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Electric Guitars "Opening Up"


SteveFord

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I noodle around late at night & sometimes early morning with my Electric Guitars unplugged... Learning, rehearsing or working out new parts.. 

Out of courtesy, I don’t want to wake up my wife… It’s important to me how they sound unplugged.. I find the better they sound unplugged, the better they sound plugged in.. Generally speaking…

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I usually practice unplugged at home so as not to disturb my neighbours (have had much trouble with that in the past) and enjoy the sound of my solid bodies without amplification as much as I do with it.

I love putting my ear to the back of my LP Custom, striking the 12th fret harmonics and listening to the sound of the overtones ringing through the mahogany.   One of life's pleasures.

🎸[cool]

Edited by jdgm
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43 minutes ago, jdgm said:

I usually practice unplugged at home so as not to disturb my neighbours (have had much trouble with that in the past) and enjoy the sound of my solid bodies without amplification as much as I do with it.

I love putting my ear to the back of my LP Custom, striking the 12th fret harmonics and listening to the sound of the overtones ringing through the mahogany.   One of life's pleasures.

🎸[cool]

Or you can get one of these type of devices.    [wink]

                                                                                          AMPLUGAC30_1024x1024.jpg?v=1623527671

Whitefang

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2 minutes ago, Whitefang said:

Or you can get one of these type of devices.    [wink]

                                                                                          AMPLUGAC30_1024x1024.jpg?v=1623527671

Whitefang

How do you sing along with that?

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2 hours ago, jdgm said:

I usually practice unplugged at home so as not to disturb my neighbours (have had much trouble with that in the past) and enjoy the sound of my solid bodies without amplification as much as I do with it.

I love putting my ear to the back of my LP Custom, striking the 12th fret harmonics and listening to the sound of the overtones ringing through the mahogany.   One of life's pleasures.

🎸[cool]

Or you can put the headstock against the door jamb or any other wood trim.

rct

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18 hours ago, Whitefang said:

Or you can get one of these type of devices.    [wink]

                                                                                          AMPLUGAC30_1024x1024.jpg?v=1623527671

Whitefang

I do have an old 9v battery-powered headphone amp. got fed up with wires/leads....if I was in the market for one, I'd get one of these -

https://www.fender.com/en-GB/guitar-amplifiers/headphone-amplifiers/mustang-micro/2311300000.html

But I don't like headphones so much these days. 

17 hours ago, rct said:

Or you can put the headstock against the door jamb or any other wood trim.

rct

Which is amplifying it.  No man that's not my vibe!!  You gotta dig the sound of the overtones sustaining the heavenly chimes of raw creation through the pores of the mahogany!!

Seriously; if you do this on a decent Strat the sound of the springs is like another dimension of reverb.  It's good on a Tele too.  I am surprised no recording artist to my knowledge has used the 'headstock against door frame' sound AFAIK....but maybe they have.

And (smug jdgm here) BTW...if tone is in your fingers then practicing acoustically is good.

Edited by jdgm
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I agree.  My practice time used to be 5am when I worked.  I vaguely remember that time.  Today, my practice time is at the other end of the day, it's 11pm or so.  I've always just walked around playing a guitar, electric or acoustic, no amp.  It's the singing that I have to keep quiet, so sometimes I just hum quietly or speak the words softly.

"Tone is in your fingers" is shorthand for saying something like this;

If you set up two amps, same two, any two as long as they are the same, and two guitars, same two, any two as long as they are the same, two different guitar players will make them sound different, on some scale or the other.  If it was me and you, you might say it is in our fingers.  I will definitely say it is in our bodies, all of us, and everything from the shoulder on down is pushing and pulling hitting on that thing at both ends, and all kinds of body parts are behind it, stopping it, bending it, whatever.

rct

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8 hours ago, rct said:

Or you can put the headstock against the door jamb or any other wood trim.

rct

Many years ago, when I worked on the ramp at BWI, we had these to plug our ears:

I would wear them at home and rest the hard plastic against my Strat and it transfer the sound amazingly.  [cool]

caboflex-model-600-banded-ear-plugs.jpg

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25 minutes ago, saturn said:

Many years ago, when I worked on the ramp at BWI, we had these to plug our ears:

I would wear them at home and rest the hard plastic against my Strat and it transfer the sound amazingly.  [cool]

caboflex-model-600-banded-ear-plugs.jpg

When I am recording and I forget to put the headphone cable over my shoulder and behind me, it does the same thing if it gets between me and the Tele.  Sounds great!

rct

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On 2/18/2023 at 10:02 AM, Whitefang said:

Or you can get one of these type of devices.    [wink]

                                                                                          AMPLUGAC30_1024x1024.jpg?v=1623527671

Whitefang

 

On 2/18/2023 at 10:05 AM, Larsongs said:

How do you sing along with that?

