How easily do you switch between different guitars?

F15hface

The only one I have that needs any sort of adjustment process is my Rickenbacker, which has a neck so completely different to any other guitar I own. I love it, but going from it to an SG does throw me off for a couple of minutes.

topdog91

Good thread. For me, it's easy and whilst I appreciate differences between guitars, I've always found it a bit weird when people go into the minutiae of neck shapes, I have my thumb on the back and my fingers on the board, not sure the shape is such a big deal.

Stuff I do notice / care about off the top of my head:
Sound (pickups)
Looks (sorry)
Everything working (pots / switches)
Truss rod, action, bridge well adjusted
Frets not too worn

But this can mostly be done on most guitars. Everything else is negotiable. Maybe one thing is if the neck is too narrow, I get a bit cramped but I don't have particularly large hands, it's just my lack of dexterity, wider necks feel a bit roomier. Really it's no big deal.

Then again I'm pretty crap so perhaps if I was better I'd care more about these subtle differences.

Oh yeah, and on a Les Paul it's hard for me on the highest frets. No wonder Slash's is vertical much of the time.

CarbonCopy

Yorkie said:

Guitars, not so much. Going from 8s to 12s and back, that’s a different story… 

Are you referring to string gauges or something else?

On the assumption it's string gauges, I played a gig with a PRS DGT with 12-54 strings on it (which feel lighter for some reason on that guitar, perhaps the large frets) and a string broke. It was the middle of a song and as it has a vibrato bridge, all the other strings went out of tune so I had to swap to the backup.

The backup was a Charvel which had 9-46 gauge strings on it. That took a little bit of adjusting the way I played as I had to soften the picking attack significantly. I now use 11-49 on the PRS and 10-48 on the Charvel, so it will be less of an issue!

That being said, I could play perfectly fine. It just felt a bit odd for a few songs. 

roberty

Best thing you can do to make changing between guitars easier is to learn the bass. The differences pale once you've done that

Yorkie

CarbonCopy said:

Yorkie said:

Guitars, not so much. Going from 8s to 12s and back, that’s a different story… 

Are you referring to string gauges or something else?

Yes, sorry, should have been more specific. 

TheBigDipper

I have no problem switching between electric and acoustic, nor between different guitars with different scale lengths, fanned frets, straight frets, fretboard radii, neck shapes, string gauges. Sure, they're not the same, but I am, and I'm the guitarist here, not them! :-) 

MrTee

I have no issues switching between my slim fast charvel neck and my Kotzen tele baseball bat neck

I play equally as mediocre on each within seconds 

Philly_Q

roberty said:

Best thing you can do to make changing between guitars easier is to learn the bass. The differences pale once you've done that

It certainly makes a guitar seem like a toy in comparison, at least for a little while.  And I can't be picky about neck profiles on bass, it's just... "a bass".

jeztone2

The main player critical feature for me is Jumbo frets. As long as it has big frets I’m comfortable switching between whatever. 

Devil#20

Philly_Q said:

I never notice much difference with different scale lengths, but I have a few guitars with super-fat necks and if I've been playing one of them for a while, the neck on anything else feels infuriatingly thin.

More recently, I've got used to medium-sized necks and I'm afraid if I go back to the Nocaster necks they'll feel unplayable.  I'm contemplating getting something with a thinner neck, but I'm not sure I'll ever grow to like that.

As for fret size, nut width and fretboard radius, I certainly have preferences, but they're not deal breakers.  Except teeny tiny vintage Fender frets.

This sounds like me. I didn't think I liked fat necked guitars until I got a Vintera road worn tele and although weird at first I now like fat necks and think necks aren't as relaxing on the hands and I'd say my hands are medium and so fat necks aren't really for bigger hands as I'd always assumed. 
You mentioned fretboard radius but not your preference. I'm not sure that bothers me too much but I suppose if anything I prefer a smaller radius. I have a Mark Holcombe PRS that I think is flat and, although playable, just feels different to everything else I have. 

