The Perfect Guitar

Hey all, for those of you not familiar, I wanted to introduce you to the True Temperament Fretting System. I first found out or heard about this through Steve Vai. Now understand something, people approach Mr vai with all kinds of crazy ideas every year, and most he shoots down, because they are just that, CRAZY! This is something that Vai believed in so much, Ive heard he is transforming all his necks.

The concept is simple, the point of the system is for super-accurate intonation over the whole fretboard. Its a curved fret system that fine tune the intonation of every single note on the neck. The curved frets play like straight frets, so there is no need to modify your playing. Also chords ring out louder and longer. Simply put, the frets have been shaped so that every single note on every single fret on every string is in perfect tune, meaning that all those minor errors you have on a regular guitar neck are gone. I know what your thinking, "I have a Les Paul, there is nothing wrong with this guitar, I payed 5 grand for it" well, take out a tuner, fine tune, now hit the same E in 3 places, if you have a good tuner, you WILL see a minor difference, this system eliminates this totally.

Here is a link to the site, plenty of video, and explanations there, so go check it out, and give us all your feedback! Keep Rockin
True Temperament - Fretting systems

How to Properly String a Guitar

Putting new strings on a guitar can easily be done improperly, in fact most guitarists Ive seen over the years haven't had the slightest clue on properly stringing their instruments. I say this not to insult anyone, I didn't learn how to string a guitar the proper way for years.

There are a few different techniques to stringing a guitar, for example, there is a different technique for stringing a classic guitar than an electric. For this lesson I will be using a standard electric guitar for the example.

Now if your anything like me, you might be the type that breaks a string and replaces just that one. The type that replaces strings as they break. If you want to get the best sound out of your guitar, I suggest changing out your strings every month. First you want to remove all the strings, and put the new ones through all at once. Then, instead of starting at the top and going down one by one, your going to want to alternate from top to bottom. Start with the top string, then go to the bottom, then back up to the A, then back down to the B and so on. The reason for this, you don't want your neck to twist, putting too much pressure on one side of the neck can cause it to twist over time.

Now when you string it through the tuning keys, you want to leave some slack in the strings, don't just pull them tight then start turning the key, leave enough slack so that you get a nice wrap around the tuning keys, this will help your instrument stay in tune a lot better. Now once you have done all 6 strings, alternating them, get them all in tune, then give each string a little tug to stretch them. Tune them back up again and repeat the process a few times until your strings can hold their tuning. Now your ready to go, and hopefully with this your guitar will stay in tune a lot better and you wont break as many strings if you have in the past. Hope this lesson has enlightened some of you, and as always Keep Rockin!

Guitar Tuning Issues- Part 3

Another Tuning problem is an unsecure nut. On guitars with locking tremolos, make sure that the screws that hold the nut assembly to the neck of the guitar are tight. On a standard style nut, its imperative that the slot of the neck in which the nut sits is tightly bound to the nut itself. Usually, on steel string and electric guitars, nuts are glued in place with cyano acrolite, super glue in otherwords. Although this is a strong bonding agent, its not entirely permanent and can loosen or break free. If this happens, every time you bend a string or vibrato a note, you could be altering the position of the nut-and thus the tuning of your axe.

Another nut related problem is when the pitch of a string jumps sharp. This freak of tuning occurs when the nut slots are not cut properly. If the slot is too narrow, it will pinch the string and hold it in place. Eventually, when enough pressure or tug is exerted, the string will jump up a little in the saddle slot, increasing the tension of the string and raising its pitch. Optimally, you want the saddle slot of the nut to be slightly wider than the gauge of the string. This problem is pretty easily corrected using slotting files, but dont try this yourself if your inexperienced. A qualified repairman is always your best bet to fix an unsecured or improparly cut nut, and neither of these operations is particularly costly.

This concludes my tips on tuning issues. I know at some point you have all experienced them, and may still continue to experience them, so I hope this helps you out and you can start enjoying your guitar playing more without falling out of tune continuously. Keep Rockin!!!

Guitar Tuning Issues- Part 2

Now Im going to cover another topic when it comes to out of tune guitars: tuning machines. Not all tuning machines are created equal. A good set of tuners should respond to the subtlest of adjustments. If you find that you can tweak on a tuner for awhile without hearing a change in pitch, thats not good. Sperzel and Gotoh are two examples of manufacturers that offer high gear ratios. The gears in these tuners mesh really well together and hold tuning reliably without backlash.

In addition, you dont want more than three to four neatly wrapped winds around the post of a tuner. Messy winds in excess of three or four can introduce slop and stretching problems. Regardless of what kind of tuners you have, you can always tighten the screw on the tuner buttons to reduce backlash.

I will post the 3rd and final part of this topic soon, till then Keep Rockin!

Guitar Tuning Issues

The One thing worse than an out of tune guitar is a guitar that wont stay in tune. Out of tune guitars aren't just a small problem, they're an epidemic. Im sure over the years everyone reading this has experienced these types of problems, so over the next few days I will be addressing these issues.

There are several reasons why a guitar wont stay in tune. First of all, and this may seem obvious, the strings may not be stratched properly. String stretching should be the first item on your check list when trying to identify the source of your tuning issues.

Once you've restrung with a fresh set of strings, tune the guitar to proper pitch with a guitar tuner. Then stretch the strings one at a time by fretting with your finger around the third fret while reaching under the string with your picking hand and tugging up off the fretboard about an inch to an inch and a half. The distance between your hands should be about three or four frets apart, and work your way up the neck to about the 15th to 21st fret while maintaining that three to four fret increment between your hands. After one pass up the fretboard, retune, and note how much the new string fell flat during the operation. If you repeat this process about three times, you'll find that the string will fall flat less and less until your able to complete a pass with very little detuning as a result of your stretching. At this point, the string is properly stretched and you should repeat the process with the other strings.

When you've finished with all the strings, tune the whole guitar as you normally would, and check it by playing chords and bending some notes to make sure there's no slippage occuring. If there is, its reasonably safe to say that it aint the strings.

I'll be back soon to continue on this issue, and go over tuners. Keep Rockin