guitar

  1. Gibson Guitar Facilities Raided By Feds Again

    The chief executive of Gibson Guitar company has gone on record that the firm would fight a federal investigation of the guitar maker's wood imports. This comes after federal agents raided the company for the second time in two years. Agents entered Gibson's facilities in Nashville and Memphis, TN, on Wednesday, seizing wood imported from India and sending company workers...
  2. TECH TIPS: Stomp Box Basics

    Ever since Jimi Hendrix conjured up “Purple Haze” with an octave pedal, a distortion box and his wiry imagination – and made one of the most eloquent anti-war statements with the pure sonics of “Machine Gun” – electric guitars and effects pedals have been kissin’ cousins. If you’re new to the world of effects or if you stepped away for...
  3. TECH TIPS: Use Your Volume Control

    This Tone Tip is about as simple as it gets, but it’s one that—once understood, and mastered―proves a surprising revelation to many players. During what I would reverentially refer to as the Golden Age of Tone, the late 1950s, ’60s, and early ’70s, this tip was second nature to great electric guitarists. It seems to have fallen from the knowledge...
  4. TECH TIPS: Pickup Height

    Measuring (above) and adjusting (below) the pickup height on a pair of Jazz Bass® guitars. When you’re having your guitar or bass set up, with the action and intonation adjusted all ship-shape, don’t forget to take a look at pickup height. Like action, pickup height is a personal preference (unlike intonation, which is an exact science), but guitars and basses...
  5. TECH TIPS: Let It Breathe

    Many players think of a guitar’s finish purely in regards to aesthetic considerations and not as another factor in its tonal makeup, but the types of finishes commonly applied to electric guitar bodies all alter the wood’s resonance in one way or another, and therefore affect the guitar’s tone. In the extreme—for example, in the case of heavy, air-tight finishes—they...