Thomas is a good friend of mine. I’ve been to his home and also his shop. You wouldn’t believe the projects and advanced electronics throughout the place. He is indeed the “Wizard of Vai”.
Aw yes, the chair. Thomas and all of his amazing inventions and various things he’s modified are like walking around in a movie. He’s amazing. Not sure if you knew but he’s going to be moving back to Vienna Austria. I’m really going to miss him.
this interview is amazing, such a humble person to show every little trick he makes to keep the guitar working at the highest demands. Keep them coming thomann!
@ThomannsGuitarsBasses fantastic video. So much tech in that guitar. Thanks for showing 👌 I couldn't catch the names for the tuners and the locking nut he uses. Can you please provide those product names?
Holy moly! The Thomann crew keeps pushing this amazing content. You guys provide the guitar community with information and tips from the legends. Thank you for perserving the art of the guitar and for making the information avaiable for all players!
That's sooo nice to hear man, thanks a lot! We're as interested in what we're filming as you guys are. I guess that helps, haha! Thanks for the support! //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses Thomann really goes above and beyond the parameter's of what is expected from a guitar company! Even one and a half year's after I purchased my Harley Benton Fusion 2 I contacted them about issue's with my intonation. I asked them if they had any instructional video's on the subject and bam, the very next morning I had 3 of these video's in my email !!! 😁 They really do care about their customer's, thank you so much Thomann, I believe I'm going to use this company for all my future business, you all are a proud bunch and you have every right to be! You are totally proffessional and it seems like you really care about us as individual's! Have a wonderful day !!! 😉✌
I guess it's pointless for me to hide my excitement... so I just don't. Haha! I love to learn these little tricks and secrets. They make me a better tech and a better player. If you understand your guitar more, you play it and use it differently. At least that's how I see this. Cheers and thanks! //Kris
That part "let me give you the 2 of 100 and I'll keep the 1 of 100" was so hilarious 😂😂 Steve has already been a funny, humble, fashionable and spiritual person, apart from the fact that he's the living God of guitar
Sit back, grab a cold drink, your guitar, some tools and enjoy watching the one and only Thomas Nordegg! :) Let me know who you wanna see next. Cheers everyone! //Kris
I know it’s probably not possible, but I would love to see you do this with Metallica’s techs Chad and or Justin. Really wanna know how they take care of James and Kirks guitars.
This is incredible. I LOVE these videos from the old timers and what a joy it is to see this tech. He seems so humble and you can tell he loves to explain things which I appreciate so much because people today have a hard time explaining in detail how something is done. Thank you for this video, it's literally priceless.
VINDICATED! I have ALWAYS strung my Floyd's with the BALL end at the tuners. For 3+ decades. If its good enough for Thomas and Steve, it's perfectly good enough for little ol' me.... Thomas is a LEGEND,,,,
I started doing it years ago myself to save time since i don't have to cut the excess string at the headstock. Plus there are no sharp string ends to poke you when you are cleaning the headstock.
This is how I was taught "The Thomas Nordegg way" by my Guitar teacher who learned it when he worked at the Hollywood Guitar Center in the 90's. Awesome video!!!
I really enjoy nerding out over how different artists prefer their guitars setup. There is such good advice / wisdom here! I hope we keep getting more of these!
Super cool to see that Steve's tech does the ball-end in the headstock trick. I've been thinking of trying it myself one day. I guess that's a queue to give it a shot next string change.
@@gprice1978 I find it odd that they don’t ship out this way then. But this is by far the simplest method I’ve seen other than buying a little plastic piece that holds the bridge in place without moving.
@@imoffendedthatyouareoffended They probably already have the strings pre-cut and measured before each guitar gets re-strung. This way of doing it that works great to prevent string slipping but it's considerably slower if you have to do thousands of instruments at a production line.
So how much relief there was...0.13 - 0.15mm (measured from the half way, with capo on 1st and pressed from 17th fret)? And the action from the 12th fret was 1.0mm on high E and 1.2 - 1.5mm on low E. But the lower right corner of that specsheet also suggests 1.25 for Hi E and 1.75 for Lo E. Pickup height is 1/8th, which is 3.175mm, but the paper says 3mm.
I just got myself a pia, and this video is one of the greatest videos i’ve ever seen. Such a great, non interrupting host, and thomas is a wonderful instructor. Could not have asked for better content. Thank you for making this
That was one of the best interviews I have ever seen ! Thank you so much. Perfect timing as well as I’m seeing Steve this Sunday live. Maybe see Thomas as well. Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱
Just found this and at last, a proper interview with a guitar tech about setups and measurements!! Great stuff! Also love that you copy that setup on your guitar...brilliant! Maybe more close-ups of measurements and spec sheets if possible please?
