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What do you mean with «sounds great»?

Let's take my 4-string CBG from a Camacho box as an example: acoustically it doesn't sound at all, but with two Power Rails from GuitarFetish even with a simple amp with volume and gain only it sounds great. With the idea to learn from each other, let us know, how your CBG sounds without an amp and with which pics it sounds great. What do you think about this idea?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 26, 2016 at 8:48pm

Wayfinder:

http://www.rondomusic.com/

Got it cheap because it was damaged and I had to put it back together.

This is where that guitar came from and they are less than $200. These guitars are all made of Alder, Ash, Maple, Mahogany and Basswood at great prices.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on April 27, 2016 at 5:36pm

Hi Paul, I had to have a little smile re your post. You must have been lucky or maybe buying from a outlet in the USA means they check them out before despatch. I have heaps of necks from a customer who buys guitars in the area of $350.00au direct from China, landed and in a case. They are normally set up with the action high so as not to show the faults in the neck. He brings them to me to change the necks. He's "just born with bad luck". See some of them here.

Cheers Taff

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 27, 2016 at 6:01pm

I got this one in 2 pieces, neck broke off at the glue joint. Put it back together and was amazed at the action, intonation and the feel of the neck. Didn't have to file any frets, do any fret leveling or saddle adjustments.

There's been many people over on the TDPRI forums that have bought guitars from Rondo with few complaints. Most of the complaints that I've heard were about the electronics and limited to the SX, Hadean and Douglas brands. Haven't heard any complaints on the Agile's.

Have heard a lot of complaints on the Squier Bullet Series, Xaviere and First Act guitars which seem to be a 50-50 chance of getting something decent. Most of the Epiphone complaints I've heard were about electronics as well.

But we all know that some complaints aren't as big as they are made out to be and take just a little tweaking to fix by someone that knows what they are doing. And most people should know/expect to have to do some tweaking on a cheap guitar. Most places that sell these guitars will do a return/swap without issue.

Are you able to salvage some of those necks? What's the problem with most of them?

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on April 27, 2016 at 10:29pm

Hi Paul, re the necks I have, I use them on my six string CBG's this is all I have left now. Although this customer [the unlucky one] just came in to day with another Chinese wonder so I might have another neck. They are no good for setting up for a good action but for slide work they do the trick. Some have little or no rod adjustment and some had incorrect fret positioning for the scale on the guitar.

Cheers Taff

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 28, 2016 at 5:17am

Fret placement and bad trussrods make good slide necks.Haha

Beats removing a fretboard. Have you noticed that the boards you need to remove are hard to do, but the the ones that are good come off with ease. LOL

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on April 28, 2016 at 5:22am

So true. Go to Stewmac or another supplier and a body blank cost 100 bucks, good neck is another 100 bucks and then you have to spend 200 bucks or more on hardware, electronics and pickups.

So 100 or 200 is a good deal on a great modding platform. The pickups can be hit or miss on some of these.

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Permalink Reply by Bristol Blue on April 30, 2016 at 2:43pm

Well guys I'm not into this discussion with such passion but for me I agree with Wayfinder on CBG's sounding good acoustic or plugged. When my Daughter visits ,she say's "I can't believe that sound is coming ... from that "

I'm sorry I have to disagree on the Hendrix comment. I have heard about lead lengths and straight or curly ones and there is a difference I have found. Plus Jimi Hendrix cannot be wrong EVER ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Blues Frog on May 1, 2016 at 2:03am

That's the reaction I got when I played my first build for my musician friends. I was showing it to them and explaining how I came to build it, and they were kinda "yeah tha's, uh, cool",

but when I plugged in and played it, a grin spread across their faces and they went "Wow! That souns great!"

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on May 3, 2016 at 10:28am

Wow interesting topic guys.
The same pickups on different wood I believe do sound different due to resonance.
The frequency of resonance affects sustain and length of notes etc.
A hard wood may sustain longer for example. This affects the sound.
Hendrix used to play tuned down to D, his is because the strings resonate differently and can be bent. You cant play proper blues tuned to E, doesn't sound right.
Sure modern electronics pick up the strings but then how come same pickups on different bodies all sound so different. I believe it's the resonance freqency interplay that affects the sound. The fender with its out of phase middle pickup will never sound like a dual humbucking gibson. The minute differences make the change.
A v strutted acoustic will always sound better than one with a cross brace regardless of the cost. The strings for tone fat for tone, thin to bend (but lack tone)
I agree with the copying the vinatage electronics circuits works to help.
put 500k CTS pots in your gibson and some PIO caps and it sound like the real deal.
As magnets fade you get less pull on the strings so they resonate for longer and sound better. Some of the best sounding pickups are harmony gold foils as they use a rubber magnet and have tiny microphonic resonances from the interplay of the lid and the pickup. I believe you may be searching for resonance to make a better sound.
As the same string on different woods and instruments types, do sound very different.

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Permalink Reply by Bristol Blue on May 5, 2016 at 6:59am

Hi Buggy , i have largely stayed away from this , as I'm not a builder ...at the moment . I'm not going to get into any science. To me at the end of the day I got into CBG's because a lot of old cats from the Delta supposedly played them, utilising discarded boxes, broom handles and wire etc. Maybe they did play CBG's but I'm also pretty sure they would have rather been playing a Gibson L5 or probably any "real" guitar given the chance !

Anyway, what I really wanted to point out is you CAN play PROPER blues in standard tuning . At least I can and so have many others. Jimi Hendrix actual tuned Eb not D. He didn't do this because he sounded "not right" in E. String bending is slightly "easier", plus on an old Strat they had 21 frets : Instant extra fret. He may also have reduced straining his vocals ??

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by BUGGY (C) on May 3, 2016 at 10:42am

The coil effect of Hendrix guitar lead is due to eddy currents. and to some extent the reason why pickups work, It kinda makes sense to me that it may also make a tiny difference than a single line of cable.
If you put a NI magnet on a thin piece of plastic between the two poles of a jack plug you get a very quiet pickup when you hold it very close to vibrating coil string.
A coil of wire with a current flowing creates a magnetic field... catching my drift to why it could sound better? My guess is the coiled lead may be very slightly amplifying the signal or reducing losses... hence sound better...