The gerg live and loud

[Greg_L]

Not even a tuner pedal to keep that gibson g string in check.

You heathen.

Yeah it's not a problem. I fixed the nut.

[rayc]

No need for a tuner...remember the days of relative tuning?
I recall a gig where the relative tuning went awry - the two guitarists tuned to each other and the sax n I to each other - the two mobs were about three semi tones apart. Sax & I were only a few % shy of proper tuning we discovered after I made everyone stop for a couple of minutes after the 1st song & passed around my tuner, (it was in my bag - didn't have floor tuners then). The singer/guitarist & lead player were often wrong and who'd believe that my ear was better?
Greg,
Perfect rig - no frills, no fuss, all killer & no filler.

[JD01]

Powerchords, mate. Who needs a G string?

I'm gonna assume you're just joking around and refrain from annihilating your feelings.

You could even drop D. Then you only need one finger too.

[Greg_L]

You could even drop D. Then you only need one finger too.

Didn't you try that once?

[Greg_L]

Speaking of dorky drop tuning though, I'm doing a one-off gig for a friend of mine which is tuned really low. Drop B! Ugh, so gross. H'es been asking me to join this project for years but I keep refusing until they tune their guitars like normal people. It's not shitty metal though like you'd think with really low tuning. It's like really creepy....horrorbilly or something. Almost kind of White Zombie-ish but more traditional sounding and without all the cheesy hip-hop sound effects. Very low tuned surfy/psychobilly. Musically it's right in my wheelhouse, but the tuning. I hate it so much.

But they're really in a pinch now so I've agreed to do one show with them because they need a second guitarist to fill in. I have to learn ten really weird, really low tuned songs in a little less than a month. On the plus side, my buddy, the drummer in the band, gave me this to use....

TripleP90.jpg

I don't know what it's actual model name is, but it's a triple P90 335 type thing by Epiphone....tuned to drop B. And strung incorrectly over the Bigsby. It kind of sounds like shit and I do not understand the pickup switching and controls. It's weird. It's not like any normal Gibson control layout. But I'll use that thing to learn the songs instead of rendering one of mine totally useless with that horrid tuning. And it feels pretty nice. It's strung incorrectly, but the feel of it is okay at that really low tuning. The tension feels about right. Another good thing though is that this little project is perfect for my Deluxe Reverb kit build. I can't wait to get to use that thing now in a live and loud setting.

[Lt. Bob]

well .... if my 3 p'up Epis are a guide there are 3 volume controls ... one for each p'up, and a single master tone.

And the 3 way switch goes neck+middle/all 3/bridge+middle.
So the way to get only the bridge p'up is to roll off the volume of the middle p'up.

I'll often just turn the middle p'up off using its volume knob.
If you do that then the 3 way switch is just like normal with choices being neck/both/bridge.

Or if you wanted only the middle you could put the selector on neck/middle but have the middle turned up and the neck off.


The key is to use the volume controls to set up which pickups you want the selector to access.



And you might consider stringing it properly under that Bigsby ....... .... that had to make you laugh when you saw it!

[Greg_L]

well .... if my 3 p'up Epis are a guide there are 3 volume controls ... one for each p'up, and a single master tone.

And the 3 way switch goes neck+middle/all 3/bridge+middle.
So the way to get only the bridge p'up is to roll off the volume of the middle p'up.

I'll often just turn the middle p'up off using its volume knob.
If you do that then the 3 way switch is just like normal with choices being neck/both/bridge.

Or if you wanted only the middle you could put the selector on neck/middle but have the middle turned up and the neck off.


The key is to use the volume controls to set up which pickups you want the selector to access.

Thanks man. That's kind of what I've figured out so far with a little messing around. I just want the bridge pickup by itself. The middle pickup being always on in every toggle position is what screwed me up.

[Greg_L]

And you might consider stringing it properly under that Bigsby ....... .... that had to make you laugh when you saw it!

Lol yeah. At first I was thinking "What the hell this Bigsby doesn't work worth a fuck". Then I looked closer and was like....

I'm not gonna mess with it though. It's not my guitar. I'll use it to learn the songs and then do something else. I think I'll use my Hallmark for this gig and get some heavy strings for it. Since it has a roller bridge and zero fret it'll probably perform fairly normally with the low tuning and heavy strings without needing any kind of setup tweaks.

[JD01]

Well you've gotta try everything at least once... drop B though... that's like Korn or something.

[Greg_L]

Well you've gotta try everything at least once... drop B though... that's like Korn or something.

I've never intentionally done any "drop" tuning. Not my thing and nothing I listen to uses that shit.

Going all the way down to B is dumb to me. It renders a guitar completely useless for anything but doing that one thing. But that's what these guys do. They're not using super heavy distorted guitar tones all the time though so it actually sounds kind of evil and you can still hear detail and what's going on. The bass is ridiculous though. It's like sub-sonic gut shaking lowness. Again, not my thing but I'll give it a shot to help these dudes out.

