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now thats a BIG one!!!!!


Guitarzan

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Dang...that Paul Bunyan guy isn't only harvesting timber, now he wants a guitar. Can you imagine the size of the Marshall stack he's gonna need? It'll be as tall as a 10 story building, with two 4x12 cabs. Not 12 inch speakers...12 FOOT speakers.
"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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I was wondering about what they were going to plug this thing into for an amp; it is an electric guitar, right?

 

To test the BIG! Guitar, a massive 36 x 10 650-watt Ampeg amplifier was used. The head houses 22 vacuum tubes. The amp weighs 950 pounds.
They should've been made aware of Myles' monstrous "Arena" amp! The one with the disclaimer/warning about not playing indoors so as not to "cause structural damage"... !!

 

Also, Ry Cooder and Sonny Landreth should be alerted...

 

"Because of the scale of this project, we knew it would be nearly impossible to play," notes Stone. "So we decided to make the world's biggest slide, tune to an open E, and had host Frank Payne run alongside with the slide as Seymour plucked the massive strings. The only way to describe the sound is BIG!"

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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I can just see two guys on either side of the neck, holding that giant slide, running for all they're worth to gliss up to the 12th-fret; then getting a real workout just to throw in some vibrato!

 

I hope that slide's aluminum; something tells me it's not a "bottleneck"!

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Okay... it's a big firkin' guitar. Not huge, just big and... well it's made from some interesting materials and sports the endorsement of Seymour Duncan so the pickup is .. an electro magnet! Go figure.

It would have been better done by some professionals and made to sonically correct and to be played... and by what you might ask.. well this is where the Discovery people could use their heads, make a programmable hydraulic set of hands to play the thing.

 

Now that would be amazing.

 

My favorite big guitar was EC's swimming pool.

 

Somebody will rebut: well it can be played and it's music to my ears! as piss in a bottle will surely turn to wine the only thing one need do is believe it. :D

must be smart ass Monday or something :D

I still think guitars are like shoes, but louder.

 

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. The total weight is over 2,500 lbs. It is considered to be the world's largest, complete to scale, fully functioning electric guitar.

Man I thought Les Pauls were heavy......I'll never complain again
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Shoes- the whole point of the series in general- and this "BIG" guitar, in particular- is to show the average, if particularly curious and light-education hungry, viewer HOW and WHY various things work and are constructed by building cyclopean working versions. The material and design requirements grow, and unforeseen challenges must be answered, and within a short time limit!

 

The entertainment and interest factor is thus also enlarged, while the seemingly mediciney taste and stigma of anything labeled "educational" is diminished. And the interest of folks who work various construction, production, machining, and engineering jobs is piqued. All excellent qualities for a television series!

 

This is the first time that a "giant guitar" has been built for any other reason than just building a big guitar for record-setting and publicity. (There've been a few, including a giant Harmony flat-top.)

 

And, that's NOT an "electro magnet", it's a transducer, with a permanent magnet.

 

I'm curious about the strings...

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Originally posted by ''Call-Me'' O'Shite:

Shoes- the whole point....

The whole point... is television.

I have to admit I don't watch very much programming and I have no idea about what these people are trying to accomplish. I just thought that it could be more meaningful but perhaps that's not the type of fix most North Americans are craving for.

 

Thanx for pointing out that IT'S a transducer. Too bad they couldn't find a way to test if it's playable after all that time and effort.

 

Thanx for explaining the meaning of the program but I think I'll stick to The New Yankee Workshop for now.

I still think guitars are like shoes, but louder.

 

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Holy shiznitz.

 

What the hell were the strings made from? That's whats getting me. Did they roll them? are they metal? How the...

 

Nah. It can't be done. Can it? I'm skeptical. But the picture... AAARGHH IM SO CONFUSED *hides in a corner* *rocks*

 

(hi, by the way. Just stopping by.)

"Money, Bitchez and Cheese!"

 

http://www.playspoon.com/nollykin/files/voxline.gif

 

"I never thought about it, and I never stopped to feel -

But I didn't want you telling me just what to think was real.

 

And as simple as it comes, I only wanted to express-

...But with expression comes regret - and I don't want you hating me."

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Originally posted by Guitars are like shoes. But louder.:

Originally posted by Caevan O'Shite:

Shoes- the whole point....

