Tip of the Week: Bring dull guitar strings back to life (when in a jam)

You've just come up with a great idea for a song and you want to record it before the inspiration is gone. Unfortunately, the strings on your guitar need to be changed and you don't have an strings with you. So what do you do now?

A simple way to restore much of the brightness of your guitar's strings is by boiling them. Yes, boil them, put them in a pot of water and bring to a boil. A few minutes is all it takes, pour out the water and let the strings cool down and place them on a dry towel. After an hour, you can put them back on your guitar and hit the record button. This is not recommended for nylon strings.

Guitar of the Week: 1962 National/Val-Pro 88 Vintage Map Electric

The Val-Pro 88 was first introduced in 1962 and uniquely designed to mimic the shape of the U.S.A.  Built of res-o-glas (fiberglass) body, asymmetrical peghead, longer on the treble side, came with two standard pickups. The Val-Pro 88 featured a chrome vibrato tailpiece, 6 knobs and a 3-way slotted switch on the treble side, 1/4 circle fingerboard inlays, and a beautiful raven black finish. Unfortunately, the Val-Pro 88 had a brief existence and it was discontinued in 1965.

Guitar of the Week

1962 Fender Jaguar

Introduced in mid 1962, this short scale (24") guitar was (at the time) considered a high-end instrument. Actually, it was considered Fender's top-of-the-line model until 1967 when Hendrix changed everything, with his usage of the Stratocaster. Because of the shorter scale length, Jaguar values today are lower compared to other full scale models. The Jaguar’s pickups are more powerful and better shielded, which eliminated some of the hum problems associated with the Jazzmaster. The shorter (24 inch) scale was favored by some guitarists at that time, especially the surf music players. However, the slide switches on the Jaguar and Jazzmaster are not easy to use while playing. They also make a lot of noise when switching settings.

Answers to how great guitar legends from Django to Benson get there tone.

People often wonder how great guitar legends get their tone. Many of us have tried to duplicate our favorite guitarist but never seem to nail it. Here are some very noteable guitarists that I get questions about all the time. Perhaps this information will get you closer to the tone you want to attain.

George Benson is considered a guitarist’s guitarist. This great artist is famous for playing his single cutaway, smaller sized hollow-body with a thicker top (reducing feedback), which is equipped with floating pickups. In addition, Benson uses a dense, very hard ebony bridge that produces a pure, bright jazz tone with increased presence.

John Scofield is considered to be a modern American jazz icon. His fearless ability to perform bop, fusion, rock, funk and blues is truly amazing. Scofield plays a hollow body guitar fitted with humbuckers from Japan. His pickups are under wound (less winds), which produces a warm tone that is perfect for him to play many genres.

Trey Anastasio is the huge presence behind the band Phish. Trey’s tone is anchored by his custom Languedoc guitar, which resembles a Fender Starcaster and built by his own guitar tech. His pickup of choice is a humbucker plugged into a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, with a ton of modifications. Trey also incorporates a Ross Compressor coupled with his Ibanez TS-4 tube screamer. The result: a guitar tone many wish to emulate but just find it hard to do so.

Robert Cray is known for his superb blues technique.  Cray uses Fender pickups that are a bit hotter than a standard strat that is plugged into his 1964 silver Fender Stratocaster. Cray’s main amp is now a Matchless Clubman 35, while he also uses a Fender Super Reverb and a Fender Vibro King. Cray also uses thick 11 gauge strings. The combination of a great Fender hard tail body, hotter pickups, and heavier strings are what makes his famous sound.

B.B. King is one of a kind in the guitar world. His unique tone comes from his Gibson – Lucille – fitted with Gibson humbuckers. Another aspect to King’s guitar style is his vibrato and the way he mixes phrases and sprinkles in weird and amazing bends. In addition, his amp is set low so his reverb is at 2 and the treble cranked up at 8. His tone is classic and very simple.

Django Reinhardt is one of the first prominent European jazz musicians and Django remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists today. The guitars used by Django, the Selmer Maccaferri, are the first commercially available guitars with a cutaway. The Selmer guitar used by Mr. Reinhardt was equipped with an aluminum-reinforced neck. Many luthiers consider them to among the finest guitars ever made. Thus, the Django tone was born.

George Thorogood’s good time, growling badass slide tone, and rowdy stage antics has made his music a signature among the American rock scene. Thorogood’s tone comes from a fully hollow body Gibson ES-125 fitted with P-90’s and plugged into a Fender Dual Showman. Thorogood is also known for using a Mesa Boogie on occasion.

Prince is the one of the most under-rated guitar players in the world. Princes’ unique tone comes from his famous Hohner Telecaster attached to a boatload of pedals. His synthesizer sound, which came before guitar synthesizers existed, is produced through an octaver, hooked up to two flangers and sent through an amp. The result is Princes’ famous tone, which is a wavy, never decaying tone that crackles as he bends every note.

Now that you know the guitar, pickups and amp used by  several  guitar legends, go out and try your hand at mastering the tone you wish to emulate.

Guitar of the Week

1961 Epiphone Casino

This is a very early, first year Casino, which is essentially an ES-330. The Casino became very popular because the Beatles used it. The Casino sports a fully hollow thin body that came in sunburst or royal tan finish. Other features included a trapeze tailpiece (optional Bigsby), 24 ¾” scale, 16 frets clear of the body, single bound fingerboard, tortoise pickguard and a metal peg head Epiphone logo.

The Casino came equipped with either one (1) P-90 in the middle position or with two P-90 pickups. Most pickups, as the one attached indicate that the pickups were dog-ear P-90’s.

Note: all later 1961 and beyond Casinos used a white multi-layer pickguard and a pearl "Epiphone" peghead logo.

Adjusting Pickup Height

Adjusting Pickup Height:
 
Pickups set to high can cause a number of inexplicable issues. Follow these instructions to avoid future headaches. First, depress all of the strings at the last fret. Using 6" ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the 1st and 6th strings to top of the pole-piece. Adjust the distance with the two outside pickup mounting screws. The distance should be greatest at the 6th string - neck pickup position, and closest at the 1st string - bridge pickup position. The distance will vary according to the amount of magnetic pull of the pickup.

Guitars are a 'living and breathing' instrument, so it stands to reason that you will be making these adjustments as needed. Remember, a properly set up guitar will not only have a positive effect on your playing technique, but from now on, when you walk into a recording session, the engineer will know that he or she, is dealing with a pro - and when you take the stage, your guitar will respond as it should.

The Right Way to Tune Your Guitar

A guitar string will grab the tuning post better if you tune up to pitch rather than tuning down. For example, if you're tuning your E-string, and your tuner is reading D#, continue tuning up to E. If the tuner reads F, you should tune the guitar down to approximately D# and tune up to E from there. By tuning up to pitch, you ensure that the string is being held firmly by the tuning peg and won't slip, resulting in more stable tuning.