Things You Need to Know About Your Guitar (that you probably don't)

[@TheHangarHobbit]

Just FYI you can also just use a pencil to lube the nut so the strings don't catch, the graphite in pencil lead is a great lubricant and you can't get cheaper than a good old #2 pencil 😁

[@ix-Xafra]

2B or not 2B that is the question...

[@chriscarrillo967]

i do this with a mechanical pencil! had the same one for a decade, just keep buying 0.5mm or 0.7mm so it fits in every nut slot lol i do it on both the nut and the bridge rightr before restringing to allow proper lubrication. works like a charm

[@IndyRockStar]

I have a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck that wouldn't stay in tune. It had graphite in the nut. I restrung the guitar and used the nut sauce and it fixed it immediately.

[@letsdragthecave2017]

​@@IndyRockStar bro said nut sauce 💀

[@intenzityd3181]

The easiest solution is to sell your Gibson and buy a properly-made guitar.

[@DanielMontenegroBass]

Of course these holes are important... It is the reset hole, like you have on your phone... If you insert a needle in the hole, you reset your guitar to the default configuration

[@warthogA10]

😂

[@Kokurorokuko]

Almost. It's where the government stores chips that track your shitty playing.

[@BiggysMusic]

My guitar's like a tamagochi, I put a needle in the hole and my guitar gets reset into an egg and rehatches with new strings.

[@rickwalters8553]

Good to know! I always thought it was for popping out the SIM

[@shawtsfiredyt4959]

"Lubed up and ready to twist" was crazy

[@Zearo298]

Oh, but no mention about Sammy saying you can file your nut?

[@gametracker308]

Yeah, props for only cracking a small smile when talking about lubing nuts with Vaseline 😆

[@chrislaubenstein7209]

Crazy stuff

[@DarthBastard]

You need to get out more.

[@greysuit17]

Wow the maturity

[@ricksrealpitbbq]

I started playing guitar at 10 yrs old. I’m now 67 and I learned some information I never knew about. Great video 👍

[@nellayema2455]

Cool facts! Never drop oil in that tuner hole--use a tiny bit of Vaseline as demonstrated. Oil will seep into the wood and stain the back of the headstock. It's pretty unsightly when that happens.

[@3rdStoreyChemist]

Why we like electric guitars loud specifically is less to do with the Fletcher-Munsen curve, its more to do with amplifiers & clipping. Generally we don't want amplifiers to distort, but when we start to distort things, that initial bit of clipping we regard as "warmth" as the lower harmonics will start to clip first, which results in increased lower mids and extra harmonic content increasing the frequency range, as well as increased sustain as the sound is starting to compress. All in all, it just makes how electric guitar sounds & plays more exciting and we've pushed it far beyond "warmth" and guitar amplifiers, even legendary "clean" amps are designed more for this than an actual reproduction of the signal going in. So "That" point on the volume knob where your guitar comes alive, that's when it's starting to distort. Then there's resonant feedback! So guitarists liking things loud is more about the effects from clipping than simply being loud. Regarding Gibsons, just learn to restring a guitar properly. The headstock is possibly a bit more sensitive to bad restringing habits. No need for any popular "hacks". My Les Paul Studio was terrible when I first got it and when I restrung it for the first time, all the problems disappeared and its as solid as any other guitar I've owned since.

[@nuberiffic]

While that's true, I don't think that's what he was getting at. It's why people turn up music on the stereo - it has nothing to do with the guitar signal clipping.

[@3rdStoreyChemist]

@@nuberiffic As I said, in the context of electric guitar, it's hugely relevant because of the dramatic change it has both on the sound & behaviour of the instrument. If none of this took place then "bedroom" tones would be easy.

[@JonathanKobler]

I like how you put this. I'm curious to as we all have differing opinions on what we want for a distorted tone, does anyone ever have a preferred distortion (softclip vs hardclip, preamp distortion vs poweramp distortion, etc...) that they prefer loud? I find myself liking a smooth, warm softclip overdrive from the preamp loud where I can feel it. When doing country, rockabilly, blues, or roots rock, I like the rougher poweramp distortion or that Fender barely there dirt to be at moderate volume. Of course the latter does screw with my ears worse so that may be why. I think it may be where the harmonics occur and that one of my ears is really sensitive to high-mids to the point of being painful.

[@skepticalbystander]

O...m...g...the tiny spring for the firm whammy bar thing, how have i never heard of this in my 20 years of playing?? I've had so much sadness over that for so long, thank you for enlightening me!