Devil#20

I should have mentioned this too. What's the idea behind having 24 frets rather than 21 or 22. You're covering 2 octaves but is that the reason and, if so, so what? Why's that a thing? What little time I do spend up at that end I never seem to need those last 2 frets. 

Philly_Q

Devil#20 said:

You mentioned fretboard radius but not your preference. I'm not sure that bothers me too much but I suppose if anything I prefer a smaller radius. I have a Mark Holcombe PRS that I think is flat and, although playable, just feels different to everything else I have. 

Most of the guitars I've owned have been Fender 9.5", PRS 10" or Gibson 12", they're all fine but given the choice I'd go 9.5" to 10".  I always say I don't like a vintage 7.25" but I think even that might be OK with big frets.  I've never had a guitar with a really flat board and I suspect I might not like it... however I am contemplating getting a Charvel, and they're mostly a 12" to 16" compound radius.

Devil#20

Philly_Q said:

Devil#20 said:

You mentioned fretboard radius but not your preference. I'm not sure that bothers me too much but I suppose if anything I prefer a smaller radius. I have a Mark Holcombe PRS that I think is flat and, although playable, just feels different to everything else I have. 

Most of the guitars I've owned have been Fender 9.5", PRS 10" or Gibson 12", they're all fine but given the choice I'd go 9.5" to 10".  I always say I don't like a vintage 7.25" but I think even that might be OK with big frets.  I've never had a guitar with a really flat board and I suspect I might not like it... however I am contemplating getting a Charvel, and they're mostly a 12" to 16" compound radius.

I've a Telecaster Ultra with a compound radius and that seems to work well. I'm not sure what the radii are from/to though. I'd have to look up the spec. 

Dave_Mc

Philly_Q said:

Devil#20 said:

You mentioned fretboard radius but not your preference. I'm not sure that bothers me too much but I suppose if anything I prefer a smaller radius. I have a Mark Holcombe PRS that I think is flat and, although playable, just feels different to everything else I have. 

Most of the guitars I've owned have been Fender 9.5", PRS 10" or Gibson 12", they're all fine but given the choice I'd go 9.5" to 10".  I always say I don't like a vintage 7.25" but I think even that might be OK with big frets.  I've never had a guitar with a really flat board and I suspect I might not like it... however I am contemplating getting a Charvel, and they're mostly a 12" to 16" compound radius.

This is only my hands and yours might be different (I did start on an Ibanez RG so 16" is kind of "home" to me), but to me I think 16" feels closer in feel to 12" than 12" feels to 7.25". Obviously that's what you'd expect since it *is* closer in terms of the numbers, but I mean "quite a bit closer". In fact I might even be tempted to say I feel that 16" feels closer to 12" than 12" feels to 10". Except it's too late to grab a guitar to check and I might regret saying that if I check it tomorrow and find I was talking rubbish lol! 

I guess what I mean is that 7.25 feels curved; 9.5"-10" still feels more or less curved except doesn't fret out; 12" feels more or less flat but with a slight curve and 16" feels more or less flat but with a slight(er) curve.

Philly_Q

Dave_Mc said:

Philly_Q said:

Devil#20 said:

You mentioned fretboard radius but not your preference. I'm not sure that bothers me too much but I suppose if anything I prefer a smaller radius. I have a Mark Holcombe PRS that I think is flat and, although playable, just feels different to everything else I have. 

Most of the guitars I've owned have been Fender 9.5", PRS 10" or Gibson 12", they're all fine but given the choice I'd go 9.5" to 10".  I always say I don't like a vintage 7.25" but I think even that might be OK with big frets.  I've never had a guitar with a really flat board and I suspect I might not like it... however I am contemplating getting a Charvel, and they're mostly a 12" to 16" compound radius.

This is only my hands and yours might be different (I did start on an Ibanez RG so 16" is kind of "home" to me), but to me I think 16" feels closer in feel to 12" than 12" feels to 7.25". Obviously that's what you'd expect since it *is* closer in terms of the numbers, but I mean "quite a bit closer". In fact I might even be tempted to say I feel that 16" feels closer to 12" than 12" feels to 10". Except it's too late to grab a guitar to check and I might regret saying that if I check it tomorrow and find I was talking rubbish lol! 

