HPL, or High-Pressure Laminate materials are becoming more commonplace in guitar construction. Martin Guitars, in particular, have a line made partially, or almost completely, from HPLs.
As a guitar construction material, there are a lot of advantages. But, in order to go into this with your eyes open, you should be aware of one disadvantage.
Check it out…
Read MoreGuitar and bass strings can exert hundreds of pounds of tension on a guitar neck. So, it makes sense to slacken off the strings when you're not using the instrument, right?
Maybe not…
Read MoreNow that we've looked at individual string balance for pickups, and looked at the problems with incorrectly adjusted pickups, let's get each of the pickups in your guitar or bass balanced so they sound good.
Let's go…
Read MoreYour pickups are too high.
Well, if you're like most guitarists and bassists, your pickups are too high. Sure, it's all about the power but there are a number of drawbacks to setting your pickups too close to the strings.
Check it out…
Read MoreAfter setting up a Precision Bass, I frequently get asked about the pickups. Players notice I've done something different there.
Well, it's an easy job to balance out the string output on a P-Bass. Check it out…
Read MoreThe (possibly) weird, but (definitely) good method for adjusting your pickup pole screws…
If you've got adjustable pole-pieces on your pickups you can balance the output of individual strings so that none is too loud or quiet as you play across them. That's a great advantage.
Find out how to do it well. Check it out…
Read MoreI thought it’d be useful to look at some of the other ways a radius gauge can be not just useful, but indispensable.
Radius gauges should form part of the toolkit of any guitar setter-upper… Setupper… Setterer-upperer… Anyone wanting to work with guitars.
Here's some of the ways to use radius gauges.
Read MoreEver have a loose output jack on your guitar or bass? Ever tried to tighten it and been frustrated as it spun round and round inside the guitar?
Then, oh boy, are you going to like this. Check it out jack-spinners. 😉
Read MoreIf you've ever had to wire or replace components inside a hollow or semi-hollow guitar, you probably know what a pain it is. You have to fish all the wiring and components through the f-hole to work on them. Even worse, then you have to get them back. It's like building a ship in a bottle but there are some tricks to make things a little less annoying.
Read MoreCorrecting excessive relief or neck-bow is easy with an adjustable truss rod. What about those vintage guitars made before adjustable rods were fitted, though? Are those wonderful old instruments never to be played because there's too much bow in the neck?
No way. Find out how to use levelling and compression fretting to save these guitars.
Read MoreGetting vintage-nerdy with bar frets…
I only get a few bar fret jobs a year here. And, when I’m levelling them, I generally thank the fret gods for that fact. Bar frets are a bit different to modern frets but, if you’re playing, dealing, or repairing vintage instruments, you’ll likely come across them from time to time.
So, let’s get to know them.
Read MoreWhile most guitars have a single radius along the length of the fingerboard, a compound radius instrument has a radius that gradually increases/flattens as you go further up the neck.
Some players find these a godsend but they do require some different methods to set them up and to perform fretwork on them.
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