Testing a nylon-string guitar with distortion

[@mcludo1402]

this man even edited shades of his clone on his shoulder, great work

[@TraqGuitars]

I like to get little details right when I can :) thanks for spotting ;)

[@purplegill10]

@@TraqGuitars Dude that's going way above and beyond. That's special man

[@aubolessi]

Was he really at a front of himself?

[@bobbytimmons12]

no, it's a real clone. I know because I was there

[@kushagra.kalashnikov]

It is pretty easy to achieve. He just added the same clone footage but black and translucent behind the the actual clone and a little to the left.

[@_burakkurkcu]

This is what I call a proper comparison. Great job, thanks!

[@norvillerodgersspeaks]

The pinch harmonics have a very unique sound with the nylon guitar.

[@maxmordon7295]

Yeah... uniquely awful in comparison.

[@baronvonpenguin6112]

The nylon strings may sound a tad muddier, but they’re absolutely heavy when palm-muted. For styles like doom and stoner and maybe even sludge, I think that might be a really good way to go. Hook that up to a hyper fuzz or something by Fuzzlord and you’re golden.

[@amilime4373]

To be honest i actually like the nylon one's sound better

[@TraqGuitars]

Clearly its a matter of taste :) for some of the things I was playing here the nylon strings didn't quite give me the right feel (or rather the feel I was used to), but I can totally see the nylon tone being usable in the right context.

[@daveshouse8105]

This Could be twangy in a baritone tuning. Step down? Might be a djenty twang dialed in right maybe on my bias fx. Did it feel like flat wounds? I was amused by my steel string on a drop c tuning I never found a lefty classical style yet. All hypothesizing of course. Sorry, i just stumbled on one online that's an lp version and I'm seriously considering. It's a left too

[@ariyanthenerd1371]

It sounds like classical guitar

[@Starboy-lolking]

Because normally nylon strings tend to sound darker and softer. More softer less metallic twangy tones. So they sound darker and less bright than steel strings.

[@gngrblls2thwall]

Mostly there isn’t a lot of difference. Some of the more shreddy stuff is a bit too muddy on the nylon. But some of the heavy stuff is heavier on the nylon.

[@EMB3D]

that was such a superb comparison, exactly what rock guitarist would look for when they come across the nylon caster

[@silokeobounpheng4257]

the chug on the nylon is sooo good

[@slugcult1973]

Oh yeah, the beefy, chunky sound of nylon. I wasn't expecting that. I liked it. Nice job on that build. Cheers.

[@J.C...]

Whoa. That sounds wayyyy better than I expected.

[@quanpunchman]

Great playing! It's a great concept and a unique sound. I'm glad you're finally back after over 2 years.

[@TraqGuitars]

Thanks :) It's been a while, that's true...

[@buddyholly9960]

@@TraqGuitars I would love to hear some Queen played on this guitar that would be awesome coming from a fellow electric nylon guitarist myself

[@TraqGuitars]

@@buddyholly9960 you mean the distorted electric parts played on a distorted nylon string? I always wanted to do a cover/breakdown of the Innuendo flamenco break, it sounds pretty good on this guitar (I even did it live once)

[@buddyholly9960]

@@TraqGuitars I was talking about on the nylon electric you built I would love to hear some Queen on that

[@johnskerlec9663]

This is brilliant. Your playing is off the chart and the demos were really effective. I'm seriously thinking about piezos in my next guitar build with tons of switching options. Thanks for the post.

[@SidusBrist]

The nylon solidbody guitar sounds amazing dude. Too sad you can't play palm mutes and pinch harmonics, but hey it still sounds neat.

[@MyDemon32]

He just did both on the nylon guitar.

[@alecpercy91]

You can definitely palm mute and pinch Harmonic nylon strings. I have an electric nylon and the only struggle Is bending the G B & highE strings

[@ZackZ-mg9uq]

Thank you for this video! Ive always thought the concept of Nylon strings would sound so cool and you just proved that to me.

