Should I get a 24 fret guitar?

[jeremy]

interesting. for funk or soul music, im typically in the notch positions on a strat or middle selection on two pup guitars

 

[ehdwuld]

I am all about the neck pickup

And as long as the tone control works, I can get an acceptable sound out of either one

21 fret - 24 fret makes no difference to me

I call it the sound of the guitar
If the song calls for something I cant get from this one

I grab the other one

 

[weepingminotaur]

interesting. for funk or soul music, im typically in the notch positions on a strat or middle selection on two pup guitars

Oh, I use the notch position too for funk and soul. For sure.

 

[ehdwuld]

I don't understand this one guitar over another thing

You can never have one tool that replaces all the rest

I have made my living with an adjustable wrench, a pair of pliers and a flat screwdriver

But the right tool for a job, just makes it all go so much easier

If all you have is a Swiss army knife of a guitar . Then find something usable and get to work

If you have the option of a tele or LP the grab the one that suits the track

I want one guitar that does everything too
But that's just not realistic

The present wrench of guitars just does everything half as good
Just as the tool itself works when that all you have. Its not the ideal way to do the task


The bigger your toolbox the better
If you can afford another flavor of guitar, get one

They are tools to help you express yourself

They aren't pianos or saxophone
Or , as much as Ed Sheeran would have you believe, they aren't drums.

They can do that in a pinch
But use the right tool

 

[weepingminotaur]

I don't understand this one guitar over another thing

You can never have one tool that replaces all the rest

I have made my living with an adjustable wrench, a pair of pliers and a flat screwdriver

But the right tool for a job, just makes it all go so much easier

If all you have is a Swiss army knife of a guitar . Then find something usable and get to work

If you have the option of a tele or LP the grab the one that suits the track

I want one guitar that does everything too
But that's just not realistic

The present wrench of guitars just does everything half as good
Just as the tool itself works when that all you have. Its not the ideal way to do the task


The bigger your toolbox the better
If you can afford another flavor of guitar, get one

They are tools to help you express yourself

They aren't pianos or saxophone
Or , as much as Ed Sheeran would have you believe, they aren't drums.

They can do that in a pinch
But use the right tool

I hear what you're saying and agree to some extent, though there are situations when a screwdriver flat-out will not do what a wrench will do and it's hard to think of a guitar in that way unless you are talking about a comparatively small number of specific situations. Example: you need an acoustic guitar for campfire playing (electrics won't work), or you need a 24-fret guitar because part of the solo is played right at the top of that second octave (22 or fewer frets won't work). For just about every other case, you can make a guitar work even if it's not ideal. Tom Morello doesn't lack for aggression playing single-coil guitars. You can play jazz using higher-gain pickups. Will they sound great? Probably not, but you can do it, at least.

Now, having said that, I agree that looking for one guitar to fulfill all your needs is likely unrealistic unless you have a very narrow set of genres and parameters. I'm not going to try to play Slayer on my semihollow when I have other guitars that are way better tools for that kind of job, both in playability and in sound.

 

[Chistopher]

I'm not going to try to play Slayer on my semihollow when I have other guitars that are way better tools for that kind of job, both in playability and in sound.

I was thinking about this this evening. If all I had was a ES-125, would it force me to be creative or would I just give up? Would I decide I "can't" play metal on it, for example, or would I find a way to pioneer a new style of the metal I like to play?

 

[ehdwuld]

There are players making metal with semihollow guitars

 

[weepingminotaur]

There are players making metal with semihollow guitars

Sure, but I'm not those players, and they aren't me. I'm sure they have their own limits or preferences even though they're out there playing heavy music on semihollows.

 

[weepingminotaur]

I was thinking about this this evening. If all I had was a ES-125, would it force me to be creative or would I just give up? Would I decide I "can't" play metal on it, for example, or would I find a way to pioneer a new style of the metal I like to play?

No question that creativity frequently comes out of limitations (within reason). I played metal for years on my entry-level Squier into a cheap-ass practice amp that came as a package deal with said Squier. Could I do it? Yes. Did switching to a humbucker guitar and upgrading my amp make a big difference to my experience of playing, my tone, and my drive to keep improving? Absolutely. But I did need to be at a certain level of playing for that switch to be meaningful. You could put James Hetfield's own stage guitar in someone's hands, but if they don't know how to chug, or they aren't familiar with the vocabulary of thrash, or they haven't spent time learning how to play fast and tight rhythm, it won't make any difference. So having the ability does matter.

People's goals are also different. I'm not a full-time professional musician; I have a day job. And I'm not interested in pioneering, or even plain songwriting. I just want to play the music I love, and find some like-minded people in my area to play with, and get better at various aspects of playing.

