Things you don't quite understand.

[Fuzzy Picklez]

Oh, I also don't understand why there isn't an American Standard Jaguar/Jazzmaster/Mustang.
If they introduced at a price to compete with the other American Standard models they'd probably do alright.

[Jero]

What's the deal with active pickups?

My bass use to do active/passive with a switch but the active stopped working. It was nice when i wanted to boost certain things, or add more boom, cause it had treb/mid/bass eq but I can live without it.

[rfurtkamp]

What's the deal with active pickups?

Allows boost insted of cut only, which is the way of the world on non-active guitar circuits. Not as much of a big deal for signal strength IMO versus selective, and possibly radical EQing that you can't quite get with the passive tone controls on most guitars and amps.

[rfurtkamp]

I don't get why anyone buys those cheap quite/flame veneer top guitars that Schecter, ESP, etc put out. Can they not see how flat the grain looks? Then again, I hate exotic tops in general, and I don't get why people would waste that wood on a guitar when it would make excellent furniture.

Same reason idiots put spoilers and fake airscoops on their Ford Escort: to impress their doofus friends.

Big money in impressing doofii.

[Moustache_Bash]

why does everybody play dreadnought-sized acoustic guitars when they're ill-suited for so many styles of music?

Could you please tell me more about this? I never understood the significance of the body size in acoustics, except bigger body=louder.

[kosta]

Nobody makes a hollowbody or semi hollow with single coils. DA FUCK.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/msg/2593454538.html

Coral (Danelectro) Firefly. Get you some!

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/msg/2623974312.html

Or how about a Harmony Rocket?

[Gearmond]

why there aren't more expression controlled pedals

the need to saturate the guitar market with a shitton of extended range instruments ON TOP OF THE FACT that its a specific breed of an already specific breed of guitar

why fender has limited color options

why people like 72 thinlines more than 69

why dubstep nay, brostep is still popular

why its so hard to find a short scale 5 string with a classic (solid color + pickguard) look.

[Blackened Soul]

why there aren't more expression controlled pedals

the need to saturate the guitar market with a shitton of extended range instruments ON TOP OF THE FACT that its a specific breed of an already specific breed of guitar

why fender has limited color options

why people like 72 thinlines more than 69

why dubstep nay, brostep is still popular

why its so hard to find a short scale 5 string with a classic (solid color + pickguard) look.

I looked up brostep, I am now mad at you for alerting me to it's existence

Why would you want any color other then black anyway?

SS five strings? Why would anyone make one when you have a bunch of builders and players saying 34" is too short?

[Gearmond]

because those builders and players are wrong and stupid.

'sides. imma tune it to high-c anyways. go all Steve Swallow on their asses.

[snipelfritz]

I don't get why anyone buys those cheap quite/flame veneer top guitars that Schecter, ESP, etc put out. Can they not see how flat the grain looks? Then again, I hate exotic tops in general, and I don't get why people would waste that wood on a guitar when it would make excellent furniture.

Have you ever felt a Schecter's neck? That's why. Finish doesn't matter when the rest of the guit-box is solid, especially for the price. That said, Schecter guitars are not made for my style of music/playing, except for the old CSH-1 semi-hollow bodies they used to make, which I own. And I love

[devnulljp]

Nobody makes a hollowbody or semi hollow with single coils. DA FUCK.

Or how about an ES330 w/ P90s? Those are single coil.

[McSpunckle]

What's the deal with active pickups?

Allows boost insted of cut only, which is the way of the world on non-active guitar circuits. Not as much of a big deal for signal strength IMO versus selective, and possibly radical EQing that you can't quite get with the passive tone controls on most guitars and amps.

Not quite true. Active equalizers do that, but the pickups don't.

The pickups take weaker coils and actively boost them, so you can get high output without losing high end. And, in theory, it'll give the signal better dynamics, but a lot of active pickups are a bit compressed (I think the EMG X series SD Blackouts fix that, though).

The volume and tone controls are still standard passive controls in most active guitars, but they use lower value pots.