Great video. I was very fortunate to meet Steve and Thomas at one his back stage events back in the day and got to play EVO. Great to see the guitar again and will always be a great memory more me.
Seriously there could'nt have been a better time for this video to come out. After many years in it's case I finally woke my Jem 7V from 1999 from it's beauty sleep and it really needed a good setup. Not so easy to find a really good video on the topic though. Really loved this one here! Best takeaway for me was the 5cm measurement from the trem bar to the body. Way more precise than the little line of the knife edge on the side of the trem. I just miss Thomans talking a bit about truss rod adjustments though. Thanks guys!
Well, you first need to make sure your trem springs are adjusted properly for a level trem (the little lines on the side you talk about). Then, you can move it up and down.
I still remember the first JEM i ever played at a music store while i was on tour back in late 87 or early 88. it was a pink 777 and the neck was so perfect for me. I had been playing Kramers due to the floyd systems they came with.(Baretta and pacer imperial) and before that a old 1981 Charvel with a V trem which i still play. The Jem's neck was real thin front to back and i loved the PAF pro's it had stock. It played like butter and sounded amazing. Pink was not my thing so i did not buy it but did buy a desert yellow one later. was the only guitar that i kept stock the entire time i owned it.
Pink ain't my bag either, but I sure wish I'd have bought the Jem I saw in a shop when they were still pretty new on the scene. It had floral fabric covering the body under the clear coat and was absolutely gorgeous despite the pink bits. It was $750, which seemed like so much money considering a decent used Les Paul cost maybe $400 at the time. I wonder what it would be worth today if I had ponied up the roughly 5 weeks worth of take home pay for it back then.
@@ClusterFugue Yeah i regretted not grabbing that pink one later. The one you almost bought with the fabric is a highly sought after collector item now and probably would pull in several thousand dollars to a collector. $750 was a little high back then BUT we never know what the future has in store. Look at all the people that bought a 1959 Les paul back in 59 and paid $350 which back then was a good chunk of change, now that same guitar sells for over a half a million dollars! a really good re-issue sells for $10K
I've met this legendary man, I had the honor. He is the most humble, simple and great man at the same time. Sad thing is did not take a picture. I met him on Tbilisi Open Air Festival 2016, when we had an honor to have Steve Vai as a headliner of the festival. Thom gave me some stuff as a memorabilia :)
OMG, thanks so much for this video🙏🙏. Easiest string change EVER on my 2005 JEM!!!! I can’t believe I’ve never seen this method before. Thanks again. I just subscribed to your channel 👍
I have been stringing my locking trem guitars ball end at the tuner for years now. The reason i started doing it was i got tired of the sharp plain strings ends sticking me like a needle when i would clean the headstock! Plus it is faster for me overall.
This was the best RUclips video I've watched this year. Instant subscribe. Next - can you interview Jon Gomm about his acoustic model, and the specific design elements chosen so that he can do percussive effects, shredding, hand-stretching chords, bass-lines on the low strings, and tapping clean harmonics, all at the same time?
The additional title should be HOW TO PROPERLY STRING A FLOATING TREMOLO besides the content he seems the kind of tech you have long talks with, talking about the meaning of the universe. he's so cool!
Ohh absolutely! Thomas and I had a call the day before to check if everything works and we had a nice talk about all kinds of things. :) He is a great guy! Cheers //Kris
The QC at Ibanez is fantastic, I own a Prestige RG770 and the setup was perfect out of the case from new.. Impressive that the Pia so closely matches Steve's personal guitars so closely.
I do the Ball at the tuning peg end on my 98 7vwh,but I DO have extra turns,because IF I break a string on my cover band or solo gigs,I can simply re use the string by letting out a little tidying the broken end,and refixing,the tone is the same,and it’s quicker to get the guitar back for my set.
Freaking awesome. That guitar tech I can listen to all day long. But I think I need to hear him say I'll be back in hasta la vista. And that guitar he has at the end the gym awesome. Excellent innovations!
It's never too late. That's what makes YT superior to other social media platforms in my book. You can find older videos much easier here. Cheers //Kris
Kris, Hello my friend. Great show. Such amazing tech information. He had so much informative ways of working on Steve's guitar. Just incredible! Just a incredible show. It was hard to keep up with him. Just a master guitar tech. So great to see you again Kris. Terrific show.
Cool video! I only wish he had gotten into more detail about how he sets up the Backstop trem setter, I've always wondered exactly how it's adjusted on Steve's guitars.