[@thegratefulned]

**opens ink pen**

[@warthogA10]

Don't feel goofy.. I've been playing guitar since I was 4yo 🤣 Only became half decent when I was around 8yo thanks to my Uncle. I've had numerous guitars with bars over the years and at age 55, I literally only found out about these magic little springs about 3 years ago because two came with a squire affinity strat I bought. If it weren't for the internets, I'd still be wondering where this little spring belongs

[@warthogA10]

​@@thegratefulnedyeh.. nowhere near the required tension

[@tobymearing8407]

my understanding is the springs come as standard but are taped behind the bridge and people just don't see them, then they fall out and are lost.

[@skepticalbystander]

@tobymearing8407 i will definitely be checking now! I have two with trem bars, one is a Floyd, which would be most useful on that one. My other three are tune-o-matics, which i prefer, but you gotta have a couple wiggle sticks!

[@gringogreen4719]

The "Caster" part of Telecaster and Stratocaster was similar to "Broadcaster" and "Broadcasting" in the it comes from farming. Casting is how a farmer or a farmhand distributes seeds by throwing them in a controlled manner. So the Caster part was in realtion to spreading out the notes or your sound.😉👍✨

[@DavidBostock-ti2fv]

Sort of correct. Broadcasting comes from radio use, which comes from casting which farming gets from cast, AKA throw. Etymology of a word is easy now with the Internet, you may want to check what I said, I haven't.

[@gringogreen4719]

@@DavidBostock-ti2fv Well, yeah. The guitar was first the "Broadcaster" and then the "Nocaster" (they just cut the Broadcaster part of the decals they had made, Leo Fender was extremely frugal) then it became the "Telecaster" and followed up by the "Stratocaster." The implications to actual Radio Broadcasting was heavily implied since Television was really only for the REALLY well off in the early 50s. You are correct in that "Broadcasting" was the source of both the name and the colloquial implantation of using the "Casting" as a farm technique was well known (as the US and many countries still had a large percentage of their population living in rural areas and small towns) so that connection would not really need to be explained to them back then. This is more for a modern audience where the vast percentage of the Western World lives in major cities.

[@rmaxtpmx]

The guy was an electrician, not a farmer. Didn't overthink it. He was broadcasting sound electronically. The end

[@nvlddmkm1282]

Phil McKnight covered the D/G issue on LPs and mentioned its not the angle on its own, the reason is they cut the nut too deep and generally not sloped correctly. The top of the string should stick out of the nut slightly, so if you see the string completely flush or lower than the top of the nut, paired with the angle, you’ll get tuning instability. Its why you don’t see the issue with other 3x3 headstocks with just as aggressive of an angle, but see it on every Gibson - Gibson “keeping it authentic” meaning Gibson not improving their nut cuts for decades.

[@scod3908]

Gibson uses an aggressive ~17º headstock angle which results in a much higher compression force on the nut and more friction between nut and strings. Other 3x3's use a shallower angle (Epiphone ~14º, PRS ~10º, etc) Many people joke that the jointed Epiphone headstock design is superior, but cork sniffing Gibson buyers wouldn't buy a Les Paul if the G string was in tune as it's not authentic!

[@dasadasadmana1791]

The string tree claim is wrong. String trees exist to stop sympathetic buzzing. When a string doesn't have enough of a break angle(the angle from the playing surface to the tuner or wherever the string stops) the string behind the nut/bridge the sting will vibrate along with the playing area of the stings. The longer and thinner the string the more easily this will occur. If you look at some 60s student guitars you'll notice a string tree bar across all the strings because the headstock has a shallow break angle. Think about it this way if a string was perfectly straight after the nut or bridge there's not a lot stopping the entire length of the string from vibrating. I suppose a string tree may increase sustain a minor amount because the string isn't fighting itself vibrating at 2 different pitches but that isn't the main purpose.

