Articles Archive for June 2010
Featured, How To, Workshop »
Buzz is the bane of the guitarist. Fret-buzz is the one that gets all the press and, to be sure, it’s a serious pain. Frets are not the only thing that is likely to buzz, rattle and hum on your guitar though. If you’ve got a Gibson (or Gibsonesque – the one below is a Gretsch) guitar it’s possible that your Tune-O-Matic bridge may be the cause of that buzz you hear.
If you can hear a metallic rattle or buzz when you pick a note – sometimes all notes, sometimes …
Featured, News »
“…Very, very soon.”
BBC 6 Music snagged a short interview with Jimmy Page and he continues his intriguing hinting at new material.
“I’m just looking forward to making some music and surprising people with it,” said Pagey, again mentioning the surprise element.
“I’ve got other ideas that have been nagging at me for a long, long time. I think the way to produce music or present music is same picture, different frame. But sometimes the frame can be quite radical and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he added.
This time, however, Pagey seems to …
Featured, Opinion »
I recently read an interesting article on the Etiquette of Browsing in guitar stores (by PT over at 5th Fret) and it began to coalesce some thoughts (you might also say fears) that have been wobbling about in my mind for a while.
I want to talk about guitar stores. Before I start, I want to make it clear that I am not talking about all guitar stores as, if I think about it, I’ve probably only been in about half of the guitar stores in the world. I am certainly …
Featured, News »
Bloody hell! Trev Wilkinson’s been busy.
Trev Wilkinson’s name is pretty well known. The man’s a guitar-tinkering genius in the vein of Leo Fender. Trev’s always come up with splendid ideas on how to make guitars better. His input to brands like Vintage have made for some budget guitars that can punch above their weight and his ideas and inventions have made many pieces of guitar hardware work much better than they ever did before.
Well, it seems that Wilkinson has been turning his giant, bulging brain to the issue …
Featured, Software »
This is cool.
Peterson Tuners are (or at least, should be) ubiquitous in the world of professional guitar techs and luthiers. A Peterson strobe tuner – or, more recently, their Virtual Strobe – is the top of the heap when it comes to tuning accuracy. Most tuners that are available to the man (or lady) on the street are reasonably accurate. The emphasis must be on reasonably though. A strobe-type tuner allows you to ‘see’ finer increments of tuning than most LED or needle tuners can realistically display. This is the …
Featured, News »
Hmmmm…
This post should probably be tagged as ‘huh?’
Whitesnake – they of the hair and the guitars and the crotches and the rock ballads and the Tawny Kitaen and whatnot – are releasing their own wine. Teaming up with Dennis de la Montanya, the ‘Snake boys are bringing you a zinfandel that David Coverdale himself describes as:
…a bodacious, cheeky little wine, filled to the brim with the spicy essence of sexy, slippery Snakeyness… I recommend it to complement any & all grown up friskiness & hot tub jollies.
Is this love? …
Featured, Workshop »
The third and last article in the story of the restoration of a pre-’34 Martin guitar with a broken bridge. The first two parts of the Martin Custom Bridge Replacement cover removal of the broken bridge and the carving of a replacement.
The first step in getting this replacement back on the guitar is ‘fitting’ it to the guitar top. Like many of us, over the years, pretty much all guitars gain a bigger belly. Under a lot of tension from the strings, changes occur in the wood of a guitar. …
Featured, Workshop »
This is second part of the story of replacing a broken bridge on a, rather lovely, pre-1934 Martin. This update is slightly tardy so feel free to catch up on part one (where we remove the broken bridge) first.
Done? All caught up? Splendid.
Now the broken bridge is off, this is how it all starts. You can see the removed bridge sitting on a block on Brazilian rosewood that will become its replacement. Brazilian rosewood is in extremely short supply and is very tightly controlled species as it was over-harvested for …
Featured, Music, News »
Jimmy Page has been inducted into the Mojo Hall Of Fame.
At the most recent Mojo Awards ceremony, the former Led Zeppelin guitarist was inducted with the award, apparently presented by Universal Catalogue Marketing. Nice.
Mojo has the following to say:
Jimmy Page is the musician by whom all other musicians are measured. Every guitar player wants to sound like him, every producer wants to capture the sounds he captured (check out the many samplings and emulations of that When The Levee Breaks drum sound). He is a genuine music legend, and …
Accessories, Featured »
Hey! Look at me man! I’m standing here with my arms folded and my Thunderbird headstock isn’t diving for the floor. I’m so frickin’ cool.
This could be you. Well, if you order the Heads Up guitar strap, it could be you.
Many of us have experience it. Some guitars just don’t balance well on a strap. Many very cool looking guitars have a strap button somewhere around the heel which makes them neck-heavy and, if you happen to take your fretting hand away (to put it in the air like you …
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