[@mk_rexx]

The palm mutes may be too fuzzy and boomy for metal, but may be usable on other styles that capitalizes on that sound.

[@TraqGuitars]

absolutely! they might sound a bit "weird" but that's just cause I'd normally expect to hear something else when playing them. But there's not hard rules. Distortion itself is after all a "defect" in the amplification chain :)

[@ZackZ-mg9uq]

Fuzzy and Boomy is what started Metal with Black Sabbath! I think this is an idea that's been waiting to pop and I feel obligated to try it for myself...but if someone beats me to the punch, more power to them. I just want to hear new great music.

[@MrJohnnyAOA]

Cool video. Maybe playing distorted nylon requires a lot more time to mimic a regular steel string.

[@TraqGuitars]

thanks! I admit I haven't really spent time on trying to "mimic" a steel string sound, I just played the same things the same way. I guess one could get closer with some adjustments to technique, though at the end of the day this will only take you so far, the piezo vs magnetic difference in the frequency spectrum and the difference in the tone of the strings will always be there. This combination does have a tone of it's own, maybe someone will find it useful for something at some point :)

[@zal8424]

0:06 he went from mozart to despacito

[@TraqGuitars]

Lol!

[@jordans.480]

this video is exactly what i was looking for. excellent execution dude. with that being said i prefer nylon guitars but i have to admit i like the palm muted chugs on the steel strings more

[@jozefkovac9896]

Great job. With comb filter you can simulate the position of singlecoil magnetic pickup. Humbucker with two combfilters etc. (but it is a little more complicated when you make string shorter you muss count this in comb filter time variable for each string individual)

[@jozefkovac5507]

www.cycfi.com/2014/07/virtual-pickup-placement-part-1/ www.cycfi.com/2014/07/virtual-pickup-placement-part-2/ www.cycfi.com/2014/08/virtual-pickups-part-3/

[@TraqGuitars]

yes, I always imagined the variax works this way, and I was a roland system that did something similar. having pitch detection allows the system to guess where the note is fretted and apply appropriate filtering for the given pickup combination it's trying to emulate. Thanks for the links, I've been to that page a few years ago, but I have to read up, he's discussing some things that I'm also researching

[@TraqGuitars]

and yea, for a fair(er) comparison I should have used a piezo with the metal strings... I guess I wasn't going for a scientific comparison, but rather something that people can use as a familiar point of reference (humbucker). Metal string piezo with distortion is also not very common :)

[@19tet]

lovin the low end

[@davidrussell8783]

Remarkable comparison. I never knew nylon could ... rock.

[@jeremycharlerie7523]

I like the darker tone of the nylon guitar. There is more harmonic substance and sub-harmonic tones in the nylon guitar.

[@MichaelA-pi4nm]

Thanks. Your nylon electric sounds wonderful. I just picked up a Godin Multiac nylon and I asked myself that exact question. To me, it makes the nylon string sound virtually the same as a steel string, so really no point. Great demo - wish more were like yours.

[@manuelsaenz6424]

Check out Polyphia Playing God... are those guitars similar to this one? I mean, are them elctric acoustic guitars, without a hole, or electric guitars with nylon strings? I definitely want one of those!!!

[@vndrevlves]

Best video ever on the subject! Thank you for all the hardwork!

[@MrJohnnyAOA]

Your guitar is absolutely beautiful.

[@DocHelliday]

The editing on this video is top notch. Punching way up

[@dalibormilakovic55]

There’s more power to powerchords and more low frequencies involved. Great demo!! Tnx

[@James-nr9gm]

Great video and comparison! I currently am learning nylon (classical) and I’m glad to see I’ll be able to branch into some of the other sounds I want to make as time goes on without needing to jump into steel (don’t wanna sac my nails!) Awesome guitar awesome video

[@heinrichvoigt4945]

Thx for the great survey. I just love the feeling of a nylon but the sound of a e-guitar. This vid showed me a wide variety of possibilities and of what to expect when getting one. Rly good work, mate!

