Articles tagged with: Guitar
Competition »
I hope I may be allowed a slightly self-serving post. Although, to be fair, I reckon there’s something here that might well interest all you guitar geeks.
If you’re a regular reader, you know that I run Haze Guitars here in Ireland, building custom instruments and performing repairs on pretty much anything with strings. Well, I’ve been working with Radio Nova (also in Ireland) on a fantastic competition. Next week (the first week of October), Nova will be running their Rocktober 500 Countdown competition and the ultimate winner will get a …
Workshop »
A while back, I outlined a (slightly) unusual method of repairing the broken neck of a Gibson SG. I mentioned that guitar would make another appearance soon and here it is.
The guitar suffered a broken headstock while still in its case. A neck-break in the case was the final straw for the owner—who’s had more than one Gibson require a neck repair— and he wanted to consider options to help prevent it happening again. We talked over the pros and cons of the various solutions and eventually decided on a …
Books, Reviews »
Bob Taylor is a geek. There’s no denying it. Geek is written all the way through this book as if it were a stick of rock. I think the odd thing—for a person in his position anyway—is that Bob Taylor isn’t really a guitar geek. At least that’s what comes through here.
Instead, what seems evident from reading Taylor’s book, Guitar Lessons, is that Bob is an engineering geek. All through, it seems like his biggest passion is figuring things out. How does a guitar work? How can I make one? …
Workshop »
A little ways back, I discussed the removal of an acoustic guitar’s neck for repair. I also talked a little about my opinions on the construction of that particular guitar. The neck-removal post was getting a little long so I decided to split out the reassembly part.
Putting an acoustic guitar back together generally involves some glueing. Sometimes more and sometimes less.
A bolt-on neck will generally just require that the fingerboard extension (the part past where the neck meets the body) be glued to the guitar top while the bolts inside …
Workshop »
An acoustic guitar with a dodgy, onboard preamp that had to be replaced.
What should have been a straightforward job became a little more complicated becauset the original preamp had a particularly large footprint. It was an older, discontinued model and the manufacturer was unable to supply a replacement that was as large. As it turned out, it was pretty difficult to find any manufacturer that had a unit that would cover the existing hole (and patching and recutting wasn’t favoured for cost reasons).
After quite a bit of internet rooting, a …
Workshop »
In a previous post, I gave my opinion on what I saw as the problems with the neck-joint design of a guitar I’d recently worked on. I thought you might be interested in some more detail about that repair (without my whinging about design issues). While some of the steps undertaken in this repair are common with any job that involves removing a guitar’s neck, you might find it useful to, first, check out some of the ways in which this guitar differed.
The guitar had taken a knock and its …
News »
What the…? What’s going on here? It’s a guitar. Sort of. It’s all futuristic and stuff. It’s got backwards bits. I mean… What?
Say hello to the Jasperbridge Percussion Guitar. It’s the brainchild of Tom Shaper (guitarist and inventor). The strings are on BOTH sides.
What?
Yeah. So the strings head down the neck as usual and then make their way through a tunnel of sorts before appearing at the (offset) rear of the guitar.
Why?
Good question. Shaper says that it’s to allow you to play guitar with a drumstick or similar. You fret …
Featured, Workshop »
I should definitely preface this post by stating that what follows is my opinion only. It may be that I’m alone in these views or it may be that other guitar builders and repair-techs agree. The post below, however, is my take on things.
I recently had a Tanglewood TW130 through the shop for repair. It’s a nice little acoustic—I’ve always been a sucker for all-mahogany acoustics. The guitar had taken a fall and the heel had come away from the body. I’ll detail the steps taken to assess and repair …
News »
Joe Bonamassa is a man close to my heart. Not only is he an incredibly talented guitarist; not only is he working tirelessly to deliver some great blues and rock; not only is he a total guitar-geek but he was also the guy I presented with the first of my Haze BC-1 model guitars (yes, I do have to work it in to every conversation). Top it all off with the fact that he’s a genuinely nice guy and you’ve got the total package.
And, speaking of total packages, Joe has …
Accessories, Featured »
So we all know that there’s never a 9V battery in your guitar case when you need it. Trailing sockets and extension leads do the trick but they do get in the way and there’s all those wall-warts and their associated knot of power cables to consider.
Sanyo reckon they have the answer. Pictured left* is the Pedal Juice (or KBC-9V3U Pedal Juice, to give it its catchy moniker). It’s a rechargeable, Lithium-Ion battery that provides 9V of clean, DC, power to your pedals. Neat.
Depending on use, it can supply up …
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