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Many people who have grown up, listening to heavy music in the last 20 years have come to know the 7-String Guitar as synonymous with the low chugging riffs of Korn’s - James ‘Munky’ Schaffer and Brian ‘Head’ Welch. This sound extended into the genre we came to know as Nu-Metal. The guitar in this style of music was known for its intensity and low heaviness but not always for its complexity. Fo... Read more

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What is a balanced signal? A balanced signal is when you have 2 copies of the same signal but one is phase reversed. This is used to remove noise from your signal because when the 2 phase reversed signals are switched back in phase, any noise picked up by the cable is phase reversed - effectively cutting in out completely (It's really ingenious when you think about it). ... Read more

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A Capo (short for capotasto, meaning "head of the neck") is a small device that clamps to the neck of your guitar to allow you to quickly and easily change the key of the guitar. For example, by clamping a capo onto the 2nd fret of the fretboard, you can rai... Read more

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5 Simple Steps to Adjust Your Pickup Height The purpose of adjusting the pickup height of your guitar is to try and achieve the BEST tone possible. If your pickups are set too low your tone may sound thinner/ have a lower output than desired. If your pickups are too high, they may not be picking up the sound to the best of their abi... Read more

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How to perform a complete setup on a Floyd rose, including changing your strings. Floyd Rose tremolos are one of the most complicated bridge setups Available today. Floyd roses are what is known as a “Floating bridge”. What this means is that tension on the bridge is held by strings on the top and springs on the rear. These types of bridges are great for the ability to dive bo... Read more

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What adjustments do acoustic guitars have? Usually? Not much . When it comes to set up, the only thing you can usually do is to adjust the truss rod, without major modifications to the saddle and nut. Let's talk about that and go through it. Tune your Guitar This is always the first step, no matter what. Get your guitar in tune, and s... Read more

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So we have all been there. you’re at a friend’s house and they have a guitar and it’s terribly out of tune - but they don’t have a tuner. What can you do? Tune with harmonics ! So what is the best way to tune a guitar using harmonics and how does it all work? I learnt this great little trick about 20 years ago, one of the guys... Read more

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1. No Need to Rush into it! Focus your goals on what you actually want to achieve. You run the risk of becoming overwhelmed if you try to take on too much. Pick a few good exercises or a song you want to learn and work on this. Say you want to learn a particular song. Spend the first session learning the finger positions of the chords. Next time, come back and practice cha... Read more

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How To Fix An Earth Loop! Electronic equipment is earthed (or grounded) to prevent serious injury to the user if the equipment fails. Earth loops (or ground loops) are... Read more

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What's a Truss Rod? A Truss Rod is a long metal rod that runs the length of the guitar neck, underneath your fretboard. It anchors at each end so that when you tighten or loosen th... Read more

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How do I setup a mandolin? Your mandolin setup is critical to the note accuracy and enjoying the playability of your instrument. The setup of the mandolin depends on your preference, however, no matter how you like your action, there are sev... Read more

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What should I think about as a lefty? This is a subject which a lot of people have an opinion on. honestly? there is no right or wrong answer. the best way is to decide what is right for you. ... Read more

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What is a locking tuner? A locking tuner works in a very similar way to a normal electric guitar machine head, with the addition of a locking clamp inside the string hole that holds the string firmly in place. This ensures that the strings don’t slip at all, and makes for much better tuning stability. Because of this locking mechanism, the string doesn’t need so many turns around th... Read more

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Tuning a 12-string guitar is a little more complicated than a regular 6 string. There are twice as many strings and a lot more tension on the guitar. You may find you'll need to tune it a few times over before you get it right because, by the time you finish the first round of tuning, the tension... Read more

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You've just broken into the gigging scene after lots of practice and tryouts. That big gig is coming up so you decide to change your strings. You start your first song but something is wrong... The guitar is already out of tune! But how? Is the guitar low quality? Maybe the new strings are bad? You tune it again. halfway through the next song, it's out AGAIN? What is going on?... Read more

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How to stretch the strings on your guitar to help it stay in tune, and why! Stretching your strings is really important for correct tuning stability. Let me explain how it works, why you want it, and how to do it. Okay, what is it? Stretching your strings is the act of pulling on your strings to even out any imbalances of... Read more

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So a lot of people think that you can change the strings on your classical guitar from nylon to steel, and the strings on your steel-string guitar from steel to nylon. But today I'm going to explain to you the 4 reasons why you shouldn't do this. 1. String Tension The first reason is string tension. On your typical classical guitar, you have a string tension of about... Read more

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Why Do I Need A Guitar Stand? You've bought a guitar from us, and if you're a beginner, it probably came with a gig bag, spare strings, some picks, and a strap. So why do you need a guitar stand as well? There are three broad reasons to buy a guitar stand: protection, convenience and display. This blog post will address these as well as how to choose the best guitar stand... Read more

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To the beginner and experienced guitarist, the topic of guitar wood is a very interesting one. For acoustic guitars, there is a pronounced difference in the tone created by different woods, and this will not be discussed here. There are arguments all over the internet about the importance of tonewoods on your electric guitar. Some say that it makes a big difference to... Read more

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A Brief History of Boost Boost pedals are one of the first innovations in the neverending pursuit of tone. It was a way of increasing the signal amplitude after the pickups but before the amp (that's why these are sometimes called pre-amp boost pedals, but that's a separate debate). A key concept to understand before we dive into boost pedals is amp headroom. Headroom is the th... Read more

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There are four main contributors to the D-string breakages that plague many classical (nylon string) guitar players. String construction Restring technique Guitar construction Playing style String Construction String construction is arguably the largest contributor to the D-string breakage problem. As a genera... Read more

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General Points About Modifying Artist Guitars This probably applies to any guitar: when you're going to put a component on a guitar, you need to make sure that it actually fits in that particular design, and not every design is interchangeable. It depends on the component that you're putting in. Generally, pickups are pretty easy, but some things like necks are very complex because... Read more

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This blog post is going to explain basic MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) connections. The way to think about MIDI is that the “out” is where you would send the note out from your device. So if you think of an electronic drum kit, MIDI out would send the notes that you're playing out to another unit. The other unit that you're connecting to would need to be receiving an input. So if... Read more

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Plate current There are 3 main parts to valves. (1) The Plate, (2) The Grid and (3) The Cathode. (Pentode valves have an additional 2 elements, but that is out of the scope of this article). The Grid is what controls the flow of current through the valve, much like the handle on a kitchen tap controls the flow of water. The Plate current is a measure of how much current fl... Read more

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