Ok, I have no idea about pretty much everything on my guitar. Which has got to be pretty obvious. I can play, moderately well I'd say, and that's about it. So here's a bunch of noobish questions, since some of you, especially you Lynda, have made the mistake of letting me know that you know what you're doing.

Pickups- I had single coils, guitar sounded painfully bad. I have humbuckers, they sound pretty good. What's the difference? And is there anything better out there? Answer carefully, because if there is you'll have to walk me through changing them once I have money

Strings- I've tried a few brands, I love the Blue Steels, and I'm pretty fond of the DRs. Why are there so many completely different sounds you can get from strings? And considering those are the sound I like, have anything that sounds similar for me to try out? This goes for bass as well, I only have one type so far and it's whatever Ibanez does stock, so if you know what that is, and have some recommendations, that'd be cool.

Amps- I know pretty much nothing about them. The not-amps I have are ok, but when I blow 'em, I need an idiots guide to amps. I'd like recommendations and all, but my main thing is how they all work, since they must differently to have so many different kinds. I've read Guitar World a few times, and every amp has so much crap they go over... I'd like to be less lost.

Construction- Back to the GW thing, they go over a guitar, and they make a big deal over what kind of wood it is. I'm sure it'd affect the sound a little, but is it so important? And if it's not just asthetics, I'd like to know what I should be looking for.

I have more questions, I just need to think. I'll let you all work on these first

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HiP QWNS


The north star always guides me
When winter skies are gray
And I wait for sun when all are one
I shall not betray

I've been playing for about 18 years - never got "too" into the technical side of gear, but I can give you some general answers to your questions.

<> As far as pick-up differences goes, the sound has a lot to do with the out-put of them. Humbuckers have a higher out-put compared to single coils so for those large graowling distortion sounds a lot of guitarists go towards humbuckers, but humbuckers have plenty of sound variation within them also depending on the brand and model. Single coils have a lower out-put and a lot of people that play with clean tones prefer them (of course this is a huge generalization) as you can get a large variety of those nice janglely clean sounds from them. But I should mention that the biggest thing that affects your sound, even more so then pick-ups, is your amp. Humbuckers were develops to silence the humb that was created by early single coils puck-ups, and the higher out-put was a bi product of that.

<> 
<>I read a couple of articles a while back breaking down the things that make up your sound on a % scale - it was something like 60% amp/speaker, 20% pick-up, 10%body wood, 5% finger board/neck and 5% bridge. I could be a little off o nthe exact %, but the idea is there.

<> 
<><>Amps and speakers can affect your sound big time, and there are way too many amps out there to go over all the variations. Go to a guitar store and try a bunch out and you'll get an idea. The sound you are going for will help determine the amps you'll like. If all you're into playing is Pantera type music you may look into something like a Mesa Boogie Duel Rectifier and not a Fender Twin Reverb.

<> 
<><><>Body wood affects your sound, not hugely like amps and pick-ups, but it still does and has to do with the hardness of the wood and the amount of resonence it gives out. The Dan Armstrong guitar is made from plexi glass - they did that because it's a super hard material and give off lots of resonence. What kind of wood you want is really depent on the kind of sound you want, or if you can even tell the different - some people can't. Play some guitars and pick the one that stays in tune and sounds good to you, and don't worry too much about the wood - although a lot of companys use cheap crappy wood to contruct cheap guitars.

<> 
<><><><>As for strings, I don't believe the brand affects your sound hugely, but the gage of the string do change it some what, IMO.
 

These are just some very general answers, because these are very big topics that can fill forums and forums. If you want more specific answers you'll need to ask more specific questions - like what kind of gear would I need if I wanted to achieve such and such a sound etc... 

<> 

<>I should also mention that quality of playing affects sound greatly - a good guitarist can make a crappy guitar and amp sound amazing, but a bad guitarist can play with the sweetist gear in the world and still sound like complete shit. Just saying cause some times people focus too much on quality of gear and forget about quality of playing.
 

Thanks. All I really want are general answers, so that's good.

I'm with you on the skill thing, don't get me wrong. But I know how to play, I don't know about gear. I don't need to make forums on how to play, I can figure that out on my own, but I don't have money to just throw around and try out everything.

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HiP QWNS


The north star always guides me
When winter skies are gray
And I wait for sun when all are one
I shall not betray

That's all good. I wasn't suggesting buying a lot of different stuff, I was suggesting going to some stores and trying different amp/guitar combinations in the store to get a feel for the different sounds. Most stores are pretty cool with you doing that, apart from music chain store "Tom Lee" in Hong Kong.

 

Good luck in your search. 

good advice, im definitely keep what you said in my and book mark in on my fav links

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"We got famous off singing about a chicken."
- Sean Kinney
"I believe the Internet is inherently evil."
- Jerry Cantrell

I`m new to the board but I found negativecreep`s questions particularly interesting because I am, for the most part, a self taught guitarist. I can`t answer your questions any differently than Craigchi did. He knows quite a bit. However, I`d like to interject on his advice about going to shops to try out different combos. Unless you want to copy somebody elses sound, you`ll need to go out and find what works best for you. Of the all the years I`ve been playing, I`ve changed my gear more times than I can count. But that`s the cool thing about it. The boundaries are endless. Go out and have some fun trying to find your sound.   

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Freedom is often taken for granted. Hearing those cell doors close behind you tends to put things into their proper perspective.

This may sound corny but you should just get a guitar you fell comfortable with and think of it as a project that you are continually working on, both in terms of how you play it and what it feels/looks/sounds like. Fenders - particularly Strats - are great for this because you can customise them by changing the scratchplate, the pickups and hardware to turn it into something that suits you and it can also be unique. It's nice to know that noone else has a guitar quite like yours, even if it is just because of a sticker or a different pickup.

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I am all the days that you choose to ignore.