Newbie here

[insomniac2295]

hey guys, i'm a noob when it comes to touchstyle instruments. about 2 or 3 months ago, i got into 2 handed tapping on my 6 string bass and have decided that i want a touchstyle guitar. i have a few questions though

how many strings should i get? 8? 10? 12?
in what order should i have the strings strung up?
i was thinking about getting a krappy touchstyle guitar, is this a bad choice?
do i have to have 2 amps if it has 2 outputs?
my idol and the one who inspires me to go out and do all this is Colin Marston from Behold... The Arctopus. do any of you guys have info on what his setup is like? i know he plays a 12 string raptor warr guitar, with a hartke 3500 head, an eden 410 xlt cab, roland jc-120 guitar combo, and crate 2x12 combo plus various effect pedals. but like how is his warr guitar strung up and tuned? does he have the bass strings on top or bottom?

thanks a bunch in advance

[Nightmare Music]

i talked with Colin not too long ago in Tennessee about tuning and technique

he uses the inverted fifths tuning

B E A D G C<>C# F# B E A D
Standard 12-string tuning. Inverted 5ths bass and upright 4ths guitar. Strings 6 (C#) and 7 (C) are the lowest on the instrument. (quoted from warrzone.com)

in general he seems to play mostly in either one region or the other

concerning Krappy.. a friend of mine recently bought a used krappy and it really is top notch. i'm not so fond of its looks personally, but his plays great.

there are so many different tuning options for touch-style instruments. check out WarrZONE.com: Touch-style Tunings (http://www.warrzone.com/touchstyle_tunings/index.html) also Mobius Megatar tunings (http://www.megatar.com/english/accessories/Tunings/tunings.html) and Stick tunings (http://www.stick.com/instruments/tunings/)

there are so many options, each with their own benefits and limitations.. i'm pretty green to touch-style, there are plenty of other folks that can give a more educated opinion on the many possibilities.

i too am a huge fan of Behold..The Arctopus but i so far haven't been too fond of the tuning Colin uses, so don't think that just because you like his music that his tuning will work best for you. in my opinion your best bet would be to get an instrument that is easy to adjust, so you can try out different tunings with out major modifications to your instrument and you'll find one that works for you.

[tapmeister]

Originally posted by Nightmare Music
i talked with Colin not too long ago in Tennessee about tuning and technique

he uses the inverted fifths tuning

B E A D G C<>C# F# B E A D
Standard 12-string tuning. Inverted 5ths bass and upright 4ths guitar. Strings 6 (C#) and 7 (C) are the lowest on the instrument

....

i too am a huge fan of Behold..The Arctopus but i so far haven't been too fond of the tuning Colin uses, so don't think that just because you like his music that his tuning will work best for you. in my opinion your best bet would be to get an instrument that is easy to adjust, so you can try out different tunings with out major modifications to your instrument and you'll find one that works for you.
Hi Logan,

The tuning any player choses is intensely connected with the music they can make. I've checked out some of the band's videos and in Colin's case those big power chords he uses on the inverted 5ths bass strings wouldn't sound the same in another tuning, as he gets a greater range out of the tuning and the voicing is spread out more.

This tuning, which Emmett invented and calls the 12-string Classic tuning and others call the standard tuning, gives the broadest range of notes possible on 6 "bass" strings at any given fret.

And in Colin's case, clearly, inverted 5ths rock!

Happy Tapping,
greg
http://www.youtube.com/gregplaysthestick
http://www.myspace.com/gregplaysthestick

[Ammatt]

Originally posted by Nightmare Music
in my opinion your best bet would be to get an instrument that is easy to adjust, so you can try out different tunings with out major modifications to your instrument and you'll find one that works for you.

So IMHO Krappy wouldn't be the best choice. The bridge is not very easily adjustable and the nut isn't at all.

Matthieu

[Nightmare Music]

he definately rocks it, and a what he does definately couldn't be done the same in any other tuning.

one thing he does a lot are strummed barre chords on the lowest melody strings, while also fretting the lowest bass string with his middle finger which wouldn't be possible with any other tuning, at least any without inverted bass strings.

i'm really thinking about retrying inverted fifths.

[haimeh]

my tapladder is uncrossed mirrored 4ths (daiss). this tuning allows me to immediately play songs that i already know with almost no difficulty. My adg 10 is tuned like a stick, bass 5ths / melody 4ths. although it is confusing and difficult to adapt my guitar stuff, i have come up with some cool bits of music that sound very "out of the box."

You should get something that is easy to adjust. i have gone through a few tunings / string layouts, even though i thought i had it figured out before i purchased an instrument. i would avoid locking tuners; if i wanted to change my adg over to an uncrossed setup, i would have to ream the melody side tuner holes and dowel the bass side tuner holes (i don't think ADG uses locking tuners anymore).

[insomniac2295]

thank you all for your responses, i have found them helpful.

the thing about the krappy guitar is that its more of my budget than other touchstyle instruments, so i guess i'll just have to deal with the difficulties of it because it's really all i can afford.

as far as not liking the body of the krappy, it says on the website that since its a neck-thru that he will accept any body suggestions you have of your own as well as you being able to pick from any body style that he already makes.

as far as 5ths go, would it be difficult for me to pick up as i am originally a bass player when i'm used to using 4ths?
i have used 5ths in playing bass but only inbetween 2 strings because of drop d, drop c and drop b tuning(i mainly use drop b now) i just dont know about all 5ths. maybe what i'll do once i get my krappy is tune it into drop b, mirrored. does that sound like a good or bad idea? i know i'll have to get it adjusted and all that crap to support the tuning but i think i'll do that. or maybe drop c

[Nightmare Music]

there is a Krappy on Ebay right now you might want to look into

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=160199691622&Category=2384&_trksid=p3907.m29

[insomniac2295]

yeah i just saw that about an hour ago. not exactly want but its cheap at this point

[Ammatt]

Originally posted by insomniac2295

the thing about the krappy guitar is that its more of my budget than other touchstyle instruments, so i guess i'll just have to deal with the difficulties of it because it's really all i can afford.


My Krappy was cheap, but had to go twice to the luthier during the first year for significant work. So the total cost was finally about the cost of a simple megatar.
I was most probably unlucky with it. But anyway... as said in another thread, don't expect any kind of warranty in case of a problem.

Matthieu

[insomniac2295]

yeah i read the other thread and heard the whole ordeal that you had to go through. hopefully when i get one that i wont have to go through the same thing.

how long did it take for yours to be built? and what do you use for amplification?

[Ammatt]

Originally posted by insomniac2295

how long did it take for yours to be built? and what do you use for amplification?

The guy is very quick. It was about 1 month between order and delivery (but I chose a half-finished instrument, I guess it would be a little bit longer if you have it done from the beginning).

I play through an AER Domino acoustic guitar amp. Not ideal, but that's what I've got...

Matthieu

[rjgoos]

Originally posted by insomniac2295

i was thinking about getting a krappy touchstyle guitar, is this a bad choice?


There's a used one for sale:

ebay: 160199691622