It's been so long that I appreciate the reminder of what I used to do. I forgot that I used to stretch the hell out of my strings. Painful? Yes but it worked to stabilize the strings so I could get back to playing. Got a Floyd coming. I am a little apprehensive. I set my old Strat to the widest range down and up possible. It took hours to get the bridge right. We didn't have any of today's tool. We did it all ourselves by hand. It was a workout and it made one appreciate a newly broken in set of strings. Ah, Steve named it after his wife Pia! ❤
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses "EVERY SECOND COUNTS". It's cool to see the stories behind the scenes like this. It makes you really appreciate all it takes to make great music, and reminds us that rock gods are only as good as their techs (cheers Thomas), some magnets, a double A battery, some Velcro, and maybe a little duct tape. The 1/100 thing is hilarious, and just makes me like Steve Vai even more! 😀
This is an awesome video. I bought an Ibanez Jem which Steve fondly calls "Woody" (it means something else in England...lol). I always felt crying when changing new strings on the guitar. This video is an absolute god-sent. Awesome!!!
Thanks so much Jerry! Take good care of old... Woody 😆 and I hope string changes and setups are going to be more enjoyable after this video. Cheers //Kris
Just superb!! Had this on my Watch List but have only just got around to it. Long story short, I got to sit in on a Steve Vai soundcheck. Sat there a couple of minutes when the EVO group came in (fans who paid for sitting with Steve answering questions and so on). Thomas was great with everyone giving out used strings as "Steve Vai's DNA". He's a glorious mad scientist who's as exacting as his boss.
I believe it's the TC electronics polytune, the clip on version. It's kind of expensive (50€?) but if there are a lot of cheaper clip on tuners that work alright. Imo the polytune is the best and most accurate compared to 5-15€ ones. D'addario sells one that is great as well (eclipse?) and it's half the price of the polytune. If you don't care about the price you might as well get a pedal tuner but those are close to 100€ and I personally prefer the clip on
Thanks for the very groovy video 👍🏻 I’m gonna do my strings that way now too. It makes sense to use the ball to hold it in & have less turns. 🤘🏼 The magnet strip on the back of the head stock to hold a small key, brilliant !
I got a Dimarzio EVO2 pickup I bought because it was the only pickup the store had and was marked to 59.99 to get rid of it. I bought it and was blown away by how nice it made the guitar I built sound, I was super impressed. I had no idea it was Setve Vai's signature pickup, I always referred to Vai's guitars as his signature guitar so I didn't make the connection. If anyone out there is ever confused on which pup to buy the EVO 2 is one of the best. I give it way more points because it sounds that good being passive. It is truly one of the best ones out there, even the FLEOR Knock off of it sounds really close with it sounding a bit thick, not muddy but thicker than the real EVO2. You can easily change that by changing a cap as I put it into a cheap guitar so I have to make sure the caps are exactly the same to properly compare the two. But out of the box the FLEOR is goddamn close to the EVO2 even carries the same ohms reading. Also I thought I was the only one still doing the ball end thing on a floyd guitar. Never knew where it really came from, now I know who made it popular, and yes it does make it much faster to change strings.
That's the point, this is super useful stuff for ALL floating tremolo users. It's not only PIA and JEM specific. It's just fascinating to see Thomas work on Vai's legendary (and beautiful) EVO. :) Cheers //Kris
Thanks, I watched a lot of vids on setting up a Floyd Rose. Never follow the first tutorial on anything, gather info from as many sources as time premits and distil the commonalities into the right thing to do. This encompases all I have learned and determined to be the right way to go. I ain't a skilled guitarist, I was unsure of the fidelity of my Floyd Rose HSS Strat, were the factory settings perfect or at least good enough? Yeah, Fender did a good job.
Another question as well who made the body hanging behind you absolutely GORGEOUS WOOD love the lining in the grain would make a gorgeous clear over natural
I've done it like this on my RG440 and 540R since the late 80s! Instead of a 1.5V battery, I have an old rubber eraser I put under the bridge and it is just perfect.
You sure it was at the 12th fret? I thought he said he measures it at the 17th? Also, at 29:06 he says “.13mm” for the high E. You reckon he meant to say “1.3mm” and “1.5mm” for high and low E strings?
Thanks for sharing! When you have a guest with so much knowledge and wants to talk and talk.. Please just let them talk. No need to interrupt at all, Just listen!
Hey, thanks for the comment! I actually let Thomas talk way longer throughout the video , but we had to make a decision and shortened the original recording a little. It was a great talk but too confusing for those with less experience with guitar setups. We would've missed the main point of this video, which is showing Steve's setup preferences in an understandable way. I hope that explains our decision. :) Cheers //Kris
I was waiting for this for a long time, Thomas was my favourite guitar tech, thank you for bring him in and for sure we have something new that we've learnt from him 🙏
Next to SRV's tech Rene Martinez this gentleman is my next fav. I would imagine cutting those strings at same time has inadvertently saved them from failure. It crimps ends of strings while cutting to keep the wrapped strings from separating from core. Anyone who has had a dead string or tuning issue and went crazy on nut and tuners etc only to find out is was a string issue knows what I'm talking about. One of those 1 in 10,000 freak things. Turned out my Swiss made flush cut jewellers pliers were to good cutting threw single strings. Switched to $2 harbor freight version and it's been 10 years since I've had that issue. Who knew. Lol. PS Thanks to Rene sharing his knowledge like this gentle man is I can rip and dive bomb the hell out of my 6 screw fenders without having a locking nut, locking tuners, trem lock or a block. Ibanez and Floyd Rose saves you from the 20 years of torture I endured. Great guitar😆
Thomas is a good friend of mine. I’ve been to his home and also his shop.