[@airenaishen]

Wonderful playing and beautiful sounds @TraqGuitars! Btw can the nylon string electric produce feedback with distortion?

[@brocluno01]

One of the coolest comparisons I have ever seen. Well done - hats off. Nice guitar too : -) So now the question comes what difference between "normal" and "hard" tension strings ? Wound 2nd and 3rd strings (Nylon on Nylon). Or Nylon top 3 and flat wound steel lower 3 ... So many questions; if there is too much bass coming from the guitar that it chokes the amp, we need a different amp (or model ...). I think there is a lot to discover here ... And what about different piezo pick-ups ?? The acoustic crowd is always saying that piezo's are to "nasal" and they don't really like them. But fans love Willie Nelson's Trigger with the PrismaTone pick-up. That's an ultra rare vintage pick-up. But what about an LR Baggs LB 6X to approximate the PrismaTone ... There is a lot of room for experimentation here, lots of room : D

[@TraqGuitars]

you're right, this is an unexplored field to a large extent. I don't expect a ton of change from high tension strings, different piezo or different piezo preamp will of course change the frequency content a bit, also different amps can be used depending on what one wants. To me the "choked" chug sound is not really what I'm trying to achieve, but I can totally imagine someone making it a sound of their own.

[@brocluno01]

@@TraqGuitars Just seems to me that we've sort of covered most of what steel strings and single coils, or humbuckers can do ... There is some developemnt going on at the OEM level like my Thinline Ibanez nylon cut-away. But it's not a lot. And that surprises me. A lot of musicians talk of "searching for new tones", but seem to be doing almost what everyone else is doing ... You are sort of out there on the edge, and that is way cool. Keep up the good work, and stay well : -)

[@axelmorisson]

@@TraqGuitars but..it sounds awesome!! So much that I built my new chug monster by this recipe... thanks for this idea and wonderful demo!

[@TraqGuitars]

@@axelmorisson great to hear that! I guess I'm a bit conservative in the way I want my chugs to sound :D but if you like this kind of sound and can put it to good use, all the better - at least that's something new!

[@RayoBeatz]

i like the nylon but... its super noticable that theres some note issues with the nylon as if you are having trouble getting a clear sound vs the steel string which just sounds flawless.

[@jubuttib]

Hmm, wonder why my first thought when you struck a chord after putting on distortion was "SANTANA"...

[@dvribeira]

Nice video! Always doing some interesting stuff!

[@TraqGuitars]

trying to :)

[@bandpassmess]

I had a feeling the nylon would be a beast! I’m a big fan of CG it’s DEEP TONE !

[@QuantifyUncertainty]

I would love to hear what that thing sounds like played fingerstyle. That could make a considerable difference. And now I want one!!

[@bordertango4466]

Very interesting. What kind of distortion (or pedal) are you applying to it? The output is direct or via amp-mic? Thank you very much!

[@TraqGuitars]

It's all going through the Kemper profiler. The clean tones have all amp sims switched off (the guitar is going direct) and the distorted ones are running through some Marshall patch IIRC

[@bordertango4466]

@@TraqGuitars Thank you! Great! If you listen to the following video you will notice that it is part of our sound search. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYnRgpSHe9ucipo

[@neqproa]

Have you tried using the nylon strings on a classical guitar with piezo pickup and try to play it with distortion with a bit of a reverb? That would be cool to hear from you.

[@TraqGuitars]

Actually, I don't have a classical guitar with a piezo .. but I don't think the results would be THAT much different. The string vibration would be dampened a little by the energy being sucked away to move air (in the hollow body) and the sound might be changed a little, but probably not much more than that. (judging from comparing an electric guitar with piezo and acoustic guitar with piezo)

[@arroncusimano9169]

you need a tone knob on the nylon string, for rolling off bass as opposed to the usual treble roll off. circuits are easy to find on google.

