Vivian on 12/6/2008 at 09:09
Hey, I have a rather nice yamaha sg 700 guitar (the one santanas got, I think), but I'm ashamed to admit I'm not so hot at playing it. I have been practising a bit recently, followed bernard butlers advice and got a smiths songbook (which is fucking complicated. How does marr do it?), and I'm fairly pleased with the results so far. Only problem I have is the guitar set-up: I've set the intonation correctly as far as I can tell, the action and truss rod are about as nice as I can get them, I've scrimmed the nut (heh) as well as I can, but I still get buzz and dead notes all over the place. This is probably in part due to my naff fretting technique, but its also due to the fact that the frets are very flat and need replacing, which costs about £100 or so.
Anyway, what this boils down to: Would you recommend that as a beginner I sell my expensive-and-nice-but-in-need-of-pricey-work-guitar and buy a less good but more playable one, as I'm not good enough to justify having a nice one? Or would you recommend I bite the budget and get my yamaha overhauled by a professional?
Vernon on 12/6/2008 at 09:22
Do some hand exercises and stiff upper lip, old chap :D Playing guitar can be painful, but the more you do, the less it hurts. That said, if the frets are utterly knackered, I guess you'll have to sort them out. Did you buy the guitar second-hand or what?
fett on 12/6/2008 at 14:53
Up until JUST NOW I thought you two were the same person. :confused:
SlyFoxx on 12/6/2008 at 17:29
Get that puppy to a good tech. I'm guessing your axe is 20+ years old and if its seen its fair share of playing the frets are probably shot. You might be able to get away with a crown and polish which would be significantly cheaper than a re-fret. You might only need a partial re-fret...more expensive...but I'm guessing a total re-fret is in order.
100 pounds sounds reasonable and that should include a complete set-up. (action, intonation.)
There are many sizes and types of fret wire...a good tech will ask you questions about your style, prefered music etc...should be able to zero in on a fret style that will make you happy.
:sly:
