Readers respond to our March and April issues.
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!