Guitar Licks and Tips


You are here: Home / Archives for Playing Guitar / Guitar Equipment

Set up Guitar Action for Fender like Bridge

by

If your a do it yourself kinda person and want to set/adjust the action of your guitar saddle, then you have to watch this video!

I attempted this back in 1978 with disastrous results. I tried this out on my 1959 Fender Duo-Sonic. Soon after I realized that I screwed my guitar up royally, I had to take my patient to the local guitar shop, Music and Sound on Market Street in Brantford, to have it done right.

Back then, we didn’t have the internet and all the wonders that come with it. The way we gathered information was just by asking someone if they had done it or went to this thing called the library, are those things still around?

So if I have spurred your interest in this topic, check out this video, and then tell me what you think of it and if you could pull something like this off yourself.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd5DbChTzoM&feature=related

Keep on Jammin’





An interesting iPhone app named Amplitube

by

With all the iPhone apps out there today Amplitube seems to have hit the right note with many. I for one do not have a iPhone. I must be one of the only people that doesn’t have an iPhone, but I don’t need one right now. Of course, there are all these new apps that can do some amazing things and this makes me wonder what I am really missing maybe I should look into getting an iPhone?

The company that brings us Amplitube, this amazing piece of technology, is called IK Multimedia. I don’t know how long they’ve been around, but they surely seem to know how to make someone without any of these things take notice. There appears to be so many Amplitube apps out there that it makes one’s head spin.

Amplitube App for the iPhone

Amplitube App for the iPhone

The Amplitube app for the iPhone is absolutely wild. It is a fully functional multitrack, mini-studio portable all-in-one App. The creators are making me wonder if using the real things are becoming so un-cool now? Having the ability to select from the pedals, the amps or speakers right at your finger tips is fascinating. I just don’t know how they will sound, but I’m sure I’d be impressed.

Then there is the recording capability with this app. You can record in no time, having 4 track to record on, do some subtle re-mixing of your tracks with great effects that they provide and then export the file anywhere. Holy crap, how much easier can recording get! I only had a cassette recorder to capture my musical ideas when I was a teen. Now the one thing that I am intrigued with it the Amplitube’s SpeedTrainer.

This part of the app is ideal for figuring out those crazy guitar riffs that you can’t quite get your head around. The software boys and girls gives you the tools to slow down or speed up tune without affecting the pitch! They allow you to upload 50 songs to use when ever you have time to figure them out. Now to put in perspective with the much older technology, I have this old Ibanez Rockmen. It’s a cassette player that you can plug your guitar into and play along with your favorite tune. The Rockman permitted you to slow the song down but the trade off was that the pitch(tuning) of the guitar was altered.

So do you have an iPhone with this or a similar App on it? Tell us what you think about it, and would you recommend it to others and why.

Keep on Jammin’ (even the technically challenged)

Hendrix’s Duo Sonic Guitar up for Auction

by

According to the Guitar News Daily, the 1959 Fender Duo Sonic Guitar that Jimi Hendrix used for around 6 months while playing with the Isley Brothers is up for auction in the UK. The auction will take place on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010. This was the first Fender guitar that Jimi Hendrix’s used.

Here is a great picture of him and his Fender Duo sonic when he was with The King Kasuals.

The article states that Jimi payed about $160.00 US for his Fender Duo Sonic. I got one when I was living with my parents in the 70’s and mine was around the same price as well. The estimate price of Hendrix’s Duo Sonic is pegged anywhere from $235,000 to $285,000 (Can). I don’t think that mine will fetch this price but it doesn’t hurt to dream now does it!

The Auction company is called Cameo Auction and the guitar will be sold in Lot # 429.

Description: MEMORABILIA: Hendrix: Jimi’s Blond (tan) ’59/ ’60 Duo-Sonic Guitar.

During Jimi nine-month stint from March to November 1964, with the Isley Brothers, when he was known as Jimmy James, Hendrix got his first Fender guitar – a blond (tan) ’59/ ’60 Duo-Sonic. The one Jimi used was manufactured as a short scale guitar 22 ? inches long, selling in those days for $160. The common blond (tan) finish was discontinued in 1964. He found the Duo-Sonic affordable and that it worked great for the funky rhythms he played while working as a backing musician with the Isley Brothers backing band.

Jimi had at one stage fitted his Duo-Sonic with an EpiPhone (Maestro) Vibrato unit but had later taken it off. The rumour is that this guitar went missing whilst on tour in the USA but contrary to this Jimi just tired of using it and it was put away for a while and resurfaced years later in Chas Chandler’s London studio. Chas discovered and managed Jimi. Chas later sold the guitar in 1982 for ?400 to Rod Weinberg, who in 1983 reunited the Animals for a world tour. In 1956, Fender introduced the Music Master and Duo-Sonic guitars as affordable “3/4-size” short-scale student models. The Duo Sonic was always a student level guitar. The Duo-Sonic is considered rare and has displayed growing collector value.

The Music Master and Duo-Sonic were essentially the same guitar, with the addition of another pickup (in the bridge position) and a toggle switch on the Duo-Sonic. Cameo specialist Auctioneers Lot Description

My electric Fender Duo-sonic, just like Jimi’s, is a short scale (sometimes referred to as a student model) electric guitar. Anyone who has ever played it raves about it. The neck is made of rosewood and very small (great for all you speed freak guitarists out there), ultra light and the single coil pick ups are tailor fit to obtain that ultimate funky sound! Another great guitarist who owns one is my high school mentor Scott Merrit. I stupidly sanded mine down while Scott cut out this neat hole in the upper part of the guitar that he used as a handle, it is really neat!

Keep on Jammin’

Meta

Pages