[@maizjsj]

The tapping technique on the nylon guitar was heavenly, but the lower notes are definitely something-- they felt really crunchy at times, and I ADORE THAT, but at some other times it felt really muddy. That bass is really weird hahahah What would it be like if you went with steel strings for the 4th, 5th abd 6th string?

[@Timba-w7f]

I prefer the nylon sound. I hate the "piezo sound" on any guitar! I've been wondering if a steel string guitar sound be "graphically equalized" to resemble the softer nylon strings?

[@draxthor921]

wtf, cant believe that sounds extremely good!! wow!!

[@AgustinFernandez1009]

Stoner bands plz discover this

[@buddyholly9960]

You got it

[@gobbledeegouup6578]

I love the sound of nylon one plugged in no distrotion a little bit of reverb sounded funky and great. Wow like realy funky sound.

[@RezandaEkaNugroho]

That guitar so awesome, where can i get that

[@shifatrashid4735]

Amazing work

[@mrshadow5132]

Can i play all of genres just using an Nylon eletric guitar with distortion, without the eletric?

[@veglord_the_profane]

The nylon has a distinct, rounder sound. It’s a little softer, a little cleaner, and fuller with slightly more fundamental and less overtone.

[@KejikAlois]

Hello, honestly, I haven't even seen the worse sides, but I like the guitar with nylon strings, because I have stronger fingers, I need to know how wide the zero fret is, what the price of the guitar is and where it sits to buy, I don't know any of this even though I went through all your information. I would like an electric guitar with a zero fret width of 48 to 50mm with nylon strings, but you can also advise me with metal strings, please politely thank you Kejík

[@demonheart8421]

FINALLY!! Thank you!! This is the tone i been trying achieve since I started learning to play for my first metal bands +13 years ago. Feel kinda dumb now since i learned everything on a classical guitar lol even though Im just now starting to learn how to play classical style.

[@jhostinparra9253]

severo, está genial tu comparación amigo!! congratulations

[@SimpleAndyRock]

I loved the nylon tone except the chugs lacked the tightness I'm used to. I wonder if different amp settings could make it more like the steel string.

[@TraqGuitars]

my guess is that the piezo system gives too much bass which clogs up the distortion resulting in "lack of tightness". I was able to get a lot of that out by inserting a high-pass EQ _before_ the amp. So yea, there's room for experimentation here for sure

[@BartekEVH]

Robisz fantastyczne gitary! Pozdrowienia Piotrze! :)

[@TraqGuitars]

Dzięki Bartek, pozdro! :)

[@dbautistamedia]

How's the feedback when distortion is on?

[@Jenny-kg7zb]

I love the nylon with distortion!

I have been looking for a video like this for many years. Thanks, man! BTW, I am just an amateur guitarrist who have done the same, playing a nylon-strings as an electric one. Could you check some of the experiments I have done with that in my YT channel? Just to have an expert's opinion. Thanks again. Greetings from Panamá.

[@marcelcoetzee]

That's damn interesting! I live the sound of the nylon!! Do you take orders?

[@omerefe8955]

That sound is nuts I think with the correct effects this guitar would be a perfect instrument for a sludge band

[@MrXcrt]

Thank you for an outstanding comparison, answers my curiosity!

[@BlommaBaumbart]

If it's too much for the amp, maybe it would benefit from a bass combo like from Phil Jones Bass.

[@johndextersantos9541]

I want it so much i'd pick it up from the screen 🤣

[@phasln777]

What about if you play a classical guitar Piece with the nylon strings with Distortion..? Would love to hear that difference..!!

[@TraqGuitars]

I think classical pieces are in general too dense harmonically to sound good with distortion (unless it's just delicate breakup), but generally I can't play any classical piece at the moment :|

[@ricasonis1574]

hi, but actually your guitar is a Midi. You don't use piezo. right?

