Steve Vai to play Mandela Hall, Belfast on August 29th 2013!

Hi guys, I don't normally announce gigs, but this one is kind of special.
Apparently Mr Vai will be playing our humble city (Belfast) in the Mandela Hall, on August 29th 2013!
It's not on his website http://www.vai.com/ but is on scumbag monopoly ticket-tax corporation TicketM*st*r.

Whilst instrumental guitar albums are something I enjoy only ocassionally, Mr Steve Vai is light years beyond the label of "instrumental guitarist". His playing is immediately identifiable and his passion and dedication to pushing his playing, writing and artist boundaries seem never ending. On top of that, the man has charisma oozing from him!

Oh yeah, and he pracically invented the modern superstrat along with Ibanez, in the form of the Ibanez Jem along with it's workhorse siblings in the RG range.

My personal Vai choices would include the Crossroads movie scene (see below), the first Dave Lee Roth Album and of course Passion & Warfare.

Here's hoping he's bringing the excellent Dave Weiner along as his right hand man. If you've never heard of him, ask Mr Google. He's quite good!

In the meantime enjoy one of my favourite Vai moments

And some Dave Weiner

CNC or "hand-made" guitars - which is better?

I was surfing for PRS Custom 24s recently and the “pre-factory” tag came up a lot on the forums. This led me down a deeper rabbit hole until I found this post which was written by Californian guitar maker Ron Thorn.

It was written when the subject of CNC vs handmade guitars was presented and he eloquently and very honestly outlines the entire electric guitar making process.

His post really resonates with me (no pun intended) as there’s so much inexperience and misinformation on the web that it’s hard to filter out the truth or reality. We humans tend to romanticise certain aspects of life without fully appreciating or understanding, and the whole hand-made is better than CNC debate is just one of many guitar myths which is, well a myth. Ron tells it how it is.

These comments are Ron’s and many equally qualified luthiers may disagree, but there’s no doubting his experience and I found it a great read. Coming from a manufacturing background I have experience of close tolerances and machining and the requirement for hand work (albeit metal and not wood) and wholeheartedly agree that the premise of “CNC manufacture” is not, as many believe,  an army of robots completing every step but merely a mechanism for accuracy and expedience.

Enjoy, and when you’re done, go visit his site and check out the beautiful craftsmanship. Thorn Custom Guitars & Inlay

-----

Originally Posted by Ron Thorn when the subject of CNC vs handmade guitars was presented.

First off, there is no shop, large or small, that is entirely CNC. It does not exist. I think most individuals would be surprised by what a guitar component looks like when it comes off a CNC. It is no where near complete, there is still plenty of hand sanding, fitting, etc.

Here's a break down of what I do with the CNC and "by hand".

CNC:
Fretboards - you asked "why they've gone to the CNC and what aspect of things is better". The fretboard is so brutally important that it is ideal for CNC accuracy. I perimeter, slot, radius, and rout for inlays all in one set-up on the CNC. Than insures spot-on fret slot placement (VERY important to the quality of the guitar), consistent radii including compound radiusing, and inlays that are very tight and free of sloppy filler/gaps.
Total time on the CNC: 20 minutes

Necks - Once the blank has been bandsawn ("by hand") to an oversized shape the CNC will machine the neck carve, perimeter the neck and heel, shape the headstock, drill for tuners, rout for truss rod and rout for logo & purfling. This is done through 6 different set-ups.
Total time on the CNC: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Bodies - The CNC performs all cavity routing (top & back), neck pocket routing, perimeter, top carve, and bridge location holes. On a pivot style trem, such as a PRS trem, the location of those 6 holes must be perfectly inline to prevent binding of the trem during use.
Total time on the CNC for a body with carve top: 3 hours

Inlays - Production inlays, such as my Firesuns and "T" logo, are cut on the CNC for a perfect fit into the routes on the fretboard and headstock. I also "rip" my purfling strips on the CNC too.
Total time for one guitar's worth: 15 minutes

Components - I machine my own 1-pc. brass tremolos, pickup covers and rings, knobs, back plates, truss rod covers, and jack plates.
Total time worth: Approx: 10 hours.
Granted, all of these parts are "custom" for my guitars exclusively. I could purchase all of these parts from guitar supply shops but prefer to make my own.

None of the above times include any programming, set-up or material preparation...all of which are done "by hand".

_____________________

"By hand"
This term, I assume, includes feeding or pushing the component through a power tool such as a planer, jointer, drum sander, bandsaw etc.

Fretboards:
Pre CNC: The wood is bandsawn to an oversize thickness and feed through a drum sander to flatten.

