Bracing

[wileypickett]

FWIW -- I had a lefty Guild D25 professionally converted to a righty some years ago and it sounded as good, if not better, than the regular D25 I also owned.

The bracing was reversed, and the bridge was one of those that was thicker on the bass side than on the treble side, which meant it was thicker on the treble side after the conversion.

I didn't keep either of my D25s, so they're not around to compare anymore, but if the sound *was* compromised by the conversion, I sure couldn't hear it.

I offered both guitars for sale at the same time. The first guy to respond to my ad A / B'd the two guitars and bought the converted lefty.

 

[bluesypicky]

Yes indeedy.
The true story behind that shot is in the link.
But just in case you've never heard the back story*, the real reason he left the Yardbirds was "For Your Love". He didn't want to play poop, er, pop music.
So he wound up with Mayall, opening the door for Jeff Beck to step in and create raga rock....

Yes I remember reading this in his book.... funny when he speaks of Beck actually. You can feel a bit of an inferiority complex every time he brings him in the conversation. Respectfully of course. eaceful:

 

[adorshki]

I think the slanted bridge pickup must sound different strung backwards. I once borrowed a right handed tele that the owner had deliberately installed a left handed bridge plate to slant the pickup the 'wrong' way. I've never gotten along with tele pickups to begin with, so I can't really say if this one sounded different never mind better or worse, but it is an interesting idea that makes some sense to me. The factory angle puts the treble strings closer to the bridge for more twang I suppose, but putting them farther from the bridge than the bass strings might produce a more balanced sound. I don't think Hendrix ever sounded twangy.

Yes yes yes.
Roger Mayer (from his Wiki page):
"In early 1967, he saw Jimi Hendrix play at Chislehurst Caves and introduced himself. Hendrix was aware of the Yardbirds' records and wanted detail on how the guitar tones were created. Within weeks Roger Mayer was in the studio with him, working on tones and designing custom effects to realize the sounds Hendrix 'heard' in his head. His designs can be heard on the albums Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland."
gets into that:

"Naturally, because Hendrix was a left-handed guitarist playing a right-handed guitar strung for a lefty, the guitar responded slightly differently to if it was a left-handed guitar.

"When you flip the guitar, the actual cavities in the guitar now appear on the bass strings, right? Because the volume control and all that is facing toward your head. So the actual resonances of the cavity do change. What happens then, of course, is that now you're faced with the fact that the actual string length on the bass string is now the other way around and conversely, on the treble strings.

"So yeah, that will make the guitar feel slightly different because the actual string length affects the kind of strength needed to bend the strings. That's one of the reasons we used to tune the guitar down a little bit."

AND:

"First of all, we weren't using a flat-radius fretboard," Mayer says. "We were using the normal one, not the very high radius but definitely curvy. The actual strings we used were not what people would expect. The string gauges would run .010, .013, .015, .026, .032 and .038.

The big difference there is that you're using the .015 for the third, because if you use the .017 for the third, the actual sound of the guitar is very G-heavy. The electrical output of the strings is dependent on the square of the diameter; if you square all the diameters and look at them, you can get much more of an idea about the balance of the guitar.

"You should always remember that, because many, many times people use a set of strings that are completely imbalanced and they just don't sound that good. Most people would say a .010 to .013 is the correct jump. And the .015 is much better for the G than a .017. An .015 squares out at .225 and .017 is 289. So you're going to get 28 percent more output just with a two-pound different in string size."

Although Hendrix used a custom string gauge, Mayer certainly didn't mess with the stock pickups in his Strats. He didn't feel the need."


In what will probably seem like heresy to most 'leccie guys, Roger Mayer had this to say about pickups:


"Basically, what became very apparent with pickups is exactly what I thought before we started: They really don't make much difference! I would say they're one of the most vastly overrated parts of the guitar itself. If you understand electronics, you understand that as the inductance of the pickup increases—that is, as the number of turns on the pickup increases—all that happens is you get a larger output, and you effectively get less high-frequency response due to the fact that the inductance of the pickups rises. It's a trade-off.
"And after making several experiments, which probably covered all the number of pickup turns that are available now, I came to the conclusion that Leo probably had it about right! There wasn't much to be gained by deviating from the 7,000 turns or so on a regular pickup."

Complete interview here:
http://www.guitarworld.com/features...rixs-guitar-setup-interview-roger-mayer/11678

 

[adorshki]

FWIW -- I had a lefty Guild D25 professionally converted to a righty some years ago and it sounded as good, if not better, than the regular D25 I also owned.

The bracing was reversed, and the bridge was one of those that was thicker on the bass side than on the treble side, which meant it was thicker on the treble side after the conversion.

I didn't keep either of my D25s, so they're not around to compare anymore, but if the sound *was* compromised by the conversion, I sure couldn't hear it.

I offered both guitars for sale at the same time. The first guy to respond to my ad A / B'd the two guitars and bought the converted lefty.

