What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

[Letus]

I tried out a JS32 Rhoads in a shop on Friday, expecting to be able to shred comfortably on it, considering they are designed to do exactly that, and I shred on a Les Paul with 11-50s, but as soon as I held down the first few notes of an arpeggio, I felt immensely awkward. I was not even able to play simple blues riffs cleanly on it. The whole fretboard felt huge, and the problem I had with standard gauge strings, that my fingers slipped off the smallish strings, was worsened, and here was something that confused my fingers; the string tension was higher than on my guitar. The factors that affected my discomfort were these, combined:

• The scale length
• The nut width
• The F-spaced bridge, also the height of the Jackson vibrato bridge
• The action
• The neck angle (I was sitting down, after all)

My impression that I could adapt to other electrics and play just as cleanly was diminished, and I was taken aback for a while, because I could play many other guitars comfortably. But I've realized how these factors above can add up to a feeling of great unfamiliarity with an instrument.
What thing gives you personally the most discomfort while playing? What do you have the most trouble adapting to in a guitar? What do you do to adapt to an instrument's feel? What are your weaknesses and strengths?

 

[Archer250]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

I have exactly the same problems as yours. My guitars are set up with medium-high action: 2.5-3.0mm at the 24th fret, 2.3-2.5 at the 12th, with little less than 0.5 relief at the 9th when the first and last frets are depressed. I also play with 10-46s
In every store I've been to, every single guitar of theirs come equipped with 9s, and strings are so damn close to the frets my fingers are flailing wildly in the air.

I don't have problem with width, though, but I have serious problems with action and here's what we both experience: excessive tension. I'm sure it's my bridge angle and neck relief that make my guitars soft and spongy in the neck and stiff near the bridge. This is a quality every stock guitar I've played lack.

 

[CTN]

Action mostly. Neck dimensions take a little getting used to but they don't impede me from playing. I'm used to playing a wide variety of string gauges and fretboard radii as well, but all my axes have very low action and a guitar that has obnoxiously high action is difficult for me to play unless I change up my style completely to compensate.

Aside from that I'll play just about anything

 

[JeffB]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Nut width/String Spacing
Neck shape ( like big necks best, but big shoulders on the neck are what kill me, even if the neck is not deep)
I prefer rounder radii. More than 12" bugs me and I prefer 9.5

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Not much really... High action can cause me to trip around but anything else i can work around... The only thing I have that is a complete deal breaker and try as hard as i could to get used to it i cant are tele bridges that have the lip for the cover around them.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Lack of experience with it. The more guitars you play, the more techniques you train your hands to have and the quicker you can adapt to any guitar you are handed.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Lack of experience with it. The more guitars you play, the more techniques you train your hands to have and the quicker you can adapt to any guitar you are handed.

This... Over time I have become less particular. I have preferences but its all good either way.

 

[Archer250]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Lack of experience with it. The more guitars you play, the more techniques you train your hands to have and the quicker you can adapt to any guitar you are handed.

Okay then, what if you were handed this guitar and there was no slide nearby?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Okay then, what if you were handed this guitar and there was no slide nearby?

Kind of a ridiculous example really.. Have no idea how you could play that without pulling the strings out of tune when you fret. But it could be played.

 

[Archer250]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

No kidding. My action used to be 60% of that, but I realized I was pulling myself out of tune.

 

[9unslin9er]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Fretboard radius.

I think vibrato is one of the most important elements of soulful guitar playing and I need a flat board to make use of it.

If a guitar has anything below a 12" radius board, I don't even bother with it.

Music Man, PRS, and most Fenders are out for me.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Weight and balance I'd say. I'm not one for heavy guitars, and if either neck or body are heading for the floor, it's a deal killer for me. Anything else I can pretty much cope with.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

The condition of the frets and action. I've learned to adapt to other radius and profiles but with messed up frets to high action, that can make it a little bit of a struggle.

 

[uOpt]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

A too narrow nut (Music Man except the JP), resulting in too narrow string spacing (MM does that one with the JP despite the wider nut) doesn't work for me.

