Archtop Jazz Guitar Feedback Solution - Chip's Strips
Chip L
I have a love/hate relationship with my Gibson ES-165 Herb Ellis. I love
everything about the guitar except its tendancy to easily feedback. With
all the 'feedback' threads lately, I decided to find a solution to the
problem using my guiding life principle: simple, effective and CHEAP!
On Joe Finn's suggestion, I ventured to Wal-Mart looking for a dense foam
from which to cut f-hole plugs. Unfortunely, the material I found was
bright blue. Not cool.
I went to Lowe's home improvement center looking for a sheet or strip of
dense foam. No luck.
While walking through Home Depot, I found a product which looked like a
winner. Rubber Foam Weatherseal Self Stick Tape - by Frost King. 1-1/4" wide
x 7/16" thick x 10' long. Found it in the window/door weatherstripping
area. It's a dense black foam rubber, sold in rolls, with an adhesive
back - about $7. My thought was not to cut out an F-hole plug, but rather
to adhere the foam tape underneath the F-hole.
Back home, I removed the pickguard and pickup. Now the trick was to position
and adhere the foam under the F-hole which I had very limited access to (
single pickup guitar).
I cut the foam a little longer than the holes and inserted a few straight
pins in the center of the foam. The pins allowed me to pull the foam up in
an area with limited access and center the strips. This should be much
easier with a 2 PU archtop. I pushed the pins into the foam when
installation was complete. The first hole took about 30 minutes, the
second took about 5.
While I was at it, and had about 9 feet of foam left, I placed some strips
along the back, top, and upper bouts.
RESULTS
I reassembled the guitar, went upstairs and played at my normal, feedback
prone level. No feedback. I increased the volume. No feedback. I cranked the
amp until my ears literally hurt. No feedback.
This method worked almost too well. My generous application of foam had
knocked some of the brightness out of the guitar. I opened up the guitar
and removed all foam but the f-hole strips (plugs). No feedback. Nice tone.
OBSERVATIONS - POSITIVE
This method met my criteria of simple, effective and cheap. It should work
on any electric routed-PU archtop. The stops probably will not shrink and
are removable. Since the strips are under the F-hole, they may be less
noticeable than traditional plugs.
OBSERVATIONS - LESS THAN POSITIVE
This application is not suited for an acoustic archtop. No access and will
probably impact the acoustic tone.
Also, while the stops are removeable, the foam is very tacky and will likely
leave a gum residue when removed. Once installed, the tacky side will be
facing outward. The finish is a little shiny, but overall the application
looks very nice.
I've dubbed my creation Chip's Strips.
Chip Long
Al
likely
> leave a gum residue when removed.
Very definitely. I used that stuff on my windows this winter and it left a
sticky mess all over them. Use it carefully.
Jack A. Zucker
"Al" <data...@speakeasy.net> wrote in message
news:Kc6cnaknmO2...@speakeasy.net...
Greg D
How in the heck do you "open up" an ES-165? YOu went thru the pickup
holes?
Greg
Chip L
a floater.
"Greg D" <oas...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:Xns93CFD9084BD...@68.1.17.6...
Greg D
> Yes. The original 165 have a routed 2x3" hole. I believe the current
> 165 has a floater.
Whew - I had this vision of a hinged back...
Greg
Mark Guest
news:bgs4q6$fsmn$1...@news3.infoave.net...
(snip)>
> Once installed, the tacky side will be facing outward. The finish is a
little shiny, but overall the application looks very nice.
Plus, if you drop a pick into the guitar it should be easy to retrieve.
Best,
Mark Guest
Mark at MarkGuest.net
www.MarkGuest.net
dunlop212
>
> How in the heck do you "open up" an ES-165? YOu went thru the pickup
> holes?
>
> Greg
>
I would of just cut each piece in half, and used my fingers ...
Velcro could work, too ...
I kind of like the idea of pulling out the telecaster if I have to
play loud enough to have feedback ;-)
Jurupari
which will prevent a lot of it and manage what's left into a Szabo-like usable
tone.
Get a compressor that has at least these variables: Attack threshold - raise
it up enough that the compression doesn't affect the original signal. Then set
the compression on maximum squash, about 20:1 or better. You'll get all
guitar, but if anything feeds back, it runs into the ceiling. If you have a
release control, set it to match the regular release of the guitar, and if you
have an attack time, set it to zero, since your attack's not being jacked with,
and you don't want to let it through the ceiling.
Now, if you can, send that signal to either a parametric eq or a fifteen band
equalizer, and drop the hot spots.
Also, if you can find one with a good sound, and there are several that are
amazing, go for an acoustic amplifier instead of electric. They have some other
tricks, like reversal of signal polarity, which can put you in a node of the
sound wave where the strings won't get excited. A lot of you guys get feedback
because the mind isn't really set that this thing is still an acoustic
instrument when it's plugged in, in terms of sonic 'activity'. you get the same
types of feedback problems.
You can get good limiters and eq's with very tolerable specs in the el cheapo
range - look at crate, DOD, etc. and audition the piece with your rig. The
stuff I have is 1/3 rack size and sits on the top of the amp - fits in a laptop
bag with plenty of room for cords.
Clif Kuplen