A plea for a courtesy paragraph break now and then

[ssjk]

Folks make a real effort to post valuable thoughts or information here, and I am appreciative. But I can't be the only one who misses a bunch of great things just because I can't get myself to read a massive block of text. Please?

[ssjk]

This, stolen from Glennwillow in another current thread, is a great example of a long but easily followed post.

------

Some people just like premium things. So if that is you, Gotoh 510 tuners are certainly premium tuners. They feel good under your fingers, they are precise, the tuner knobs never hurt your fingers because too much effort is required.

I have two Taylor guitars and have never felt inclined to change those tuners because, I think, in general Taylor's tuners have a pretty good gear ratio on the tuners. So the Taylor tuners never hurt my fingers.

I have a Santa Cruz OM/PW that has tuners with a fairly low gear ratio, like the prewar guitars had. I am not sure what that ratio is on my OM/PW, but probably on the order of 13:1. The tuners on this guitar hurt my fingers at times. (I know, I am getting old. ) So this is one guitar, as much as I love this guitar, that could really use some higher ratio Gotoh tuners. It would feel so much better.

But tuning stability? Even as hard to turn as the OM/PW tuners can sometimes feel, tuning stability on this guitar is not an issue and never has been.

Wade Hampton Miller on the AGF is quite the expert on Gotoh tuners. He advised me a long time ago that I could purchase some Gotoh 18:1 tuners that would fit onto the headstock of my old 1967 Martin D-35 which has the original sealed Grover tuners. I did buy the replacement Gotoh tuners and they fit beautifully, but because they are lighter than the original Grovers and probably because I tightened everything up more when installing the Gotoh tuners, the sound of my old D-35 changed quite dramatically. It seemed as if the guitar lost all kinds of bass, which is one of the things I always loved about this old D-35. Probably what really happened is that it picked up all kinds of treble response, which changed the relative sonic balance of the guitar. Either way, my wife noticed the change immediately -- "What happened to your guitar?!!" she said. I liked the feel of the Gotohs for sure.

But I took the Gotohs off, put the Grovers back on, got the sound back on the guitar, and put the Gotohs in a drawer where they remain today, several years later. I should sell them. The sound of the guitar was more important to me than having an 18:1 gear ratio. Again, regarding tuning stability, my old D-35 has no tuning stability issues. It just takes more effort to turn the tuners.

I have some custom built guitars with very nice tuners -- my Sheppard has 21:1 Gotoh tuners and my Olson has 18:1 Schaller tuners. There is no question that these tuners feel very good under my fingers and that they are a joy to use.

To me justification for purchasing 3rd party premium tuners is a matter of personal preference. I have a Voyage-Air VAOM-06 with fairly cheap tuners with a fairly low gear ratio. They work, but I keep thinking, I should put those Gotoh tuners on this guitar that I took off the D-35. I would have to drill some new holes, and that holds me back a little. Meantime, those Gotoh 510 tuners are still in that drawer.

[ssjk]

this is the same post with no breaks. Good luck

Some people just like premium things. So if that is you, Gotoh 510 tuners are certainly premium tuners. They feel good under your fingers, they are precise, the tuner knobs never hurt your fingers because too much effort is required.
I have two Taylor guitars and have never felt inclined to change those tuners because, I think, in general Taylor's tuners have a pretty good gear ratio on the tuners. So the Taylor tuners never hurt my fingers. I have a Santa Cruz OM/PW that has tuners with a fairly low gear ratio, like the prewar guitars had. I am not sure what that ratio is on my OM/PW, but probably on the order of 13:1. The tuners on this guitar hurt my fingers at times. (I know, I am getting old. ) So this is one guitar, as much as I love this guitar, that could really use some higher ratio Gotoh tuners. It would feel so much better. But tuning stability? Even as hard to turn as the OM/PW tuners can sometimes feel, tuning stability on this guitar is not an issue and never has been. Wade Hampton Miller on the AGF is quite the expert on Gotoh tuners. He advised me a long time ago that I could purchase some Gotoh 18:1 tuners that would fit onto the headstock of my old 1967 Martin D-35 which has the original sealed Grover tuners. I did buy the replacement Gotoh tuners and they fit beautifully, but because they are lighter than the original Grovers and probably because I tightened everything up more when installing the Gotoh tuners, the sound of my old D-35 changed quite dramatically. It seemed as if the guitar lost all kinds of bass, which is one of the things I always loved about this old D-35. Probably what really happened is that it picked up all kinds of treble response, which changed the relative sonic balance of the guitar. Either way, my wife noticed the change immediately -- "What happened to your guitar?!!" she said. I liked the feel of the Gotohs for sure. But I took the Gotohs off, put the Grovers back on, got the sound back on the guitar, and put the Gotohs in a drawer where they remain today, several years later. I should sell them. The sound of the guitar was more important to me than having an 18:1 gear ratio. Again, regarding tuning stability, my old D-35 has no tuning stability issues. It just takes more effort to turn the tuners. I have some custom built guitars with very nice tuners -- my Sheppard has 21:1 Gotoh tuners and my Olson has 18:1 Schaller tuners. There is no question that these tuners feel very good under my fingers and that they are a joy to use. To me justification for purchasing 3rd party premium tuners is a matter of personal preference. I have a Voyage-Air VAOM-06 with fairly cheap tuners with a fairly low gear ratio. They work, but I keep thinking, I should put those Gotoh tuners on this guitar that I took off the D-35. I would have to drill some new holes, and that holds me back a little. Meantime, those Gotoh 510 tuners are still in that drawer.