You wouldn’t believe the projects and advanced electronics throughout the place.
He is indeed the “Wizard of Vai”.
I have been fortunate enough to try THE CHAIR, mind blowing experience, did you try it?
Aw yes, the chair. Thomas and all of his amazing inventions and various things he’s modified are like walking around in a movie. He’s amazing. Not sure if you knew but he’s going to be moving back to Vienna Austria. I’m really going to miss him.
@@thegolfingmusician6345 Please explain the chair lol
@@thegolfingmusician6345 I heard about it recently yes :( I think Steve already found a new tech
His boy is his new tech, i think
this interview is amazing, such a humble person to show every little trick he makes to keep the guitar working at the highest demands. Keep them coming thomann!
Thanks a lot Fernando! Glad to hear you enjoyed the video! Cheers //Kris
@ThomannsGuitarsBasses fantastic video. So much tech in that guitar. Thanks for showing 👌
I couldn't catch the names for the tuners and the locking nut he uses. Can you please provide those product names?
Holy moly! The Thomann crew keeps pushing this amazing content. You guys provide the guitar community with information and tips from the legends. Thank you for perserving the art of the guitar and for making the information avaiable for all players!
That's sooo nice to hear man, thanks a lot! We're as interested in what we're filming as you guys are. I guess that helps, haha! Thanks for the support! //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses Thomann really goes above and beyond the parameter's of what is expected from a guitar company! Even one and a half year's after I purchased my Harley Benton Fusion 2 I contacted them about issue's with my intonation. I asked them if they had any instructional video's on the subject and bam, the very next morning I had 3 of these video's in my email !!! 😁
They really do care about their customer's, thank you so much Thomann, I believe I'm going to use this company for all my future business, you all are a proud bunch and you have every right to be! You are totally proffessional and it seems like you really care about us as individual's!
Have a wonderful day !!! 😉✌
Love Kris's expressions of life changing amazement by all of these epic setup secrets finally coming to light here!
It's Truly a bonafide revelation!
I guess it's pointless for me to hide my excitement... so I just don't. Haha! I love to learn these little tricks and secrets. They make me a better tech and a better player. If you understand your guitar more, you play it and use it differently. At least that's how I see this. Cheers and thanks! //Kris
This one is special because EVO. So great to see such a legendary guitar this close. You can see clearly all the story through her body. Amazing!
This is probably one of the most useful videos I have ever seen. All the straight answers from the legendary Thomas himself. Thank you so much.
Steve's hilarious for putting "1 of 100" on all those relic Evos. He's in fact not lying lmao
Yeah I love what he did there. Haha! Steve's awesome! //Kris
That part "let me give you the 2 of 100 and I'll keep the 1 of 100" was so hilarious 😂😂 Steve has already been a funny, humble, fashionable and spiritual person, apart from the fact that he's the living God of guitar
I like when you asked about how often he changes strings because for him "not very often" means every 2-3 days, haha.
THOMAS!!! Thomas is a good friend of mine, this makes me so happy to see him again!! It's been to long! Thanks!
Sit back, grab a cold drink, your guitar, some tools and enjoy watching the one and only Thomas Nordegg! :) Let me know who you wanna see next. Cheers everyone! //Kris
awsome Thomann thank you do you guys have a better picture of the EVO spec sheet thank you
@@ggevh5150 Thanks Daniel! No we don't but I can try to make it happen. Can't promise anything though at this point. :) cheers //Kris
I want rene martinez show exactly how he used to setup stevies number one, also all the mods he did to it 😀
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses thank you if you can please do so that would be awsome thank you again
I know it’s probably not possible, but I would love to see you do this with Metallica’s techs Chad and or Justin. Really wanna know how they take care of James and Kirks guitars.
This is incredible. I LOVE these videos from the old timers and what a joy it is to see this tech. He seems so humble and you can tell he loves to explain things which I appreciate so much because people today have a hard time explaining in detail how something is done. Thank you for this video, it's literally priceless.
