge strings. I don't even have a neck shim, by rights my strings should be moving all over the place, and my sustain should be nill, but nope, they all stay in place. It's got me wondering if there's a difference between the Allparts replacement Jaguar/Jazzmaster bridge and the stock ones found on MIJ/CIJ guitars, I don't get much buzz either, and none through the amp.
As for the Jazzmaster, it's been a long time since I've played one, but when I have, I recall the sustain not being all that bad. My only issues most of the time were with the low E string sliding around (which I could avoid by changing my playing tecnique slightly, which aids my speed farthermore because I'm not pile-driving the pick through the lower strings like I usually do, which does slow me down somewhat no matter what guitar it is), and a low output bridge pickup in 2 of the 4 I've played, but I think that was more due to it being too low from the strings more than anything, I recall the first one I played there was a full centimeter between the bridge pickup and the strings, not like that was a biggie, the neck pickup on those is in my mind perfection.
As for the speed and the neck aespect. I'll go into more detail. I think a lot of why I can play very fast on a 7.16" radius with a 4th of a centimeter off the fretboard at the 21st fret, is because I learned to play rock on a classical guitar. The Cars, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and so fourth all had some fast stuff, and I had to learn it on a flat radius classical guitar, including bending. Add that up with 2-3 years of playing on a hair metal axe (Kramer Focus 3000) that was so prone to break strings I went through a set a week if I used anything lower than 014-060 gauge strings on it's rusty Floyd Rose'd ass. Due to all this circumstantially rough-on-my-hands business, my fingers are very strong, I don't need "easy" low action anymore, nor do I need jumbo frets, scalloped fretboards, or any of that other silly marketing crap that sells just about every "Shred guitar".
For awhile I said that I would need liighter strings to play an offset fast, well, I learned that was'nt true when I got my Jaguar almost 2 years ago, it came with 012-056 gauge strings already on it (D'addarios), it was just as easy and fast to play with the 012's as it was with 10's or even the 009-042's it has on it now, the only reason I use 009s is because I can save my hand muscles for long stretches between notes and so fourth.
Besides, there is no real difference between playing Surf or Metal or Jazz, all three use the same exact skills, only it's twice as hard with Jazz or Surf, because now you don't have oodles of gain to cover up any mistakes, now you have a clean tone, and if you screw up, especially on a thinner biting toned guitar like a Jaguar or Jazzmaster, it's going to be FAR more obvious than a shred machine through a high gain amp. The downside is you work harder to achieve the same thing, the upside is that hard work pays off. It's like driving a stick shift, you have the choice of saving a few miles per gallon, or saving yourself the stress of learning to coordinate between the clutch and the gearshift and the gas pedal. Vintage Fenders are very much so "stick-shift guitars", if you don't coordinate both hands, it's going to be more obvious with single coils than with some muffy sounding humbuckers. I like this challenge, it forces me to play cleaner and better. A lot of metal/hard rock guitarists don't play that cleanly (meaning each note being played is distinguishable), that's what separates Steve Vai or Yngwie J. Malmsteen from the Wannabes. Anyone can play fast, but playing fast cleanly to where each note can be heard from it's start, beginning, and end, can be very difficult to do for some people, I'm always working at it.
It's Me
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Double SHIT! I don't mind a few dings on stage, but sitting in front of the computer noodling? That makes me mad.
