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Topic: Pressing behind the nut to lessen cabinet drop at zero fret |
Jacek Jakubek
From:
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 11 Jan 2008 7:35 pm |
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I was playing my guitar in the open strings position and the pedals were making my low strings go a bit flat due to cabinet drop. I like to let the lowest strings ring while I pedal the higher strings; while the pedals are pressed, the low strings go a bit flat. for some pedals it is noticeable, while others not that much.
when we use the bar, we can compensate for any cabinet drop or strings being slightly out of tune with the bar.
I think we could easily do this in the open position also by pressing on the strings behind the nut with the edge of the left palm while holding the bar, or even with the bar itself. this pressure would make the strings slightly sharp and cancel out the cabinet drop. It makes sense because your hand is right there
anyway, resting at or near the nut when you play in open strings positions.
The problem is that most keyheads, including the one on my guitar, don't have enough, or any space behind the nut to rest your hand, making it impossible to compensate for the cabinet drop this way.
I would love to see a keyhead design where there is space behind the nut (maybe 5" or so) to comfortably rest your hand on the strings with no tuners or metal
parts in the way. Maybe they could use regular keyless tuners and place them near the very edge of the guitar, but leave plenty of space between the nut and tuners.
Maybe in the future I'll get a custom guitar made like that, but for now I still need to practice playing the regular stuff and improving my technique.
I think this would at least be something that you could use to fight against going out of tune, instead of feeling helpless and maybe resorting to tuning your guitar a bit sharp (which wouldn't completely solve the problem) to compensate for open strings position cabinet drop.
Even if you didn't press on the strings to reduce cabinet drop, it think it's nice to at least have some space behind the nut to rest your hand and not worry about bumping the tuners and making them go out of tune. On alot of guitars, the 1st and 10th string tuners are literally right behind the nut. Most 6 string guitars have more space.
Did anyone ever think of designing a keyhead for this purpose, or have any manufacturers made one like that? Or, do you guys think it's a useless idea? |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 12 Jan 2008 12:59 pm
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It seems you have put quite a bit of thought into this. I wouldn't discount any idea as being useless.
It's just a matter of implementing, overcoming problems and refining the concept to make it work properly. You can likely design the device you describe yourself. When you have it installed on your guitar, then you can let us know how it works  
A better solution for me is to install a compensator rod on the 6th string [plain] which is the only string that detunes on my guitar, though ever so slightly audibly. I know some guitars suffer this malady on the 8th string as well when pedal[s] are depressed.
Beyond one or two strings, the compensator rod seems impractical and a major cabinet/mechanical fault is indicated. However, any problem that can be dealt with successfully is no longer a problem. I've owned and played guitars that had annoying detuning problems but have been able to deal with them with one method or the other.
All great inventions begin with someone's idea or solution. |
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Jacek Jakubek
From:
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 13 Jan 2008 10:39 pm
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Jerry, I'm just going to live with the problem for now.
The detuning that bothers me most is on my string 10 which is a low E. Maybe I'll look into the compensator idea one of these days, but for now I'm just going to concentrate on practicing my playing.
In the future, I'd like to build my own custom guitar cabinet from wood and I'll definitely try to design a keyhead like I described above. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 14 Jan 2008 7:13 pm
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| Jacek Jakubek wrote: |
| Jerry, I'm just going to live with the problem...but for now I'm just going to concentrate on practicing my playing. |
An excellent idea! 
As to doing as you suggest, it might be far better to simply tune your guitar with the pedals down (to allow for the drop that's bothering you) rather than try to "fudge it" behind the nut with your hand.
Either that, or to get another guitar (with less cabinet drop). |
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