Have you ever seen anything like these two guys, one naked and one dressed, on a two person (one piano) motorcycle on the road during your travels? I know I haven’t and hope never to see something like what these tow guys are up to heading towards me on the highway! I guess these guys really are a band on the run!
The one question I have musically about this picture is how many miles to the tuning up of his piano does this guy get?
Keep on Jammin’
Adjusting the Truss Rod in your guitar to doctor up your action on the fretboard is something that I don’t think I’ll try on my beloved Larrivee L-03. This is something that should be left to the professionals, unless your doing this on your old beater guitar before attempting this on your good axe!
The Truss Rod in a guitar is embedded in the middle of a guitar’s fretboard, closer to the bottom of it, moving from the head of the guitar to it’s body. It consists of 1 or 2 metal bars that are designed to adjust/move the neck of the guitar up or down making it easier to play, get a unique/certain sound that you desire or to help out that buzzing sound that one gets when playing a note somewhere on the fretboard.
At one end of the Truss Rod there is a nut that allows you to adjust it. It can be accessed by either the head of the guitar (normally there is a plastic cover over the opening) or located where the fretboard meets the body of the guitar. The other end is where the rod is anchored or fixed into position. This will give the adjusting end the tension that you will need to move the Truss Rod.
The 2 types of truss rods are single and double action.
The single truss rod allows you to move the guitar neck in one direction (or as some technicians call one way) only. This makes the neck go in an up-bow or upwards direction. If you place your guitar on a flat surface and look at it sideways, the head of it will be higher then the body of the guitar. The double lets you go both directions.
So this is a basic introduction to what the Truss Rod does in your guitar. If there is some interest on this topic here on this blog, then I will do some more detailed updates in the future!
Keep on Jammin’
Here is a great book for the intermediate guitarist that wants to know a little more about how his/her instrument works. This might make a neat Christmas present for the guitar player in your life!
There are mixed feelings in the guitaring community about signature models -they are customized for another person, not you, and cost alot more because of the name on them. Here’s a few of the signature guitars out there for the ‘metallers’.
Dean Guitars ‘Dimebag Darrell’ range. The average guitarist will have one guitar made for them -Dimebag has a range of 33 guitars made in his memory. The Pantera guitarist died tragically in 2004, and since then Dean have supplied us with a whole range of Dimebag guitars, shaped as flying Vs or Explorers. Depending on the age of the guitar depends of what Pickups you get – EMGs or ‘Dimebuckers’. So select your choice of pickup and decide which of the 33 looks best to you and enjoy hours upon hours of metal. If Dimebag was your hero, this is the range to look at prices range from the ‘dimeblade’ at £219 to the ‘rebel razorback’ at £3500 -so choose wisely.
BC Rich Kerry King Signature series. Not to be outdone, One half of Slayer’s guitaring duo Kerry King, has his own signature range. Available as either a flying V or Explorer shaped guitar as well, painted with tribal designs to match his head tattoos, these guitars look as mean as their owner, but how do they sound? Not bad, they certainly go along way to helping you achieve that harsh ‘Slayer’ guitar tone.The range has BC Rich’s own brand of pickups in them to give the guitar a little added kick.
Jackon’s Phil Demell guitar. Created with help from Machine Head’s lead guitarist Phil Demell, the Jackson guitar has one hell of a kick to it. The guitar has EMG pickups and is shaped like a flying V and ready to tear your head off. Expensive at £1100m but if you’ve got your money and love your metal its the guitar to go for, and it comes tuned to drop B as well.
Looking for electric guitars? Or maybe you prefer acoustic guitars? Visit here.