I guess what I mean is that 7.25 feels curved; 9.5"-10" still feels more or less curved except doesn't fret out; 12" feels more or less flat but with a slight curve and 16" feels more or less flat but with a slight(er) curve.

@Dave_Mc I shall take that on board!    I have read in the past that a lot of Gibsons are closer to 10" than 12" - and I don't notice much difference between PRS and Gibson - but whenever Trogly measures a Gibson fretboard radius in his videos (which isn't always) it seems to actually be 12"...

I think I need to visit a shop and see what Charvel and Ibanez necks actually feel like, rather than just trying to imagine them.  I might hate them and abandon the whole idea.  Although I will feel embarrassed asking to try a shreddy guitar, given my advanced age (and non-advanced playing skills).

Tannin

Easy-peasy for the most part. The baritones take a little bit of concentration. 

But I make it easy for myself by never, ever buying guitars with things I don't like - essentially short scales (650mm or don't bother) and skinny necks (44mm minimum, a bit more is nicer). 

I used to find the 12-fret a bit difficult but now that I've had it for a year or so I switch back and forwards reasonably easily. 

Oh and strings. 12s on everything (except the baritones). I can manage 13s or 11s if I have to. If a guitar has 10s on it for some daft reason, I'd rather go fishing. 

normula1

No issue apart from trying to hit the missing the A on the 22nd fret B string on the couple of 21 fret Strats U have if I've not picked them up for a while.

Roland

Years ago I watched someone changing guitars mid set, and wondered how they adapted. Of course it all comes down to experience. The biggest difficulty I have nowadays is adjusting the volume, tone, and amp settings to suit the guitar.

supes

I don't think it depends on experience, i think it depends on hand size and also what sort of stuff you're playing.

If you have overly large/small hands then you can still switch guitars but getting comfortable takes a bit longer. Also, i find playing chords/rythym is easier on different guitars than playing fast lead lines, although with a bit of time it's do-able. 

When gigging i try to take a similar guitar/same scale etc guitar as a spare simply for the speed of getting comfortable should i need to use it.

Philly_Q

Philly_Q said:

Dave_Mc said:

This is only my hands and yours might be different (I did start on an Ibanez RG so 16" is kind of "home" to me), but to me I think 16" feels closer in feel to 12" than 12" feels to 7.25". Obviously that's what you'd expect since it *is* closer in terms of the numbers, but I mean "quite a bit closer". In fact I might even be tempted to say I feel that 16" feels closer to 12" than 12" feels to 10". Except it's too late to grab a guitar to check and I might regret saying that if I check it tomorrow and find I was talking rubbish lol! 

I guess what I mean is that 7.25 feels curved; 9.5"-10" still feels more or less curved except doesn't fret out; 12" feels more or less flat but with a slight curve and 16" feels more or less flat but with a slight(er) curve.

@Dave_Mc I shall take that on board!    I have read in the past that a lot of Gibsons are closer to 10" than 12" - and I don't notice much difference between PRS and Gibson - but whenever Trogly measures a Gibson fretboard radius in his videos (which isn't always) it seems to actually be 12"...

I think I need to visit a shop and see what Charvel and Ibanez necks actually feel like, rather than just trying to imagine them.  I might hate them and abandon the whole idea.  Although I will feel embarrassed asking to try a shreddy guitar, given my advanced age (and non-advanced playing skills).

So I went to GuitarGuitar today to look at Charvel and Ibanez guitars.  There wasn't a massive choice on display but I did try a Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas (MIM) with a Floyd Rose 1500.  I see what you mean, the 12" to 16" compound radius, with big frets, didn't actually seem excessively flat.  The neck felt OK too, very nicely rounded fretboard edges although it was certainly a thin neck.

The only accessible Ibanez AZ was a Standard, I'll have to assume the neck feels similar to the Premium and Prestige models.  Definitely a thicker neck, with bigger shoulders, as reported elsewhere.  A more comfortable neck for me but the guitar did (of course) feel a bit cheap next to the twice-the-price Charvel.