I should start this post by saying I am not one of those persons that love getting their hands dirty. I don’t fix my car. If it stops, well, I just take it to car dealer service and they fix it, that’s why I pay for it, right? I don’t especially like fixing pipes or things that get broken around the house. I call the guy who’s in charge. Let him fix it, he’s better at it. Don’t think I am some kind of a lazy guy, no, because 6 months ago I have purchased a new apart, and for the next 3 months after that, I had to just FIX A LOT OF DAMN THINGS there. And I am just sick of fixing things, installing, making holes in the walls, moving furniture and painting things. That’s it! I don’t want anymore! Let the guy who’s in charge do it properly!

But wait! When it comes to guitars, it’s an other thing, right? I don’t usually open my guitar, maybe just to fix some wire that got loose or to clean the pickup switcher from time to time (it’s kind of bad, I think), so not much to do, actually. I love playing it, not fixing it, right?

But I just love reading on the internet about how to build a guitar. This kind of articles makes my day each time I find one. I have started this article inspired by an article on Guitar Blog (http://guitarz.blogspot.com) about how kids learn to make electric guitars.

So I have thought about pointing you to a few articles I have seen on the net about how to build a guitar, maybe you will enjoy them too, the way I did when reading them. So, here we go:

• Making a Strat
• CrimsonGuitars
• Flat Earth Heresy
• Mike’s guitar project
• Ed’s world of guitars
• Everything you want to read about it on Project Guitar (the roots of all evil)
  

Enjoy them!

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These last days, something keeps on running through my head: the most recognizable guitar sounds/tones (without really trying, I usually think about rock music, because this is my “business”, let’s say). Please keep in mind that I am not considering the style of each guitar player, but his tone only, even if when trying to identify a guitar player both are considered.

1. Brian May (Queen) ,the overdriven tone, has an electric guitar sound that in my opinion can be recognized in an instance. It is somehow a strange sound, and for sure I wouldn’t set my guitar this way, but it really defines him. I don’t think that his clean tone has anything special.
2. Slash (GNR), the overdriven and the clean tone. I am not a big fan of Slash, if you constantly read this blog you may already know this, but I really believe he belongs here. I think that the one thing that helps defining the tone of Slash is the fact that he is tuned one step down, thus using low tensioned guitar strings, which gives some kind of a “loose” and sweet relaxed sound. About the clean tone, I have asked myself what makes it particularly recognizable for ex in Don’t cry or Knocking on heavens door. I have added a delay on my rhythm clean picking tone and I was surprised to see how close I get to it when playing Knocking!
3. Joe Satriani’s overdriven and clean tone. How could you possibly miss Satriani? How could you miss the one that is called the master of tone?! Here I think that his Fred pickup (which gives him that beautiful feedback) helps a lot in getting the almost patented overdriven sound.
4. Metallica’s clean tone. Well, this is kind of funny! Metallica, which became famous for trash rock to be recognizable by the clean tone. Well, but for me, I think that the tone in One, Enter Sandman, Fade to black can never be mistaken!
5. Carlos Santana’s overdriven tone. In such cases it is difficult to say where recognizing the sound starts and where recognizing the licks end.  Santana’s style is unmistakable, but so is his guitar tone, in my opinion. And I know it is not rock, so don’t point your finger at me!

I would have said also Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Knopfler, Jimi Hendrix but I can’t tell where playing style ends to only speak about the sound. I think I would recognize a new Dire Straits song by the way Mark Knopfler plays, but I don’t know if only the guitar sound would be enough.

So, what’s your take on this?

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Browsing a few guitar related websites I have found this website speaking, among other things, about tuning problems, especially for rock bands.

Some of them I already knew because I have observed them myself but others never crossed my mind. I must tell you the article is not a short one, but very informative, the information there is a gem and a must read for anyone who’s ever held a guitar in his hands and tried to tune it.

The man(Jack Endino) has a lot of years behind him as a rock music player and as a studio engineer and he speaks from experience. Here’s a quick extras from his website, just to open your appetite for reading further:

You know how when you plug a guitar in and pluck a string, sometimes the tuner needle (or LED display) wavers back and forth and drives you crazy? And you have to pluck it every which way before getting a “good reading” which finally “settles down?” Do these three things:

1. switch your guitar to its rhythm (neck) pickup, if it has one;
2. roll your guitar’s tone knobs all the way off, to remove all the highs; and then
3. pluck the open string right over the twelfth fret, not over the pickup. Try it; you’ll be amazed.

Read the whole article here and then come back and let me know what you think!

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I have seen this on YouTube, but I would surely not do this with my guitar at home. I actually wouldn’t do this with this guitar either! I think it is a crazy and extreme test and I don’t think it is relevant because you will probably not find your guitar in this situation that often, right?

So, is this a “white ball” for Steinberger guitars or it is not relevant at all? Would you consider such a criteria when buying a guitar? (I am not saying you should stand on a guitar in the guitar shop just to test it before you buy it, you would probably end up beaten by the guy selling it)

Well, what do you think?