Otherwise I'm fine-ish with most of these things. I prefer the lateral vibrato (like a violinist), so fretting out isn't a big issue here.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Plenty of things affect how playable I perceive a guitar to be, but I don't think there's one dominant factor -- not unless you break it down into specific mechanical tasks that certain guitars impact more than others.

For example, the wider the neck is at the nut, the more easily my fret hand gets tired holding chord positions in that neighborhood, especially if the fretboard radius is very flat and the edges of the neck aren't rolled.

If I'm playing higher up on the neck and the action is kind of stiff, taller frets make it easier for me to fret notes cleanly, because I'm using a lot of pressure and the pads of my fingertips will shape themselves around the string, into the space between the frets. With short frets, my fingertips hit the fretboard wood before I have good solid contact between the string and the fret, and I waste energy mashing my fingertip into the wood instead of the string into the fret.

If the action is too high, and I'm trying to play fast, sometimes in certain positions I'll notice what seems like a delay between pulling off from a higher fret and the string straightening out so that I can sound the lower note properly.

If the action is too low and the fretboard radius too tight, sometimes I'll fret out on certain bends. I have one guitar that always does this when I bend the 18th fret on the high E-flat (it's tuned down a half-step); if I go far enough it will always bonk against fret #19 when I get up so far. It's not a very flat board, but the action on the treble side is kinda low, partly because I'm playing 10's. (I really need to get this looked at, because I love everything else about the guitar and don't want to change anything.)

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Okay then, what if you were handed this guitar and there was no slide nearby?

Ah, you pointed out something that becomes the crux of the problem for many guys when they switch guitars. Many players (not saying you, but I've noticed this in myself and things I've seen others say on this forum) assume that if I play a certain way, and play a certain style of music, if a guitar is set up reasonably I should be able to play it - the way I play.

What I've learned is that when you get on a different guitar that is set up differently, I find it better to immediately identify what music it was set up for - what is actually possible on that guitar, and not try to force your own way on it. So if I go from a Les Paul with nickel 11s and pickup a shred stick with steel 9s on it, it doesn't make sense to attempt playing Bluesbreakers covers on it. It's not apples to apples. So I can't force it to be apples if it's not set up for that.

Over time I've come to the conclusion that every guitar, no matter how crappy, has at least one song in it that sounds better on that guitar than any other. My job as a musician is to quickly figure out what that song is.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

For me it depends on how hot or cold it is the room i'm in. My fingers get stiff if it's too cold but if it's room temp or above i'm good no matter the guitar.

 

[TIGEREYELASER]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

I gotta say, I have big mitts (hands) and if I don't feel comfortable with the nut width it's a lost cause. I generally have one guitar that I play a lot, I have another of the same guitar that is pretty close in comfort. Also it has to be buttery to play. By that I mean it's like jabbing your finger in warm butter, it has literally no resistance. I hate having a guitar I have to fight. Some may like the challenge. Those guys/gals are weird.

Edited to add: uOpt, you're a fan of the classical vibrato too? I like it's subtleties. It's not like a wild vibrato, if I want that I have a whammy bar.

 

[uOpt]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Edited to add: uOpt, you're a fan of the classical vibrato too? I like it's subtleties. It's not like a wild vibrato, if I want that I have a whammy bar.

Yeah. The bending for vibrato is tricky for me. If you don't want a pitch-up only vibrato then you first have to go up one of more half tones, then oscillate around that, somehow centered on the bent note. Quite frankly my pitch judgement isn't good enough to do that constantly. Even if I try, in this particular case I get heavily dependent on fretboard material (how sticky), fret size, how smooth the fret surface is and so forth. I rather have the fret do the correct base pitch for me and then use brute force for a classical vibrato. I am more of a mechanical than a musical guitarist I guess. Maybe it comes from starting classical.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: What Affects the Playability of a Guitar the Most For You?

Vintage V shaped very round necks don't suit me. 10-12" is fine, I suppose 12" could be ideal. I also don't mind a thicker neck, but it has to be evenly round.