 

[playas]

I started out learning bits of maiden and metallica songs on a cheap nylon string classical.
As weepingminotour said there are a few situations that just won't work...but a six stringed instrument with standard tuning (which can also be adjusted to some extent) can be used to do a lot.

If you're talking about playing in front of an audience most couldn't care less/wouldn't notice the difference in most cases.

Also there's nothing unusual in musical terms about playing a sax line on a piano for example (replace with any two instruments you want) so the idea of needing an LP because that's what a song was originally recorded with is fine but as guitarists I think we cling too closely to it and often lose sight of the bigger picture.

 

[Ascension]

I own both 22 fret guitars and 24. Most of my 24 fret guitars are 25 scale neck through Kiesel Carvins, but all my bolt on 25.5 scale guitars are 22 frets. I have owned several 25.5 scale bolt on guitars with 24 frets, that I really liked though. At one time I owned a 96 Washburn USA A 30 artist that was a 22 fret 24.75 scale but had been custom ordered with the neck pickup moved back slightly to where it would be on a 24 fret guitar. Came with a JB in the bridge and a 59 in the neck, was one of maybe 100 US A 30's built and had one of the best neck pickup tones of any guitar I have even played. It was on the heavy side and balanced funny on a strap, so I didn't play it out that often. However, it was one of the absolute best sounding guitars I have ever played.
On a 22 fret guitar, the neck pickup is at the octave, on a 24 fret it is above the octave. The response and tone is different as a result. I own both and use both regularly. It's apple's to oranges, as they do sound and respond differently, but I like and use both.
The 22 fret will be fatter and have a different harmonic content in the neck pickup, while the 24 fret will be brighter and clearer, in particular at higher gain. I like both, but they are different.
Try it for a while, you may like the neck tones of a 24 fret guitar.
Here is my 25 scale all KOA neck through 25 scale 24 fret 93 Carvin DC 127 running an Alt 8 bridge and Sentient neck playing clean country with both humbuckes split through my little boogie Subway.
Check out the clean country solo tones at about 2 min in. the song was an off the cuff last minute thing with no real practice, so was a little sloppy.

 

[Mincer]

I like to own the guitars I have, but usually for any gig I will use 1 guitar for the whole show unless something goes wrong. I doubt anyone but me will notice if I switch up guitars, though- I tend to go for one type of sound and get variations of that from every instrument I own.

 

[weepingminotaur]

Also there's nothing unusual in musical terms about playing a sax line on a piano for example (replace with any two instruments you want) so the idea of needing an LP because that's what a song was originally recorded with is fine but as guitarists I think we cling too closely to it and often lose sight of the bigger picture.

This is a nice point. Nothing wrong with wanting to emulate the sound you hear on your favourite record but sometimes we lose sight of how versatile a guitar can be. And you're right that most people won't even notice one way or another...

 

[Aceman]

I get the "The neck pickup sounds different" crowd, but I think a good bit of that is just due to them being so familiar with the regular position tone. On a 24, it does make a noticeable difference.

But also, the blues/jazz crowd wants that maximum fat/buttery tone. When it is shred time, that may not be so good (and why the Duncan Full Shred exists, for example...)

I have one of these. Jackson JS32 Dinky. They make V's, Rhoads, Kelly's too in that line. At $299, it plays fantastic and has awesome neck. The pickups are basically Duncan Distortions +/-. I change most of my pickups, but I have found no need to change these, and even throw up to the neck position for the occasional solo. Nothing a touch of amp eq can't deal with if you need, or the tone knob.

As for useful? Meh - I don't think I actually play anything where I legitimately do anything that can't be done (or done correctly even) on 22 of the 24.

(vinyl decal to your own taste)

 

[weepingminotaur]

I have one of these. Jackson JS32 Dinky. They make V's, Rhoads, Kelly's too in that line. At $299, it plays fantastic and has awesome neck. The pickups are basically Duncan Distortions +/-. I change most of my pickups, but I have found no need to change these, and even throw up to the neck position for the occasional solo. Nothing a touch of amp eq can't deal with if you need, or the tone knob.

Those JS series guitars look like great value. I want to get myself one of them at some point.

 

[Aceman]

Go to Reverb and search JS32 low to high.

Strats, V's, explorers, all kinds of colors from bare wood to wild, Floyds and string throughs....

Again, the neck punches way above its price.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I can understand the crowd who hates the neck pickup tone on 24 fret guitars. I kinda feel like that about guitars that have the bridge pickup routed too far away from the bridge. I kept trying bridge pickups until ultimately had to get rid of my Strat because of that.

That being said... it sounds fine to me. Still sounds like a neck pickup. It does sound different, albeit a bit more bridge-y, which isn't such a bad thing, IMO.