Electric guitar players can struggle with factory guitar shortcomings: buzzing, uncomfortable necks, inexpensive electronics, poor fret and nut work. They invest their time and money changing the neck, hardware, and pickups with mixed results. Continue reading
Category Archives: Tips
Three Questions to Ask Yourself Before Ordering a Custom Guitar
You can help your custom guitar builder guide you to the guitar that is best suited for you, whether you want to show off a unique look, dial in your signature sound, or combine features not normally found on one guitar. Start dreaming about your fantasy guitar by asking yourself three important questions. Continue reading
Single Coil Noise / Noisy Guitars
Have you ever played at one of “those” places where no matter what you do, you can’t get rid of the single coil buzz? Or you are too close to your computer monitor at home and the noise drives you crazy? As much as we love the tone and response of a great single coil pickup, the bottom line is it can be noisy. This leaves you with three options to resolve it.
Adjust Your Pickups in 3 Steps
Many of my customers who love the sound of their new guitars will buy the same pickups for another guitar and wonder why it doesn’t sound the same. I tell them pickup height adjustment is a big part of getting the sound you want. For every guitar that I build, I spend a lot of time adjusting pickups. Here’s the simple method that I use. Continue reading
Guitar Tuning Problems? Quick Nut Fixes
Have you ever tuned your guitar and checked its intonation, but when you play an open chord it sounds out of tune? You reach up and re-tune and now the chord sounds fine. When you play a different chord, it’s out of tune again. It’s like a cat chasing its tail. Before spending money on a new set of tuners, you may find that most of the time, the problem is with the nut. Continue reading
CNC vs. Handmade Guitars
Having spent hours bent over jigs, routers and drill presses, I pray I never have to go back to doing body construction in-house. There’s nothing wrong with using templates and hand routing, but it is hard to maintain tight tolerances. Continue reading
How to Clean and Polish Your Guitar
I am amazed constantly when I see beautiful guitars smeared with dirt and gunk. My guess is players fear they’ll damage the finish, so they use conventional guitar polishes that do not clean anything really. Those polishes tend to attract more dirt than they repel, and you end up with a hazy coating that looks like your aunt’s end table layered with lemon Pledge. Continue reading
Is Baked Birdseye Maple or Flame Maple Stable?
Due to stability issues, I haven’t been a fan of highly figured maple necks, so baked maple (or roasted maple) was a new product that I had to try out. Continue reading
How To Fix Sticky Neck Syndrome on Guitars
After this summer’s heat wave, I’m sure many guitarists have dealt with Sticky Neck Syndrome. Humidity, sweat and dirt can make the back of your neck feel like it’s covered with oatmeal…not a great finish. Continue reading
How to Measure a Guitar Neck
The shape and feel of a neck are one of the most important things for a guitar to feel right. No matter how pretty a guitar is or how good it sounds, when you don’t love the way the neck feels in your hand, you’re not going to play it much. Due to variance in hand sanding, finish and other details, no two guitar necks are exactly alike – even from manufacturer model to model. So the only way to get close to that ONE neck that feels right, you need to measure it.