VINDICATED! I have ALWAYS strung my Floyd's with the BALL end at the tuners. For 3+ decades. If its good enough for Thomas and Steve, it's perfectly good enough for little ol' me.... Thomas is a LEGEND,,,,
I started doing it years ago myself to save time since i don't have to cut the excess string at the headstock. Plus there are no sharp string ends to poke you when you are cleaning the headstock.
@Mark Seymour it always used to happen to me when i was wiping down the headstock before i started stringing it with the ball end at the tuner.
@Mark Seymour Ouch! lol yeah that shit stings!
What a great vid. Thomas is such a Gem. I could listen to him all day.
Absolutely my most favorite RUclips video in a long time.
that's awesome Shawn, thanks! //Kris
This is how I was taught "The Thomas Nordegg way" by my Guitar teacher who learned it when he worked at the Hollywood Guitar Center in the 90's. Awesome video!!!
I really enjoy nerding out over how different artists prefer their guitars setup. There is such good advice / wisdom here!
I hope we keep getting more of these!
I've watched this a bunch of times and pick up more bits every time. This is really a masterclass! Thanks to Thomas for sharing!
Super cool to see that Steve's tech does the ball-end in the headstock trick. I've been thinking of trying it myself one day. I guess that's a queue to give it a shot next string change.
It's how floyd rose recommend you do it
@@gprice1978 I find it odd that they don’t ship out this way then. But this is by far the simplest method I’ve seen other than buying a little plastic piece that holds the bridge in place without moving.
Measure twice cut once hahaha
@@imoffendedthatyouareoffended They probably already have the strings pre-cut and measured before each guitar gets re-strung. This way of doing it that works great to prevent string slipping but it's considerably slower if you have to do thousands of instruments at a production line.
So how much relief there was...0.13 - 0.15mm (measured from the half way, with capo on 1st and pressed from 17th fret)?
And the action from the 12th fret was 1.0mm on high E and 1.2 - 1.5mm on low E. But the lower right corner of that specsheet also suggests 1.25 for Hi E and 1.75 for Lo E.
Pickup height is 1/8th, which is 3.175mm, but the paper says 3mm.
Great video! As a JEM owner, I always wondered how Steve's was set up. And the AA battery hack, how cool is that! Thank you!
I just got myself a pia, and this video is one of the greatest videos i’ve ever seen. Such a great, non interrupting host, and thomas is a wonderful instructor. Could not have asked for better content. Thank you for making this
That was one of the best interviews I have ever seen ! Thank you so much. Perfect timing as well as I’m seeing Steve this Sunday live. Maybe see Thomas as well. Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱
Just found this and at last, a proper interview with a guitar tech about setups and measurements!! Great stuff! Also love that you copy that setup on your guitar...brilliant! Maybe more close-ups of measurements and spec sheets if possible please?
Fantastic to sit “in the room” with that gentleman and learn more about his craft!
This video is gold! Thomas is such a knowledgeable fellow and you can tell he loves what he does!
Great video. I was very fortunate to meet Steve and Thomas at one his back stage events back in the day and got to play EVO. Great to see the guitar again and will always be a great memory more me.
man steve is SO blessed to have this man working with him......and I am blessed to see this knowledge THANX SO MUCH for making
Seriously there could'nt have been a better time for this video to come out. After many years in it's case I finally woke my Jem 7V from 1999 from it's beauty sleep and it really needed a good setup. Not so easy to find a really good video on the topic though. Really loved this one here! Best takeaway for me was the 5cm measurement from the trem bar to the body. Way more precise than the little line of the knife edge on the side of the trem. I just miss Thomans talking a bit about truss rod adjustments though. Thanks guys!
Well, you first need to make sure your trem springs are adjusted properly for a level trem (the little lines on the side you talk about). Then, you can move it up and down.
My favourite video on RUclips right now! So informative. The Ibanez setups are so hard to find online. Would love to see one on Joe Satriani as well!
Your contributions to the internet are ultra mega huge, thanks!!
Thanks ever so much Sebastián! :) That's a huge compliment and we're very thankful! Cheers //Kris
EVO's SETUP:
Relief: 0.007" / 0.13mm (Capo 1st, depress 17th, meas e 7th) @ 28:50
Action: Vai changes during performance but 1.5mm E, 1.0mm e @ 29:40, 34:08
PUP height: 1/8" / 3mm -- depress last fret, Vai still changes. Tech said 1/8", sheet says 3mm
Fretboard Radius: sheet says 16.0", tech says 16.5, and then mumbles 17.0".
String Gauge: 42-9's
I still remember the first JEM i ever played at a music store while i was on tour back in late 87 or early 88. it was a pink 777 and the neck was so perfect for me. I had been playing Kramers due to the floyd systems they came with.(Baretta and pacer imperial) and before that a old 1981 Charvel with a V trem which i still play. The Jem's neck was real thin front to back and i loved the PAF pro's it had stock. It played like butter and sounded amazing. Pink was not my thing so i did not buy it but did buy a desert yellow one later. was the only guitar that i kept stock the entire time i owned it.
