I am an old dog from Boston who picked up a guitar really for the first time during Covid. I literally took out a 60’s Gibson Melody Maker (I believe referred to as a Student Guitar in its day) that I had stored away for decades in a closet. I grew up listening to a lot of blues, some of it live. I am so far self-taught and am looking for a more disciplined approach to advancing both my mechanical skill level and musical sense. I have had the experience this past year that recording a backing track of simple chord progressions and improvising solos over the top of that is a lot of fun. Also, I have a friend who is an accomplished guitarist, and we have done a couple of “sessions” recently where we switched off who was doing the chord progression and who the soloing, and that for sure is the most fun I have had so far with music. I, however, feel I am in somewhat of a rut in “quoting” myself (my improvised riffs) and need to break out of that. I know none of the standard blues riffs that Justin refers to, so that will be definitely interesting to get exposed to. More broadly, the sheer mechanics of playing anything smoothly remains challenging for me, and I want grow beyond that and get to a different level of confidence. My family inadvertently put a little bump in the road for me with a Christmas gift. They got me a nice used Stratocaster as an option to the Melody Maker, the latter which has an issue with choking on the 12th fret of the high E if you try to do a bend there; (of course, I could get that fixed but just haven’t gotten around to it). At the same time, I am finding the Strat generally harder to play because of its higher action and thicker neck. I like the sound of the Strat, but I can’t move around the neck as smoothly as with the Gibson. So, I am seeking a bit of advice straight away from the group. Should I set aside the Strat for now while doing the course and live with the limitations of the Melody Maker, or just bear down with the Strat because it’s better for me in the long run? Thanks in advance for your advice.
imho,
get a set up at a music store on both of them. One at a time. Fix the one that don’t play so well 1st so ya can enjoy the one that mostly works. Then when ya get the fixed one back, it’ll play like a dream. Then send the other one off to get a set up. When ya get it back, you’ll just be plain hip!
Sounds like as of now, ya got half a strat and half a melody maker. For one guitar, kinda sorta.
Ya get’em both fixed and you’ll have 2 playable guitars. Nice ones at that.
In lieu of the music store, ya could do a set up yourself. If ya know how to do that or want to learn.
I’ve been playing a bit too and if I was concerned about thinking I needed a set up, I’d take it to a pro and spend that money for a correct job on the setup. As I’m not a pro for doing a set up. I just want my guitar to play it’s best and I’m not sure I’m the one that would make that happen on my guitars.
Have fun here man. It’s a great place to learn some guitar!
Hi Chip, welcome to the community. I am surprised that you have trouble with playing the Strat. Perhaps the action or truss rod needs adjusting. Also if you have the original strings, you might try a lighter set of strings. If it has the strings from the previous owner, they may shave been a fan of SRV and had heavy gauge strings on the guitar.
Thanks for confirming what I need to look at. As I am giving the Strat a closer look ( and looking at a few videos online about this kind of problem), for sure the original owner set the action very high for some reason. As I told Jim, I am going to have a pro help me with the setup – really setting the action as low as possible - and swap out the strings too for something lighter.
Chip, if the action was intentionally set up high, then they may have been using the Strat to play slide guitar in an open tuning. If that is the case and these are the original strings you want to change the strings as slide players like to use heady gauge strings.
Appreciate your comments – you guys are the voice of experience with this kind of thing. I am definitely a babe in the woods and needed some guidance here.
Hello Chip & Welcome!!!
I agree that the kind of issues you are describing with your strat are a bit unusual, aside from neck thickness. I have several different guitars & they are very different from each other. Neck shape & thickness differences are weird at first but eventually you will hardly notice them after a few minutes of playing!
Here’s an idea, have your more experienced buddy play both guitars & give you an assessment of what he/she likes & dislikes about both! I agree with Jim’s @HappyCat thinking… get a professional setup so the guitar can be at it’s best!!!
Good luck & have fun!!!
I have done some simple set up stuff on several guitars over the years, string action, checking neck alignment and levelling (truss rod adjustment), never done and fret levelling, that’s one for an expert I think.
Something that occurred to me about the choking. If the Strat has a high action it is possible that the previous owner raised it to try and overcome the choking. If it is just at the12th fret on the 1st string then this could be due to a lot of bends being done there in the past, it can be a favourite area for soloing for many, which may mean that particular fret is worn down at that point and needs replacing or a careful levelling off of the 11th/13th fret in relation to it may get rid of the issue. You could check the frets yourself for high and low spots quite easily with a fret rocker tool, have a look at https://youtu.be/56_rDDbJFu4?si=KIaLUwS8g0qdRmSJ
Welcome aboard
I’d get one of the guitars checked and set up at a time, probably starting with the strat.
Strats don’t tend to have a high action, so dropping that shouldn’t be too difficult - the radius of the fretboard may make it feel weird especially when bending though.
Your Melody Maker will likely benefit from a setup as well - the problems such as low/high frets have been mentioned already, and putting them right can be done as part of a setup.
Hello Chip.
Welcome to JustinGuitar and this fantastic community. There a whole host of golden oldies over in the dog house.
Get that Gibson looked at by a guitar tech. Storage over a long period can make unwanted things happen - but it should all be very fixable with some professional help.
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I’m like you, I bought a guitar during Covid and started to learn. 5+ years in now and I’d hit that plateau and was feeling unmotivated. I started playing with others this year and that made a world of difference.
I’d agree with others, get the guitars set up and it could make a world of difference. Put similar guage strings on both guitars. I do 11-52 on my acoustic and 10-46 on my electrics.
Just beating a dead horse at this point, but as a strat fan, it is pretty rare to have high action on a strat, not that it is impossible, obviously people have all kinds of preferences, but most strats I have ever picked up the action is really low compared to other guitars I played.
I would look into getting it set up at a guitar shop, like others have already recommended. I love the tone of both a Les Paul or a strat, but most musicians I listen to typically use a strat, so I tend to gravitate towards those.
