Is this harmful for your guitar

[Rusting In Peace]

When playing if you dont have a whammy bar you can strike a note then grab your guitars headstock and bend it forward and backward to make it sound as if you have a whammy bar. Has anyone ever broken one of thier necks by doing this?

[rodrigo_echeverri]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

who is it that used to do that?... Jake e. Lee?... is that right?.. thinking... can't remember...

In theory a guitar is a flexible system that will come back to the right position after bending. If I was going to be doing this to my guitar I would make sure that there is at least a small amount of compression on the neck to avoid going out of tune!...

[Stinkbug]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

Yup, Jake used to do it. I think Randy might have as well.

Depending on the severity of your bending you can tweak the neck. A friend of mine used to do it on his SG and it messed up the neck.

[Accept2]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

Dont do it!!! I used to do that all the time, only I would press the back of the neck while I played. After a few years, the guitar was FUBAR.......

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

I do it on my acoustic to make complete chords "shimmer" with vibrato, but I've got no other choice when the acoustic isn't Floyd-equipped! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[nor]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

Snapped the h/s right off my SG. The audience went nuts - thinking I'd done it intentionally.

Not a good nite....

[charvel750]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

Yeah, but Ron, after all, it was only an SG! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[mulder1966]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

I have a friend that plays Les Pauls, and he does that. Sometimes it looks and sounds like he's going to break the neck, but as far as I know he hasn't yet. It's interesting to watch, Like when you drive by a bad wreck on the highway, and secretly you are looking for a head in the ditch. [img]graemlins/puke.gif[/img] ( I just like using that little guy! )

[nor]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

But it was a GOOD one... [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]
Back then - If it was good enough for Glenn Tipton, it was good enough for me.

[ April 26, 2003, 12:14 AM: Message edited by: nor ]

[the_drip]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

I ahve never used this technique. it sounds kinda dangerous.

[VoiceX3]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

If you take your string thru Rhoads by the long and short fin you can actually shake it to get really cool sustain feedback! lol

[the_drip]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

I was told that using a refridgerator magnet as a pick made some really crazy harmonics.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

When you talk with that extreme, then picking up a guitar by its neck, hanging a guitar on a hook on a wall by the headstock, or even tuning up the strings will destroy your neck.

I've always done it with caution and in moderation.

Guitars generally are not really not as fragile as I once thought they were... they're quite hardy and take light abuse well. I've never had a problem with dropping a guitar, or hitting it against the wall, or wildly abusing the trem, or playing hard in general.

But, one of these days, I know I'm going to be crying with regret for doing these things...

[the_drip]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

my guitar has been droped twice. It stayed in tune just fine.

[lerxstcat]

Re: Is this harmful for your guitar

Originally posted by Number Of The Priest:
When you talk with that extreme, then picking up a guitar by its neck, hanging a guitar on a hook on a wall by the headstock, or even tuning up the strings will destroy your neck.

I've always done it with caution and in moderation.

Guitars generally are not really not as fragile as I once thought they were... they're quite hardy and take light abuse well. I've never had a problem with dropping a guitar, or hitting it against the wall, or wildly abusing the trem, or playing hard in general.

But, one of these days, I know I'm going to be crying with regret for doing these things...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually, you should grasp the neck at the neck-body joint whenever possible. If
you walk around swinging it by the headstock it's more likely to warp the neck or break it, from the centrifugal force applied to the neck from the body's weight and motion.

If you think that's funny you haven't ruined one yet, or your mommy/gf bought
you a new one so you didn't care. What's
so hard about learning to care properly
for your guitar? If you want a vibrato effect, get a guitar with a trem! I've had friends that do this with their guitars, but if I let them play MY guitars I tell 'em straight out that what
hapens to the guitar's neck will happen to their own personal human neck.

That neck-bending sh!t looks so stupid too! It's not like it's even cool! And the effect sucks too.