Pink ain't my bag either, but I sure wish I'd have bought the Jem I saw in a shop when they were still pretty new on the scene. It had floral fabric covering the body under the clear coat and was absolutely gorgeous despite the pink bits. It was $750, which seemed like so much money considering a decent used Les Paul cost maybe $400 at the time. I wonder what it would be worth today if I had ponied up the roughly 5 weeks worth of take home pay for it back then.
@@ClusterFugue Yeah i regretted not grabbing that pink one later. The one you almost bought with the fabric is a highly sought after collector item now and probably would pull in several thousand dollars to a collector. $750 was a little high back then BUT we never know what the future has in store. Look at all the people that bought a 1959 Les paul back in 59 and paid $350 which back then was a good chunk of change, now that same guitar sells for over a half a million dollars!
a really good re-issue sells for $10K
I've met this legendary man, I had the honor. He is the most humble, simple and great man at the same time. Sad thing is did not take a picture. I met him on Tbilisi Open Air Festival 2016, when we had an honor to have Steve Vai as a headliner of the festival. Thom gave me some stuff as a memorabilia :)
OMG, thanks so much for this video🙏🙏. Easiest string change EVER on my 2005 JEM!!!! I can’t believe I’ve never seen this method before. Thanks again. I just subscribed to your channel 👍
I don't know who is more innovative Steve Vai or his Tech!!!
-------------------------
Rocks!!!
All questions about Jem I have been wondering about for years that 2 of a hundred was such a eye opener to the general public thanks again
Very cool! I know a lot of fans would love to see Adam Jones tech do a similar walkthrough!
I have been stringing my locking trem guitars ball end at the tuner for years now.
The reason i started doing it was i got tired of the sharp plain strings ends sticking me like a needle
when i would clean the headstock!
Plus it is faster for me overall.
This was the best RUclips video I've watched this year. Instant subscribe.
Next - can you interview Jon Gomm about his acoustic model, and the specific design elements chosen so that he can do percussive effects, shredding, hand-stretching chords, bass-lines on the low strings, and tapping clean harmonics, all at the same time?
I bought a JS1 back in the early 90,s and I was told that ball end trick, been doing it ever since
What a character and knowledgeable guy, I see why Steve keeps him around.
Thank you, sir, for the tip on the ball ends. How many times I've stuck myself with a cut end for nothing.
What a wonderful video. Very insightful. Thank you Thomas for sharing your experience and thank you Thomann for the upload!
The additional title should be HOW TO PROPERLY STRING A FLOATING TREMOLO
besides the content he seems the kind of tech you have long talks with, talking about the meaning of the universe. he's so cool!
Ohh absolutely! Thomas and I had a call the day before to check if everything works and we had a nice talk about all kinds of things. :) He is a great guy! Cheers //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses 😊🙌
The QC at Ibanez is fantastic, I own a Prestige RG770 and the setup was perfect out of the case from new.. Impressive that the Pia so closely matches Steve's personal guitars so closely.
I do the Ball at the tuning peg end on my 98 7vwh,but I DO have extra turns,because IF I break a string on my cover band or solo gigs,I can simply re use the string by letting out a little tidying the broken end,and refixing,the tone is the same,and it’s quicker to get the guitar back for my set.
Freaking awesome. That guitar tech I can listen to all day long. But I think I need to hear him say I'll be back in hasta la vista. And that guitar he has at the end the gym awesome. Excellent innovations!
I thought I know everything about guitar setup. But this information is The holy grail for guitarists.
Thanks so much! We love making these interviews and it's awesome seeing that you guys enjoy them too. Cheers //Kris
Not every day you get an hour with Thomas Nordegg doing one to one setup tutorials. Pretty cool
This is next level stuff, two years ago and i haven't seen it yet.
It's never too late. That's what makes YT superior to other social media platforms in my book. You can find older videos much easier here. Cheers //Kris
I do the same thing with my ball ends! I never heard of anyone else doing that until now. Everyone I know clips them off. Awesome😎
This dude a legend. I learned how to setup a guitar on my RG with an Edge trem for years… when I setup a tune-o-matic it seemed much more difficult.
Kris,
Hello my friend. Great show. Such amazing tech information. He had so much informative ways of working on Steve's guitar. Just incredible! Just a incredible show. It was hard to keep up with him. Just a master guitar tech. So great to see you again Kris. Terrific show.
Hey, thanks so much Joe! Glad to hear that you liked it. :) Thomas is without doubt fantastic! Cheers //Kris
Cool video! I only wish he had gotten into more detail about how he sets up the Backstop trem setter, I've always wondered exactly how it's adjusted on Steve's guitars.
