cdntac Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 I obsess too much about specs. I can't overstate that. I had the opportunity to spend some time with Mark, Nugent's guitar tech, on Wednesday afternoon before that evening's gig at the House of Blues. I learned quite a bit from him! For those that don't know, Ted uses Gibson Byrdlands and Les Pauls and brings along two 1990 Custom 24s for use during his song Fred Bear. The first question I asked Mark was how much neck relief the guitars have. Neck relief? He looked at me funny. He then proceeded to explain he sets the necks as straight as possible. No measuring --- just eyeballs it. Ok, well how about action height? Again, no measuring --- it's all by feel. The blonde, sunburst and white GWB Byrds along with a Gibson USA flag Custom Shop Les Paul another Les Paul (with a serial number of RH 001 --- dunno who RH is) and two PRS Custom 24s were sitting on the rack. I looked closely at the action height of each and the action looked to be a bit less than 2mm --- on each big E string --- at the 12th fret. What about string buzz? Can you hear it through an amp? If not, it's good I was told. A little bit of buzzing isn't going to cause problems. Nashville bridges get installed on the Byrdlands (they come with ABR-1 bridges). Byrdlands come with a floating bridge and with hard use the bridge can move slightly. There are many opinions about what should be done to a floating bridge to ensure it stays in place. Pin it down with small pins or brad nails, try glue, etc. Mark simply uses double-sided tape to hold the bridges in place on Ted's Byrds. Ted puts the pickups on his guitar so that the strings almost touch the pickups when you press the strings at the highest frets. I watched as he put new strings on the black Byrd and Ted's backup tiger-striped PRS. As most guitarists know, lubing the nut and saddles is important. But what works best? Mark uses Radio Shack superfine oil in a small tube: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102643 Each nut slot was wiped clean using the paper that the guitar strings come in and then a tiny bit of this oil was applied to the saddle and nuts. $20 or so for Big Bends Nut Sauce? Not anymore! PRS and Gibson nuts get used on the guitars and a new nut was recently put on the zebra striped PRS Custom 24 that gets used for Fred Bear. Dunlop 65 guitar polish gets used to give the guitar's bodies a shine and Mark was using a product I had never heard of to clean the fretboard and metal parts of the guitar: GHS Gorgomyte. This stuff did wonders to the fretboard and frets. Each fret was polished so high shine and the fretboard was very, very clean. Have to find some of this stuff.... Mark's currently using three different gauges of strings on Ted's guitars --- though he didn't say which. He did mention that Ted recently wanted lighter gauges than in the past. If memory serves me correct, he had been using 11-50 (tuned down half a step). Both PRS Custom 24 guitars are from 1990 and are semi-hollow with a thin neck. The tiger striped PRS has had its tuner replaced with the current style PRS locking tuners. The zebra striped recently had new pickups installed though Mark wasn't sure what pickups were put in (to whatever PRS said is spec is what he figured). Even though the PRS' have locking tuners, he wraps the strings once as opposed to sliding the string through the slot and just locking it down. Ted bends the strings so violently and this helps keep the guitar in tune. On all guitars he spends three or four minutes stretching each string by pulling up on it about two inches while depressing the string at about the fifth fret. He has to get all the slack out of them --- Ted bends and bends and bends and those strings can't have any more give left in them once he straps on the guitar. The trem on each guitar isn't floating --- it's leaning back so it can't be pulled up. The trem cavity on the tiger striped PRS has been routered out behind the trem --- I assume this is how it came from PRS as it didn't appear to have been done afterwards. The big E had been loosened off when I took this pic but the trem was already sitting back (springs tightened up so that they pull the trem back). The biggest thing I learned? Don't obsess with specs. Set the neck as straight as possible and the action so that it feels right for you. A couple of pics from Cleveland and Columbus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Excellent post, thanks for sharing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Well... It comes back to what I personally always harp on: Personal "feel." Nugent also was kinda picky but kinda zenlike when I did a piece on him as an archer many years ago. We never even mentioned guitars, believe it or not, either one of us. I will say that shooting, firearms or archery, is kinda like guitar playing in that I'm convinced the individual human-object interface makes a huge difference in skill factors. Yeah, I s'pose you could consider that zenlike. I do. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdntac Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 Well, he still mixes the guitars and the archery.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackie Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 What is this ....Fred Bear song .........and why does it need a special guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdntac Posted July 31, 2010 Author Share Posted July 31, 2010 He recorded it using a PRS so he plays it live on a PRS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 You can measure, and measure, but if it does not "feel" right, it ain't right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabba2203 Posted July 31, 2010 Share Posted July 31, 2010 Awesome post! Great pix of Ted too! I did a search for that gorgomyte cloth for cleaning up frets, I'm gonna have to try that out. No more masking tape and 0000 wool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky scott 29 Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Now this IS what I'm talking about! Right down to the nuts and bolts of it conversation! I loved the " little " article! Great reading material. At least to me. I always did go to the whiplash bash in Detroit many times. Loved him. I think he is down to earth, though I could be wrong, hoeping not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdntac Posted August 1, 2010 Author Share Posted August 1, 2010 Glad you liked it! I figured that there would be many who would find it interesting. Originally it was planned that I'd actually measure the action height, put a straight-edge on the neck, etc but his tech wouldn't let me touch the guitars (I have played the black Byrdland in the past though). He didn't hear it directly from Ted so there was no touching. Can't blame him for that either. He's in charge of them and since he didn't hear it first-hand from his boss....no go. I'd probably have done the same thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackie Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 ............your still going to obsess about all of it are'nt you ?............I like how Ted's guy does it cause that's about how I go about it. You should seek out other techs and see how they do it.............but you will find all different ways and some that will conflict.........what this should teach yo is that you have to take all the knowledge and apply it to your needs. The most important thing is you feeling confident and liking your guitar setup so you can obsess about other things.........such as tone......hahahahahhha.......and amps........and pickups..........and cables..........and what kind of beer to drink to play better blues............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Thanks for sharing, that was a cool experience. I will have to look for that GHS Gorgomyte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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