Hello Opeth fans!! Looking for some advice...

[Igornopolis]

I'm a huge fan of Metal music and Opeth of course and for the past year have learned how to play a guitar half decent. Opeth is probably my second or third biggest influence on the music I try to create. AIC, FNM and Tool being one of those as well. I got some questions as far as some minor details go of how Mikael and Peter got their guitars set up. I've just discovered these forums and I can tell there are a lot of guys that know a lot of technical guitar stuff and Opeth. I figure this IS the place to ask these questions.

I'm trying to put togeather a new guitar to jumpstart my Opeth influence a bit more. I'm buying a PRS custom guitar, the flat top one that retails for $550 with a tremolo unit. Couple of questions that I have are:

1) Which guage strings do they use on their PRS's? They tune down one whole step-D wether it's a DGCFAD or drop D-DADGBE so I'm thinking a bit higher guage. I use Dimebag DR strings(tighter than regular strings) 10-46 and tune 1/2 step down so I dont have the suckers flop all over the place. They play a lot of finger picking arpeggio type stuff in between distorted parts so their strings must be tight which would mean higher gauges. I used to play 11-54 on my Les Paul ZW to get me that fat tone but those were too big. I was thinking setting my PRS to 10-50 Dime DR strings. What do you think?

2) I'm torn up beetween which pickups to put in the axe. I'm thinking SH -10 or SH4 JB (Tool, Alice in Chains) in the Bridge, and between SH10 Neck and SH2 Jazz in the neck. Which pickup has more output JB or SH10 in the bridge? I cannot seem to find that on the Seymour Duncan website. I wanna be able to play more traditional chugga chugga metal too with this axe. I've played JB before and it can do it (Dave Mustaine). What about SH 10? Would it bee too "dry"? My main axe has got a Dimebucker in the bridge and it kills for the fast chugging as it has a ton of output. Cleans suck ass but oh well.

3) Where can I buy PRS locking tuners? They dont have them in the PRS online store. Which ones are my alternative for this axe if I cannot purchase the PRS ones? I dont wanna drill extra holes in this guitar by the way.

Sorry about all the techical shit but I'd appreciate some advice.
Opeth are fucking unbelievable and I'm glad to see a lot of fans taking notice of something special we got going with this band. Fucking shock and awe watching these guys play all that unique, complex ingeniously orchestrated shit live last year when I saw them in Chi-town. And of course the comedy hour with Mr. Akerfeldt. Got my money's worth...

OPETH!!!

 

[Mr. Bland]

I'm a guge fan too....

 

[metalbuns]

I found you!!! lol How you like my name? hehe And damn that was a lot of technical shit. I'm pretty sure someone on here knows enough about this shit to help you out though. good luck!

 

[Igornopolis]

You internat stalker you, Buns!! I need answers from the wise, not my ex girlfriend. Cute name though.

 

[metalbuns]

hey don't be hatin....I aint stalkin, you're the one who told me to check out this forum to begin with....and I wouldn't even BEGIN to try to give you answers bout your guitar shit....I was just basically sayin HI, aight?

 

[metal_wrath]

get a room, lol

you guys are crackin' me up

 

[Serhan_pnr]

I'm a huge fan of Metal music and Opeth of course and for the past year have learned how to play a guitar half decent. Opeth is probably my second or third biggest influence on the music I try to create. AIC, FNM and Tool being one of those as well. I got some questions as far as some minor details go of how Mikael and Peter got their guitars set up. I've just discovered these forums and I can tell there are a lot of guys that know a lot of technical guitar stuff and Opeth. I figure this IS the place to ask these questions.

I'm trying to put togeather a new guitar to jumpstart my Opeth influence a bit more. I'm buying a PRS custom guitar, the flat top one that retails for $550 with a tremolo unit. Couple of questions that I have are:

1) Which guage strings do they use on their PRS's? They tune down one whole step-D wether it's a DGCFAD or drop D-DADGBE so I'm thinking a bit higher guage. I use Dimebag DR strings(tighter than regular strings) 10-46 and tune 1/2 step down so I dont have the suckers flop all over the place. They play a lot of finger picking arpeggio type stuff in between distorted parts so their strings must be tight which would mean higher gauges. I used to play 11-54 on my Les Paul ZW to get me that fat tone but those were too big. I was thinking setting my PRS to 10-50 Dime DR strings. What do you think?

2) I'm torn up beetween which pickups to put in the axe. I'm thinking SH -10 or SH4 JB (Tool, Alice in Chains) in the Bridge, and between SH10 Neck and SH2 Jazz in the neck. Which pickup has more output JB or SH10 in the bridge? I cannot seem to find that on the Seymour Duncan website. I wanna be able to play more traditional chugga chugga metal too with this axe. I've played JB before and it can do it (Dave Mustaine). What about SH 10? Would it bee too "dry"? My main axe has got a Dimebucker in the bridge and it kills for the fast chugging as it has a ton of output. Cleans suck ass but oh well.