[@lulapt2030]

Nylon is less expensive. Less frequent string changes

[@MigFern]

Hi! You've built a superb and beautiful nylon strings guitar. Congrats!! and it sounds great with distortion. Is it possible to know what pedal did you used in this video? As I'm looking for a similar result. Thxs!!

[@TraqGuitars]

thanks! this is actually not a pedal, I'm running through the Kemper profiler. The patch is some Marshall Plexi simulation, so what you're hearing is basically old Marshall type of distortion.

[@thatpersonthatexists7851]

I love the tone of the nylon but it clips whenever you put a lot of power into it

[@irisiris-e7v]

Hello Traq Guitars, I love your guitar and you play very good. I would like to build one. Can you please guide me with the measurements or a link where I can find information about? I would really appreciate it!

[@TraqGuitars]

hey! thanks :) I don't have specific measurements for this guitar anywhere, I think back then I just drew the shape and measured everything such that it would fit. The neck dimensions are copied from a classical guitar that I had. And the body is just a variation of the Strat shape.

[@NicolasRNicolasRiv]

Why the comparisons are always with such heavy distortion... ? Would like to hear it with only a bit of overdrive. A less heavy distortion might work..

[@Gman44044]

Can you please tell me the name of this solid body nylon guitar?

[@TraqGuitars]

sure, but it's not something you can find in shops, I built it myself and called it "Nylon 1" since it was the first guitar I build and it was a nylon string :)

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

It sounds kinda like Yingwie Malmsteen

[@joeydealbuquerq]

Very cool! Today we played the same song with a classical and an acoustic guitar and It just didnt work. Thank you

[@phynixmoon132]

are you able to bend on the nylon string?

[@TraqGuitars]

bending works much worse on the nylons. On the other hand you can get really nice vibrato by pulling the string along its direction - as opposed to the bend-vibrato normally done on metal strings

[@vladimirvoevodich623]

Hey man, very useful video for sure. What gear did u use for this record? Any cabsim pedal or real cabinet or what?

[@TraqGuitars]

thanks! everything is going through the Kemper. So amp simulation, everything digital :)

[@oioioioi100]

Thanks alot !

[@libraryresource486]

just a simple question how did you install piezo Hardwear in an electric guitar steel bridge

[@TraqGuitars]

You can but sets of piezo bridge saddles for different types of bridges. That's what I did here, I swapped out the original saddles for piezo saddles from GraphTech.

[@Maelthorn1337]

I'm not sure if you check these comments still, but I've been searching everywhere for an answer for this question. I bought a solid body nylon string guitar called Bullfighter Brown-GD. It has an onboard preamp and the pickup is proprietary and they just call it "bullfighter". When i hook it up to my amp, it is literally incapable of distortion, overdrive, whatever you call it. I can change the EQ/tone and volume however I want, but that's it. Is this a limitation of the pickup? The preamp? I can't figure it out and I would love to customize my guitar to give it this capability in the future. You have my endless gratitude if you can provide me with an answer. EDIT: Apparently if I hook it up to my Line6 UX1 preamp on my PC, I can add whatever effects I want to through their Pod Farm software, but that may just be because it's being processed through the computer first. I'm gonna be honest, I barely understand any of this...

[@TraqGuitars]

sorry it's been a while indeed.. in simple terms distortion is when your signal is too loud for your input device to accept. It usually sounds ugly, but in some equipment distorts in a way that actually sounds cool. The rest is history lol. But what I wanted to say is this: the only reason for something "not being able to distort" is if it is too quitet to distort your amp, stomp box or whatever you're using at the time. Take a distorted amp and roll down the volume, or just play softly. You should be able to get the distortion to go away, if you go quiet enough. So if you couldn't get an amp to distort with a guitar, that means the signal feeding the amp was for whatever reason not strong enough - weak preamp, low battery, or some other electrical issue. Asumming the amp is capable of distortion (and not an acoustic guitar amp for example) Maybe the Line6 preamp had some extra gain that brought the signal up to the required level?

[@neilreynard]

Great video!

