drathbun

A guitar's "action" is the combination of the height of the saddle, the curve or straightness of the neck (called "relief"), the height of the nut slots and the tension of the strings (I am omitting relative humidity and neck dive issues and assuming a healthy guitar). Just adding relief to a neck by turning the truss rod will affect action but it might not be what the guitar needs. I always like a bit of relief in a guitar neck although some players like the neck to be dead straight. You can check relief by putting a capo at fret one, pressing the low E string at the 12th fret and checking the space between the bottom of the string and the top of the 6th fret. For my tastes, I like a space about the thickness of a business card there. The nuts slots affect how playable the guitar is in the lower part of the neck (below 6th fret). Slots that are too high will make the guitar feel stiff in the first position chords. Slots too low will cause open strings to buzz when strummed firmly. Check the nut action by pressing down on each of the strings at the 3rd fret and tap the top of the string over the 1st fret. You should just be able to hear a tiny ping as the string hits the top of the fret. That means there is a small gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the fret. If there is no sound at all, the action is probably too low. If the gap is large and you get a louder ping, then the action is probably high and the guitar feels stiff when playing in first position. The saddle height affects the height of the strings over the entire fretboard, but most especially in the upper fret range. Use a ruler with fine increments (64ths) to measure from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of the low E string and then again on the high E string. Following the references given in the posting above by Dr. McCoy: Gibson's acoustic specifications are as follows: 12th fret treble side - 5/64" (1.98438mm) 12th fret bass side - 7/64" (2.77812mm) will get you in the ballpark for standard action. If you play with a light attack, you can lower the action. If you have a heavy attack, this action will probably work for you or you may need to go higher if you are Richie Havens. All of these measurements will change if you increase or decrease the tension of your strings which will either pull harder on the neck causing more relief and higher action or have less pull on the neck causing less relief and lower action. To counteract the increased tension or forward bow, tighten the truss rod. To counteract lower tension or back bow, loosen the truss rod. Always work in 1/4 turn adjustments and never over-tighten a truss rod.

"A woman is just a woman, my friend. But a good cigar, is a smoke!" - Rudyard Kipling

I use Elixir Nanoweb PB Lights on my J200. 12-52

I have been putting off a project to remove the Aura from my J200 and replace it with a LRBaggs active iBeam. I've never liked the tone from the Aura and the control panel rattles and buzzes. I've had bits of cardboard stuffed in the various sliders and buttons to keep the thing from chattering. Having the thing out of the guitar will be a relief.

This is GillianGirl's AJ: and how I fixed it:

Thanks all! I have a number of S&G tunes that I play regularly and this one has just been added. I play: Homeward Bound The Boxer I Am A Rock America Bookends livemusic: I used this really nice video to help with the patterns. The guy doesn't speak at all.. just plays each section at speed and then slow. Very helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LisLYZHht4A&index=5&list=FLbT6bph6TcR-6ByiXzU3RYg

I just learned the fingerstyle for this lovely traditional piece by Simon & Garfunkel. It is surprisingly easy once you get the unusual pattern down. Scarborough Fair

I thought this might be an appropriate song now since the leaves are all turning brown. I put down some tracks for "California Dreaming" and asked my daughter to sing the lead while she was home from University for Thanksgiving (Canada). She is in her third year studying Opera singing. I'm rather impressed in her progress from just a couple years ago. California Dreaming Taylor 12 string Gibson Songwriter Squire Vintage Modified Bass All other parts MIDI samples.

Thanks Del! I'm still not happy with it. I think I'm going to re-record the guitar part with my Songwriter instead of the J200. The J200 seems a tad harsh here. As to the drums, they are just part of the midi file I downloaded from the web. I get rid of all the tracks but drums and keys and use the midi to trigger my drum and keyboard samples. I play a bit of keyboard, but not enough to play a part like this. On my cover of "Everything", I took a stab at figuring out the chord shapes (the keys part on that song is basically plunk plunk chord chord). I played it using my little MIDI keyboard. Thanks again for your comments and for listening!

Ooops. Sorry. Made it more complicated than it needed to be. The "notes" in a MIDI file are not really music; they are just triggers. You can make them trigger any sound you connect it to using a software synthesizer. When you play a MIDI file on the web, it is just your computer giving the "triggers" a voice... usually a really awful computerized sounding voice. If you have the right voices (called samples) you can have the MIDI notes trigger samples that were recorded from real instruments. That's what I've done with the non-guitar tracks in my cover song.

Thanks Dan! :) I don't know about GarageBand. I use Sonar X1 on a PC. But routing MIDI triggers to Synths and then bouncing them to audio tracks is not intuitive at all! It took me a LONG time to figure it out to the point I could pump a MIDI track through a synth and get a wave form audio out of it. I still don't really know how it all works with the channels and the patches. I just know what buttons to push to make it go through my Edirol synthesizer (basically samples of different instruments). Here is a screenshot of my Sonar X1 program with Fire and Rain loaded (two screens). This is a huge image so I'm only linking it here: Screenshot Sonar X1 The screen on the right has the three synthesizers (Edirol Orchestral and SuperQuartet and Cakewalk Drumkit). The tracks that are muted (yellow buttons) are the MIDI tracks which are patched through the synths and then "bounced" into audio tracks which are labeled below. Only the audio tracks can be edited and output as a wave file. Usually I'll bounce the MIDI drum track and other instruments I don't play (piano, strings etc.) and then use those as a bed to lay over the guitars, bass and vocals. I've made my own MIDI tracks (drums mostly) but usually it is easier to use someone else's already created MIDI file as the bed and just use the tracks I want. You know those free MIDI files that sound like crap on your computer? Put them through a good synth and you can almost not tell it isn't a real instrument.