[Rodger Knox]

Originally Posted by ssjk

Folks make a real effort to post valuable thoughts or information here, and I am appreciative. But I can't be the only one who misses a bunch of great things just because I can't get myself to read a massive block of text. Please?

You're not alone...

[ManyMartinMan]

Great suggestion. Good luck . Apparently some computers don't have punctuation, shift key, paragraph breaks, spell check...................

[Misifus]

Right! The point of paragraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, punctuation, and all that other stuff, is to make what we write easier to read and understand. We’re way past the point of worrying about teachers and tests. This is just so we can understand each other. Let’s try.

[_zedagive]

I don't even read a long post with no paragraph breaks. Just too hard on my brain to get through it.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by ssjk

Folks make a real effort to post valuable thoughts or information here, and I am appreciative. But I can't be the only one who misses a bunch of great things just because I can't get myself to read a massive block of text. Please?

You're not the only person who has difficulty with this, which is why I tend (or at least TRY) to write short, punchy paragraphs with sufficient space in between them to allow a bit of breather here and there.

Like that....

That's also the reason why I try to post photos or illustrations at regular intervals, which are either relevant to the topic, which on this forum is usually about one of these things:

˙˙˙

or else some other totally different image in an attempt to try to inject some humor into the post.

But I agree that long, massive grey blocks of text are difficult to read. I only ever try to slog my way through them when I'm exceptionally interested in the topic.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Inyo]

Originally Posted by ssjk

Folks make a real effort to post valuable thoughts or information here, and I am appreciative. But I can't be the only one who misses a bunch of great things just because I can't get myself to read a massive block of text. Please?

"Folks make a real effort to post valuable thoughts or information here, and I am appreciative.

"But I can't be the only one who misses a bunch of great things just because I can't get myself to read a massive block of text.

"Please?"

Fixed that for ya.

[Optofonik]

From your lips to god's ear.

The oft overlooked semicolon, an incredibly utilitarian bit of punctuation, goes a long way as well; creating a grammatical moment to briefly reflect without completely interrupting a thought.

[Tico]

Thank you!!!
I'm going to send you a check for a billion dollars!!!

I take the readability thing a bit further when posting.
I do a "carriage return" after nearly every sentence.
Then I separate my paragraphs by an extra line of empty space.

Technically this is incorrect, but IMO makes it easier to read on screen.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Tico

Thank you!!!
I'm going to send you a check for a billion dollars!!!

I even take the readability thing a bit further when posting on fora.
I do a "carriage return" after nearly every sentence.

Technically this is incorrect, but IMO makes it easier to read on screen.

Thank you.

As long as you don't put a question mark after every sentence as someone was doing here for a while.

Examples, but not direct quotes:

I put on D'addario's. They are great strings?

I think its a good idea?

That was driving me crazy,

[Tico]

Originally Posted by TBman

Thank you.

As long as you don't put a question mark after every sentence as someone was doing here for a while.

Examples, but not direct quotes:

That was driving me crazy,

TB, that would drive me crazy too.
Another thing that drives me crazy is phrasing thread titles as if there is one single correct answer that applies to everyone ... as if people didn't vary, or the thing in question is anything more than personal preference or opinion.

Examples:
What is the best back and side wood for guitars?
Do brand X strings sound too dull?
Do brand Y strings sound too bright?
Is upgrading to bone nut and saddle worth it?
What is the right number of guitars to own?

I really try to bite my tongue (fingers?) instead of posting in huge red uppercase letters, "People Vary".

[KevWind]

I agree a massive block of text is off putting. Like the Dixie Chicks said

"Give me........ wide........... open.................. spaces"

[Wade Hampton]

Of course, some folks aren’t going to read longer posts, regardless of how well spaced and brief the paragraphs are. I used to be very active on the UseNet newsgroup rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic (RMMGA) and one day some newcomer came on and posted a kind of offbeat technical question.

I forget what it was about, but I happened to know the answer, so I answered it in my usual thorough way. No response from the OP.

We were all a bunch of smart alecks on RMMGA, and most of the other people responding were making jokes. Which was par for the course for that newsgroup, but no one was being malicious.

Well, the OP showed up and was offended, and told us as much. “Why haven’t any of you answered my question?!?” he demanded.

I wrote back: “Evidently you missed it, but I answered your question in great detail a few posts back.”

The next day the guy posted again and told us in remarkably pungent language which bodily orifice we all resembled, because none of us had answered his question. That’s when I suddenly understood: he was only reading those posts that were two or three succinct sentences long. He’d skipped anything longer. Even though my post had the information he needed, he hadn’t read it, and WASN’T going to read it.

I guess it had too much information for his tiny little attention span to process.

Oh, well - I tried.


whm