Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Q&A: Advice Pasal Equipment Untuk Beginners (Part 3 of 4)

 

Sorry for taking too much time since the last post in this series.

 

Electric Guitar

Basically ade dua jenis electric guitar: solid body and hollow body.

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               Solid Body                                                                Hollow Body

 

Well, aku takde experience sangat pasal hollow body ni. Yg aku tau cuma body dia hollow la. Of course la kan. Pastu dia usually ade “f-holes” macam violin. I think this type of guitar is favored by jazz or blues guitarists. Usually aku tengok orang main gitar ni sound dia clean, tak pon crunsh sket. Nothing heavy.

All I can talk about is solid body, since I know a little bit about that. And most of you are probably interested in that anyway.

Bile nak pilih electric guitar ni, ade beberapa benda penting yg kena consider. Antara soklan yg aku selalu terima ialah pasal bridge.

 
Bridge

Basically ade 3 jenis bridge: fixed, non-locking tremolo and locking tremolo.

Fixed ni yg macam kat Les Paul atau Telecaster. Kalo tak penah tengok, fixed bridge ni usually look very simple. And gitar yg bridge camni takde tremolo bar (but just because tak nampak tremolo bar doesn’t mean it’s fixed, since orang tu mungkin tak pasang tremolo bar dia). So gitar fixed bridge ni tak leh la nak buat effect “dive bomb” ke. But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. I heard that fixed bridge ni transfer vibration tali tu ke body gitar tu dengan baik, since from the string to the body is completely rigid. And bridge jenis ni tak yah pikir pasal bridge springs, that you have to worry about in other types of bridge.

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Fixed Bridge

 

 

Non-locking tremolo ni macam kat gambar Strat kat bawah ni. Dia dipanggil non-locking sebab nut dia tu tak dikunci. Bridge camni cuma boleh tekan jek, tak boleh tarik. So it’s one way. Maknanya bile main satu note, boleh tekan tremolo bar tu kasi pitch tu direndahkan and release bar tu kasi return to the original pitch, but tak boleh tarik tremolo bar kasi naik pitch. And since gitar camni nut dia tak dikunci, so kalo pakai tremolo bar tu, tuning akan lari sket sebab tension tali ni dari bridge sampailah ke machine head berubah. But bridge jenis ni offers tremolo capability, and better sound transfer berbanding dengan locking tremolo. Lagi satu spring dia senang sket nak manage, because tension spring tu mesti lebih tinggi dari jumlah tension tali gitar ni.

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Non-Locking Tremolo System

 

Locking tremolo, atau Floyd Rose is something else. Since aku selalu dapat soklan pasal bridge ni, and aku more experienced dengan bridge jenis ni, I’ll talk more about it.

 Bridge Nut

Locking Tremolo System

As you can see, nut dia lepas tuning kena lock pakai allen key. This ensures that bile pakai tremolo tu, tali punya tension hanya akan berubah dari bridge sampai ke nut jek. From the nut to the machine head tak berubah. That way, the tuning will be more consistent. So kalo pakai tremolo tu extreme gile pon the tuning will be ok. This kind of bridge is favored by aggressive players I think.

Bridge dia pulak, as you can see, is more complicated than fixed bridge or non-locking tremolo system. Bridge camni dikira floating, sebab boleh tekan and boleh tarik. So, when you play a note, you can change the pitch up or down by using the tremolo bar. And bridge camni, since contact point dengan body gitar kurang dari jenis bridge yg lain, sound transfer to the body isn’t so good. Sustain dia pon kurang sket since the bridge is not rigid.

But that’s the least of the problem with this kind of bridge. Kalo nak bridge camni, beginners kena amik masa untuk belajar and biasakan dengan complications that comes with it. When all the strings are in tune, bridge ni mesti parallel dengan body guitar ni. That way you have clearance to push and pull it. So, nak kasi bridge ni parallel, spring kat belakang gitar ni mesti diadjust kasi tension dia sama dengan jumlah tension semua tali ni. Because of that, bile ko tukar gauge tali, ataupon nak guna alternate tuning ke, you have to readjust the springs. So gitar camni tak praktikal kalo nak buat main macam-macam tuning. Pick a tuning and string gauge, and stick with it. I don’t find it so hard to adjust the springs because I’ve had this kind of guitar forever. But still, it’s not worth the effort to play drop-D tuning or something. Kalo ade banyak guitar that’s fine. But dulu aku ade satu gitar jek, for like 10 years.

