Not just yet, but I think something like this could fly here soon.

Everything. Electrics, acoustics, strings, amps, pedals, EFX, theory, technique.

What say ye?

Ideas... devil's advocates...

The idea might be that we start a general forum, and then as it grows - maybe in 6 months or a year - we spawn separate forums for Bass, Electric guitars and Acoustics.

Just thinkin' out loud.

Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

I like the idea in general.

The devils advocate part though is if it would turn into alot of "which guitar or bass is better for $400 or less?"

It seemed to me your forum vision (What is Studio Forums? thread) was trying to stay more out of this area but I doubt it would be a problem here.

So I say two thumbs up but I see I can only post one thumb up on my message icon.

I think it could be good, but in the context of overall studio forums - i.e. what to do with it when recording more than just hey what guitar should I buy.

Of course it also depends on how much traffic you want to get in each forum, or whether you want to use a new forum to specifically go out and get more traffic.

-Dan

I've got guitar questions right now and am wondering which Forum to post them in. So I'm up for it. In the mean time, I'll figure something out.

Sounds good.

JoeSixpack songs
"It was a saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest"-Plutarch

I get the impression that people here tend to be more knowledgeable than not - they know they're going to pick up Strat pickups, say, just not sure which ones, the Bill Lawrence or the Fender Custom Shops, you know?

Playing devil's advocate - why segregate this way? Why not an general instruments forum, rather than e. guitar/a. guitar/e. bass/a. bass/etc etc...? If the focus of this site is on recording, I'd rather see discussions of instruments in the context of recording. For example, I don't know how to work a B3 and therefore I don't know how to convincingly work a Hammond emulator. I don't want to know the deep stuff - just enough to satisfy my recording needs. Sort of more of an emphasis on how do I use, rather than what kind of strings, you know?

Just a thought. This BBS is different. Let's keep it a little different.

My songs

I know what your saying Flatcat. I was just over at HC. There are so many forums there.
I posted my guitar question in the DIY forum here. Since it was a repair type question.

JoeSixpack songs
"It was a saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest"-Plutarch

Mmmm...while I think recording gear is certainly a personal choice, instruments is more so...

I definately think it should be an "instruments" forum...I know I see more posts asking about keyboards than guitar/bass...once you reach a certain level of playing, you kinda know what you're looking for with guitar. No one who loves SRV is going to consider a Les Paul/Boogie combo and wonder why they're not getting the sound...

I think players are pretty good about going down to the store and playing stuff until they find their sound. But, most of the recording BBS seem to be musicians who are green about recording needing advice-something they can't go down to Guitar Center and play around with.

I see so many "I love Elixir strings" posts...I don't like'em at all. What's the best string is really so personal that the only thing you can really do is go buy a bunch for YOUR guitar and play them through your amp. Know what I mean?

But, I can go ahead and tell you my rules:

Keyboard= Kurzweil or Roland
Guitar= Fender, Martin, or Taylor
Bass= fretless-humbucker on the bridge a big plus
Guitar amp= must be all tube. Preferrably Fender, Marshall, DrZ, or Matchless.
Strings= D'Addarrio on guitar; RotoSound on bass

There we go, my whole position in less than one paragraph.

I think a guitar, bass and keyboard forum need to go up.

--Steve, publisher of Mojo Pie
www.mojopie.com

It would be kinda neat if there were other forums like amps, guitars, acoustic guitars, etc,...
Especially if it stays in the context of recording. Like if someone has a question about trying out different mics for a certain acoustic guitar, or discussing which amp they got great results in recording a certain type of sound,....they can go to a more specific forum. Or if they wanna talk Amps, in the context of recording(which tubes, speakers, etc,..)as opposed to live applications where all everyone talks about is who has more watts and who has the most full stacks. Just some thoughts.

Aren't those the issues that are ordinarilly covered anyway? I seen Micing as something that is discussed regularly. Almost a meat and potatoes topic.

JoeSixpack songs
"It was a saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest"-Plutarch

Why not have a place where like musicians can shoot the breeze about whatever specific instrument they'd like to?

You can have seperate forums for guitarists, basssists, keyboardists, vocalists....and, of course, panpipers, bassoonists, mouth harpers and kazooists. Well okay, maybe not kazooists.

In all seriousness, it's a good idea. There can even be some related names, like The KeyBoard, The Bassment, etc.