It's been so long that I appreciate the reminder of what I used to do. I forgot that I used to stretch the hell out of my strings. Painful? Yes but it worked to stabilize the strings so I could get back to playing. Got a Floyd coming. I am a little apprehensive. I set my old Strat to the widest range down and up possible. It took hours to get the bridge right. We didn't have any of today's tool. We did it all ourselves by hand. It was a workout and it made one appreciate a newly broken in set of strings.
Ah, Steve named it after his wife Pia! ❤
Wow, that was awesome Kris. Thanks for sharing this moment with us!
Thanks for watching! Glad to hear that, I really am. cheers //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses "EVERY SECOND COUNTS". It's cool to see the stories behind the scenes like this. It makes you really appreciate all it takes to make great music, and reminds us that rock gods are only as good as their techs (cheers Thomas), some magnets, a double A battery, some Velcro, and maybe a little duct tape. The 1/100 thing is hilarious, and just makes me like Steve Vai even more! 😀
Thanks for the shoutout Thomas!
This is an awesome video. I bought an Ibanez Jem which Steve fondly calls "Woody" (it means something else in England...lol). I always felt crying when changing new strings on the guitar. This video is an absolute god-sent. Awesome!!!
Thanks so much Jerry! Take good care of old... Woody 😆 and I hope string changes and setups are going to be more enjoyable after this video. Cheers //Kris
Just superb!! Had this on my Watch List but have only just got around to it.
Long story short, I got to sit in on a Steve Vai soundcheck. Sat there a couple of minutes when the EVO group came in (fans who paid for sitting with Steve answering questions and so on). Thomas was great with everyone giving out used strings as "Steve Vai's DNA". He's a glorious mad scientist who's as exacting as his boss.
This video is a lifetime treasure for the guitar community.
Btw, can anyone please tell me, what tuner my man is using here? Looks handy.
I believe it's the TC electronics polytune, the clip on version. It's kind of expensive (50€?) but if there are a lot of cheaper clip on tuners that work alright. Imo the polytune is the best and most accurate compared to 5-15€ ones. D'addario sells one that is great as well (eclipse?) and it's half the price of the polytune.
If you don't care about the price you might as well get a pedal tuner but those are close to 100€ and I personally prefer the clip on
The question i would to ask to him : Will you be happy if one day, Steve wanted to play on a hardtail model ?
No whammy no Steve. Lol
Well he kind of did in candle power
No because that would mean an alien is impersonating vai and the real steve vai is probably dead
The JEM 7EAFX from 2009 has a fixed bridge, no FR 😉
@@gtrkitarr True, i forgot that model... that said, she's also the most ugly ibanez guitar ever.
Yet more proof that locking trems are either the bane of techs, or their raison d'etre. This guy really knows his stuff.
Everyone needs to see this one of a kind video
So much to absorb in this video - really informative, fun and with twists and turns like an action movie.
Haha! Yeah, Thomas has a lot of interesting things to share. And we are happy to listen and learn. :) Cheers //Kris
Thanks for the very groovy video 👍🏻
I’m gonna do my strings that way now too.
It makes sense to use the ball to hold it in & have less turns. 🤘🏼
The magnet strip on the back of the head stock to hold a small key, brilliant !
finally secret reveal, thanks for the content, i'm really enjoyed it! backstopper on the tremolo, that's the legendery things setup!
absolutely adore this series. awesome concept.
Old school keeping the new school rocking. It's great to see!
Thanks Kris and Thomas for this great instructional vid which gave me a great set up on my Floyd!
This is a truly great video, and this is one wise dude. This ladies and gents is why we respect our elders… experience.
I ordered my PIA in Onyx black back in March. I'm due to receive it towards the end of this month (Sept), finger's crossed.
Wow! Thomas is a guitar tech genius !! It seems he has a tool for everything, including the ones he made himself !!!
I take a no. 2 pencil and scribe the headstock string guides and bridge saddle divots for added lube - graphite.
I got a Dimarzio EVO2 pickup I bought because it was the only pickup the store had and was marked to 59.99 to get rid of it. I bought it and was blown away by how nice it made the guitar I built sound, I was super impressed. I had no idea it was Setve Vai's signature pickup, I always referred to Vai's guitars as his signature guitar so I didn't make the connection.
If anyone out there is ever confused on which pup to buy the EVO 2 is one of the best. I give it way more points because it sounds that good being passive. It is truly one of the best ones out there, even the FLEOR Knock off of it sounds really close with it sounding a bit thick, not muddy but thicker than the real EVO2. You can easily change that by changing a cap as I put it into a cheap guitar so I have to make sure the caps are exactly the same to properly compare the two. But out of the box the FLEOR is goddamn close to the EVO2 even carries the same ohms reading.
