It might just be my imagination, but I seem to remember a Guitar Player Magazine article (years ago, long before they started to reprint famous previous articles) which told about Ibanez making a solid brass version of one of their guitars. I think it was one of the double-cuts they had back then. Like...in the early 80s. It was a fully functional guitar but it was done just to prove a point. It was donated to some museum somewhere.
I can't find any reference to it online though. Anybody remember that thing? Weighed like 70 pounds or something.
(ain't seen no wooden saxophone yet...)
Wooden saxophone? That doesn't seem so bad, until you get a dozen splinters in your mouth :lol:
I would think that a guitar made of some sort of metal would have incredible sustain (depending on what type of metal), but unless it's an acoustic I think you'd have to be crazy to install pickups (AC voltage) into metal without some sort of well thought out grounding.
No more deadly than what you currently have -- you are already touching the strings, and it takes very little current to kill.
-=tension & release=-
Well I'm not sure about wood type but a band that I am somewhat into is a big fan of Travis Bean guitars. i gues this guy is a custom builder that made guitars with aluminum necks that supposedly had a lot of sustain. I saw on a website all the players that used them and Slash was one.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
This has GOT to be a guy thing! I'm reading through this thread and thinking "Geeks". :wink:
Geez Kathy, I know a few women who are willing to talk about wood.
There's wood, and then there's WOOD!Why some friends and I were just discussing hardwoods the other day.............
:D I guess I prefer not to analyze as much as you all seem to. If I like how a guitar sounds, I don't stop to wonder WHY I like how a guitar sounds. It's all such a personal thing anyway. Every time we go to GC John points me at the Martins and I go straight for the Taylors. He likes the bassier sound on a Martin
Falling in love is like learning to play the guitar; first you learn to follow the rules, then you learn to play with your heart.
I would think that a guitar made of some sort of metal would have incredible sustain (depending on what type of metal), but unless it's an acoustic I think you'd have to be crazy to install pickups (AC voltage) into metal without some sort of well thought out grounding.
Pickups running on AC voltage? :? Are you sure you know how they work? The majority of pickups in electric guitars are passive. I.e. they generate a small signal via a magnetic coil (the pickup), which is passed to the amp where it's boosted. Guitar leads are not AC power cords, they are designed to carry a small signal in the other direction - TO the amp.
I could be wrong, but as far as I know, unless there's some sort of major screw up, the mains AC should stay in the amp. I've often touched the end of the lead accidentally, but I'm pretty sure I'm not dead yet.... :) One of my guitars has an 'active' preamp, but that's just driven by a small 9v DC battery that sits in the guitar. What are you referring to there?
From Wikipedia:
Passive pickups are usually wire wound around a magnet. They can generate electric potential without need for external power, though their output is relatively low, and the harmonic content of output depends greatly on the winding.
Passive pickups are very convenient as they require no power source to operate. They are the most popular and widely used pickup type on electric guitars, and their frequency response curve is unique to the type and manufacturer.
Cheers,
Chris
Sorry there seems to be general confusion on my little joke there. I could be wrong but aren't pickups (even passive ones) just small electric inductors?!? Basically when you induce a magnetic field through the inductor electric current flows from the pickup to the output jack to the amplifier where it is amplified and then turned into sound via the speaker.
When I said AC current I just meant that small signal generated by the pickup, which I always thought was an AC signal. Anyways, that signal would still probably be fine considering the conductors are insulated and the electronics are grounded. I dunno, when I wrote that original message it was fairly early in the morning for me and I was tired, I should know better being an electrical technology student :oops:
Steve-0
When I said AC current I just meant that small signal generated by the pickup, which I always thought was an AC signal. Anyways, that signal would still probably be fine considering the conductors are insulated and the electronics are grounded. I dunno, when I wrote that original message it was fairly early in the morning for me and I was tired, I should know better being an electrical technology student :oops:
Try this simple test:
Plug the lead into the guitar but not the amp.
Hold the end of the cord in such a way that you are touching both contacts.
Play the guitar.
Get much of a jolt? Feel anything at all?
