Howdy folks. Whew, I havn't been here for a looong time.
Anyway, I've got a nice faded Les Paul thats my main guitar. I don't want to mess with it, as its my baby, and I like to not have to change its tuning whenever I want to do anything.
I've also got an Ibanez SG-320, my first major guitar I've ever owned. Its in open G tuning right now (trying to learn Little Bird, by the White Stripes) and sounds great. The action is set too low though for it.
Here is the predicament. My roomate just bought a set of electronic drums, and we are on learning conditions (I can use his drums to learn on, as long as he can use one of my guitars. The SZ is kinda beeten down, but plays & sounds nice....I just like my LP better)
Here are my options. 1. Buy a cheap guitar to set up for slide. 2. just set up my SZ for slide, and worry about a cheap guitar for a spare this summer. (he can use that, heh)
If I use my sz, what gauge strings should I look into using? I have Blue Steel mediums (10-46? or so) on currently. Also, how high should I think about setting the action? If I change this over to a slide guitar, its pretty much gonna be slide only.
Also, I'm looking for a recommendation on a nice slide book.
Thanks
Just put some 12s on it, don't mess with the truss rod, and the action'll be perfect.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I was thinking of raising the bridge though. Its hard enough to just lay my slide on the neck without it hitting the frets.
I'm just telling you what I like. If you raise the bridge, don't get carried away. 1/8" at the 12th fret works fine for sliding. You want to still be able to fret with good intonation for bottleneck playing. Slide alone is a bit limiting. Less important if you're only playing with a band than if you play alone, though.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Generally the added tension from raising the string gauges up to .012 is going to raise the strings enough and tighten the string tension so that it is comfy for slide. If you get used to the strings being up too high you won't be able to use modifiers with the slide like fretting before/after the slide, etc.