I just recorded a cover of the James Taylor song "Fire and Rain". Soundclick Link: Fire and Rain Acoustic: J200 Bass: Squire Vintage Modified Jazz Bass Drums, Keys and Cello: Edirol Quartet and Orchestral Midi Samples Many thanks to James Taylor for showing me (finally) how to play this magnificent song! Here's a video from James on how to play it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTjd4sna_4o

A reset on a J200 would not require a respray if done correctly. The nitro lacquer finish would be "broken" with a razor or exacto at the seams of the heel and then when refitted, new nitro brushed into the seam and then buffed. You shouldn't notice the neck was ever off the guitar. They would remove an inlays above the 12th fret as well as the 14 fret itself to drill an access hole for the insertion of steam. Once the neck is off and reset, the fret and inlays re-installed, you will not see any evidence that anything has happened to the guitar at all. I would guess that a professional neck reset would cost $250 - $300.

Just a follow-up here regarding warranty. The Gibson Warranty on acoustic instruments is as follows: Your new Gibson instrument is warranted to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for the life of the original retail purchaser, subject to the limitations contained in this warranty. THIS WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER: 1. Any instrument that has been altered or modified in any way or upon which the serial number has been tampered with or altered. 2. Any instrument whose warranty card has been altered or upon which false information has been given. 3. Any instrument that has been damaged due to misuse, negligence, accident, or improper operation. 4. The subjective issue of tonal characteristics. 5. Shipping damages of any kind. 6. Any instrument that has been subjected to extremes of humidity or temperature 7. Normal wear and tear (i.e., worn frets, worn machine heads, worn plating, string replacement, scratched pickguards, or damages to or discoloration of the instrument finish for any reason). 8. Any instrument that has been purchased from an unauthorized dealer, or upon which unauthorized repair or service has been performed. 9. Any factory installed electronics after a period of one (I) year following the original date of purchase. 10. Cracking, discoloration or damage of any sort to the finish or plating for any reason. 11. Gibson does not warranty the playability of a instrument whose "action" is lower than the standard "action" as defined in the owners manual. It doesn't seem to me that you have violated any of these terms. Number 11 is about playability below standard action and it seems to me you're looking for standard playability. I think you have an argument here.

It shouldn't matter if you took it to a tech for a setup, if all he did was adjust the action. That would be like voiding your car warranty because you changed the oil. If the neck set was poor on a new guitar, then it is a quality control issue with Gibson IMO. You can check the neck set by sliding a straight edge (on edge) down the center of the fingerboard and seeing where it meets up with the bridge. If the straight edge does not skim across the top of the bridge (like in the photo of my SWD below) but runs into the face of the bridge, then the neck is under-set. They have jigs to check this at the factory and should be part of the quality control checks of any new guitar. Regardless of whether you've adjusted the saddle, truss rod and/or nut, I would speak to customer service at Gibson about it. An under-set neck on a new guitar is just wrong. It means the guitar will have a very short life-span before having to be reset. And a reset is an expensive and invasive procedure. You should expect to have 10 - 20 years in your guitar before a neck reset is needed, not a month and a half.

Thanks so much 57!

I just completed mixing my cover of Michael Buble's "Everything". I like the way the J200 sounds on this one! Everything

I just completed mixing my cover version of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Circle Is Small". I'm adding it to the CD I put out every Christmas for friends and family. The Circle Is Small Guitars: Gibson J200 Taylor GA12 12 string Gretsch G5122 Rickenbacker 4003 bass Drums, Strings and Piano - Edirol Midi Tracked with Sonar X1 Producer Final Mix - Sony SoundForge MP3 conversion - Acoustica WAV to MP3

I've been using Cakewalk since it was Cakewalk 9, so from Sonar 4 through the current Sonar X1 Producer. I love everything about it.

Thanks Matt!

Thanks so much Krasi! High praise indeed from you with your beautiful voice and excellent playing... not to mention that fabulous Mr. Gibbs!

As promised, here is my cover of Cat Stevens' "If I Laugh" from the Tea For The Tillerman album of 1971. I'm playing the lead parts on my SJ200. It is tuned to DADF#AD and capo'd at the second fret which is essentially open E (EBEG#BE). I'd rather not have the guitar fold in half tuned to open E with medium strings on it! The rhythm part, I play on my Songwriter Deluxe and the bass part on my Rickenbacker 4003. It was recorded and mixed using Sonar X1 Producer. Microphones are an Apex 435 large diaphram condenser through a Behringer MIC200 preamp and a Behringer C2 pencil condenser through my Alto S6 Mixer preamp. Mastered in Sony Soundforge. The video was recorded on my iPhone4. I used the audio from the video recording to sync the audio from Sonar. The video was edited and mixed in CyberLink PowerDirector and saved as an MP4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOg_g0C160U

I've admired your SJ200 for a while now MG! I'm thrilled to be part of the club, and thanks so much! :)

Thanks nick. I recorded simultaneously with my iPhone and Sonar X1 through my Apex medium condenser microphone. In Sonar I added a slight bit of compression and a tiny bit of reverb. No EQ. Of course when I edited the video/audio, I dumped the iPhone's audio track.

Here is my first recording with my new SJ-200. It is a bit rough as I did the recording rather quickly between shifts at work. Doug http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQnBavpgydk&feature=player_profilepage