Post CNC - The fretboard needs to:
Have the side dots drilled and glued in.
Inlays and purfling glued in.
Glue the board to the neck blank.
Level and true the board.
Fret and fretdress.
Total time "by hand": 13 hours for the above operations. My fret preparation (cutting to length, nipping the tang, grinding the tang), fret installation and dress is a total of 6 hours alone...no CNC for any of those operations.

Necks:
Pre CNC:
The wood is milled and rough cut to shape, using tracing templates, on a table saw and bandsaw before it gets to the CNC.
Post CNC:
Install the truss rod and filler strip,
blend the neck into the fretboard,
inlay logo and purfling,
final shape the neck carve to spec using rasps, spindle sanders and lots of elbow grease sanding then sanding some more,
gluing the neck into the body.
Total time "by hand": 8-10 hours easily.

Body:
Pre CNC:
Split top, joint edges, bookmatch glue together, sand to thickness.
Mill/sand body to thickness.
Locate and glue top to body spread then sand and drill locating hole for the CNC.
Post CNC:
Inlay purfling.
Drill for controls, side jack, wiring channels.
Radius back edge on router table.
SAND from 150 grit to 320/400
Total time "by hand": 10-15 hours depending on the wood species.

Paint:
Prep, mask off, stain, seal, color, top coat, lots of sanding in between, lots of sanding after, buffing...the list goes on. No CNC for these ops.
Total time "by hand": 28 hours if all goes right the first time...it never does.

Assembly:
Installation of components (tuners, pickups, bridge, etc), wiring, cutting the nut, set up.
Total time "by hand": 6-8 hours

The above is only visually productive acts, not including ordering wood and components, e-mails, shipping, and just plain running the business.

_______

So, if we deduct the custom components and use off the shelf bridges, pickup rings, etc. The average total time is:
CNC: 5 hours, 20 minutes.
"By hand": 69 hours, 30 minutes.

I consider my shop to be fairly state of the art, I have a large HAAS CNC for the woodwork, and 2 smaller CNCs for the pearl inlay work. The only additional automated CNC-type machinery would be a Plek and a robotic buffer. I could see that only reducing the "by hand" total by a couple/few hours at most.

Not mentioned would be a custom one-off inlay that I, or my father, would do "by hand" with a jeweler's saw and a mini router. The time spent on that could be from 45 minutes to 100s of hours depending on the design.


However small in comparison those 5 hours, 20 minutes seem...they are VERY important to the outcome of the guitar. Accuracy and consistancy are unmatched. There are features, such as my double offset purfling, that just can't physically be done by hand. Fretslots accurate to within .0005" of an inch...heck, the wood will expand or contract more than that by the time I turn the lights off in the shop at the end of the day...but it's good to know they are as accurate as can be.
Inlays that are gap free and clean are important to me. I'm not a fan of filler and I don't want that to be a part of my product. Even with hand cut and routed inlays, I feel we are one of the best at making them tight and clean.

Can I build a guitar with out a CNC, sure.
WOULD I now if I didn't have one...I doubt it, because I would always feel the guitar isn't as good as it can be WITH the help of a CNC.
There you have one take on it from a CNC builder.

Ron Thorn
Thorn Custom Guitars & Inlay

Dunlop Jazz III guitar picks review - Part 2

In last times instalment, we had a look at the Dunlop Jazz III pick. This time we get down to the nitty gritty and hear what they actually sound like.

Dunlop Jazz III guitar picks review - Part 1

I've been playing guitar for over 20 years and for most of that time been using fairly stiff regular size picks - the green Dunlop Tortex .88's mainly.

I find these about as stiff as regular nylon 1mm picks and grippy enough for sweaty gigs. The Gator grips are pretty cool too.

Anyway, a student of mine would regularly bring along his latest pick experiments which seemed to be mainly super chunky beasts of plastic - 2mm type things, but on occasion there would be something a little more svelte!

Memorable ones include the Pickboy carbon fibre and .....the Dunlop Jazz III.

Make your own Peavey 5150 / 6505 foot pedal switch!

Years ago when I had the marvellous Peavey 5150 Mk I head, I was mighty disappointed in the cheap plastic footswitch. It would slide all over the place and didn't feel like it would survive, unlike the head which is a tank!
So, getting a replacement with a decent case is easy....go here to Thomann.de and for a tenner you've a robust pedal....

but...where's the LED's?

My new effects pedal - MXR Dyna Comp

So, I'm about to build my first pedal board, and needed a new pedal to go with my existing stuff. This will be my first compressor and first MXR pedal.

