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Joined:
March 2004
Posts: 120
Location: UK - Canterbury Kent | I have had the 1778-LX-BCB since Feb this year and I am very pleased with it. Having been into GC in Manchester CT last weekend, while in the States to look at a Telecaster, you guys don't know how lucky you are on prices. We pay 25 -30 % more over here in the UK.
The 1778 sounds great, but after playing for a hour or so, chews up my fingers badly. I changed the original supplied strings soon after it arrived to the recomended D'Addario EXP 16 Light (£13.99/$25.18 here in the UK). I have also removed one shim under the pick-up to lower the action, which made things a bit better.
OK, so maybe my fingers are not up to it, but they are reasonably hard after eight months of playing. Do I need to go to lighter strings for the sake of comfort and will it effect the volume and tone, which is fine at the moment.
Thanks for an interesting site. |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13997
Location: Upper Left USA | Having received my LX in February (go to the Gallery – I’ll show you mine – show me yours) I have been watching posts on the LX’s closely. Here is what I’ve found.
The frets are taller since the bolt on neck is more level and they require less “dressing”. Your fingers have to push down further in the first position.
They ship with medium action. Always take out at least one shim.
I would suggest that the Factory use a lower fret material on the LXs since they are losing less “meat” during dressings.
I have heard it said that Real Men use Medium gage strings! Put it all in context and enjoy. |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I've noticed the same thing, frets too tall, but on my MEWP. After adjusting your action and bow or warp, one way around this is to use lighter strings, and move up in string tension, building up your strenghth. On my MEWP I experimented and used extra lights for a month, and then moved up quickly to the eqivalent of the custom lights, which I've been using now for about 4 months and they are feeling pretty easy. You don't need to use daddarios if they are so expensive, get something local with similar tension. The good thing about the exps is they resist sweat really well. (Do a search on the board about coated strings and how long they last) Sure there'll be a little less oomph with lighter strings, but you'll be happier playing. Now that I've been using exp 26 equivalant (dean markley tlt's) I like the lighter sound and I'm not so anxious to move up in tension. |
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Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 365
Location: NC | Piers-
Your right as far as cheaper but afterall, when we buy Mercedes here in the USA, what was a $20,000 car for you guys turns into a $40,000 car due to import tax. It goes both ways. |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 26
Location: NYC | The 6778LX I recently bought had pretty good action right from the factory. It had three shims, and on measuring their thicknesses with a dial type caliper, it seemed like they were metric sized, i.e., they were almost exactly to the nearest 1/2 or whole millimeter thick. (Any else notice that?) I'd figured on taking out a 1/32" thick shim in order to lower action 1/64" at the 12th fret, but none of them were 1/32". So, after a little arithmetic, I took out the thickest one, and made up a thinner shim from a plastic blank, like the ones used for stamping id cards. This ended up lowering action just a bit, down to 4/64" at the high E and 5/64" at the low E, and I also put on x-lights, 10-47. It plays even easier now, and doesn't have any fret buzz at all, at any fret! The neck is solid as a rock, and the relief is still just right w/o any additional adjustment. I don't know if it's the new neck design, or the excellent QC, but it sure works. The guitar probably sounds a bit better with light gauge 12-53, but it's I guess I'll trade off a bit for less strain on the old joints. |
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1778-LX-BCB
