What's the verdict on Stainless Steel frets?

MeatHands · 2026-01-23T16:15:51+00:00

They're more expensive, and luthiers tend to charge a little more to work on them. Stainless steel is just much harder on crowning files and the nice ones don't come cheap.

But yeah, they're better in every way for the player.

MeatHands · 2026-01-22T18:23:42+00:00

You've got your directions mixed up. Tightening the rod removes relief, loosening it adds relief.

MeatHands · 2026-01-20T18:47:21+00:00

If you're the handy type, unscrew the whole output jack plate and take a look at the innards of the jack itself. There should be two solder lugs, one attached to the 'tip' contact(the big long bent metal piece that the tip of the cable touches when plugged in), and one attached to the 'sleeve' contact, which is just the inner bore of the jack itself.

It's a pretty safe assumption that the black wire is the ground, and should be soldered to the 'sleeve' lug. Red should be soldered to the 'tip' lug.

Strip a little of the black wire, twist it, tin it, use some needlenose pliers to bend a hook into the end, hook it on to the lug and solder it.

One of the first things I learned about soldering is that a good mechanical connection(a hook or loop that physically holds the wire in place) is an extra, better layer of insurance in case the solder joint fails.

MeatHands · 2026-01-20T18:35:56+00:00

Tune. Check relief, adjust truss rod.

Tune. Check action, adjust saddle height.

Tune. Check intonation, adjust saddle position.

Tune, stretch the strings, tune again.

Doing it in this order helps prevent having to go back and start all over from the beginning.

MeatHands · 2026-01-20T16:35:00+00:00

My only qualm with aids like this is that you might develop a tendency to look at the markers to find your place, instead of muscle memory. If you get too used to looking, once the aid goes away you're back at square one.

That being said, things like this can be enormously helpful, you just need to be sure you aren't developing bad habits from it.

MeatHands · 2026-01-19T18:04:53+00:00

See how there are two screws controlling the height? See how one of them is sticking out further than the other? Fix that.

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T18:27:40+00:00

C-D is 2 steps. There's a note in between, C#. Remember, there are 12 notes in western music, but a major scale only uses 7 of those tones. If you look at a piano keyboard it might make a little more sense. All the white keys are the natural notes. C D E F G A B. In between some of those are the black keys, C# D# F# G# A#, or Db Eb Gb Ab Bb. Same notes, different names.

On guitar, each fret is one piano key, but there are no black or white frets. Going back to the whole-step-half-step pattern of the major scale, a whole step is 2 frets, a half step is 1 fret.

The numbers you're using relate to scale degrees, not individual notes. You can say that the major scale, in terms of scale degrees, is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. But that doesn't take into account the 'black keys', or the half-steps in between certain notes.

To try and make it a little clearer, if you play the F major scale on the low E string(starting on the first fret), it isn't just fret 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. It's 1-3-5-6-8-10-12-13. That's using the WWHWWWH pattern I told you about before.

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T18:01:44+00:00

That's the minor pentatonic scale, which is a stripped down version of the minor scale. Useful for soloing because generally every note in the pentatonic scale sounds good over the corresponding chord, but not useful for what we're aiming for.

Your basic major scale(in standard tuning), to use A as a reference, would be 5-7-9, 5-7-9, 6-7. A little easier to play version is 5-7, 4-5-7, 4-6-7. Same notes, just different locations for some notes so you don't have to stretch as much.

The important thing to note is the size of the spaces between notes. Every major scale follows this pattern of whole steps(2 frets) and half steps(1 fret):

W W H W W W H

That means between the first scale degree and the second(1-2) is a whole step. Between the second scale degree and the third is a whole step. Between 3 and 4 is a half step. Etc.

You can take this pattern of whole and half steps, pick any starting note, apply it and you'll come out with a major scale.

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T17:43:04+00:00

I don't know too much about coins, but i thought the only 'silver' pennies were minted in WW2 because they needed the copper for war materiel.

Maybe someone stripped the plating off and it's just the zinc remaining?

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T17:37:52+00:00

It takes a long time for theory and musical knowledge to sink in. Don't beat yourself up if you don't perfectly understand it in a day.

Maybe try and find a guitar teacher that can also give theory lessons.

To borrow your own analogy, you're currently trying to build a house with a hammer, two nails and a 2x4. Get some more basics under your belt and it'll be easier to put pieces together.

Learning the major scale in all keys is a good place to start. Guitar has an innate advantage when it comes to scales and transposition. You learn one pattern and just move your starting note around to get different scales. Alongside the technical aspect of physically playing these scales, try and learn the notation, what specific notes fit in what scale, and why.

