Mod to improve track

[prz]

So, took the YRG for a long trip (6 weeks) to Australia and managed maybe 2 hours daily playing on it.
So, here's the practice experience and an interesting mod coming from it. Kind of not very
structured, just as things came to my mind.

0. Good thing. It is not a 'real' guitar but as travel guitar it is most wonderful. I worked out on a lot
advanced chords, finger picking & pentatonic and it did a very good job 6 weeks non-stop.

1. It is easy on hands, especially left one. Do not think that after playing it you can play real
guitar (well, maybe very low action, very low tension you can) but to repeat things a lot it
is much better than wearing your hands out on steel strings.

2. Once you go above 5th fret, harmonies start to sound off. Probably some extrapolation issues.
So strumming barree above G is OK for practice but ain't a pleasure. Also, on higher frets barree
on quick changes tracking struggles.

2. It ain't liking being knocked on the neck, even slightly. I assume that the internal neck connector
detaches quickly or something. I kind of 'lost' some presets that way, when I tune into them, they don't
work anymore, i.e. fretboard is not tracking anymore. No prob, just using other preset numbers.

3. It takes lots of time to get string tension right & the string gain parameters, especially for
finger picking. I started adjusting by 1/4 turns but it is more like 1/16th of the turn. Eventually
you can get it working about 95% so for fingerpicking patterns it is not bad at all. I even worked
out 2-3 classical pieces out on it. Read on for an important 'MOD' I did as well. Without the MOD,
adjusting string tension did not help much. Each time I picked the guitar up it tracked
differently.

4. It eats batteries (but less than my real acoustic/electric) so get 2 sets of rechargeables on a trip.

5. So, here's the all important MOD I did on the road. I had troubles to get finger picking
tracking working. The thing would track from day to day differently. Ended up taking the
whole mechanism apart & analyzing it. So first, don't touch the back cover, nothing of
interest there. The front cover is the issue.

a. I don't know whether it's a manufacturing problem or design or something. In front
there are small acceleration sensors on the strings. Those are loosely fitted and between
the meter & the top cover there are about 5mm of space. The gravitometers basically
move forward and backwards on the string & they change angle because of the space.
In my opinion, that contributed tons to the erratic tracking.

b. So what I did I basically fixed this space. Took some experimentation but what you
want is some rather firm material but still yielding well but 'springs' back.
Paper is either too soft or
wears into a shape. Metal/plastic is too hard. I ended up using very thick band-aid (schole) to
cut a strip that fits over the sensors and is pressed rather tightly by the front cover.
Look at the photos. Tracking on fingerpicking improved dramatically, albeit it still
looses 3-5% (which is not bad, it forces you to pick very precisely which improves
the technqiue on real guitar for me).

So, that's 'nuff info. Look @ photos for more

Overall, a good buy for what it is. Already the MIDI tracking is worth the price.
Especially since it's first time I have MIDI tracking basically real time when playing.

--- tony

[bob1474]

Hi - Have had the yrg for just a little while, and while trying to "tweak" it in found that the D string was not tracking as well as the others, even after adjusting settings such as string tension,software items. Before I ran accross this topic,being experimental, I found that if I wedged a small bit of "foam" such as that found in protective cases, just between the "pickup" and the neck side of the cavity,(seems to keep the pickup from "drifting"  ) tracking balanced out for the D string without adding other artifacts such as drastic volume changes or similar things. I'm gong to experiment more with this idea later as I become more familiar with this instrument and as necessity requires. But for now I can Ditto prz's findings in general.
      O.K. I've been "tweaking" again and have been very happy with the results! I've found, building on prz's suggestion, that a strip of VELCRO works great for "balancing" the strings. I've placed a strip of VELCRO (The "soft fuzzy side) across all six strings right above the pickups and then replaced the pickup cover. I did NOT remove the paper backing and actually stick the Velcro to the pickup cover!!! I then mde shure the pickups were "seated" towards the tailpiece. VERY GENTLY pushing them towards the tailpiece and then making shure they were all horizontal with the strings. The Velcro strip seems to just be enough to keep the pickups from "drifting" out of place, and stabilizes the reaction of the pickups to the strings without applying undo pressure. I have used a pick and finger picked with MUCH more accuracy than before this little MOD. I am a "light" player- I use a thin pick and a genter touch while finger picking-so rsults may vary, but I feel with a little more understanding and a bit more "tweaking" of the strings/software, the yrg will be one amazing piece of gear that I can use in the real world. If anyone else tries this-please post your results to compare notes and maybe improve a bit more.
     Another side note- This company has been nothing short of great (and fast) in responding to my questions so far. It is hard these days to actually find a company that DOES care about thier products-quite refreshing!!!

[alfaalex101]

Just tried this out - works very well, I know this will be implemented in gen 2. I still have some issues but the difference this mod makes is noticeable.

[shanesong]

Thanks guys for giving me courage to mod the yrg. I finger pick - no artifical aids just my fingers. I tried your methods and they did give some success but I didn't have quite the right velcro etc to hand so in the end I used slices of cardboard (funnily enough from an amazon book package - tear strip actually) to slip in just behind pickups. I gave them a little flatten and then squeezed them GENTLY in. Funnily enough not all the strings but the 2,3,4 and 6th ones. I probably lose a little velocity control but nothing I can't live with. I did have to play around with string tension a bit to get an even sound volume but the tracking I am getting now is soooo much better as I had stopped using the YRG altogether because the dead notes on soft playing were driving me crazy. Hopes this helps others have the courage too.

[SVH]

Very informative and good to know! Thanks for sharing!

[adrstudio]

I just tried and it improve a lot the tracking. Fell like I have now a YRG Gen 1.5   or better a YRG Gen 1.5 PRZ  

I used Velcro and works great. I feel also that I lost a little of velocity control on very soft touches but as I use it controlling a Alesis QSR Synth  that is super velocity sensitive it is fine, actually get better, I can change the velocity curve on QSR. Looks like stopped some double trigger.

Also had stopped some buzz I use to have from the strings A and D.

[SVH]

Very cooL!