Well, somebody recently brought up pasal device yg membolehkan kita tukar to drop D quickly. The thing about it is that kalo kat floating tremolo ni, first kena block dulu tremolo tu. That way tak boleh tarik, it becomes a one-way tremolo. And then only buleh engage the device to lower the 6th string tension to make it a D instead of E. Kalau tak block dulu tremolo ni, the tension of the springs will be higher than the collective tension of the strings. That’ll mess up the tuning of other strings.

Lagi satu pasal gitar camni ialah bile tukar tali, kalo tak perlu cabut semua tali skali gus, DON’T. Baik cabut satu tali, pasang tali baru, tune it. And then repeat for other strings. Let’s say ko cabut semua tali tu, pastu tukar semua tali, tune the 6th String. Pastu tune the first string, pastu second string etc. By the time keenam-enam tali dah tune, the 6th string will be way too flat. You’ll have to do it so many times until they converge, meaning that the tuning stays the same. Any kind of guitar pon kena buat camtu. But it’s much harder dengan floating bridge ni.

Intonation pon leceh sket. Nak adjust intonation, kena longgarkan dulu satu tali tu, baru boleh access screw untuk tali tu. I don’t wanna go too deep into this. Let’s just say that it’s not as easy as it is on a Strat.

The last thing pasal locking tremolo ni, kalau beli gitar yg murah tapi ade tremolo jenis ni, expect problems. The thing is tremolo camni complicated sket. You can’t expect cheap guitars to be equipped with high quality bridge.

 

So, takde satu pon jenis bridge that offers everything. Kalo ade dua gitar yg sama, satu non-locking satu lagi locking tremolo, the locking one will cost more, just because it’s more complicated to make. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best for you. Kalo aku nak beli satu lagi gitar, it’s gonna be a fixed bridge, because I wanna have one like that. Actually sebelum aku angkut JS tu aku memang plan nak angkut fixed bridged guitar. But because I love the JS so much I just had to get that one instead.

 

Pickup

Satu lagi soklan yg orang selalu tanye ialah pasal pickup. Generally ade dua jenis: Single coil dengan humbucking pickups. Single coil ni macam kat Strat dalam gambar kat atas. Humbucker ni macam dalam gambar locking tremolo tu.

Gitar Strat traditionally ade 3 single-coil pickups. Gitar jenis “super Strat” pulak, macam Ibanez RG sometimes ade dua humbucker jek, atau dua humbucker plus one single coil in the middle.

Which one is better? It’s a matter of need and taste. Single coil ni tone dia tend to be brighter and thinner. Kalo main clean or crunch, aku memang suka single coil. Humbucker pulak tone dia fat and heavy. That’s my choice kalo main heavy rhythm or solo. Sometimes aku pakai single coil untuk sound heavy yg “hollow” sket, macam dalam video Seribu Tahun Takkan Mungkin tu. Dalam post aku sebelum ni pasal Pickups ade ade demo sket beza sound dia.

Oh, one thing about single coil is that it tends to be noisier than humbucker. Without going too deep into the physics, humbucker ni kedua-dua row magnet dia menyebabkan hum tu dicancel. That’s actually why dorang invent “fake” single coil macam DiMarzio Area ‘58 aku tu. That way you get the low noise quality of a humbucker, and get the tone of a single coil.

Single coil ngan humbucker ni configuration pickup tu. There are also active and passive pickup systems. So basically, ko boleh dapat passive single coil, passive humbucker, active single coil, active humbucker. Nak tau pasal active and passive pegi tengok post Pickups tu.

So bila beli gitar, ko kena decide nak pickups yg cammana. Maksud aku, nak yg S-S-S ke, H-H ke, H-S-H ke etc. The thing is, lepas beli gitar tu, nak upgrade single-coil to a better single-coil, or upgrade humbucker dengan humbucker yg lain senang gak. But nak tukar single-coil to humbucker, or vice versa is a little more work.

 

Recommendation

Gitar ape yg aku recommend? Well, macam yg aku sebut kat atas, it depends on your needs lah. Kalau minat main style blues ke, maybe a Strat is a good idea. Strats are versatile enough that main rock pon sesuai. Kalau nak main metal ke, shred ke, it’s probably better to find a guitar that’s designed for that, yg ade humbuckers.

If you’re looking for a Strat, aku suggest cari Squire. Squire is the cheaper version of Fender, owned by Fender. Of course Fender knows how to make good Strats, they invented it.

But kalo nak main rock, I think I’d suggest an Ibanez. Ye la, aku ade 3 Ibanez, I may be biased. But Ibanez is known to give you more value for your money. Ibanez takde legendary status macam Fender or Gibson, but they make quality guitars for reasonable price.

