Light up the Sky

Hi guys--
As you can tell from the following questions that I have, I am truly a neophyte when it comes to electric guitars. I don't even own one, as I'm getting back into playing my acoustic after some hiatus, but I do have a couple of random questions about them. I'm sure I'll have more as my quest for knowledge continues...but for now:

1) I saw a picture the other day of someone's guitar, and there was what looked like a rectangular divit cut out of the back, and there were 3 springs laid into the indentation. What was that?

and

2) I've heard the term "humbucker" bandied about for many years now, but I've never been clear on just exactly what that means. Anyone care to explain?

Thanks--
Ravenna

I'm really not the one to say but those springs are return springs for the tremelo bridge which can infinitely vary the pitch of the instrument... lower or, in the case of a Floyd Rose bridge, lower or higher. There is a lever or (whammy bar) that is manipulated to do this. In Eddie Van Halen's case, he may as well had wrote the book on " how to get every possible sound out a guitar that you can possibly imagine out of a guitar using (and without using) a whammy bar "... and he does that rather well in my opinion... to say the very least!

Humbucking is opposed to hum canceling. Humbuckers are noisier by comparison but are "hotter" or producing higher output voltage. They are usually double coil but may also be single coil or a split single coil. They can be of the passive type (most common) or the active type requiring a built-in instrument preamp and a "padded" input stage in the instrument amplifier... but, once again, I am no expert in this field.

The place where you see the springs is called the Tremolo Cavity.
Here is a picture of Humbucker, a Gibson 57' Classic to be exact.

Thanks Mofo, that wikipedia entry was informative---I think I get it....the humbucker's a kind of pickup and it's got two coils instead of one and they're wound in opposite directions and have opposite polarity. The kind of sound waves generated by the guitar's strings all go in the same direction in both coils, following in each other's footsteps so to speak. The kind of sound waves generated by interference on the other hand go in opposite directions in each coil--if you were to make a picture it would look like a hill superimposed over a valley--kind of like matter/anti-matter, and so they sort of cancel each other out. Because both of these effects are being amplified by having two coils instead of one, the cancellation of the interference is greater, and the musical notes are heard more clearly.

Am I close?

The picture of the humbucker really helped me out in understanding what Mofo's wikipedia entry was talking about.

And the springs being a part of the tremelo system makes absolute sense to me. As I understand it, the whammy bar works by loosening the string to make it's tone go down, and tightening it to make it go up. So it stands to reason that since you want your guitar to stay in tune as you play, you'd need some sort of tension producing device on the other side of the guitar from the tremelo bar to bring it back to it's original "in-tune" position after you've put the strings out of whack with it...and springs would definitely do the trick.

So how far off am I ?

Your right on both of them.

That's cool--I are a smart grrl after all! So riddle me this, Batman---I watched an interview a couple days ago where Edward was saying he dumped his humbucker into a coffee can full of hot parrafin wax and had to fish it out before it melted....what would coating the humbucker with wax accomplish?

It reduces the feedback & unwanted squeals from his guitar, at high volumes.

Single coils are even more noisy than Humbuckers, btw.
It's better to have a noise gate pedal in your signal chain than deal with that damn hum.

Ted Nugent was a master at controlling feedback in the 70's.
He used a Jazz Guitar, which takes balls (especially if your playing hard rock), but he made it work with muting techniques & finding "Sweet spots" on the stage.

Plus it gives them a shine.

No, dammit, I like that hum!

umm....sorry if these are dumber than dumb questions but I warned you I'm a novice:

1) Reduces the feedback & unwanted squeals how? By putting a kind of sound proofing buffer on the pickup it makes it harder for it to acquire the higher frequency tones like feedback?

2) What's a noise gate pedal?

3) Would you please describe the signal chain for me? Like, what apparatus comes after which? (go ahead, please talk to me like a 4th grader--little words and slow...)


4) I get it that if you stand too close to the amps you get feedback, and you can control it sometimes or not. What difference does it make where you stand on the stage other than that--ie "sweet spots"?

2) What's a noise gate pedal? MXR Noise Gate Pedal, costs $99.

