Is it possible 2 take a guitar that sounds like crap, change the electronic components and setup and have it sound really nice? Or is it more 2 it that that? I have a beautiful black Prince cloud guitar (EPS made) and I'm thinking of having a professional look at the setup 2 see what can be improved. Any recommendations? I know almost NOTHING about guitars. I'm a keyboard player.

Thanks in advance.

send it to me, i will take a look at it, dont worry, it may take a few years to get it back to you..but its all good

I believe you can get any guitar set-up to really make things better but only if it's quality to begin with.

If you have to replace the machine heads, pick-ups, bridge and/or neck, it's cheaper to just buy another guitar.

Take it to a Luthier and see what they say, they won't charge you for a conversation with an estimate.

Hey Gray.

It depends on several things...

The wood of the body. (The tone and sustain R affected by the quality, or density , of the wood)

The neck and fretboard condition and quality (a crappy neck will always need truss rod adjustments, and if the fretboard needs a fret job, that's a big deal)

Gear... Like the bridge, machine heads, pickups, etc.

THAT being said, usually U can easily improve a lesser guitar, and make it more playable (setup), as well as sonically better (electronics-pickups).

PEACE!

G.

Thanks 4 the info.

A guitar at that price shouldn't sound like crap, period. Maybe it won't sound like a 58 les Paul or like prince, but you should be able to get a more than decent tone.
Some tips: get the best guitar player you know personally to play it over his amp and effects.If he gets a good tone, the problem's not in the guitar. If you don't know anyone, ask the guitar guy in a music store to help you.

Use a string gauge of at least .10 and for chrissakes, no thin, bendy picks. Get a nice thick, hard one (no pun intended ).

Turn down the treble on your amp. Don't turn the bass all the way down. Keep mids somewhere between 6-8. Turn up the distortion until you get a nice sustain and NO FURTHER. Many great heavy guitar sounds aren't nearly as distorted as you might think.

Use a little reverb.

Turn the volume and tone on your guitar all the way up. (guitar volume pots heavily effect tone when turned down even slightly).

If all this doesn't get you a an acceptable tone on an ESP, I can think of 2 problems:
- a broken pickup (needs replacing)
- action is too low so the strings choke or suffer from magnetic pull from the pickups.

Why not post us a sound sample,maybe we can hear what's wrong!

EuroCinema said:

That is all great advice.

EuroCinema said:

Thanks. I'm just gathering up as much info as I can. My studio should be completed in the next few weeks and I need to know my approach with these guitars. I have 6 plus a bass and I need 2 get started on the setup and such. Thanks 4 the info.

EuroCinema said:

love reading your posts! as a beginner, what is hard for me is what kind of pics to use (been using medium), what to put my settings at, etc. i have a fender strat. i never know how what to do with the tone lever and both tone knobs. i can tell a difference when i adjust one knob, but the second knob doesn't seem to give me a different sound regardless of its settings. i guess the lever is more based on preference?? i tend to keep it in the second position the most. what i dislike about it is that i find when i start getting really heavy, i
him it with the side of my hand knocking it to the bottom position.

any pointers?

EuroCinema said:

Great advice!

I didn't realize Gray was talking about the Black ESP in particular. Might just need a good set-up. If U (Gray) R unsatisfied with the sound, it could be one of a hundred things, including simply the guitar amp , and/or settings...

Giovanni777 said:

Actually a professional friend of mine does not like the sound. 2 me it's sound okay. Since I'm NOT a guitar player I can't tell much difference 2 be perfectly frank.

Graycap23 said:

Well, guitarists all have their tastes. Both marshall amps and fender strats never did it for me, even though I love Hendrix. Many guitarists dislike Prince's tone, too. But does your friend say "I don't like it" or "it sounds like something is wrong"? Until you hear it yourself, there little sense in spending money to fix it though!

EuroCinema said:

I'm gathering info. I won't do ANYTHING 2 it until I've sat down and sent some time with the gear myself. I've just been 2 busy 2 mess around with it.