[@limaofarofa]

Wonder how a Savarez LOW640R or Magma Transpositor MI-E Bass Sound string set would sound on that one (but not through a guitar amplifier though).

[@lmclrain]

where can you find the piezo electric system to buy? Please share a link if possible

[@TraqGuitars]

Depends where you're located, but looking for "graphtech ghost" should get you there. I see they're available at Thomann for example.

[@lmclrain]

@@TraqGuitars Thanks for the info. Just subbed hope to see more content

[@Br4m76]

great attempt for that 'Turkish march'

[@PedroSantos-fw6gk]

I wonder how it would sound, if it would sound similar, if you put regular strings on it

[@TraqGuitars]

well at that point it would sound like an electric guitar with a piezo pickup. I use that configuration to get an "acoustic guitar" sound from a solidbody electric without having to switch guitars in the middle of a song for example. Like here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aabXh2V9j9CDkMksi=2JBsqUWsadpf0En7&t=207 With distortion it sounds similar to a magnetic pickup, but - in short - less "full" in the mids since piezo pickups have much more high end and that drowns out the mids.

[@salottin]

To me, the main difference is the attack

[@christianurgese]

Thank you

[@JesusChrist-ut3vo]

hello, wath is the pedal that you use please ? and could it be effective with a low budget yamaha AEX500NS with only ra ubbish piezo ? lol what piezo are u using please ? i have a terrible result when i try distorsion on this yamaha (pluged with lots of effects into a marshall acoustic) Thx

[@traqq]

the piezo here is a Graphtech system (ghost or acustophonic it was called?), pickups in the individual bridge saddles. As for effects there is nothing, I'm running into a Kemper Profiler for the distorted tone. But I don't think you'll get a good distorted tone with an acoustic amp, the speaker is too wide range. This would have nothing to do with the kind of guitar you use, if you put a distortion pedal in front of an acoustic amp I expect the sound to be unusable. You'd need some kind of amp sim that also simulates the speaker in a guitar amp, otherwise the sound is going to have way too much high frequencies

[@mathiaspontesbussinger9227]

Você é brasileiro?

[@MikmawWarriorBrave]

I kinda prefer the nylon tone better than the steel string on the legato and single note stuff, without the palm muting

[@davidsrobotroots]

I think the nylon sounds great!

[@EMB3D]

with so much bass frequency maybe it worth to connect parallel to a bass amplifier see if that chokes

[@TraqGuitars]

or running direct in parallel. that could work, maybe with a crossover at some low frequency to just send the higher stuff into the distortion. yea, good idea

[@rp8564]

Do you still make these? How much? I'd love one!

[@traqq]

I have almost zero time for building these days unfortunately :(

[@yansmut]

I'm surprised that this actually works. And the fact that it also sounds good is simply shocking.

[@eloymn5739]

I like the fact it sounds lower with nylon strings

[@jordanj9069]

… I actually think the nylon sounded way better - fuller, and though individual notes were ‘muddier,’ I felt that each chord tone was more evenly audible than in the normal electric guitar I really want a nylon piezo electric now

[@stopUkrainewar666]

Well nylon string are not made for rythmic but they have a nuce clean sound for solo

[@TT-df9hp]

I'm hyper allergic to nickel. Every electric guitar string set contains nickel in the plain steel treble strings, this might be the only way I can safely play guitar with distortion. I don't have issues with my bass (I use Chromes) or my Yamaha C40.

[@boamjinjer5473]

I like nylon, its sound more "deep" and tight, the other one so crunch and treble.

[@andressepulveda9709]

Why always ad Reverb

[@alvincreatives3974]

So I'll be able to avoid more string snaps now..

[@victormartin864]

Interesting but nylon sounds a little more static like to me. Okay but needs more power, I think.

[@zbychu1381]

Jak dla mnie na nylonach ciekawsze brzmienie

[@J.C...]

But why is the neck so wide?!?

[@yellowcat1310]

nylon strings, so it's more like a classical