3) Would you please describe the signal chain for me? Like, what apparatus comes after which? (go ahead, please talk to me like a 4th grader--little words and slow...)
The signal chain is what you make it, but it has to start with your guitar. You can either run a guitar straight to the amp, in which your path would be Guitar-Amp, or through a board like me, in which my path is Guitar-Wah-Phaser-Delay-Tuner-Amp.
Just like I said, your signal chain is what you make it.


4) I get it that if you stand too close to the amps you get feedback, and you can control it sometimes or not. What difference does it make where you stand on the stage other than that--ie "sweet spots"?
No special place to stand or anything like that, just in front of the amp. But it does depend on your pickups, distortion, and amp. But all that matters is the quality of feedback.

As far as your first quesition, oh, Mofo...

ok, but what's it do?

It just filters the noise. As for how it works, Oh Mofo...

You guys dont need me here.
What I like is that you look stuff up.
I wouldn't trust that Wippicka (or whatever it is) crap.
The only thing i can ad is, with a trem bridge (the one with the whammy bar) if you think of it this way, its a line between strings and springs. The bridge has to "float". Each one pulls on the other.

Not really. The only float is a free floater. In that case the strings which are flexable act as a spring one way and the 3 springs in the cavity act as the offset of that. They are trickier to set up but more fun.

Also a Floyd that doesnt pull up (just dives) is adequate for 99% of everything. Thats what ed uses.

But the pisser of them all is a Steinberger that floats. Like mine.
There is one monster spring. I could go on for days about them.

The easiest way I can best describe how noise gates work is that they very closely resemble the squelch of a radio. They are open or closed (above or below a given threshold). Noise gated are often used on stage for microphones. For vocals or drums and where need be. It is common practice to patch them in to the signal chain and not even use them if they are not necessary. I do not like to use noise gates used on guitar mic.'s. It seems to take away from that 'presence'. Many FX (pedals in particular) are noisy when connected in series. This causes annoying noise that I find objectionable and recommend players using several pedals to gate with a Rocktron Hush... which is a special noise gate designed specifically for guitar FX. I'm gonna stop now before boring everyone to death.

BadassMOFO,

Keep going. I never use them and honestly have always been happy with my sound. Usually the noise i get is my own fault.

John

I get it, thanks MOFO. So let me ask you this one---from the way you're talking about the 'signal chain' here, it seems to me that you can put whatever FX pedals you want into it, linked together all on the same channel, as it were. So do FX pedals work only manually, or can you step on one and leave it in position, then go and use another at the same time? What I'm getting at is, does the signal chain work kind of like an old fashioned string of x-mas lights in that if one bulb is out (effect is being used) then the rest of them are disabled? Or can you put the noise gate into use, then use one or two effects pedals as well? (I really have no clue how this works, but I've always wanted to have at least some basic knowlege...)
Thanks!

Completly not like Christmas lights, you can use as many pedals as you choose. I personally like to run my MXR EVH phaser, delay, & Wah at the same time, that sounds pretty damn cool!!!! The Noise Gate is not necessary, some people like the noise, some don't, I don't. But, if you have a long signal chain (more than 4-5 pedals) and you are not happy with your sound, a signal boost may be necessary.

You can turn them all on if you want. And no it doesnt act like x-mas lights.

I have said it before and I will say it again, Boss/Dunlop & MXR is the best way you can go. You might pay a little more but you get a better pedal, sound, and will last you longer.

Totally agree, those are great pedals. Not only that but they can make a crappy guitar or amp sound good.

Trust me thats how I know. I had a $99 Squier Strat & a Fender Bullet and they sounded AWESOME together. But now I still have that guitar, I have put new P/U's on it and have put a Floyd too, but I have a Peavey Valveking Stack. Other than Marshall, Peavey is the best amplifiers.

I like the ones i cant afford. But right now my Choice is the Line6 head that we have. It sounds great thru the cabinet. Plus i dont need as many pedals. Sure the effects leave some desiring. But it still rocks.

People that knock tham havent spent much time with them.
To appreciate a piece of gear you need time not 15 minutes at guitar center.

I actually sold my Line6 Spider III to buy my Valveking, I didn't want too, but my mom made me. I love the Line6 amps, I want to try the new Hybrid model. Is it any good?

I havent had a chance to play one yet. We have the Spider 2 head. I've enjoyed the Spider 3 head as well. But are they new hybrids out yet? What are they gonna cost?