[JD01]

I think I use drop D in two or three songs. Not for any metalz reason... more it makes singing easier and I'm too lazy to downtune the whole guitar. Also throws up some interesting ideas on riffs... It's not like I'm fucking Djenting though. Very deep/baritone guitars do sound pretty cool clean - Armistice would suit one.

[rayc]

Music is full of oddities.

[Lt. Bob]

Well you've gotta try everything at least once... drop B though... that's like Korn or something.

I've never intentionally done any "drop" tuning. Not my thing and nothing I listen to uses that shit.

Going all the way down to B is dumb to me. It renders a guitar completely useless for anything but doing that one thing. But that's what these guys do. They're not using super heavy distorted guitar tones all the time though so it actually sounds kind of evil and you can still hear detail and what's going on. The bass is ridiculous though. It's like sub-sonic gut shaking lowness. Again, not my thing but I'll give it a shot to help these dudes out.

ya' know I'm right there with ya' .... if anything it's even less my thing! ...... have never done a drop tuning.

But I bet that if they have a decent sound system that bottom end's gonna be insane!
Actually sounds like fun to me .... take pics ...... wanna hear about this one.

[Greg_L]

ya' know I'm right there with ya' .... if anything it's even less my thing! ...... have never done a drop tuning.

But I bet that if they have a decent sound system that bottom end's gonna be insane!
Actually sounds like fun to me .... take pics ...... wanna hear about this one.

The bass player uses two giant bass rigs - one's a Bassman and 8x10, and the other is a high gain guitar amp and 8x10. Twenty fucking speakers of bass guitar! Lol. It's a mix of typical bass tone and full on raging distorted bass. It's insane. And it honestly sounds pretty good like that for what they're doing.

I've got a little stereo field recorder I use for picking up things quick with new bands. I'm supposed to practice with them thursday and I should know most of their songs by then so I'll try to get a quick and dirty room recording of some of it. I'd actually consider staying with this band if they tuned the guitars normally. I hate the tuning but I like their style.

[Greg_L]

I wonder if I can grow my goatee long enough to braid it in time for this drop-tuned gig.

I'm not liking that triple pickup Epi too much. It's okay but it's bulky an uncomfortable....and frankly just doesn't sound that good to me. I really hate this tuning. I put some 54-11 (lol) strings on my Hallmark to accommodate the low tuning. To me the Hallmark sounds way better than the hollow Epi for the low tuning. The Hallmark is tighter and cleaner. The band likes the look and sound of hollowbodies, but I think they're just gonna have to get over it. I'd rather use my Hallmark. It still feels pretty normal-ish with those fucking tugboat rope strings on it. It's weird having an A string as big as my usual E string. Even weirder is adjusting my brain to the low E being tuned down further than usual. I keep having to do mental gymnastics to remember that my note positions are way off. As I'm learning these songs, I hear the intervals and know where to go, but then I'm wrong because that damn E string is drop tuned. Ugh. I find myself just ignoring the lowest string unless I absolutely have to go down there. I'm playing my chords with the usual shapes and just leaving that low heavy crap string out of it.

[JD01]

With a bass rig that mental, what you do with your bottom string is probably pretty meaningless in the mix anyway!

[Greg_L]

With a bass rig that mental, what you do with your bottom string is probably pretty meaningless in the mix anyway!

That's exactly what I'm thinking. Unless the guitar riff needs to go down there, and it does on a few songs, mostly I can play the "top half" of chords and triads and be just fine without having to mentally adjust to that damn low E string. And the singer plays rhythm. He can do the one-finger drop tuned riffing and I'll fill in the rest.

[JD01]

With a bass rig that mental, what you do with your bottom string is probably pretty meaningless in the mix anyway!

That's exactly what I'm thinking. Unless the guitar riff needs to go down there, and it does on a few songs, mostly I can play the "top half" of chords and triads and be just fine without having to mentally adjust to that damn low E string. And the singer plays rhythm. He can do the one-finger drop tuned riffing and I'll fill in the rest.

That'll probably sound better too - you don't want too much stuff going down there 'cos you'll just ended up with a massive mushy mess!

Is this a case where even you'd like a boost of some description that shelves off the low end?

[Greg_L]

That'll probably sound better too - you don't want too much stuff going down there 'cos you'll just ended up with a massive mushy mess!

Is this a case where even you'd like a boost of some description that shelves off the low end?

I don't know yet. I know they want a big lush reverby sound so I'm gonna try to use my Deluxe Reverb build head. That's the goal. They asked me to bring it. It will get dirty when I crank it and roll off the bass. If it doesn't get dirty enough I'll have to hit it with a booster. The EP Boost should work. If it's too tubby I might use the 10 band EQ pedal. Like always, I want to avoid pedal distortion. They also have two-channel JCM 800 in the room. It has spring reverb. As much as I love 800s, I don't wanna use that unless I have to. I really wanna use my homemade amp.

[vomitHatSteve]

As an engineer, I feel like the goal is to make the instrument match what you want to accomplish musically rather than shoe-horning your music into what your instrument is built for.

That's why I use drop tuning (unironic one-finger power chords!) and a B-tuned bass.

I can't grow a Scott Ian goatee tho.