McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Weirdo Guitar Question
meg_evonne:
I'd take the steel guitar strings off it and you could choke someone or sever their head with enough force. This weapon has a name, but I can't recall the name at this moment. It's a french name. Technically it wouldn't need to be charmed to do it. ;D
Umptyscope:
Meg_: A garotte. The thought had crossed my mind, though...
Starbeam: Hadn't thought about the strings issue. Hmm. So if the strings stretch over time and thus the guitar needs to be tuned, then, um, dern. I've just got a guy with a beat-up guitar (which could ricochet bullets or double as a toboggan, etc) but no "obvious" magic. Everyone'll just think he's a fan of Willie Nelson or something... :)
Thanks for the replies!
AverageGuy:
--- Quote from: Umptyscope on December 13, 2009, 06:34:01 PM -----As to the tuning, the main character would have to relearn how to make certain chords (to "work around" the out-of-tune strings.)...One: is that feasible?
--- End quote ---
That really depends on how it's out of tune. If a guitar's out of tune, it normally means in relation to the other strings. Do you play an instrument? It means one string will, when open (without a finger on it), be somewhere between E and F, or between C and C#. The other strings will be out of tune in different ways-- one will be halfway between the notes, one will be 1% off one note. Some of the top strings may be in tune; the bottom (thinner) strings normally stretch faster. Frets are spaced to automatically give you a half-step up, so the same relative out-of-tuneness will be kept no matter where you play on the string. Now, if it's a fretless guitar, or if he can remove the frets, he should be able to get around it just moving his fingers slightly, but he wouldn't need completely new fingering. If it's only slightly out of tune, that would be close enough to standard fretting for him not to have problems when playing on a new guitar.
You can tune a guitar to something other than the standard 12-tone for a specific song, and if it's out of tune as in specifically set to that tuning to play an experimental or non-western song, he'll be able to play any song which uses that tuning, but he's not going to be able to play your average song with an odd tuning. And it'll be just about impossible to play with anyone else without prior notice, and even then you're somewhat limited in your choice of instruments.
Sully:
tonewood(high grade wood used in instruments) is generally hardwood. Maple, Spruce, etc.
It'll be plenty hard enough for a good club.
Does your indestructible spell allow for no physical change at all?
Because the note a string resonates at when open(IE, no fingers on it) depends on the tension of the string. If it's a little loose, the note is a bit flat. A little tight, a little sharp. That's manipulated with the tuning pegs.
Would the strings be effected? Would they be unbreakable, AND untuneable? It isn't the same thing. Elastic vs Plastic limits and such.
The bridge is typically not perpendicular to the strings, it's adjustable and at an angle to facilitate correct intonation. Is that locked in place?
...Um, I'll the ex-music major, current engineering major will stop babbling now about lutherie, a hobby he comes at from both sides of his studies.
Umptyscope:
Wow! More responses! Cool!
I originally liked the idea of the character using the guitar to block sword thrusts, etc; but you've all raised good points. If it's indestructible, could the strings vibrate? If the strings vibrate, wouldn't they stretch? Etc.
The original idea was that the character was hired by a wizard to transport a magical item from Point A to Point B. The wizard cast the spell on the guitar to throw off any bad guy mages pursuing the character--if they did a "detect magic" kind of spell they'd think it was about the guitar.
The MC doesn't know this, though; he just thinks he was given a magical guitar, and he's genre-savvy enough to think it wil give him amazing musical abilities, etc. Nope. Just indestructable. And, since the guitar was out of tune when the spell was cast, the idea was that it would always be the same value of "out of tune" -- a couple of the notes off by, say, a note and a half. Hence new fingering, etc.
I guess I could weasel and say that instead of "indestructable" that the guitar "returns to it's previous state" the next day; but then, so much for parrying a mace. Hmmm. Maybe he just gets tired of retightening the same 2 strings and decides to "learn to play it wrong", or the spell was to make the guitar unbreakable, and not the strings or pegs, or, or, or...
Hmmm.
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