Boss ME-50 vs TC Electronic Nova System

Old school vs new kid on the block! Boss ME-50 vs TC Electronic Nova System

I recently was offered a tc electronics nova station for pretty good money. It was original purchased in the USA but that wasn't an issue as they have auto switching voltage and use a kettle lead rather than an external adaptor (or wall wart as many like to call them).

I'd looked at the Nova in the past after a friend had bought one specifically for reverb and delay and I like the fact that TC Electronic seem to be making top notch gear and this is no longer limited to high end market with the recent range of Tone Print pedals and even the Nova itself.

My gear
Currently I'm using a Boss ME-50 into the front of an old US built Peavey Classic 30. For the classic rock band, I'm running this into the gain channel, and for the pub band, into the clean channel.

In a previous life when I was purely playing original material (old school thrash/death/heavy metal) I pretty much used one sound and my rig was a Boss TU2 tuner pedal, Snarling Dog Whine-O-Wah, Daphon E200D. Occasionally a Boss NS-2 noise gate was added and the Daphon was occasionally swapped of with a 2nd generation Marshall guv'nor. These went into the rhythm channel of a mark 1 Peavey 5150 head.

This rig was simple and sounded mighty fine, but my playing circumstances have changed and now I require a few more sounds.

Covers Band

When I started playing in a covers band I knew I'd need to expand on my sounds available and being a fan of the 3rd generation Line 6 pods (XT and beyond) I got a XT live. With the passing of time, after a while I decided the Line 6 wasn't working for me. The exact reason excludes me but I do remember there was a dramatic lack of volume out of the unit and a google search backs this up as the norm. I believe I also wanted something a little smaller and simpler as although I needed to expand my sounds it was still a fairly generic 70's rock guitar sound with a little delay and modulation when required. The line 6 was very much overkill for these requirements although I never had an issue with the sounds themselves.

Enter the ME-50

Initially I was looking for a delay pedal as that was the main pedal I was missing, but when I reviewed the price of a stand alone delay pedal , I began searching for other multi FX units to suit my needs.

It was then that I then bought a 2nd hand Boss ME-50. It was dirt cheap (around £75), had the bullet proof Boss reputation and most importantly Internet-land seemed to like them a lot. :)

Luckily it turns out that the Boss ME-50 is not only pretty good sounding, with a small footprint, it is just like using separate floor pedals as each effect has its only dedicated control knobs. Which also means you can edit on the fly really quickly and easily - no menus and complicated screens to fight with. The polar opposite of the Boss GT-6 I had way back. 

Fight!

Anyway, that's just a little background info to put things in perspective

So, physically the TC Electronic Nova System is a chunky wee monkey. I was initially surprised at the size as it's quite thick, but then again it does have the transformer build into it. Structurally it's as solid as the Boss, so I got it plugged in and gave it a go.

The effects are, as expected, absolutely top notch but what about the user interface? In terms of selecting the effect, stand on the button.....and release...that's important. It does not engage when you press, but when you release. Different and I can see how it maybe useful as you can pre-empt changes, get your feet into position and simply step off to switch the effect.......but not the norm, and not a deal breaker for me. 

Setting and changing the effects is through a series of tables and scroll knobs, which reminded me of my old Korg multi-effect pedal (A4?). Not great for on the fly changes I guess but simple enough for setting up.

But I still hadn't carried out the acid-test, so I hooked up the Boss ME-50 in series with the Nova System so I could instantly compare.

A quick comparison didn't highlight a "night and day" difference, so I dug deeper and tried like for like,  vintage  delay for vintage delay, flanger for flanger, etc.

Through the amp, I could hear a slight difference in some modulation effects, but it was only a difference, neither worse nor better, so I stuck the headphones on for some detailed evaluation and repeated the tests but they only confirmed my findings.

Win, Loose, KO or draw?

I finally came to the conclusion that I would not benefit from the Nova System.

I will stress that "I" would not benefit; a pro playing a big theatre or hall with good PA and the likes may get that extra sheen and polish, but for 50 punters in the local sawdust covered drinking hole......

I know this contravenes all the laws of guitar players......we MUST buy new stuff, but if I switched to the Nova, I'd need to run a wah in front and loose-out on the volume pedal, but the big issue I'd have is the lack of knobs! I like turning things and hearing the sound changing; no menus, no messing about. Deal-breaker.

So, there you have it; a multi-effects pedal introduced in 2003(?) beat a cutting edge TC Electronic.

Go Boss!