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Man, I have one thing that really bothers me since a long time and I just need to say it here: I hate guitar giveaways that are only open to US (+District of Columbia + in some cases Canada)!!

How could you possible be so cruel?!

You give away for free $1600 guitars like this Carvin one here and you don’t allow people from all around the world to enter. Damn, it’s frustrating! I would surely want to have the chance to put my hand on this!

I have recently seen a giveaway like this at Ibanez and one at Gibson. Of course, they are all open to US residents only. Sucks big time!

So if you are eligible, go and fetch that guitar above for me. If you get it and you found out about it from this article here, please let me know, I would be thrilled to know at least that I have helped a fellow guitar fan to win a great axe!

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Yesterday, in an interview, Dave Mustaine said that guys who don’t solo aren’t fully accomplished guitar players. I was thinking about it considering also my previous article about the unfair position of a rhythm guitar player.

I wonder what rhythm (jazz) guitar players might say to this, considering the complexity of jazz guitar chords and rhythms. I know that there is a common belief that soloing is getting you in the big league somehow, under the main lights of the stage, since the guitar hero myth was born and maintained for the last 40 70 (?!) years (I think…) but is it right to speak about accomplishment in such cases?

In some cases, we could speak about feeling accomplished when touring, when releasing a CD/DVD, when being a star, etc, but in most cases I think that the accomplishment as a guitar player comes from inside of you, feeling happy with who you are, with your playing and knowledge about music and guitar.

Or is Mustaine right?

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This morning I have stumbled upon this video on YouTube, a video of Les Paul playing the guitar. Man, as one of the people commenting there said, he is so ahead of his time with those licks!! I can only imagine him with a distorted heavy sound and with long hair playing in a rock band!!

And this commercial here made my day…”it’s on your guitar”!!!

How cool is that?!

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What I am going to say now stayed in my head for a lot of years, even it may seem of low importance for some. Acoustic guitar players, however, may know better what I mean.

I happen to  see a very good electric guitar player playing the acoustic guitar in an one on one session. Very good electric guitar player, classy shredder, out of my reach, he took the acoustic guitar, (a large and beautiful sounding box) and started playing.

You know what? Something didn’t sound right, he was playing it like an electric guitar!

Even perfectly played from a technical point of view, the notes were too sharp and sparky, taking away exactly the feeling that acoustic guitars give. The guitar didn’t sound the way it should, the notes didn’t work well  together.

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Somebody, would you please tell me who plays that song on the Flash promo of Guitar Instructor here?! (let the Flash intro play, don’t skip it, that’s where the song is)

I don’t know the song or the artist, but it is brilliant, I love the feeling, precision and bluesy/jazzy sound! Somebody, anybody, please…

Thank you!

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Since a long time I am trying to make up my mind about the ideal electric guitar but, of course, there is no such thing.

The fact is that I don’t even have one single guitar that for me would be the ideal one. No, it depends on the mood I’m in.

Like for example, I love Ibanez guitars, reason for which I would love to own one, to be more precise, an Ibanez RGT320Q, this one below, which I consider absolutely beautiful! All those Satriani and Vai melodies I have listened made me an Ibanez fan forever…

Of course, because I can not make up my mind and I would also go for an Ibanez RGT220A…

They are both gorgeous, mean and at the same time fashionable, however they don’t manage to satisfy my need for a Fenderish sound, reason for which I would like to also have a Fender Standard Strat HSS Electric Guitar w/Floyd Rose Tremolo.

This is not usual at Fender guitars, but I do want one, because it is my dream, and I do have the right to dream whatever I want. So, beside the two Ibanez RGT guitars above, I would also love to have this one here. It is not a very expensive one, but it is the only model with double locking tremolo, beside Richie Sambora model. OK, that one works too!

I am not sure about the color, I think I would go for an other color, maybe a sunburst, i don’t know!

I would also want a Gibson for Gary Moore and Guns. I am not asking for much, just for a Les Paul. Of course! The reason would be the feeling this guitar gives me, the sustain and the particular tone that can not be copied by any other guitar.

And why not, I would want a Carvin guitar again for the feeling I had playing it and for the sparky-fenderish tone. This one here! With Floyd Rose, of course!

Now, am I asking for much? I don’t know, if I would add those few that I have enumerated here I guess they would cost about $8000, hmm…That is if I don’t go for Sambora signature model, which alone is about $3500 so…

Anyway, I think that I am not the only one unable to make up his mind about the ideal guitar. I think that each guitar player, depending on the mood feels like playing one guitar or an other.

So, what guitars would you love to own? Let’s start somewhere:

• Robert of buildingtheergonomicguitar.com
• Jon of GuitarNoize.com
• Ignatio of igblog
• GLW of Guitarz
• JP of Stratoblogster , somehow I think I know the answer to this one

Anybody else who would like to join?!

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