[QB]The whole point... is television.

Yeah, good point there!

 

(I haven't actually seen the series myself, by the way; I was going by the write-up at the other end of the link.)

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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I'm also wondering about what gauge they use. Anyone know anything about it?

- Bob Freebird

 

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools. -Douglas Adams

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So... d'ya guys think they'll go the "slinky" strings for playability route, or with the "heavy strings" for fat tone a la SRV, etc. school of thought? ;)

 

Yeah, I've been very curious about the strings myself; I hope they wound some themselves!

 

Say- if they'd wanted a "big guitar sound", they should've tuned it to Open-D, not -E!

 

(They could've tuned it to a sub-bass "baritone"-guitar tuning fitting the scale-length... and damaged building foundations for a two-mile radius!)

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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I want to know what kind of stresses these strings are putting on the guitar. I mean, imagine tightening strings (even thin ones) on a bass guitar for it to be tuned like a guitar. Now imagine that with a 24' scale! :eek:

 

Anyone want to try fretting a Holdsworth fingering on this guitar.. by yourself?!? :freak: (Holdsworth's fingers could probably do it! His fingers can only be described as scary-long! :eek: )

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

Soundclick

fntstcsnd

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Originally posted by fantasticsound:

I want to know what kind of stresses these strings are putting on the guitar. I mean, imagine tightening strings (even thin ones) on a bass guitar for it to be tuned like a guitar. Now imagine that with a 24' scale! :eek:

Plus...It's got a bolt on neck.

 

Peace,

 

wraub

 

I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here.

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was the music industry consultant on the building of the BIG! Guitar for Discovery (basically hooking up the production company with the right people in the guitar industry and helping design the BIG! Guitar).

 

Here's some answers to your questions:

 

The BIG! Guitar was designed by Matty Baratto - kind of like a '60's Danelectro. He had to leave half-way through the build to go on tour with Sugar Ray, which is why Seymour Duncan came in after building the BIG pickup and helped finish the building. Here's a link to Matty's site: www.barattoguitars.com

 

It is "sonically" correct - everything is to-scale, from the strings to the pickup to the tuning keys. Because it is nine times the size of a standard guitar, it is nine octaves below standard guitar.

 

The strings are music wire nine times the gauge size of guitar strings. We tried a number of different gauges - first scaled up from a heavy gauge - then re-strung with a lighter gauge to brighten up the tone.

 

daklander is correct - no truss rod!!! It was recommended, but the builders from Monster Garage and Monster House decided that five planks of lumber would be strong enough. Only time will tell on that one.

 

We had numerous tests before and during the build - testing the stress of the strings, testing the pickup output (it creates a massive current - enough to dangerously shock someone -- Seymour got a massive shock while we were testing).

 

We actually played it using a number of different tunings - E, A, D, standard, etc... E was chosen because Seymour had a certain song in mind to play on it.

 

The sound was just massively deep, and rumbling - but very clear. The pickup design is amazing in that it is exactly like a '59 P.A.F. - even down to the squared out bobbin holes. Watching Seymour wind the pickup was freaking amazing. The bobbin was mounted to a custom made winder that spun the bobbin while Seymour guided the wire with the help of two of his sons (you'll see this on the show).

 

During the show, the host visits the Duncan factory - you get to see Seymour's own custom workshop, then they take a tour of the main shop floor.

 

For the finale, Seymour got one of his famous friends to play along (we're trying to keep that one a secret until it airs) while Seymour and Matty pounded out a song.

 

Check it June 15, 9 PM (Eastern and Pacific)

 

Rock on!

Chris Stone

seestone@earthlink.net

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Thanks for all the info, OddDogTricks.

It all sounds very cool, and I'm looking forward to seeing the show. :thu:

May all your thoughts be random!

- Neil

www.McFaddenArts.com

www.MikesGarageRocks.com

 

 

 

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Originally posted by Guitarzan:

did you guys hear about this?

http://news.harmony-central.com/News/2004/Big-Guitar.html

I like extra large creations of smaller useable items. I was in a knife store the other day and they had a humungus (how do you spell that?)boy scout knife. It was about two feet long and about 8 inches across. I didn't buy it because it wouldn't fit into my pocket very well. :D

bbach

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

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