PG Takes New York
Hey Rebecca and Jason, It was a real honor to meet you guys today! You guys are awesome and Premier Guitar is my favorite magazine to go to when I try to stay current on music and guitar rigs of the pros. Hope you enjoy the rest of your visit in NY and tell Admiral Joe Perry I say “Hi” please.
Sincerely, Matthew Wang
New York, New York

Forgotten Heroes
What a wonderful—and lengthy—article on the incredible Jimmy Wyble, complete with great photos and some tab/score. I’d love to see more on Wyble, especially his contrapuntal approach to playing, perhaps by David Oakes or Sid Jacobs. Best feature I’ve seen in a guitar mag in a long time. Thanks, Premier Guitar!
—Dennis Roberts
via Facebook

Thank you, Dennis! So glad you dug the piece. There are so many other Forgotten Heroes candidates to get to that we can’t promise we’ll put out more on Jimmy in the near future, but we’ll definitely keep him in mind for future lesson material. Have a great one!

Baker’s Dozen?
Someone tell John Bohlinger, in as nice a way as possible, please, that there are indeed 12 notes and the 13th one is the octave.
—Robert DiMaio
via Facebook

Haha, yes, a few readers have pointed that out. Our bad for not catching in editing, and John responded to readers on his onlinearticle: “Whoops, Eddie was right... and so was Chris and Steve Wright and the rest. There are 12. I am a high-functioning idiot.”

Down to Earth
What is it—the staff members fight to see who can come up with the most obscure bands to listen to just so they can be “different” [“Staff Picks: PGGets Pumped,” April 2012]? I understand not being a music lemming, but come on, enough is enough with the obscurity. The Shins? Ben Folds Five? Hush Arbors? Dirty Three? My head’s going to explode. I have to read this train wreck of musical obscurity with a morbid fascination every issue. Otherwise, great magazine.
—Phil Starr
Groveport, Ohio

Going the Distance
Dear Premier Guitar,
Love the magazine. Have a big question regarding the article on building the Fender Tele Baritone [“How to Convert YourAxe to a Baritone,” March2012]. Your photographs show the extra length of the new neck, indicating it will fit in the “pocket” of the tele body, creating a longer length for the 12th fret. I’ve always understood the measurement from the nut to the 12th fret, and the measurement from the 12th fret to the bridge had to be equal. I did not notice the bridge having been relocated. How can you account for perfect intonation in this instance?
—Jerry Gilsterap

Hi Jerry, great question! First, you’re right: The distance between the nut and 12th fret must equal the distance between the 12th fret and the saddles. The Warmoth baritone neck has 24 frets, as opposed to the 21 frets on a vintage Tele. (The American Vintage ‘69 Telecaster Thinline we converted shipped with a 21-fret neck.)

The Warmoth’s extra three frets “push” the neck back away from the saddles the precise amount needed to stretch the distance between the 12th fret and the saddles to match the nut-to-12thfret distance. Remember that because of the longer scale, all the frets are spaced apart a bit wider, and that includes frets 12-24. Whoever figured this out deserves kudos. I’m sure it required some serious math calculations.

I should mention that the 24th fret sits right at the end of the neck block. The fretboard itself has a 3/8" lip that goes past the neck block and is suspended over the body. This is simply cosmetic— a way to follow the 24th fret with a bit of rosewood before the fretboard ends.

Several other brands of baritone necks use this same 24-fret strategy. In fact, I own a 28"- scale Gibson Les Paul baritone (one heck of a guitar) that also has a 24-fret neck. A Les Paul with 24 frets is something to behold. Its body, bridge, and tailpiece are sized and spaced the same as a standard Les Paul, so the folks at Gibson use the 24-fret technique to make the LP body work with a long-scale neck.

That’s the secret.

Cheers, Andy Ellis

Heartfelt, Handwritten
We were absolutely pumped to receive this piece of snail mail from a faithful reader. It’s not every day that someone uses an actual pen and paper to send a message!