Guitar of the week #103: Epiphone Wildkat Koa

This is one of the better Epiphone semi-hollow body guitars in arguably the most ritzy look available.

When you want a guitar with "the jangle" for that rockabilly tone at a more-than-fair price point, Epiphone Wildkat delivers.

The Wildkat comes in a natural finish mahogany body with a maple top. Model ETKWNAGH3 is also a natural finish but using a koa wood top. And to spice things up even further, there's gold hardware everywhere which includes the Bigsby vibrato system.

Does the koa top wood affect the tone at all?

Given the pickups are fully potted, I seriously doubt it.

The regular production Wildkat has a mahogany body with maple top. This one is the same but with a koa top.

I've not played the guitar, but to the best of my knowledge, there should be little to no difference tone-wise on the Wildkat between maple and koa.

To be more specific, what I believe may happen is that the player (you) may physically feel slightly more body resonance and hear a slightly louder acoustic tone. But as for what actually gets output to the amplifier, that will probably sound just the same as the maple top. Bear in mind the body wood is still the same and that this is a semi-hollow with the same center block as the regular model.

In other words, this is the Wildkat you buy when you want a nice marriage of koa with gold hardware. And you've got to admit, it looks pretty darned good. It definitely looks much more expensive than what it sells for.

Great guitar all around, and certainly a future collectible.

Dunlop DEN0838 guitar strings review

It looks like that I'm a D'Addario convert.

For a good long while I played nothing but Dunlop DEN0942, which is a 9-42 sized set. Then I decided to try D'Addario EXL130+ which is an 8.5-39 set. I liked it, but I went one size smaller to the D'Addario EXL130 which is 8-38, and that agreed with me very well.

Since the EXL130 was so good, I figured the same sized set from Dunlop, the DEN0838, would be even better.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

While the 9-42 from Dunlop was amazing, the 8-38 didn't really cut it.

In a very short period of time, the 8-38 set wore out. Brightness gone, tension stability gone... it just was not good. While I understand all guitar strings wear out, these wore out really fast.

Another thing that surprised me is the break-in time. The 9-42 set would always break in very quickly. The 8-38 set did not.

In the end, the 9-42 set from Dunlop was great, but for whatever reason the 8-38 set was just terrible.

I'll be trying other 8-38 sets later on, but for now, I'm sticking with D'Addario EXL130.

Guitar of the week #102: Eastwood Sidejack 300

Eastwood Guitars is known for making wacky guitars, but fortunately this one has a more conservative design to it.

The Sidejack 300 model is a guitar Eastwood should be building more often. Priced nice (it truly is), styled right, and without a doubt it does look more ritzy that the standard Fender Telecaster.

You look at a Tele and you see just a plain old Tele. You see the Sidejack 300 and you don't think "plain old Tele". There's a lot more going on here, starting with that bound neck with a shape that slants at the heel next to the front side valco open humbucker. Then you see the 4-knob control layout, the very nicely placed selector switch on the bottom horn, the fact there's actually a truss rod cover (Telecasters don't have that), and yeah, this guitar is good.

Also, the scale length is 24.75" like a Les Paul and not a like Tele, which for many players is the preferred scale.

I only have 2 complaints about the guitar. I don't like the tuner buttons (I wish they were more squat and chrome) and I don't like the output jack on the front. For a Tele style body, the side-mounted jack is preferred. And yeah, this is called the Sidejack yet the output jack isn't on the side...? Weird.

Other than that, good guitar. Definitely not just another Tele copy.

How to get the surf guitar drip sound

This is a cool sound. But is the Jazzmaster guitar required to get it?

Something I've been working on lately is to get more "drip" sound out of my Jazzmaster.

The surf guitar drip sound is a combination of effect settings and playing style. But before I get into that, no, the Jazzmaster is not required to get the sound...

...but it helps. A lot.

Which guitar to use?

The drip sound comes easy to traditional Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars because they "ping" the reverb easiest.

What I mean by "traditional" Jazz and Jag are the ones that have single-coil pickups with 1meg pots that makes for an absolutely ridiculous amount of treble response. Both the Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster and Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar have these traditional pickups and electronics.

However, it is totally possible to use a Stratocaster or Telecaster as both those guitars also have single-coil pickups with electronics that have excellent treble response. The treble isn't as "hot" as the Jazz or the Jag, but it's definitely good enough.

Where dual-coil (humbucker) guitars are concerned, you'll need something with a lot of treble to it, which is something dual-coil pickups aren't usually voiced to do. Well, not unless it's a Gretsch or maybe an Epiphone Sheraton.

Which effects to use?

Spring reverb or a really good spring reverb clone is required. The spring reverb on my DigiTech RP360 is pretty convincing. In pedal form, the BOSS FRV-1 is the best of the lot.