[@gringogreen4719]

It actually changes the pitch. The easiest way to hear this is when replacing standard machine heads with locking machine heads. Usually the top of the shaft sits lower and many players don't bother with string trees so if they are still on you can hear the difference in-between using and removing the string tree. Also the higher the pitch, the less that noise is heard by the pickups. On hollow bodies you usually have the other end of the string in-between the bridge (usually floating) and the tailpiece. There is a split design called a Frequensator that splits the tailpiece design into two lengths and if you swap out a standard "Bird Swing" tailpiece for a Frequensator you can hear the difference. Also the difference in-between the bridge and the Trem unit for a Wide Swing Tremolo like on a Jazzmaster or Jaguar you can hear the sympathetic resonance and there is even a string guide you can add that goes on the top of the WST in order to increase downward pressure on the strings. If you can't stand those overtones from sympathetic vibrations above the nut or below the bridge you can either buy products like Jimmy Clips or use foam (not pretty but it works) to absorb the sounds.

[@michaelwamback9730]

I agree and don't think the string tree adds much if any sustain. What it could theoretically do is to add a bit of elasticity. Jimmy Page moved the tail of his double neck way back toward the back of the guitar, lengthening the string. This changed the feel of bends. The longer the string, the greater the elasticity. You can find the same effect if you play two of the same guitar types, but one has a Bigsby - lengthening the strings. Having said that, the extra length provided by the string tree is pretty small and perhaps statistically insignificant.

[@gringogreen4719]

@@michaelwamback9730 It depends on the type of string tree. I think the standard "bent tin" style trees are absolute crap. Even my budget guitars have Tusq string trees mainly to eliminate friction. I have other guitars that have the roller style to them and they tend to be higher than the stock "bent tin" ones so less of an angle between the nut and the tree. Have I noticed more sustain from any of the upgraded trees? Not really. Do they work better than the stock ones? Yes, they do. I do have to be honest in the guitars that I put the new string trees on are usually highly modified so a before and after comparison is a massive difference. I found a great drop in locking tuners for my Import guitars so that goes on too. The only time where I hear a "bigger" difference is usually in replacing bridges (I prefer vintage Tele bridges so modern "vintage" takes with brass compensated barrels to me, feel and sound the best to my ear) and replacing the Trem block on a Stratocaster from stock to brass was probably the single biggest change. The string trees are more for downward pressure and reduced friction so it's basically taking care of a problem before it becomes a problem.

[@michaelwamback9730]

@@gringogreen4719 Not a fan of the standard trees either. I just always felt they were prone to binding. I replace them with the rounded ones on mine (not the roller - just rounded). It makes sense that 2 round objects touching each other at a 90 degree angle have the most minimal possible contact, which equals less friction, which equals less chance of binding. As for the bridge, totally agree. The only things which really impact tone are the bridge and the nut. A hard nut like Tusq will be very different than plastic (although only on open strings - once you fret a string you remove the nut from the equation.) The construction of the bridge and materials it's made from can impact tone, and definitely sustain. Those Tune-O-Matic bridges have more sustain because of that knife edge not bleeding energy from the string as quickly. So many snake oil products out there all promising they will add sustain, when they really don't do a thing other than put money in someone's pocket.

[@gringogreen4719]

@@michaelwamback9730 I agree. Tusq was a way to make bone more of a uniform material. Bone changes in density so some bone is better than others, same as wood (in terms of quality and how useful it is). Some products do work better than others, I've had parts off of one guitar just be ok but once you love them to another guitar, they work even better. Go figure. So far the Tusq string trees work well as they are not a problem and they give the headstock a different vibe. That with the locking tuners have worked out so well I have done that combination in multiple guitars. I agree with you that some parts are solutions in search of problems or something better replaced it, but these things need to be sold anyways.

[@AtlasThree]

These recent videos of the past few months have been a huge improvement in quality, pacing, and quantity. Hats off to you, SammyG!

[@AmiGuitar]

i still think ash tray covers on strats and teles look so cool

[@nuthinbutlove]

Same

[@patrickwilliams3108]

Another reason for standard tuning is that when using it, you can play the basic chords in C without moving from first position (even B dim, which is a little tricky, but doable), many of the other major and minor chords as well as a few of the sus and aug chords right there at the nut. Try that with alternate tunings, especially if you want 5 and/or 6 string chords.

[@GazerOfShoe]

Uuummm aktually, a B chord would be played at the Second Position. Boo yah, sucka! Got cho ass. Now, who's the Smart Guitar Guy? That's damn right. Me.

[@patrickwilliams3108]

@@GazerOfShoe B dim, x2Ox31. First position .

[@patrickwilliams3108]

@@GazerOfShoe And just for fun: B Maj x21x03 (if you are feeling really stretchy, add the B on the G string at fret 4 with your 3rd finger). Also in the first position.

