Author Archives: frets

Low E and A string buzz

This is a long article but is not totally inclusive of everything that applies or it would be three times as long. Many people have guitars that suffer from low E and A string buzz, and I include myself. Google it and you’ll find people with brand new Fenders, Gibsons or other guitars who have gone through turmoil trying to get this fixed,

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Josh and Humbuckers and 250k Pots

I met a nice man named Josh today. He brought in a couple of Tele’s and was interested in getting quotes for wiring. He knew how to wire them himself for the most part. He had a good question though and one a lot of people ask. He asked me if you can you use 250K pots with a

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How to build a guitar!

Pretty soon I am going to post a complete guide on how to build a guitar should you buy a neck and a body. There are many, many things that go into the process. It is a lot of fun but it is not a game. It takes craftsmanship on your part and a fair investment to build the guitar of your dreams. Once you have done it you will never go back to the mass producers because your guitar will play better, sound better and will be constructed better than anything you will get from the big boys. All working professional players I know build or have built their own guitars. They have learned that they can make a better guitar than what they can buy as a consumer. Stay tuned. This will be a long article and it will take a while to complete!

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Fender Goes Public!

Well, I doubt this is what Leo had in mind but there it is. Fender® goes public on March 9, joining the ranks of Exxon, BP, B of A, Merrill Lynch, Enron, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s and a host of other multinationals, to serve you better.

Here is how it breaks down: “Private equity firm Weston Presidio now owns 43% of Fender. Fender’s distributor in Japan, Yamano Music, holds the No. 2 stake with 14% of the company.” For the time being they can say “Mostly owned and made in the USA.”

Anybody remember CBS? How many different Strats® and Tele’s® are there now? How different from the other hundred million of them is yours? Mine is the same. Just like McDonald’s, soon they will be saying “over 1 billion served”! Would you like some fries with that geetar? :)

 

Fender, Strat and Tele are trademarks of FMIC, a giant multinational corporation. Aperio Guitar, a wee little guitar maker, is in no way affiliated with it.

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Rack Grounding, Buzzing and Cable

Pictures soon

I was recently tuning up my rack in the shop and wanted to offer a few tips if you are experiencing buzz and hum from your rig- whether it is a rack, pedals or a combination.

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Ovation Deacon Refret

Ovation Deacon Refret

Wow, this is a cool guitar from back in the day. The first time I saw it I wanted to put my headband back on, wear some bell bottoms and shoot peace signs all over the place. But disco was coming on the scene about the time this guitar was born so maybe that would not have been the

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1983 Gibson SG

1983 Gibson SG

Anar is a friend of mine and is a guitar instructor at Atlanta Institute of Music and a player extraordinaire! He sat down in my shop one day with his Les Paul, played about 5 chords and I immediately knew he was the real thing! He has a 1983 SG that needed refretting.

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1996 Paul Reed Smith Refret

1996 Paul Reed Smith Refret

Whit is a very good and dedicated guitarist. He brought his PRS in for a refret. This is one of the best sounding guitars I’ve heard in a while. It is very warm but can crank when you dig in on it.

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