I think you're bluffing about how much you actually know about electricity when it comes to guitars. :D
That's cool. So am I. But I'm not too worried about getting knocked over by the signal from a pickup. 8) :wink:
Cheers,
Chris
When I said AC current I just meant that small signal generated by the pickup, which I always thought was an AC signal. Anyways, that signal would still probably be fine considering the conductors are insulated and the electronics are grounded. I dunno, when I wrote that original message it was fairly early in the morning for me and I was tired, I should know better being an electrical technology student :oops:
Try this simple test:
Plug the lead into the guitar but not the amp.
Hold the end of the cord in such a way that you are touching both contacts.
Play the guitar.
Get much of a jolt? Feel anything at all?
I think you're bluffing about how much you actually know about electricity when it comes to guitars. :D
That's cool. So am I. But I'm not too worried about getting knocked over by the signal from a pickup. 8) :wink:
Cheers,
Chris
Well, it appears I have some research to do! :oops:
Oh well, I guess when I'm wrong i'm wrong! sorry :lol:
Steve-0
Well, it appears I have some research to do! :oops:
Oh well, I guess when I'm wrong i'm wrong! sorry :lol:
Impressive response! :D I find that I learn the most when I discover that I might be wrong. It makes me go and learn new stuff. 8)
I need to go and do some more research too, because I'm not a full bottle on this stuff either. But I think that what we'll find will also shed light on your original question as well - why the wood makes a difference.
Electric guitars do use electricity but they aren't solely electronic devices. So all the various resonances - magnetic, and in the wood or other body material - do make a difference. That explanation sounds good, so now I'll have to go and see if it's right... :P :wink: But I think it's pretty much what Gnease and Ken have been saying. :)
Cheers,
Chris
I got the "The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer" today from Amazon, and it has two pages on why electrics sound different with different types of wood.
Should I scan that in? (Is that legal? :shock: )
is that a 1/2 inch thick hardcover A4 book? i think i have it...
prob best to say youve scanned it and if people want it you can pm them rather than post it up...
(but im not sure of the legality of either option)
I got the "The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer" today from Amazon, and it has two pages on why electrics sound different with different types of wood.
You can summarize it for us ...
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
I thought it was DC coming from a passive device like a pickup or microphone.
Well, this is odd, this is a quote from an article from stewmac.com:
"Through the process of inductance, an electrical current is generated (see generator) in a coil of insulated wire, which is then sent to the amplifier. If you have a coil of insulated wire wrapped around a magnet you create a simple generator. If the magnetic field of the generator is held in proximity to an oscillating (vibrating) ferrous material, then an alternating (or AC) electrical current will be generated. Conversely, if you wrap a coil of wire around a ferrous material, a nail, for example and apply an electrical charge to that coil, the ferrous rod (the nail) will turn into an electromagnet. "
So that's exactly what I was trying to say! I'm a bit confused to say the least. Not to turn this into some sort of technical discussion about electricity but I would think that the pickup is some sort of permanent magnet that generates a magnetic field, when the string is struck the reaction causes a electrical current to be generated. I learned in one of my classes that generators need some sort of DC field current to generate current, so I suppose that is why active pickups need batteries.
Steve-0
There's a couple of interesting articles here:
and
Wikipedia bears out the AC current idea. :) But I don't think that the issue is whether the current from the pickup is alternating or direct, it's that the signal generated is tiny and harmless to the player. I can't see how anybody could be in danger from it, no matter what the body is made of or how poorly it's insulated.
But several guitarists have apparently been electrocuted. How? What can definitely kill you is the mains current in the amp. If that found it's way up the lead you could be in a spot of bother, but presumably it would require some sort of malfunction to happen. Maybe you'd also need a bit of bad luck as to what and how you were touching at the time?
Here's something on how people have been electrocuted by their gear:
Keith Richards trying to smash his microphone with the guitar..
I found some others but they were all very vague and didn't appear to be written by anybody with any actual technical knowldege of what failed or how they made contact with the fatal current.
Our mains systems here are well earthed (grounded) but that's probably not the case elsewhere, and people have been known to mess with parts of their gear that they shouldn't... :shock:
Good luck at your next practice session guys.. :P
Cheers,
Chris.