Active basses are another matter. Most of them (other than the ones that use EMGs) use passive pickups, but an active EQ after the pickups.

Personally, I don't get the appeal of either setup. You can do much better by boosting or EQing after the guitar.

[Schlatte]

Personally, I don't get the appeal of either setup. You can do much better by boosting or EQing after the guitar.

with MOAR PEDULZ!!!

[Gearmond]

I don't get why anyone buys those cheap quite/flame veneer top guitars that Schecter, ESP, etc put out. Can they not see how flat the grain looks? Then again, I hate exotic tops in general, and I don't get why people would waste that wood on a guitar when it would make excellent furniture.

Have you ever felt a Schecter's neck? That's why. Finish doesn't matter when the rest of the guit-box is solid, especially for the price. That said, Schecter guitars are not made for my style of music/playing, except for the old CSH-1 semi-hollow bodies they used to make, which I own. And I love

yeah. schecters play beautifully when set up properly. actually in my quest for a classic looking short scale 5 string, i'd be willing to compromise for a Stargazer-5 in red, but unfortunately the tone controls are horrendous

[dubkitty]

why does everybody play dreadnought-sized acoustic guitars when they're ill-suited for so many styles of music?

Could you please tell me more about this? I never understood the significance of the body size in acoustics, except bigger body=louder.

the typical size of acoustic guitar that you see people playing is the dreadnought or "D" size. this is the type of acoustic universally used by bluegrass players because it's big, loud, and balances relatively well when pummelled at the volume at which bluegrassers play. when played more quietly they tend to be over-bassy and to have somewhat limited treble response compared to a smaller guitar.

these differences can be attributable to a number of factors. size and shape are paramount. the physical size of the instrument determines the vibrating area of the top and the resonant chamber behind, and thus determines the absolute volume. the shape affects the tone and harmonic content of the sound; a larger lower bout adds bass, while a narrower waist tends to reduce low mids. the combination of the shoulders and waist is very determinative of the high-end content. the relative sharpness of the corners of the guitar also affects the tonal quality.

the type of wood and construction of the guitar are also important. different top and side/back woods have different tonal characteristics. most acoustic guitars have spruce tops, which have been traditional on stringed European instruments for hundreds of years; some, especially more recently, follow in the Spanish "classical" tradition and use cedar tops. sides and back are usually mahogany, rosewood, or sometimes maple. mahogany is relatively neutral and mikes well; rosewood is lovely and warm in the room, but can be a little dense harmonically on mic; maple is bright, hard, and pingy. and the way the top is braced and the way the bracing is shaped are important in how freely the top--your speaker cone--can vibrate.

given these factors, acoustic guitar sound is to some extent predictable by size and shape. using the dreadnought as standard example, "jumbo" guitars like the Gibson J-200 are larger and rounder in both the upper and lower bouts; this makes them louder all-round but paradoxically clearer in the bass than dreadnoughts, but they're awfully large to play. going smaller from D-sized guitars, we come to what are usually called "OM" (Orchestra Model") guitars after the Martin designation. these guitars are smaller than D-style guitars and have a narrower waist. many fingerstyle acoustic players prefer this size of guitar or its close relative the OOO because the bass is clearer and quieter and stands up better to the thumping of a thumbpick, and the treble is brighter due to the narrower waist and tighter upper bout. the next sizes smaller in Martin designation are--wait for it!--OO and O. you can tell they put a lot of thought into this. the OO and O appears as 14-fret models that are progressively smaller versions of the OOO, and as 12-fret versions the size of a "parlor guitar." they are more tinkly and sustain less as they get smaller due once again to physics. you're amplifying the same tone with a smaller resonating chamber and a smaller membrane, ergo, you're creating fewer audible low overtones.

all this is incredibly oversimplified, but it's something. really, it's all logic and observation if you learn some stuff about the way sound behaves in a confined space. small roundish space (OM): bass is softer and even; large squarish space (D): bass loud and muddy; large round space (J): bass is (duur) big and round.