I think it'd be a waste of time stripping out the electronics etc, since the impact that will have on the sound on that instrument would be relatively minimal. If it's only for use in the studio, just get a good amp and some effects. The cloud guitar is not built to sound nice in itself IMO, just to look pretty - they've hacked far too much wood off it for it to be a tone monster. And active EMGs (the pickups Prince goes for in his) are very one-dimensional, built for volume and clarity more than anything.

I was reading Eurocinema's posts - he has some excellent advice, which unfortunately contradicts everything I was going to suggest.

I was going to recommend getting a fresh set of 9s on it (for a brighter sound), using a medium-heavy pick, messing about with the volume and tone pots, and dropping the middle on the amp. Agreed on the reverb though, and a bit of delay makes a lot of difference too.

But above all, and beyond everything, every player will have a different sound on the instrument. The majority of the sound comes from the way the instrument is played.

txladykat said:

The guitar pick is a matter of preference. I prefer medium-heavy dunlop picks (the blue ones), since I tend to break anything lighter, and break strings with anything heavier.

With the 'tone lever', I think you're referring to the pickup selector. On a modern strat, with a 5 position switch, the first position (lever closest to the neck), you have the neck pickup selected, which gives a fatter, warmer sound. The next one along is neck and middle pickup together, the one after that just the middle pickup and so-on. The tone gets sharper as you move closer to the bridge pickup. On a strat, the tone knobs control bass and treble respectively, with the upper tone knob for bass, and lower for treble. I tend not to touch the bass one, but dial down the treble sometimes. I always keep the volume on full.

I find the strat pickup positions useful as follows:
Neck only - jazz and clean rhythm, and also fatter rock lead.
Neck & Middle - Listen to 'Wait til tomorrow' by Jimi Hendrix. It's that sound, exactly!
Middle - I never use this - it's boring
Middle & Bridge - Country - you get a nice twang from this setting
Bridge - Rock rhythm & lead - it's got the hottest, punchiest sound

Rowdy said:

wow, thanks for the info! i honestly didn't know that it affected the bridge. start is my first beginning guitar, and learning on my own. it all makes sense now because the two positions i use the most are the neck and neck/middle. i never use the middle or middle/bridge, and occasionally use the bridge (but not often). neck & middle tend to be the one i use the most. medium picks are what i have been using. someone suggested heavy, but haven't tried them yet. i don't think i am far enough advanced to worry about shredding, and popping my strings, LOL. I don't play that heavy since I am still learning.

Rowdy said:

No doubt. Thanks.

txladykat said:

I spend most of my time on neck too, although for lead it's got to be the bridge for me. Fool around with the settings on your amp to get the right sounds

Rowdy said:

yea, that has been interesting. Of course playing with the delay, reverb, etc. is pretty easy...it is figuring out where to put the middle, etc. that i have a harder time with. Right now I am just learning rhythm....lead is a long ways away for me. I find it much easier to play the chords than up and down the strings. Guess I need to do some more finger stretches, LOL.

txladykat said:

I'd say it's worth having a go at some simple lead, just to get your head into it a little. Basic scale patterns and so on are worth getting into sooner rather than later - something like the first position of the G major scale for example. That's a simple pattern to learn, has a very distinct and memorable sound, and will have you moving individual fingers to time, over multiple strings.

Rowdy said:

thanks, i will definately look into. the "book" i am using for study teaches rhythm, all about chords, and nothing on lead....but i have just ordered some more books that touch more on scales, lead, etc.....

so gray....when ya gonna send me that guitar to check out for ya??? i promise to return it in a few years or so

txladykat said:

Lol.....Now u KNOW where that is going.

Graycap23 said:

yea, in my mailbox!!!!

To me a good guitar sound is about amp & pickups (assuming it's electric) in that order. Even crappy guitars can sound good through a good amp, but a bad amp will make a great guitar sound bad.

The rest--wood, string guage (okay, get new strings also), picks, cords, finish, etc are all very subtle.

feel & playability is something altogether different

But a pro setup will help determine if something's wrong, like pickups are too high, low, or electronics aren't working right