[@patrickwilliams3108]

@@GazerOfShoe Now, how about a BMinor? 020022: first position.

[@patrickwilliams3108]

@@GazerOfShoe Would you like a Bsus2? x2xx22, First position.

[@HumbleShallot]

I saw the thumbnail and came here looking for marriage advice.

[@Fooma777]

And now she’s lubed up and ready to twist?

[@lukaslmguitarcorner]

Lmao

[@robertmacalpine9421]

😂

[@ShadeAssault]

Always wondered why the P-Bass was called that. Thanks for this!

[@sombrerosrule]

The p bass info was dope thanks

[@alanturingandthetapes5575]

re: why the tuning is E-E i've experimented a little with different string gauges and the string tension calculator stringjoy provides, and if you're able to go approximate the same tension (say c# to c# with ernie ball mammoths vs. standard with 10s) the guitar sounds equally good and is equally easy to play. i haven't experimented with doing the converse with 8s or similar but that might work too!

[@Mike_Rogge]

Yeah, I have my main guitar (25.5" scale) tuned to B with d'addario light baritone strings and it actually plays better than my other guitar in standard because the neck is thinner.

[@toekey7570]

I think the string gauges were chosen based on the pitches though, not the other way around

[@EdUdremmurd]

Great stuff! Thanks, SG!!

[@wintyrqueen]

The reverberation is transferred through the air into the body, not the bridge (primarily). The bridge (& nut or fret) are actually nodal points in the standing wave of the string, meaning that the string isn’t actually moving (or in practice, moving bugger all) at the points where it physically contacts the guitar

[@Ameen2310]

Richard Fortus argues that the bridge pickup should be angled the other way. Hendrix perfected it by accident, and I agree.

[@joermnyc]

If you have a vintage guitar with a nitro finish, it's a good idea to remove your tuners to lubricate them. Overflow will leak out and react with the finish, which can't be fixed without a refinish.

[@marlan3rd]

That was very informative and interesting. I learned alot of things that I never knew.

[@DjVanillaGuerilla]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned why is E the standard when you mentioned it sounding well with the human voice. I think that frequency and tuning is the easiest to match with any vocal you are faced with. Especially live and raw. Which everything pretty much was back then. No autotune. Not many effects or pedals. Things like this. You don't get any better then a raw live guitar and vocals.

[@mr.nobody68]

We need more Steve! Also, standard tuning is just the ultimate compromise

[@JetLagRecords]

samuraiguitarist, You're amazing! I hit the like button as soon as I saw it!

[@MikeZimonyi]

Super interesting, thanks!

[@johnq5307]

Nuttin’ like a firm whammy!

[@rickwalters8553]

I tune my baritone in all 4ths (so it can be an acoustic practice instrument for my 6-string bass, but that’s another story) and I have to say: the range of accessible chord shapes available under the hand with standard tuning is HUGE by comparison! That one major 3rd may seem weird and arbitrary but it unlocks a whole world of possibility

[@Xenious]

history of guitar in the middle ages "...minus the low string because Keith designed it that way" ;)

[@Pandamasque]

5:34 these help to exacerbate the problem described earlier in the video: 1:16 I never had a string pop out of the nut while playing. The only issue (for some) is the sympathetic vibration of strings behind the nut. But of all the strings it mostly affects the G, which on many Fender guitars doesn't have a string tree anyway! So just bypass the string trees for better tuning stability and wrap a cloth ribbon or something around those ringing strings, make sure it isn't tight, and that'll take care of the ringing.

[@DrewHughesMusic]

This may sound odd but … I really enjoyed the rhythm of this video. The pace of the information you delivered, the very short space between cuts, the speed of the speech. I could go on. Regardless of the content. I really enjoy the feel as well as finding everything you said interesting. Kudos on editing, lighting, sound quality and everything else you did to make this video. 👏🏻👍🏻👌🏼⭐️

[@dankelly7712]

Thank you for these little bits of info Really fun and helpful all ‘round

[@MrBeardsley]

Another trick for keeping your trem bar stable is thread seal tape, aka plumber’s tape or teflon tape. In fact it’s probably preferable to those little springs because the tape prevents thread-wear, whereas the spring puts force on the trem arm that can cause the threads to deform over time.

[@gringogreen4719]

I've done this and it does work however it isn't a permanent or long lasting fix. It's good but more of a medium-term solution vs a long-term solution.😉👍✨

[@Les537]

That never really works. Makes a mess and is very inconsistent. Just buy a spring for 50 cents.

