All About Guitars

This site should put a smile on your face if your looking for affordable stuff:

http://www.rondomusic.com/

I forget the price, but these new ones are a steal at about $120. I had to make some adjustments so it was more playable however; usually higher priced instruments have this done already [but usually any guitar needs a bit of fixup or adjustment in some way when you get it]. The nut slots had to be deepened slightly, and the bridge saddles had to be adjusted for string intonation and string height. I think they send a hex-allen key wrench with the guitar for the bridge saddles. But for the nut adjustment, unless you are handy with epoxy or super glue, only let a experienced person work on that since its a critical thing, a hair too deep and you have buzzing. Here is a method if you insist on doing it yourself; I made a small acoustic guitar and this is how it is done:

Take a string and fret it on the first fret. Now notice the height of the string above the metal of the second fret (considering the bridge saddles are adjusted to the height desired:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd5DbChTzoM&NR=1 ), then this should be about the height of the string above the metal of the first fret when played open: when the nut saddle/slot is adjusted correctly.

The tool to use for the nut slot adjments is a very thin files or simply an exacto saw. First do some tests with your files and/or saw with some scrap pieces of wood, plastic or bone. With the saw you’ll have to slightly turn or rotate/tilt it (left and right of the blade) very slowly for thicker strings. taking your time to the utmost degree here folks, now matter how long it takes go slow; it takes very little pressure, if at all, on the saw. Also, tilt the length of the saw blade about 5 degrees down towards the peg/tuning head to ensure that the strings scale length does not get longer…it should begin right at the start of the freboard. Slightly make the slot deeper and wider as needed, put the string in the slot and tune the string back up while applying some pressure to the string behind the nut. Check the width and depth of the slot, and repeat till the string is seated properly. Here’s an example of nut replacement and slotting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmjkC-6nOm4&feature=related

P90 pickups are basically have the sound of somewhere between a regular Fender strat pickup and a regular Gibson humbucker pickup. My guitar has an extra pickup cavity area underneath the pickgaurd and it looks big enough for a humbucker if I ever wanted to mod it.

I also scraped up enough money and got my nephew a short-scale bass. The neck has a nice feel to it and is easilly playable for anyone who just doesn’t want to get into 6-string guitars. The scale is about only about 30 inches, this is also similar to Hofner bass scale that Paul McCartney uses. Paul used to play guitar before bass, so I guess he needed a bass that somewhat felt like a regular guitar.

For an amp., check out musiciansfriend, etc.: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/

You can also check out music123: http://www.music123.com/Default.aspx?source=ZWWRWXX1

Also, you can check your local guitar and music shops for some great deals.

Guitar pots are sometimes a bit finiky, sometimes from just sitting around they get “gummy” or staticy, so dont be a big crybaby… most guitars are loaded with dings and dents, and awesome stickers and graphiti, and are cherished. Here’s a link about knob/pot repair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZzkwI9ysy4&feature=user

About setting up string length and intonation:

Take the high (thinnest) e string and then measure from the nut to the center of the 12th fret.. now double this value and this is the point where that string should make contact with the bridge saddle. As the strings get thicker, the saddle is place further from the nut since a thicker string has more tension in it when you fret the string which results in a higher note.. and the placement or compensation of the saddle will decrease the note to its proper value.

To begin string intonation, you can initially move each succesive saddle, as the strings get thicker, about 1/32 inch back from the previous strings location.

How to check intonation: First tune up the open strings. Fret the 12th fret of the sting. To make things easy, consider the 12th fret as a new scale or nut. If the note is lower than expected, then the length of the string from the nut (here the 12th fret) to the saddle is too long since longer strings mean reduced frequency (ie. lower note). To correct this, simply shorten the string by bringing the saddle closer to the nut position. You must now retune the open string since you have changed the length and therefore the tone of it. Check the intonation again. If the 12fret note is higher in sound than expected, then simply do the opposite of what was mentioned.

I was in a rediculous mood when I made this vid.

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