3) Where can I buy PRS locking tuners? They dont have them in the PRS online store. Which ones are my alternative for this axe if I cannot purchase the PRS ones? I dont wanna drill extra holes in this guitar by the way.

Sorry about all the techical shit but I'd appreciate some advice.
Opeth are fucking unbelievable and I'm glad to see a lot of fans taking notice of something special we got going with this band. Fucking shock and awe watching these guys play all that unique, complex ingeniously orchestrated shit live last year when I saw them in Chi-town. And of course the comedy hour with Mr. Akerfeldt. Got my money's worth...

OPETH!!!

1) they use dadario 010 electrics and dr. thomastik 011. they tune down E to D in some of the songs(DADGBE).
2) i don't know which pickups they use but i think your guitar's own pickups must be quite good.
3) i've no idea..

 

[RiffBoy]

2) You can listen to them all here:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/SDToneWizard/hummer.shtml
Just scroll down a bit on the page... and then click on the pickup selections to hear mp3-s of all SD pickups!

Opeth uses clean channels on their Laney amps but puts the guitars through a "Boss GT-6" for distorted sound. That could perhaps lead you in the right direction.

I use SH11 (CustomCustom) -bridge, and a SH5 (Custom) -neck on my "metal" guitar
(<-- see my avatar there at the left!)
- and a SH1 ('59) -bridge and a SH2 (Jazz) -neck in my "rock" guitar!
Really like those combinations!

A friend of mine uses a SH6 (Distortion) at the bridge for fast jumping low riffing, and that is something HE raves about...

I prefer the build and finish and feel and sounds and necks of the American built Hamer guitars that I've got. (I'm referring to the ones built after -97, when they moved and became a sort of custom shop workshop).
(www.hamerguitars.com)
The PRS's are nice, but lesser guitars in my opinon (and yes, I've tried a bunch of them). I guess I'm a sucker for really high handbuilt quality.
Dont get me wrong... I LOVE Opeth but they are missing out in the guitar departement (... their loss!!)



So, good luck sound hunting!

 

[DDarkie]

I created this thread I while ago, I think that it can help u:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/opeth/277203-opeth-s-equipment-thread.html


I don't know anything about the pickups either, but Google it and u'll probably find some info. And well, in the mean time, RiffBoy added that info, I guess.

And, in most of the songs, they have the guitars tuned to E Standart (EADGBE). And then it's what Serhan_pnr said.

 

[unforseenenmity]

I can't answer many of your questions, but with regards to tuning: I don't think Opeth have ever used the DGCFAD tuning you mentioned. On the new album, they used an open D-minor tuning with an added ninth (DADFAE), being a guitar player myself, I asked Mike about that once. There are tabs out there though which use full open D minor (DADFAD), and they sound very accurate indeed, very talented people out there! I think the only songs on the new album in standard tuning are Beneath the Mire, Atonement and Hours of Wealth.

The only songs they play in with a dropped-D tuning are Demon of the Fall and Blackwater Park, as far as I'm aware.

Opeth is huge fun to play though. At the moment I'm learning The Leper Affinity, and I've managed to play some of the solos from When, Beneath the Mire and The Funeral Portrait. I'm by no means a hugely talented player though and I need to work on them more, my playing is very sloppy at the moment.

 

[Igornopolis]

Ok guys, thanks a bunch!! I appreciate it. I'll see you around!!

 

[Erion]

1) They use D'Addario 10's and DR Thomastik 11's. They use standard E tuning for all their songs, except Demon of the Fall and Blackwater Park (in Dropped D) and the whole Ghost Reveries album (in open Dmin, DADFAD), except Atonement and Hours of Wealth. They also played some songs (from Damnation) with a capo on the 2nd fret.

2) They have all their guitars with stock pickups (that means HFS and Vintage on the PRS, and Burstbuckers on the Gibson), except Mikael's blue PRS Custom 24. He has a pair of Seymour Duncan SH-10 Full Shred pickups on it (yeah, SH-10 on the bridge and on the neck).

3) As far as I know, you can get PRS hardware from PRS authorized dealers.

If you get all that things (and with good amp settings), you'll get a similar sound to Opeth, but not exactly the same, 'cause of the woods and quality of the guitar and of course, of the hands!!!

 

[Kenneth R.]

Um.... don't waste $550 on a PRS. if you're going to buy a PRS, buy a REAL one. There's a lot of better guitars you can get at that price. Or you can get a kickass PRS for twice the price.