[@AlexPriceMusician]

Cut the spring in half and throw a ball bearing in there underneath the spring. It'll work well for decades. Unfortunately though, some cheaper modern Fender bridges have the hole drilled the entire way through the steel block

[@tikirog]

Absolutely loved the info, I wondered about a few of these and found it really cool to learn. Thank you so much.

[@badGamr]

Great video! You can use a pencil in the nut slot as a lube - Pencil's use graphite and that will work just as well as some store bought lube.

[@unclestubs8377]

Thank you, I can feel my brain getting bigger! 😊

[@rubenpv]

Cool thanks!

[@paullatta]

Loved this! Informative.

[@ItsAllFake1]

5:53 Gotta fact check the part on the standard tuning. Renaissance lutes have frets, play chords and are tuned in 4ths, G-C-F-A-D-G (plus optional bass strings) I think since around 1200. (Tune a guitar's 3rd string down to F# and then capo at the 3rd fret.) The familiar moveable guitar chord shapes work on a lute, except shifted up 1 string. I don't know the exact history, but lute tablature predates standard music notation.

[@3lullabies]

I heard somewhere that reason for the major3rd b string was a comprimise to alternate between playing chords and solo picking....ease for runs, as you said. Makes sense.

[@wakledodd]

This was great!!

[@analogalien]

Great video. Keep up the great work.

[@rikosborne1212]

I had to replace the tuners on my 1968 Gibson acoustic because I didn't know what those holes were for. 40 years of never lubing them resulted in them becoming almost impossible to turn. I did keep the old tuners, though, just in case of the highly unlikely event that I decide to sell the guitar, and the buyer might want the original equipment.

[@dw7704]

I keep a pencil with my string change tools, when i change a string I rub that in the nut slot, and bridge. The graphite acts as a lubricant and it works. My guitars stay in tune and I don’t break strings at the nut or bridge anymore.

[@josephg39]

Thanks for the info! Gonna go add more nut sauce to my guitar to improve my playing 😊👍

[@high_surv]

imo, having that major third in standard tuning makes harmony a lot easier, but I think it's bad that it's on the B string. Oud has a similar tuning, but the major third is between the bass and the treble. This makes playing melody way less confusing, but you still get harmony between the open strings. It's still a bit confusing when you have a melodic line going to the bass, but that's far less likely to happen. Tuning is usually CFADGC (3rd is F-A), FADGCF (3rd is F-A), or DGBEAD (3rd is G-B).

[@Karol52752]

7:17 I actually think the last reason for tuning might be the most probable one from my experience. As a baritone, which is the most common male voice type (at least in where i live), the low E is pretty much as low as i can sing (except for morinings ;-) ), and high E is as high as i can sing.

[@roybatty2030]

What an excellent video, thanks!

[@billybudd45]

Check out BB Kings vibrato , he sometimes only touches the fret board. So his hands aren't dampening the neck .

[@cr8cat794]

Excellent presentation and information.

[@milkedition6086]

5:05, For the whammy springs, make sure your guitar's whammy bar hole has a dead end. When i tried this with my Ibanez, the spring fell inside the body and eventually out the back cover hole where the springs are.

[@3rdalbum]

"The back hole cover where the springs are" seriously, please use its proper name: The Apple Airtag Storage Compartment

[@joeldcanfield_spinhead]

mandolin tuning tip I just learned: one string a few cents low, the other a few cents high, you get a cool beat frequency.

[@Halliday7895]

thats funny because i just saw a youtube guitar repair channel talk about the hole on the back of the kluson line tuner machines a few days ago...i suspect this dude did too. i think it was "NOT A LUTHIER" also in Canada ....hmmmm coincidence ? 2 mins in he says it hahaha on his recent video. i suggest everyone follow him...

[@daveabsolution5246]

Look up ditonic or Pythagorean comma. The problem is that any semi tonal scale is a compromise as a genuine harmonic scale does not quite divide into semitones. I thought the problem was with my guitar, or worse was my hearing. No. It's just that we use an artificial scale. Really x

[@tonywhetham8165]

Good one Sammy

[@alankelly1001]

One extra note on lubricating tuners: be VERY careful using a liquid oil lubricant on Gibson guitars (or any guitar with a nitrocellulose finish), because it can leak out of the tuner casing and stain your finish around the tuner. I've been watching Trogly's channel, and he keeps pointing out the discoloured finish around tuners on instruments where the tuners were re-lubed with an oil.