But the best suggestion I can give you is to try them. Survey gitar-gitar yg within your budget, try them. Aku memang pentingkan comfort. You have to feel comfortable playing the guitar. And you want to find something that makes you wanna keep playing. Sebab aku try la aku found out that Gibson Les Paul isn’t for me. Everybody loves that guitar. But bile aku try sendiri, I like something else better. Maybe someday I’ll buy it for the sake of luxury, but it’s not what I need right now. Macam yg aku sebut sebelum ni, it’s not about what other people like. You have to like it. Consider la orang lain punya review, but remember that not every opinion is applicable to you. Selera lain lain.

Bab harga pulak, try spend more than RM1000. Kalau ko absolute beginner, tak reti langsung main, you probably shouldn’t spend that much. But kalo dah reti gak, please spend more than RM1000. It’s really not much. Aku ulang balik ape aku sebut dalam first post in this series. Think about what you spend on other stuff. Ko ade BlackBerry or iPhone or other smartphones? How much are those? In 5 years are you still gonna use the same phone? Confirm tak. Sebulan bape ringgit abis kat bill? And phone mahal-mahal, bill tinggi sume, if you spend a lot of time with your phone, will you be a better, more charismatic speaker? I doubt it. But if you spend a lot of time on a good guitar, it is very likely that you’ll be a better guitarist. Aku bukan nak masuk campur hal kewangan korang. Just pointing out something worth considering.

And aku bukan nak cakap jangan beli iPhone or something. If you like those stuff and you have the money, go ahead. You know your priorities. Nak tau aku pakai phone ape? Bertaun-taun aku pakai Samsung cabok yg dapat free with phone plan. Stok buat baling anjing punya (please don’t abuse animals). Pastu taun lepas baru tukar Nokia 5310, tu pon dapat free gak. Can I afford the latest iPhone? Yes. Can I afford to switch from one cool phone to another every 6 months? Yes. But that’s not my priority. I don’t need to watch a movie on my phone, that’s what my TV is for. I don’t need internet everywhere I go, I’m at home a lot. I’d rather spend my money on good guitars. You don’t have to follow me, follow your priorities. ;)

 

Bersambung…

6 comments:

  1. aku pon fikir cam ko bean, kalau beli gitar yg baik & jaga elok2 boleh la tahan berpuluh tahun & pass ke anak cucu, tapi kalau beli bende2 gadget cam phone or pc ni, cepat sgt jadik obsolete :)

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  2. tu la. in 20 years, guitars won't have faster chips, higher resolution display etc. 6-string guitars will still be widely used. mase tu gitar kita skrg ni dah leh kira vintage. heh heh.

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  3. bro another newbies q.
    hehe

    bridge question.(floyd rose)

    according to u, bila kita tukar tuning ke alternate tuning, we have to readjust the springs.
    adakah bermakna kalau kita tak adjust springs kat bleakang body guitar, bridge akan jadi tak parallel atau terjongket ke?
    before this aku ingat kalau nak buat alternate tuning just loosen kan locking nut je, then tune. to be honest aku tak pernah tukar tuning
    guitar aku semenjak beli. hehe. just stick dengan standard tuning je. kalau nak main drop D pun (most of the songs i played in drop D tuning) aku lenjan
    kawan aku punya gitar yang kebetulan dia tumpangkan kat rumah aku. Dan aku amat impressed dengan cara FR punya tuning stability.
    sangat sangat puas hati and stay in tune walaupun aku lenjan whammy bar dalam cara extreme. :)


    pick ups.

    "Single coil ngan humbucker ni configuration pickup tu. There are also active and passive pickup systems. So basically, ko boleh dapat passive single coil, passive humbucker, active single coil, active humbucker. Nak tau pasal active and passive pegi tengok post Pickups tu. "

    -maksud kau bro, gitar H-S-H atau H-S ni guna system active and passive ke? atau separuh pickups je guna act n pass ni?

    -kenapa kena ada 2 humbuckers(bridge ngan neck)? and guitar H-S-H ni biasanya ada 5 way switcher. kalau
    position switch aku kat channel 2 atau 4, maknanya kita guna combination antara salah satu humb dgn s coil kan? ni ke yang bro maksudkan dengan active single coil, passive single coil, active humbucker, passive humbucker tu?


    sorry for super noob questions. hehe:)

    Corey Taylor

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  4. Stok buat baling anjing punya (please don’t abuse animals) <----rofl :D

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  5. Bro wa ada tgk lu pnya youtube...nk mntk tlg nego fender mim leh...sbb nk pkai ibanez gak la...wa nk lyn metal plak

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