Keyless Technology

[Billy Poteet]

I am curious to what you guys thing of the
keyless technology. I know that its been around for a while, but most of the great pickers that I see still use keys. and I was wondering who do you think makes the best keyless guitars?

Billy Poteet

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[Bob Knight]

SIERRA

[C Dixon]

Billy,

As always, you are apt to get a myriad of opinions. I will join that fray

Having had both and played them extensively (at home) for a long time, the following is my assestments; Pro and Con:

Keyed:

1. Generally harder and takes longer to change strings.

2. Because of a longer string string length(bridge to key peg), string breakage tends to be more frequent. Too much tension.

3. The overtones from strings beyond the nut give the guitar's sound a more "WANTED" tone according to many I have talked to. And I concur. This, even though the fingers to the left of the bar are supposed to mute these sounds. Something is still there. I can't explain it. I just know it is.

4. 10 and particurly 12 string keyheads tend to be large and take up a lot of room. Thus, the guitar must be made longer; and of course heavier.

5. Since most humans tend to have a low DC factor (they Detest Change ), the key head is said to be aesthetically more appealling. Or as one player put it, "it 'jes luks better!".

6. Sustains better AFTER the 12th fret*

7. Open string tuning somewhat more convenient. (This is changing like the Sierra and GFI presently do it)

Keyless:

1. Shorter and of course lighter Guitar.

2. Changing strings often considerably faster. (Excluding the 3rd string which can be a bear)

3. Looks odd to many. ("jes don luk right!")

4. Because the total string length is much shorter, it is common to have a longer scale. IE, 25-25 and 1/2 as opposed to 24-24 to 1/4. This is supposed to give a better sound and have more sustain. (See note below)

5. The longer scales make respective pedals and knee levers stiffer than on keyed guitars. More tension is the culprit here.

6. Loses sustain faster beyond the 12th fret*

Please note the asteriks (*) in both the keyed and the keyless scenarios.

* I have been taken to task on this several times. However, I can only speak from my OWN personal experiences going from my keyed to my keyless guitars and back.

Further, because my style of playing (like JB) uses a lot of very long and many fretted sustains, from one end of the neck to the other, both my Sierra AND my Excel have simply run out of gas before the sustained phrase has finished.

This has NEVER happened on any of my keyed guitars. For those that don't play this style, this may be NO problem. And, they may have never noticed it as a result. I can assure you that this IS the case on both my keyless guitars. I can only attribute the cause to them being keyless vs keyed.

carl

[David Decker]

Kline

[George Kimery]

I have a 12 string keyless Kline Universal and am very happy. I had a 68 Emmons PP before it. I don't break 3rds near as often as I did with the Emmons and I like being able to tune down to a note as well as up. Changing strings is also much faster. I personally like the keyless better. However, I sure wish I would have kept that old PP Emmons because it had a sound that I haven't been able to duplicate, but of course an Emmons can't duplicate my Kline sound either.

[Richard Sinkler]

Another vote for Kline. But, I think all keyless mechanisms are probably very good. Wish Carter would have had a keyless guitar when I bought one.

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Carter D10 9p/10k
Richard Sinkler

[Bobby Lee]

I play a Sierra keyless and I love it!

I'm moving this topic to the 'Pedal Steel' section where it belongs.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic) Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)