[@futureace73]

Do you have any recommendations for brand/type or do we just need to go easy on how much we use

[@alankelly1001]

@@futureace73 Honestly, no idea. Even Trogly didn't mention a recommendation in his videos, if I remember. I remember reading a forum post once that mentioned powdered graphite, but it's really messy. I think Samurai's idea of Vaseline might be a good bet, as the gel will stay in place and not flow around (and he did say he asked an actual luthier).

[@IDropzGuitar]

You’ve got a great channel bro, one of a few inspirations for my channel! Keep it up 🤙

[@themandolinmaniac]

great job!

[@stoffls]

ok, most of it I knew... But still great to have educational videos like this.

[@666pinkster]

Sammy brother the reason that it sounds different depending on where you pick it is that closer to the bridge has less harmonics and closer to the neck has more

[@artrogers3985]

Thanks for this 🎸

[@M5guitar1]

Yes

[@ACWraith]

With all of the times I've seen people wanting to get rid of the trebly ice pick on strat bridges and/or tighten up the bottom end on guitars in general, I find it hard to believe the strat slant isn't backward.

[@joachimtesdal5998]

been watching your channel for years and just realised i've not subscribed xD but i am now!

[@thebreakfastmenu]

3-in-1 oil is considered the best stuff for tuner lube. Other things tend to gunk up

[@johnskerlec9663]

I didn't worry too much about the spring in the wammy bar hole on my strat. I tried it and still have it in but not sure. I like it mostly out of the way and it drops away when I let it go. With it raised it seems to get in the way. I've had my strat for 40 years btw.

[@WarrenPostma]

I do think white lithium is better for your gear lubrication.

[@MuscleCarLover]

Continuing on with that last one, Jazzmaster and Jazz Bass, intended for jazz musicians. Jaguar and Mustang? I dunno, animals are cool lol

[@leeturner2732]

Fletcher and Munson curves, for the people who want to get nerdy about sound perception at different noise levels.

[@mikeshvedov6981]

Good one

[@nibel13]

String trees for me helps remove dead notes and improves tuning stability aswell as your examples :j

[@ryanzeigler9763]

if you bottom-wind the G on a Gibson it gives it a little more break angle and far fewer issues.

[@nonethek9608]

The first thing I did with my first Telecaster is to ask my friend to cut 2/3 of the cover so I can still protect my hand and palm mute as I wish.

[@anabidingdude8079]

I think Luther Perkins single-handedly killed the Telecaster bridge pickup cover.

[@Elektronijaenis]

I've always found it a bit funny that they make fretless Precision basses. Don't get me wrong... Those can sound amazing in the right hands, but the name and the story behind it. :)

[@elmadouf]

Sorry Samy G but this is absolutely NOT how an acoustic instrument works. Here is a more accurate representation of the system. The soundboard transfers vibrations to the air around it. By providing a larger area of contact with the air than the strings, it moves more air, thus creating more sound. It does not "amplifiy" vibrations, because the guitar does not add energy to the strings. It dissipates energy. A solid body electric guitar is too heavy to be put in motion by strings so it doesn't vibrate much and you only hear the strings (not very loud). Because the sound is not dissipated, the energy stays in the strings and they sustain their note longer. If you cover the soundhole, you will still hear most of the mids and treble at the same volume. That's sound created only by the top moving. The soundboard also makes the air inside the guitar move, and resonate at lower frequencies (like the air inside a bottle when you blow on the hole). This allows more low frequencies to interact with the air outside the guitar and create a fuller and bassier sound. The back and sides provide little to no sound, but the back interacts with the air pressure inside of the guitar and changes the resonances of the air and the top to create more complex harmonics. When you squeeze the guitar back against your belly, the sound seems kind of muffled because those harmonics are no longer present, and the energy used by the back to vibrate is absorbed by your body, thus robbing the guitar of energy. It sounds duller and less loud. Some guitars are created with very rigid backs that don't vibrate so you can play standing up with your body against it. No energy is transfered to the back, so it stays in the soundboard. Those guitars can be louder but often have a less rich sound. Another correction to make : The break angle behind the nut : greater angle provides more pressure and allows the strings to transfer more energy more rapidly. Energy is dissipated quicker so in theory, the strings vibrates harder but for a shorter period of time. That means LESS sustain, not more.