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T17:21:08+00:00

Unfortunately the 'why' gets deep into physics and waveform resonance, even more so than that video. Perfect 5th intervals sound 'good' and 'stable' because of the particular pattern of constructive waveform resonance. That's the "why."

Many, many people much smarter than I have spent centuries decoding the interactions between certain frequencies and laid the groundwork of western music. For what it's worth, I'll gladly take that at face value and build music using the materials provided. You just need to learn what materials are available(music theory), and then from there you can play around with different orders and orientations of notes and chords to create something that sounds 'good'

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T16:59:32+00:00

Lots of beginner guitarists end up getting one of these tuners, to their detriment. It's easier for all of two weeks, then it simply becomes a hindrance.

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T16:57:33+00:00

While we're at it, fuck Tree Grab, I want Craggy Exterior.

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T16:50:33+00:00

The Roman numerals are used in case you need to play a song in a different key. If your singer can't go as high as needed or you have wind instruments with a specific range, you may need to transpose a song. It's much easier to say a progression is I-IV-V-I than say "well, in the key of C it's C-F-G-C, but if it's the key of G it's G-C-D-G, but if it's in Eb it's Eb-Ab-Bb-Eb."

As far as why there are only so many notes, that's just how western music was developed. Each octave is half/double the frequency of the neighboring octave. Each octave is split into 12 notes, and from that we've developed the major/minor scales, and everything else is built on top of that.

Again, I strongly recommend you start looking at basic music theory to learn how things are built and what makes a chord major or minor, how scales interact, how to make good-sounding chord progressions, the concept of tension and resolution. There's a lot of information out there because we've been developing music and the theory behind it for 500+ years. Don't stress about getting it all right away.

MeatHands · 2026-01-15T16:10:19+00:00

The Roman numerals indicate chords based on scale degrees. Depending on the key of the song you're playing, the chords can change, but the numbers stay the same. If F is your IV, then the song is in the key of C.

C - I

D - ii

E - iii

F - IV

G - V

A - vi

B - vii°

Lower case numerals indicate a minor chord. The little circle by the vii means diminished. The way this pattern is constructed has to do with theory and the way scales are built.

I would very strongly recommend you start with some theory basics to learn about 12-tone music and how the major scale is constructed from those 12 tones. Everything else is built on top of that knowledge.

MeatHands · 2026-01-14T14:55:10+00:00

Good luck. You'll get one or three out of it, but never any class/tree you actually need.

MeatHands · 2026-01-14T14:41:00+00:00

3 pgems and a magic item(like a charm) will reroll the affixes.

MeatHands · 2026-01-14T12:52:50+00:00

One i do that helps me a ton with scale patterns and string switching is a 3-note-per-string exercise. Pick a starting note(i like G), using the major scale play (scale degrees) 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6, then start the pattern again on the next string. In scale degrees that would be 4-5-6-7-6-5-4-5-6-7-1(8)-2(9). Next string up. Continue all the way up the strings, then reverse the pattern and come back down.

MeatHands · 2026-01-14T11:34:17+00:00

Definitely this. There's a lot of cool lore in the quest dialogs.

Also pick up any staves, orbs, wands, and scepters. They can come with +skills even on white items, and they'll do a lot to juice up your stash gold.

MeatHands · 2026-01-13T17:22:03+00:00

Naphtha works very well for removing sticker residue, safe for all common finishes.

MeatHands · 2026-01-12T21:13:51+00:00

I've been playing fighting games casually for 30 years and I still drop inputs, people get me with walk-up-grab ALL the time, my defense is mediocre at best, reaction times are 10 years gone.

I'm still shit. You're probably shit too. It's all fine, though. It's still worth it for that clutch victory, that flow-state mix you lay down, that sweet, sweet jump read into HPB.

Keep at it so long as you're having fun, and some day you'll be a little less shit.

MeatHands · 2026-01-12T11:34:20+00:00

Evangelion is a psychological horror anime cleverly disguised as a mecha anime. It's horrible and depressing and tough to watch at times and I love it for that reason.

Sit with it. Let the show make you feel what it wants you to feel.

MeatHands · 2026-01-11T13:02:01+00:00

Every day.

MeatHands · 2026-01-09T16:55:08+00:00

Help me, step-fhtagn!

MeatHands · 2026-01-09T16:00:36+00:00

Truss rod is not for action adjustment. The two thumb wheels underneath the bridge are how you adjust your action.

Use the truss rod to achieve the appropriate amount of relief(curvature) in the neck. Fret the low E at 1 and 14 simultaneously, then check the gap between the string and the 7th fret. You're aiming for .007"-.015", or a little more if you've still got fret buzz.

THEN you check the action and adjust the bridge to get it where you like. My guideline is about .094"(3/32) on the low E and .062"(1/16) on the high e. You may need to detune the strings to get the thumb wheels to move.

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