Articles in the Featured Category
Featured, Guitar 101, Workshop »
What the hell is a neck reset and why the hell would you want one?
You’ll often hear talk about neck resets (or sometimes, neck sets) but the reasons it’s required are often glossed over by saying it’s just something that acoustics need sometimes. It’s all pretty simple and it has to do with geometry (stay with me…) and wood.
Huh?
Let me try to make a little sense of that.
Why would I need a neck reset?
When an acoustic guitar is made, it is designed and constructed such that the guitar’s string height …
CDs and DVDs, Featured »
The Lick Library are launching a new DVD tuition course.
In the wake of their Andy James’ Shred Guitar in Six Weeks, comes their latest course, Andy James’ Metal Rhythm Guitar in Six Weeks. The folks at Lick Library say they are confident that, by following the course, you’ll hear and see progress in the timeframe.
The course comprises six DVDs (that can be purchased separately or, at a discount, as a set of six). Here’s what you’ll learn…
Week 1: Standard Tuning: drop picking and palm muting, triplets and left …
Read the full story »Featured, News »
Pagey again. Jimmy Page is being sued over writing credit (and, obviously, royalties) for the song Dazed And Confused.
Jake Holmes alleges that Pagey and Led Zeppelin infringed copyright by using his song, Dazed And Confused, as the basis for – well – Dazed And Confused which appeared on Zeppelin’s first album.
Holmes is an American folk singer and, back in 1967, he recorded his Dazed and Confused on his album, The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes. Cool name.
Here, have a listen.
Word is that Holmes supported Page-era Yardbirds when they played …
Read the full story »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. …
Read the full story »