[@asharpbflat7179]

The angle of strat and tele pickups as well as the traditional placement of the split p-bass pickup (lower two strings PU farther from the bridge) are horrible decisions soundwise as they make the sound LESS balanced actually. It's the exact opposite of that myth of a more balanced sound. The reason so many companies copy that principle is 100% aesthetics only. There's no sound benefit in it - quite the contrary. At least ESP, Ibanez and Yamaha have reversed the PU placement in some of their basses. Unfortunately nobody dares to break the rules and counter angle a bridge single coil against the typical guitar body's angular shape. A bridge PU sound would indeed benefit massively from the opposite angle. But nopesters, you gotta follow the herd as a guitar builder it seems... Humans are dumb.

[@bwa_8]

A serie of well known facts and an ad for a guitar course, great 😐

[@deanallen927]

I always thought the angle of the strat pickups made it less balanced, beefing up the stronger strings and weakening the sound of the strings that were already weaker, making the brighter strings too bright. And the headstock exaggerated the problem. That's why Hendrix' guitars always sounded better.

[@goss1961]

The reason Fender guitars have the bridge pickup slanted is because in the 1940s and 1950s amplifiers weren't great with regard to treble and lead players had trouble cutting though the rest of the band. Leo Fender was primarily marketing to country music players and he slanted the pickup on his lap steel guitars...and his first 2 electric guitars... to accentuate the treble while not having the low strings too thin sounding. A decade later when his amplifiers improved he didn't need to do this. Look at the pickups on Jazzmasters and Jaguars...

[@3rdalbum]

Modern telecaster knock-offs still have the slanted pickups, so either it's a cargo cult design (the knockoff manufacturers don't know why it is done, they just do it) or there is still some reason for it to sound better that way, perhaps especially when using cheaper pickups?

[@XXIII_89]

Did not expect a video with Sammy G talking so much about lubing..

[@IronSnakeAce]

3:43 Luther Perkins enters the chat

[@jpssound1139]

Stratocaster and telecaster… I get that. Explain how they came up with the Nocaster

[@scottdahlberg4890]

What make and model is that EPI? Very pretty. Good information you gave.

[@marki7661]

I tried one of those string butlers attachments for one of my LP’s about a year ago and it actually works wonders. I highly recommend them. And it’s nice is that it screws into the existing holes for the truss Rod cover, so no intrusive drilling or anything is involved. For 20 years That G string has been driving me nuts, going out of tune with the slightest bends, even with the Nut Sauce. I was so happy with it I bought a second one for my other LP. I still use the nut says too and I also put it in the string butler’s rollers for good measure.

[@billyc6678]

I use them on all of my Les Paul’s, they’re absolutely awesome. I use both, the original and the new one that you described. 🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽🤟🏽

[@Les537]

It's just more parts and more friction. It's better to just cut the nut correct for the string gauge, IMO.

[@billyc6678]

@@Les537 no more friction than the original nut. The strings rest on rollers, and are angled properly. Hence, more tuning stability. Unless you’ve tried them, you really DONT know.

[@marki7661]

@@Les537 What if I cut them to accommodate my 13 gauge strings and eventually go down to 9's or 10's and now the slots are too wide? lol but yeah, that is certainly a good first place to start, and I have adjusted the slots in the past on several guitars, which helped on the LP's but not 100% as there will still be tension on the same strings due to the angle from the nut to the tuning posts. Its hard to say this when my guitars are all in the next room, so I'll whisper... it's is a bit of a design flaw in Gibson's and many others 3x3 headstocks. This is why my Firebird has always been my most stable Gibson and my PRS's have also never had this issue as the the tuning posts are in a 180 degree alignment from the nut, and Paul clearly seems to take pride in bragging about it as he mentions it in every interview lol . and it does seem like a lot of newer brands figured this out in the 80's such as Ernie Ball. But alas, I'm a guitarist, not a mechanical engineer, and it was really only an issue when the G string more than a step or so, which I guess I tend to do a lot but since installing the devices it's never been a probabem.

[@jamesonpace726]

Already knew all except the cat-gut-string-tuning, 5th century-psycho-toga thingy. Gonna have to get up earlier, Mr Samurai, to whup an old guitar codger....

[@lucyfuir6386]

Actually the bottom 4 strings of a guitar eadg are in perfect 5ths if you go backwards. It's the same notes as the mandolin

[@kempcky]

TANK U 4 MAKIN ME A LIL SMART LOL

[@fortunefavorsthebold3459]

always get ideas and inspo from your vids!