If i could i would get another Marshal and a randall.
So of the smaller companies have good stuff as well

Krank
Kustom

But they seem to cater to the more distorted types.
But i can get plenty of punch out of my Kramer.

Heck the Steiny with the Hamer p/up has an exact Pantera sound to it.

Yeah the hybrids are out. Don't quote me on this but I think they're $600 for a 50 watt combo. Bogner makes a pretty good amp, fat amp. I have seen a Country guitarist Brad Paisley use some kind of amp that has a Z on it. No brand name or anything like that, all I could think of is that Zildian is getting into the guitar biz.

Didnt Fender just buy them about a month ago. I know they bought the amp company thats also in Scottsdale AZ.
Genz-Benz. And i think a cymbal company or something?

Could be. I know Fender owns Charvel & Gibson owns Kramer. So that goes back go the Strat/SG fight. Kramer/Charvel is kinda the same thing.

Kramer Charvel and not even close.
Charvel died by 1981. And was bought up by Fender.
They didnt contribute anything to guitars. Sure ed had a Charvel body for frankie. so what.

Kramer on the other hand had the Aluminum necks, with a fretboard made out of the same material that bowling balls are composed of.

Kramer also made a guitar with a built in wireless unit. It never caught on, but one wouldnt need all that wireless stuff hanging on them.

Kramer was the exclusive dealer for the FR system for years.

Kramer with Ed's help also came up with steroe for your guitars.

I cant name one neat thing about Charvel,
other than they looked cool.

I don't care either way. Kramer/Charvel, there is no such thing as a sorry guitar. It's all in the personal prefference. I like Fenders, Gibsons, & Peaveys.

I'm not ripping on Charvel. I'm pointing out that they were not as profound as The kramers.

Charvel is another great shredder guitar.

cool. thanks for the answers guys. so the pedals are just turning switches on and off? or do they increase and decrease the effects like a gas pedal in a car?

It depends on the settings on the pedals, you know the little dials.

The dials on a pedal are one thing, but she's talking about like a car. That only works on a Wah pedal. A Wah-Wah is the sound that Jimi Hendrix used on Purple Haze, Edward uses it on Cathedral nowadays. How it works is: As you move the pedal it opens and closes an orphus (think of it like turning on and off a faucet). But for me (Jovi fan) I use a talk-box instead. Don't ask me how those work.

Hey Ravenna, I am going to change the name of this to the Quick Awnsers thread.

Within every FX unit be a pedal or pro audio "rack' is an internal bypass path it can defeated by switch or varied by pan potentiometer. So the answer is series. Lets say you have a time delay machine or digital delay line... The audio signal output may be mono (one channel) mixed by the wet/dry pan pot then fed further down the line to other processing or to an instrument amp. Or it can be stereo with two outputs. In the case of vocals, the FX usually a digital reverb is outboard the mixing console and it's input signal patched into an auxiliary buss fed by the input channel of the microphone the reverb unit is hard panned wet then its output is fed into an other input channel of the mixer. The overall level of reverb is then controlled by that input channel's fader instead of the reverb pan pot which must be panned hard wet otherwise you'll get a continuous feedback loop. The amount of desired amount of reverb effect is controlled by the aux send pan pot of the desired channel you may want to keep it at a subtle level for the vocals but give the guitar channel a little more. When a band and a sound man or engineer, as we like to be called, work together for several years we get familiar with their music and know when to do these things. Like sometimes you'll hear an excessive reverb or echo from the lead singer at the end of the song... thats the FOH engineer cranking the auxiliary send pot on the singer's channel.
These are time related devices known as FX. Processing is another important thing which is amplitude related. They modify the program gain. The most commonly used is a compressor/limiter which reduces the dynamic range of the signal. To make things simple here, it's just a ratio of input to output. They are often used for vocals but not always, depending on the singer... always for bass guitar because it's dynamic range is otherwise uncontrollable. It is also creates a cool sound with electric guitar. They are always used above a given threshold for peak limiting to prevent overloading the PA for when a mic gets knocked over or when the singer gets pissed and throws the mic down and leaves the venue.

Wow Mofo, I believe that is the longest post I have ever seen from you. Cherry, now thats a different story.

Great explanation.

Thank you.