Like this,

 

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On 2/15/2023 at 6:30 PM, rct said:

I think the phrases "open up", "opened up", and "opening up" are pseudo-technical terms for that point at which a guitar player has become used to and enjoys and likes the sound of their guitar.  It sort of generalizes something we all do, makes it seem like something more than it really is.  "I like it a whole bunch now" is probably more accurate, but harder to legitimize.

rct

I whole heartedly agree. I personally feel playing a new guit unplugged is very important in choosing what fits me. Not only that, it allows me to get the most out of it. To get harmonics, tonal qualities, and transfer of vibrations thru hands and body unplugged is, for me, a deal breaker. Kinda why I prefer set necks over bolt on and neck thru over set on solid electrics. With exceptions. Fender, for one.

Playing unplugged for a while first, makes it a lot easier to call out, thru emotional feelings, those tonal qualities when plugged in. I feel more connected to the guit.

Hard to explain. If I can communicate my emotions thru a guit unplugged, then after plugging in, those emotions can be accented with out taking away from my feelings. Dunno if I made sense there. Arg.

Excellent snag Steve. Brings back my late 60's memories. Betcha can't wait for that one to mature. Ten years and it will really start to "come in".

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On 2/18/2023 at 11:15 PM, rct said:

"Tone is in your fingers" is shorthand for saying something like this;

If you set up two amps, same two, any two as long as they are the same, and two guitars, same two, any two as long as they are the same, two different guitar players will make them sound different, on some scale or the other.  If it was me and you, you might say it is in our fingers.  I will definitely say it is in our bodies, all of us, and everything from the shoulder on down is pushing and pulling hitting on that thing at both ends, and all kinds of body parts are behind it, stopping it, bending it, whatever.

rct

Well that makes a bit more sense to me

You are what you eat. Maybe tone is in the fishfingers.

7OPD2gp.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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19 hours ago, CROWB8 said:

I whole heartedly agree. I personally feel playing a new guit unplugged is very important in choosing what fits me. Not only that, it allows me to get the most out of it. To get harmonics, tonal qualities, and transfer of vibrations thru hands and body unplugged is, for me, a deal breaker. Kinda why I prefer set necks over bolt on and neck thru over set on solid electrics. With exceptions. Fender, for one.

Playing unplugged for a while first, makes it a lot easier to call out, thru emotional feelings, those tonal qualities when plugged in. I feel more connected to the guit.

Hard to explain. If I can communicate my emotions thru a guit unplugged, then after plugging in, those emotions can be accented with out taking away from my feelings. Dunno if I made sense there. Arg.

Excellent snag Steve. Brings back my late 60's memories. Betcha can't wait for that one to mature. Ten years and it will really start to "come in".

I feel that the only good info you get from playing an electric unplugged is to judge the action and any other playability  matters. The "true" sound of an electric is never heard until it is plugged in and turned on.  But that might just be me.

Whitefang

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2 hours ago, Whitefang said:

I feel that the only good info you get from playing an electric unplugged is to judge the action and any other playability  matters. The "true" sound of an electric is never heard until it is plugged in and turned on.  But that might just be me.

Whitefang

No, there's at least 3 of us so far....

It could have been more, but somebody went and posted up that Gary Moore thing...

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11 hours ago, merciful-evans said:

No, there's at least 3 of us so far....

It could have been more, but somebody went and posted up that Gary Moore thing...

Make it 4…

I like to noodle around on them unplugged when I’m practicing Guitar & Vocals, Composing & working out Parts… When there’s no need for the Artillery…

I believe the better they sound unplugged, the better they sound plugged in.. Most all of my Electric Guitars had to pass the playing unplugged test & the plugged in test before buying them.. The ones I didn’t I’ve sold off & replaced.. Of all my Electric Guitars the Casino’s are my favorites unplugged & plugged in.. Unplugged they have good volume & sound almost as good as my Martin D-35 & my Gibson J-160E. 

Edited by Larsongs
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4 hours ago, Larsongs said:

Make it 4…

I like to noodle around on them unplugged when I’m practicing Guitar & Vocals, Composing & working out Parts… When there’s no need for the Artillery…

I believe the better they sound unplugged, the better they sound plugged in.. Most all of my Electric Guitars had to pass the playing unplugged test & the plugged in test before buying them.. The ones I didn’t I’ve sold off & replaced.. Of all my Electric Guitars the Casino’s are my favorites unplugged & plugged in.. Unplugged they have good volume & sound almost as good as my Martin D-35 & my Gibson J-160E. 

The support is welcome, but methinks there is a misunderstanding [biggrin]

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