Another thought is to have neatly linked faqs for well covered issues and/or reviews, such as Get Out Of The Box.....that could be in the Builders Square Forum.

Like anything, there will be pros and cons, such as:

Pro: It'll bring more creative minds (traffic) to SF.

Con: The site's substance might become diluted.

There will undoubtedly be those post regarding which is the best $49.00 guitar (even though we all know it's a vintage Sears Silvertone). But no one will be forced to read or reply.

And, if the personality makeup of the site as it currently is remains similar, it can only enhance the site.

The Madguitrst has left the building

The Madguitrst has left the building

How about an Unplugged forum? Cool, interesting, and we all save on our electric bills!

Forever looking for that perfect take...........

Ya I definitely like the idea as far as talking about instrument stuff with the crowd that uses this site, I'm just afraid of it turning into HC forums. It's really difficult to find anything worthwhile there without the search function. If you just want to peruse you have to go through like the first 5 pages just to view all of that day's threads. I don't know, I think it could work, but maybe as a single instrument forum to see how it does and go from there

The Sweaty Dudes

Of course I'd have to ask for drums/perc. to be thrown into the mix, what say ye?

Stixxs

www.stillwater-studios.com

I'm with stubbadub on this one. One forum allows you to quickly scan for items of interest. It should be focused on instruments and their relationship to the recording process, as there are other forums out there much more specific to guitar or instruments (for repair etc.). Just my 2c. What attracted me to this site in the first place was it's very specific nature about recording. You tend to get diluted with too many different forums.
just my very humble opinion....

I agree about the dilution problem. I don't want SF to be like HC, and I want everything here to apply to recording. "Live" has it's own feel and vibe - and that's not why we're here.

How about a forum called "Studio Instruments" or "Instruments in the Studio". Something like that.

And not look to split it off into other forums. Just let that one forum be it.

Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

Dot

sounds good mate, go for it!

Brendan

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dot:
...and I want everything here to apply to recording. "Live" has it's own feel and vibe - and that's not why we're here.

How about a forum called "Studio Instruments" or "Instruments in the Studio". Something like that.

And not look to split it off into other forums. Just let that one forum be it.

Dan Richards

---

I like that idea the best.

Later,

Joel

God Bless America

Well, sitting here twiddling my thumbs - I've been thinking. Every piece of gear in a studio is an instrument. It's all "gear". And as it applies to recording, I don't see any reason not to just continue threads about instruments in the Recording Forum.

I mean, if someone's looking for a new keyboard...what's the difference between that and a new compressor? So, someone wants to know how to get a certain kind of guitar tone or mic their amp in a different way - that's all the same thing, and we cover that in the Recording Forum. A studio is ultimately nothing but a big "instrument".

If someone wants to get a new snare or modify the one they have - that's clearly in the domain of the Recording Forum.

Flatwounds or roundwounds for your bass - hey, start a thread in the Recording Forum - we can handle it.

And there are also similar type threads in the Mojo Pie forum and probably even a few in OT.

The problem I see - because we do want to keep Studio Forums all recording related - is that since everything is so inter-related I can see not only the Recording Forum losing some steam because of a new "instruments" forum, but also the two kind of overlapping too much, and becoming confusing.

I'd honestly rather keep Studio Forums a bit cozy, and not spread everything out too much.

I certainly don't know everything, but I have quite a bit of virtual-community building experience, have worked closely with Howard Rheingold for years, and was a highly-paid community director during the dotcom boom. I know about growing communities, and often what works and what doesn't - from experience.

Sometimes what seems like an obviously good idea is not necessarily the best thing in the overall picture.

That's how things are looking to me at the moment.

Dan Richards
Digital Pro Sound
The Listening Sessions

[This message was edited by Dot on 11-26-03 at 01:24 AM.]

Sounds good to me. Something I noticed when I posted my question in the TECH 101 board here regarding a pick up for an old guitar. I got a number of responses quickly, and many were very helpful. (The part I need is more rare than I thought.)

As a test, I posted a similar post in the HC Guitar Forum within 1/2 an hour of posting here. It was on page 2 about 45 minutes later. Now it's on page 9 and has still not been viewed.

They list over 39,000 members there at HC!! It's easy to get lost. This virtual community is around, what, 550. Already. SF still works well. I'm sure it will continue to.

Whatever you decide, good luck and Thanks.

JoeSixpack songs