Wiley I can't remember if you're the guy who queried the community about the wisdom of doing that a while back, but there's nothing like "earwitness testimony" and you've got all the credibility you need in my book.
Great input!

 

[adorshki]

Every time I see these 60's pics, I am terribly jealous of not being a bit older, and born in England! LMAO
Amazing times and journey for them.....

Console yourself with the fact that you'd likely have grown up without ever realizing how much better the French are in the kitchen.
Would it be worth being, instead, the one who introduced Bowie to purple spandex?

 

[bluesypicky]

Console yourself with the fact that you'd likely have grown up without ever realizing how much better the French are in the kitchen.

You got that right.

Would it be worth being, instead, the one who introduced Bowie to purple spandex?

Tough call.

 

[chazmo]

Bwahahaha! Definitely a tough call.

 

[fronobulax]

At least a couple of folks assert it's a Starfire, but I don't think its actually his..

Hendrix on stage with a Starfire, but he is not playing it and it is definitely not his

 

[fronobulax]

The Fender Hendrix Stratocaster for right handed players.

 

[bluesypicky]

The Fender Hendrix Stratocaster for right handed players.

Hilarious.
Ahhhh..... those vile marketers preying on kids parental allowances..... :hopelessness:

 

[DThomasC]

But it's "full of incendiary vintage tone."

Truth is, for $900 it's probably a pretty good guitar.

 

[bluesypicky]

And it's not even an accurate replica for righty, only the headstock is reversed.... at least Jimi had the merit to play with the lower side of the body stopping at the 18th fret at the neck. :stupid:

So not only is it lame, but it is half @$$ed too....

 

[DThomasC]

And it's not even an accurate replica for righty, only the headstock is reversed.... at least Jimi had the merit to play with the lower side of the body stopping at the 18th fret at the neck. :stupid:

So not only is it lame, but it is half @$$ed too....

The bridge pickup slant is reversed, isn't it? And the ad copy implies that the pickup pole stagger (height) , implying it matches a left handed pickup.

 

[bluesypicky]

This is a pitiful marketing failure in my book.

The whole point of creating a "Jimi Hendrix Strat" is to appeal to kids and immature adults, wanting to identify with Hendrix and his trademark image: Playing a Strat upside down.

So it gets even worse if they went through the trouble of making the p'up pole stagger match a lefty, so as to keep the body in the righty position, instead of reversing the whole damn thing and make it at least a bit comparable with the condition in which Hendrix was playing, for those poor souls righties that would desire mimicking it.

But I get why they did this.... my suggestion implies that a righty simply would have to buy a lefty strat and string it righty, et voila! ...and the goal being to sell yet another item, that wouldn't have worked for them I guess, (unless they would add a "Hendrix" signature on the headstock perhaps? a la "Beck"?)

Ah, the humanity! :laughing:

 

[adorshki]

I don't think Hendrix ever sounded twangy.

Yeah, closest I can think of off the top of my head is "Nightbird Flying" from Cry of Love.
Pretty sure it's all Strats on that, from clean to Univibe'd and who-knows what else from Roger..
Compare to the buzzing bee timbres of some of the dubs in "1983/Moon Turn the Tides", pretty sure that's one of his Flying V's
Think it's his first V on "Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice" ("STP with LSD", recorded in LA in June '67, wink-wink-nudge-nudge), one of my all-time Hendrix faves.
Similarity in tone makes me think he used a V on "Voodoo Chile" (not "Slight Return")too.
Couldn't find any quick confirmation although this does look like a "period correct" studio shot:

 

[adorshki]

But I get why they did this.... my suggestion implies that a righty simply would have to buy a lefty strat and string it righty, et voila! ...and the goal being to sell yet another item,

THE primary reason lefty Strats aren't available in Olympic White.

 

[bluesypicky]

THE primary reason lefty Strats aren't available in Olympic White.

Sick B@$^%#ds!!! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[adorshki]

Doesn't anybody wonder WTH ever happened to his F212?
And how it was braced? (BINGO! Full Circle! :biggrin-new: )
You can have John Denver's guitars, that'd be my Guild "Holy Grail" (although that one we saw recently, formerly owned by Johnathan Edwards {"Sunshine"} would be right up there and at least we know it still exists)

 

[bluesypicky]

Doesn't anybody wonder WTH ever happened to his F212?
And how it was braced? (BINGO! Full Circle! :biggrin-new: )
You can have John Denver's guitars, that'd be my Guild "Holy Grail" (although that one we saw recently, formerly owned by Johnathan Edwards {"Sunshine"} would be right up there and at least we know it still exists)

Probably in some collector's hands or hanging on a Hard Rock Cafe wall somewhere.....

 

[adorshki]

Probably in some collector's hands or hanging on a Hard Rock Cafe wall somewhere.....

Well we know they sure as H-ll ain't gonna get any warranty work without that receipt.