Also I thought I was the only one still doing the ball end thing on a floyd guitar. Never knew where it really came from, now I know who made it popular, and yes it does make it much faster to change strings.
I don't have a Jem or Pia, but an old Kramer with a Floyd Rose. This video was a godsend s far as setup and tuning. Thank you!
That's the point, this is super useful stuff for ALL floating tremolo users. It's not only PIA and JEM specific. It's just fascinating to see Thomas work on Vai's legendary (and beautiful) EVO. :) Cheers //Kris
The man, the myth, the legend, and proud to call one of my best friends!!! Miss you, my friend!!! 🤘☺️🙏
The EVO replica is just mind blowing ! Great video.
Steve Vai is the KING!!! A true guitar god.
Such useful tips from a legend. Thank you for this content!
What a legend. Thanks Thomann 👏🏻
Thanks, I watched a lot of vids on setting up a Floyd Rose. Never follow the first tutorial on anything, gather info from as many sources as time premits and distil the commonalities into the right thing to do. This encompases all I have learned and determined to be the right way to go. I ain't a skilled guitarist, I was unsure of the fidelity of my Floyd Rose HSS Strat, were the factory settings perfect or at least good enough? Yeah, Fender did a good job.
Another question as well who made the body hanging behind you absolutely GORGEOUS WOOD love the lining in the grain would make a gorgeous clear over natural
I've done it like this on my RG440 and 540R since the late 80s! Instead of a 1.5V battery, I have an old rubber eraser I put under the bridge and it is just perfect.
great interview - Nordegg is a legend!
This was super helpful for me today. Bought my first Jem 7 and it's my first Floyd style bridge. What a process! I'm staying in tune though!!!
Word of mouth about that modded guitar brought me here. Man, what an amazing creation :D
Also loved the tech stuff, Mr. Nordegg knows his stuff!
Thanks Don, Thomas is great!! //Kris
That was phenomenal! Great stuff Chris!
Thanks a lot Julien! cheers //Kris
Thank you for this video! It is amazing to know his tech and the secrets of both masters!
Excellent video, thank you for sharing! It's pleasure to see what handy people work at Thomann.
THE Danny Gatton! What a treasure that simple knob is!!
First of these videos I’ve seen. They’ve got a great energy to them.
That was FANTASTIC !!! .. thank you so much for sharing this video. Thomas is a very interesting fellow, could listen to him all day. Thank you!
Wow fantastic video. I always wanted to know what action he sets it at. Now we know 1.5 mm at the low E and 1 mm at the high E 12th fret.
You sure it was at the 12th fret? I thought he said he measures it at the 17th?
Also, at 29:06 he says “.13mm” for the high E. You reckon he meant to say “1.3mm” and “1.5mm” for high and low E strings?
What a truly awesome individual, Now we all know more than before which now I'm a better guitarist. Thanks for your hard work on this video.
Ow my gosh ! Extremely amazing tips and it is obviously teaching moment !!! Super power thanks amazing channel and Thomas !!!
Thanks so much André!! Cheers //Kris
Thanks for sharing! When you have a guest with so much knowledge and wants to talk and talk.. Please just let them talk. No need to interrupt at all, Just listen!
Hey, thanks for the comment! I actually let Thomas talk way longer throughout the video , but we had to make a decision and shortened the original recording a little. It was a great talk but too confusing for those with less experience with guitar setups. We would've missed the main point of this video, which is showing Steve's setup preferences in an understandable way.
I hope that explains our decision. :) Cheers //Kris
I was waiting for this for a long time, Thomas was my favourite guitar tech, thank you for bring him in and for sure we have something new that we've learnt from him 🙏
Next to SRV's tech Rene Martinez this gentleman is my next fav. I would imagine cutting those strings at same time has inadvertently saved them from failure. It crimps ends of strings while cutting to keep the wrapped strings from separating from core. Anyone who has had a dead string or tuning issue and went crazy on nut and tuners etc only to find out is was a string issue knows what I'm talking about. One of those 1 in 10,000 freak things. Turned out my Swiss made flush cut jewellers pliers were to good cutting threw single strings. Switched to $2 harbor freight version and it's been 10 years since I've had that issue. Who knew. Lol. PS Thanks to Rene sharing his knowledge like this gentle man is I can rip and dive bomb the hell out of my 6 screw fenders without having a locking nut, locking tuners, trem lock or a block. Ibanez and Floyd Rose saves you from the 20 years of torture I endured. Great guitar😆
Wow, vielen vielen Dank 🥳🥳 Für den größten Vai- Fan wie mich ist mit diesem Video ein Traum in Erfüllung gegangen 🤤🤤
For Brazilians who are fans of Steve and your work, we would love Portuguese subtitles