FAQ´S AND GENERAL INFO - THINGS I GET ASKED ABOUT,,,
1. I´m here to make your guitar play the best it can,,most of the guitars I get need a lot of work, to get to them where you want them to be ,, if you don´t spend a lot of $$$$ when you buy it, then you will spend $$$$ or even more to fix the things the factory didn´t do to save money, they do not want to do more than they have to, to get you to buy it,,,then you have to fix all the things wrong with it. true story,,,,this guy comes in and tells me his palmer deluxe "les paul" copy said it don´t sound like a les paul,,,,and asked me what he needed to do to it to make it sound like one,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I told him he needed to change everything on the guitar,, neck, body, pick-ups, bridge, electronics, everything,, I told him he could keep the output jack,, it wasn´t to bad,,,he asked me how much that was going to cost, I said "about $2500". he said he could buy a real les paul for that much, i said "there you go,,, if you want it to sound like a les paul,,,buy a les paul",,, he then told me he only has $50 to spend,,, i told him to buy some beer and think about it,,,,,,,,,,
2. I know it is hard living in costa rica and not making a lot of money,,, but there are no "good" guitars out there for less than $800, that is about as cheap as you are going to spend and not have to start fixing things. Save your money and buy something you are going to be happy with.
3. Spend as much on your amp as you did on the guitar,,,,,, if you saved for the last 3 years, got the money together and got the jackson you always wanted, spent $800, and now you are playing it through a $100 amp, it´s going to sound like shit,,, spend $800 and get a amp. get tubes,,, sounds better, easer to fix,, and stay away from amps that have effects built in,,,,something happens to it and you are screwed. same with a pedal board,, if it craps out on you, you just lost all your effects, better to get effects pedals,,, if one don´t work you still got the rest,,,,,,
4. Strings,,,,,,you all want very low action,,, and want to use .09´s,,,,and use a drop D tuning,,,,,the bigger the gauge of your strings the lower the action can be without buzzing,,, and the better tone you will have,,more sustain,,,,,.11´s ,, at least .10´s,, if you don´t have money for strings buy elixir´s,,, give them time,,, try them for a month before you say you don´t like them,,,,,they last a lot longer. they cost 2x as much but last 4x longer. If you got a trem,,, use ernie ball´s,,, they don´t break as fast.
5. Low action,, you all want it,, few of you have a guitar with a neck that is good enough for the action you want,,, there is a fine line on how much buzz is OK,, and with a really low action you need to make adjustments to the neck more often,, hot, cold,, wet, dry, all affect the action,, you need a really flat neck,, i can do that,, but is not cheap, $200 for me to redo your neck,, and put on the new frets. most pro guitar players have a higher action than you think,,,, they play more so are better players,,, fingers can take the pain,,,low action has less sustain,, put on extra jumbo frets,,, easer to play,, less pressure you need to get the notes so you can play faster.
6. Practice, practice, practice,,,,,,work on your technique, try not to play so hard, the lighter your playing the faster you can play,, and lower action,, watch John Petrucci, he´s playing like a million notes, they are all clear,,, no buzzing,,,,low action,,, practice,,,,,,,,,,
7. Guitar woods,,,,,,,,,,,,the heaver the guitar, the more tone and sustain. thick necks are the way to go for tone,,, thin necks are good for playing fast,,, I know there is not a lot of choices in costa rica on what wood you get or neck shape,,, but that is what makes this guitar different from that one. thats why there are 1000´s of guitars out there,,,, you need to find what is the best for you.
8. Keep the WD-40 off the guitar,,, save it for your rusty nuts,,,,,it is very bad for your neck,,, it is going to get into the wood and make it softer and your frets are going to start looseing up,,, and you will start to have frets lifting up and have buzzing,,,, not to mention the skin on your fingers falling off. don´t use WD-40,,, use baby oil on your strings to keep them from rusting,,wipe it on everytime you are done playing and wipe it off before you play.
9. Please buy a good guitar cable,,, you have a nice guitar and are using a $2 cable,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
10. Depending on a lot of things, your guitar might need to have adjustments made to it, it is a very fine machine, and needs to be tweeked every now and then. Thats why when i do a set-up i will tweek it for free for a year after you get it calibrated, is normal, that´s why your guitar hero´s have guitar techs with them, to keep it tuned up and ready to go every night.
11. I get asked to make a custom guitar all the time, and then they say they want a tele or a les paul, someone already makes them. i make custom guitars. one off. is made just for you. if the les paul is what you are looking for, then get one. body style is not what i'm talking about, i'm talking about making something that fits you and the music you play, making the best guitar possible, with the best parts we can get, and if we can't get what we want then i make it, you want a solid brass "floyd rose", with a different string spacing, we can do that, you want hand wound pickups, we can do that.
thats it for now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,