[@thegratefulned]

I heard you can use a graphite pencil on the nut slots also

[@missjayspeechley9213]

I been playing bass for about 35 years, and today I learned WHY it's called a P(recision) bass

[@charlesmerfeld2988]

And thus the partscaster was born

[@warthogA10]

So in keeping to the naming scheme of the 'castor' series, .. I'm expecting the we'refuckedocastor to release any moment now. 😐

[@donnhall9800]

👍😎

[@DJB851]

....and apparently the Fender 'Blonde' colour was used because it looked better on black and white TV than pure white.

[@andyn5379]

I thought he was gonna tell us the P-Bass was originally called Precicaster or P-caster or something

[@Taw75]

Huh there is a while back there

[@nisselarson3227]

Nutsauce? oh yeah, i'll just bring some from my big bag of stuff. Why aren't they using string trees on gibson guitars?

[@YNGWIE998]

Re: the Gibson tuning problem. Surely the Gibson company is aware of this annoying problem, so why don't they slant the 'D' and 'G' nut slots accordingly? Hello Gibson R&D Dept. can you hear me...?

[@Gongasoso]

Another thing about whether or not to slant single coils is putting the pole pieces under the string. Generally, single coil pole pieces sit directly under the strings when the pickup is slanted, but not when put at a right angle. Now, vibrating strings travel wider at the neck than bridge, so having the pole pieces spread out at the neck might actually be beneficial

[@gringogreen4719]

Two things. First the slugs/magnets under the single coils are either the magnet itself (like in original Telecaster and Stratocaster pickups) or they are steel slugs with a magnet (usually ceramic) glued to the bottom (this is a cheaper and quicker way to make mass produced pickups and why you see them on cheap guitars). Second magnets on Stratocasters typically have different placements depending if they are Bridge, Middle, Neck positions. This is because as the strings leave the bridge they start to move closer as they are moving in a straight line to the slot in the nut. So magnet placement moves closer together the closer it gets to where the neck meets the body. If you doubt me just hold a nut close to a bridge to see the difference side by side. If you don't want to worry about any of that then blade style magnets like Joe Barden pickups and Hot Rails eliminate the spacing issue by running the magnetic field all the way under the strings instead of the concentrated spots where the slugs/magnets are.

[@Gongasoso]

@@gringogreen4719 does it not lead to less note definition or something? Heard something like that once

[@gringogreen4719]

@@Gongasoso So the slugs/magnets focus the magnetic field so that the string can interrupt it (the signal to the amp that creates the note). If the slugs don't match the strings then it results in a weaker sound and less frequencies that the pickup can use. Usually this means the pickup sounds quieter or weaker. A good example of this is "Fender Spaced" humbuckers because if you drop a Gibson humbucker in a Fender Strat with a humbucker cavity the strings do not align and it will not sound as good as if you put it in a Les Paul or an SG. I ran into this issue with Strat shaped guitars. I have a Samick Malibu where I put in a Filtertron pickup in the bridge position (like Malcolm Young, it gets that sizzle) and it was fine. I tried putting in a GFS Tron on a Filtertron specific pickguard on their (Guitar Fetish) version of a Stratocaster and HALF the strings did not line up! The E, A, and D strings were fine but the G, B, and E strings were completed off the screws (Filtertrons use screws instead of slugs under the strings which I love because you can REALLY tailor the sound of the pickup) and you could hear the strings but they sounded weaker and not what a Filtertron is known for. Filtertrons are low impedance but high output pickups, it has to do with how the bobbins are wound and that it has a huge magnet compared to what is used in a humbucker. So I ended up doing a different pickguard with a different load out (H/S/S with a Surf 90 (a single coil pickup in a Humber sized case) and two Brighton Rocks (Burns copies) for a different tone. The GFS Trons made it into a IYV Thinline Tele guitar where the strings line up PERFECTLY for that guitar (I replaced the humbuckers for a more Rockabilly style Tele). So yeah, you can use a mismatched (for the location) pickup if that's all you have but it's not really going to sound good. Also the pickup is wound specific for a certain position (the closer to the neck the less winds you need since the string is physically stronger at that location due to a wider eclipse movement of a plucked string) so a neck pickup in a bridge position will be underpowered from what the pickup maker intended. That said sometimes mismatching pickups can lead to interesting tones you otherwise would not get.