Premier Rock Forum

PEPPER! wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 6:43 pm I would never ever own a guitar that has a stupid looking headstock. I know this is very shallow of me. Sorry Reverend, sorry Seagull.

You had me here.

PEPPER! wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 6:43 pm When I look at a Jaguar, Jazzmaster I feel nothing.

And now you lost me.

TylerDeadPine wrote: Luthiers will argue that shortening the strings past the nut has some tangible effects, and they do, but I would argue that looking lame has more.

Is that because of the break angle? I feel like gibsons and fenders do a decent job of giving enough break angle past the nut, and those are the only good looking electric guitar headstocks. Travis Beans also look cool, however (hot take), aluminum neck guitars are so overrated. FM steve (RIP I miss him) made his sound crazy good. Duane Denison also. Uhh... who else??? In most people's hands they just sound like guitars.

eliya wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 12:31 amTravis Beans also look cool, however (hot take), aluminum neck guitars are so overrated. FM steve (RIP I miss him) made his sound crazy good. Duane Denison also. Uhh... who else??? In most people's hands they just sound like guitars.

Keith Levene, Agostino Tilotta, Juan Maclean. But in general I agree.

Nate Dort wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 7:37 pm

penningtron wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 6:52 pm

PEPPER! wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 6:43 pm I would never ever own a guitar that has a stupid looking headstock. I know this is very shallow of me. Sorry Reverend, sorry Seagull.

PRS and MusicMan too. And I don't feel bad about it: headstocks are stupidly easy. It could be a fucking rectangle and it's fine. These companies overthought it, and came up with something worse.

Still kinda want to get one of these kits and assemble and play it as-is without doing any routing.

Do this! I can’t stop literally lol-ing about this.

^^^ +1.


Anyway . . . I've had a Reverend guit for closing in on ten years now, and someone would have to be out of his mind to not think that's a cool looking headstock, or at the very least a passable one.

That Paul Reed Smith headstock, however, is morbidly off-putting.

I cannot figure out exactly why.

On paper, it shouldn't be such a dealbreaker, and yet it very much is.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 1:47 pm

cakes wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 1:43 pm I wish they made a LP JR or double cutaway that had a single neck pickup.

That is a really odd position for the neck pickup!

cakes wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 9:12 am

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 1:47 pm

cakes wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 1:43 pm I wish they made a LP JR or double cutaway that had a single neck pickup.

That is a really odd position for the neck pickup!

picks up the punchiness of thus neck!

eliya wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 12:31 am Is that because of the break angle? I feel like gibsons and fenders do a decent job of giving enough break angle past the nut, and those are the only good looking electric guitar headstocks. Travis Beans also look cool, however (hot take), aluminum neck guitars are so overrated. FM steve (RIP I miss him) made his sound crazy good. Duane Denison also. Uhh... who else??? In most people's hands they just sound like guitars.

It's funny I got hooked on Beans in the mid 90s. Before I was exclusively an SG man, but kept breaking the headstock by being rough with it on stage or bad luck of having it fall off a stand. I was sick of that shit and aluminum neck solved that problem. Sure this was back when you could buy the bastards for $500-800. I have always loved the sound, but yeah, they sound like guitars.

eliya wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 12:31 am

PEPPER! wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 6:43 pm I would never ever own a guitar that has a stupid looking headstock. I know this is very shallow of me. Sorry Reverend, sorry Seagull.

You had me here.

PEPPER! wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2024 6:43 pm When I look at a Jaguar, Jazzmaster I feel nothing.

And now you lost me.

TylerDeadPine wrote: Luthiers will argue that shortening the strings past the nut has some tangible effects, and they do, but I would argue that looking lame has more.

Is that because of the break angle? I feel like gibsons and fenders do a decent job of giving enough break angle past the nut, and those are the only good looking electric guitar headstocks. Travis Beans also look cool, however (hot take), aluminum neck guitars are so overrated. FM steve (RIP I miss him) made his sound crazy good. Duane Denison also. Uhh... who else??? In most people's hands they just sound like guitars.

Yeah there's a diminishing return on the break angle, some is enough, and then part was the flare out from the nut slots, fender does a better job there, shorter strings past the nut you get similar tension, pressure in the nut slot, and some argument you could make about wave cancellation, but if these things are happening to a degree we can hear them (and then maybe only in the high frequencies), it would pale in comparison to the differences in someone's performance on any given night, which is definitely affected by if they are playing this fucking thing
But then it starts to get so ugly I start to love it

eliya wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 12:31 am Travis Beans also look cool, however (hot take), aluminum neck guitars are so overrated. FM steve (RIP I miss him) made his sound crazy good. Duane Denison also. Uhh... who else??? In most people's hands they just sound like guitars.

Yeah, Eliya's not wrong. In my hands, my TBD sounds not super dissimilar to me playing my MIM Tele Custom. What I do love about the TBD is the feel of the neck and body - the 500 has always felt like the optimal body/neck shape for me.

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 11:46 am

eliya wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 12:31 am Travis Beans also look cool, however (hot take), aluminum neck guitars are so overrated. FM steve (RIP I miss him) made his sound crazy good. Duane Denison also. Uhh... who else??? In most people's hands they just sound like guitars.

Yeah, Eliya's not wrong. In my hands, my TBD sounds not super dissimilar to me playing my MIM Tele Custom. What I do love about the TBD is the feel of the neck and body - the 500 has always felt like the optimal body/neck shape for me.

Aluminum makes a bigger difference with basses for me.
It's just a special sound, and you can't really get it out of anything else.
I think a good Bean/EGC bass can do almost everything well, except for super deep, dead thump-thump heartbeat stuff.
They're too much for some bands, and they're not very forgiving if the notes aren't weighted accurately going into the instrument.
But when they're right, they're perfect.

I sorta agree on guitar, in that i'm not very interested, for myself, in a straight-up tuned-to-E aluminum neck guitar. Baritone, yes. But not a normal one tuned normally.