Category: Guitar

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Guitar Care: Traveling Tips for Protecting Your Instrument

If you are traveling with your guitar, here are some tips on how to protect it.

1) Make sure the case is sturdy. You want a case that can withstand being thrown around or dropped without worrying about your instrument getting damaged. There are many cases made of hard plastic or metal that will do this for you; however, if you would like something softer, there is always leather and fabric options available as well.

2) Include padding in the inside of the case to keep the guitar from moving around too much when transporting it (this also prevents any damage caused by striking other objects). Some people use old clothing they no longer wear because it already has lots of padding built into it, but whatever material you choose, be sure that it is soft enough to not damage your instrument.

3) If you are taking a drive and have the car moving around with bumps, try putting something in between the guitar case and other objects inside of the trunk so they don’t hit each other too hard (you may need more than one object). If this doesn’t work well enough, you can always wrap the guitar case in blankets or pillows for added protection.

4) If you are flying (which is much more dangerous as your guitar will go through a lot of shaking and can get thrown around quite a bit), it’s best to put something soft like clothing between the instrument itself and where it might bump into inside of the case. You can also purchase special “guitar socks” which will help to keep it in place and protect it from scratches or any other minor damage. As a final precaution, you might want to put your guitar in a hardshell case specifically made for air travel – this will give it the most protection if something does go wrong.

In the end, it’s important to be as careful as possible when transporting your guitar. By following these simple tips, you can help ensure that your instrument arrives at its destination in the same condition as when you left. Happy travels!

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How I Recently Restored A Tired Old Guitar

If you’ve been following me for any amount of time it’s probably quite clear that I love guitars. I mean LOVE guitars. They’re more than just an instrument to me, their also collector’s items and works of art.

Well, I came across a no-name guitar recently that was in rather rough shape. It had some broken machine heads, peeling paint from a poorly done paint job, a scratched up fret board, and basically just needed some all around love. I liked the way it felt in my hands though. It just had the right weight and balance and fit my body so well. It also had a nice shape, and if it were in good condition it could really be a beauty.

As you can tell, I was struck with a vision. So I took it upon myself to see what I could make of this old beauty.

Stripping it Down

The first thing I did was strip the guitar down to it’s body. This meant removing the strings, the machine heads, the pickups, the pots, and all of the supporting wiring for these components. With all of this removed the body was free of any components that could be damaged as I started my work. First I had to get rid of the peeling paint job.

I tried a number of techniques to get this done. A paint scraper was too aggressive, I felt like I was going to damage the body right off the bat. Steel wool seemed to work, but it was impacting the finish beneath the paint so I had to keep thinking. Then I tried using a pressure washer on a gentle setting, and sure enough that did the trick. I’d hesitate to recommend this technique outright, because if you’re not careful with the water you can definitely damage the guitar. That said if you think this is the right way to go, you can get an idea of what size pressure washer you’ll need: https://www.thebestelectricpressurewasher.com/what-size-pressure-washer-do-i-need-to-clean-concrete/. One thing I didn’t get around to trying but also had in mind was using paint stripper, I just didn’t have any on hand.

With the paint removed I turned my attention to the fret board. It was extremely delicate work, but I got some fine grit sandpaper and smoothed out all the scratches. I started off with 300 grit and eventually moved to 500 grit to smooth it out once the scratches were taken care of. I continued with some general cleaning and polishing since I had the guitar dismantled, and once it was all set I started putting the pieces back together

Bringing It Back To Life

With the guitar body all cleaned up, it was time to turn it into a beauty. I replaced the old poorly-applied coat of paint with a fresh coat of stain done right. Once that was dry I put clear coat on to make sure it would last. I also touched up the stain on the fret board – no clear coat required here though, as it just wouldn’t have felt right on the fingers.

Then it was time to put the electrical components back in. There was nothing wrong with the pots, so I just reinstalled them as they were. I took the opportunity to replace the pickups, as the stock pickups were kind of garbage. The guitar was fitted for two strat-style pickups and one humbucker, so that’s what I replaced it with. It took a bit of soldering and patience, but eventually I got everything put together well. In hindsight it would have been better to wait until I’d restrung the guitar so I could actually test out the pickups, but hey, there’s a first time for everything.

The last piece of the puzzle was to replace the machine heads. I picked out a matching set from Amazon and they luckily fit just perfectly with the existing holes. With that in place it was time to put on a fresh set of strings and see how good the seemingly new guitar sounded. Guess what? It sounded fantastic.

When all is said and done I had to ask, was this worth it? Well, since I had a basically brand new guitar I wasn’t complaining. I’m not sure I’d do it again though because it sure was an awful lot of work, and I already have plenty of guitars as it is. That said, it is a beautiful guitar and I’m proud to have it as part of my collection.

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Guitar Pickups for Playing Metal

In my search for guitar pickups I’ve read a lot about metal.

It is interesting to know bands such as Blue Cheer and Jimmy Hendrix were the primary root to heavy metal music but officially, Black Sabbath is considered to be the first heavy metal band. Other bands such as Zeppelin, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden came later.

Although many people may confuse heavy rock with metal music, it is crystal clear that heavy rock is based on blues music while metal music is based on the sound of electric guitar.

All of this has made pickups a very common topic of discussion among metal musicians. These are the three I’m looking at:

EMG 81 +85 Zakk Wylde set

The fact that they are used by the famous heavy metal premier lead guitarist Zakk Wylde, sounds very intriguing. They use Alnico magnet loaded coils, which allegedly make their output amazingly measurable. They also have a wide aperture which maintains a more natural tone – good for chunky blues chords and rhythm.

Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB

I’m reading that these have a flat EQ metal sound with a little mixture of stoner tones, which I found amusing. They claim a completely balanced coil configuration that results in a high-quality metal sound. They have precise harmonics and high output, which should give good sustain and distortion sounds.

Bare Knuckle Nailbomb

These are known to have a relatively high output and beautiful tone. They come with an array of options for covers and screws, so they can always look good when installed. Many guitarists like them since they work well for quite a few styles.

Although there are a ton of options out there, these three remain the most interesting options.

Cheers!