And as far as an actual amp, the real deal is the Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb or the large-and-loud Fender '65 Twin Reverb.

Technically, any amp with a real reverb tank in it can get the job done. But to get a surf sound, the amp has to be pushed fairly hard so the tank springs vibrate more.

For example, my Fender Frontman 212R has a real reverb tank in it. But to "make it surf", significant volume is required. I live in an apartment, so when recording I use the DigiTech instead. And it works fine.

Also, a tip. For extra punch to make for more drip, use a compressor effect.

What technique to use?

The goal is to make the guitar sound like musical water dripping.

Palm muting is required to do this and a lot of it.

What will happen when you mute notes and chords is that you will experience some soreness on your picking hand palm from constantly resting on the strings to mute them. This is totally normal. You get used to it eventually.

The most drip sound happens on the plain strings since higher notes result in "pinging" the reverb more. And since you're using a very generous amount of reverb, higher notes are required to cut through the reverb so it doesn't sound like a muddy mess.

When you first do this, yes, it will sound like a muddy mess. This is not like playing muted power chord 5ths with distortion. It is something that requires more finesse to get right. Fortunately, it doesn't require a crazy amount of practice to do. This isn't rock soloing but rather just a way to ping that reverb as much as possible to make that cool drip sound.

Lastly, I'll say that if you're using to playing rock, you have to unlearn that a bit when going for a drip sound.

Instead of going for sustain, you go for super-short quick notes.

Instead of going for full-bodied chords, you go for smaller chords with fewer notes that are spread out.

Instead of filling every space with the sound of guitar, you have to learn when to pause and play nothing. Why? So you can actually hear the reverb fading out, as that is part of the drip sound.

What does this sound like?

See the video Surf guitar drip sound on Squier Jazzmaster.

How to set pickup height properly

There are 2 ways to do this. I'll be explaining both.

Method #1: Height of the fretboard

Adjusting the pickup height to match the fretboard does work on many guitars, provided there are no pickup rings getting in the way.

While not "correct" to some, it is the fastest way to get the job done.

Method #2: Wound string side down, plain string side up

This is the method I use personally. You'll notice the pickups are leaned where the height is adjusted lower for the wound strings and higher for the plain strings.

This is the method most players consider "correct".

For pickups with greater magnetic pull, the wound strings when plucked will produce a warble-like sound if the pickup is set too high. If for example you play your 6 (low E) string on the 12th fret and hear a warbling noise, as if two notes were playing at once slightly out-of-tune with each other, the string is too close to the pickup and needs to be backed off.

How much lean is necessary for method 2?

This is where things get interesting.

Pickups described as having "vintage" output indicates low output, meaning not too much lean is necessary to avoid the warbling sound on the wound strings.

Pickups described as "hot" indicates a high output, meaning more lean on the wound string side is necessary since the magnetic pull is greater.

A few words about alnico magnets

Where alnico magnets are concerned, the higher the number, the greater the magnetic pull. The most common is the alnico 5, followed by alnico 3. The least common is the alnico 2. Remember, alnico is not a company but a description of the magnet materials aluminum, nickel and cobalt (take the first 2 letters of each and that spells alnico).

Where Squier guitars are concerned, alnico 5 magnets can be found in the Squier Classic Vibe '60s Stratocaster and alnico 3 in the Squier Classic Vibe '50s Stratocaster. And yes, that does mean the '60s Strat has a greater output compared to the '50s. That doesn't make the '60s any better nor worse than the '50s. It's just a different output.

Generally speaking, most players like alnico 5 because it has the "hottest" output. But that means you have to lean the wound string side of the pickup down a fair amount to get rid of the warbling sound.

While using alnico 3 or 2 means you can raise the wound string side of the pickup higher, the tradeoff is that most of the time you lose treble response compared to an alnico 5.

What about pickups with ceramic magnets?

Adjust the pickups the same as you would for alnico. If you hear warbling on the wound strings when fretted at the 12th, lower the pickup it until the warbling sound diminishes enough to your satisfaction.

What else happens if the pickups are set too high?

Tuning and intonation issues.

On an audio-based tuner (as in one you plug into), a warbled note will always be fluctuating, making to-the-note tuning almost impossible.

With intonation, the same applies. Warbled notes result in making it very difficult to intonate the guitar.

"I don't get enough pickup response when my pickups are set lower to avoid the note warbling. What do I do?"

Use a compressor. The cheap way is a Behringer CS400. The mid-priced way is the MXR Dyna Comp. The expensive (and best) way is the BOSS CS-3.

Know that you don't have to "max out" a compressor. Light compression is just fine to get that extra boost and punch when playing clean, overdriven or distorted.