What makes your guitar great? Color, finish, pickups, tuners? Maybe,
but most likely not. Great guitars are held by players who really
appreciate the parts that add up to quality. This is true however there
is a catch. The great guitars are the ones that contain the qualities
desired by the player holding the guitar. Huh? What do I mean by that?
What makes great guitars… great?
Simply this. Every player has different ideas on what makes his
guitar great. It is very personal. Some players need certain parts to
make them feel comfortable using the instrument. For example, a player
may need a good tremolo so he can demonstrate his particular techniques.
Still others may gravitate to a particular guitar because it has the
“action” he desires. Action is defined as the proximity of the strings
to the top of the frets. The lower the strings, the closer the action
and ease of play is more evident.
My guitar is better ….
Players will often compare their guitar to another and usually say-my
guitar is better. Then they’ll list all of the qualities that make it
so. What they’re really saying is, “There are qualities in my guitar
that I have not found in any other guitar. I am sticking with this
guitar until I find another one that plays just like it”. Got it. Keep
looking or go to a custom shop.
What is a custom guitar shop?
It’s a place where great guitars a made, adjusted, tapered, tailored
and finished to your specs. So, a guitar player has two choices. He can
stand in one place and watch as all the guitars slowly go past in his
lifetime trying each one until the “ideal” next guitar floats by. The
other choice is to ask for what he needs. Since he already has his
perfect guitar in hand then all that’s necessary is to duplicate it’s
most important and prized qualities. Yes, that’s right a custom shop can
measure, extract, compare, duplicate and set up a guitar exactly like
the one you play.
If not, why not? Do you have great guitars
or just one? Don’t you have an extra pair of shoes? A spare tire? Do
you have spare guitar picks? Strings? Why not a spare guitar in case of
emergency? You may want to think about it. Taking a second guitar to a
gig is not just a good idea but a necessity in most cases. Think about
having your most prized tool-duplicated for emergency purposes. It’s
great to have a spare! Get one! Fast!
Haywire Custom Guitars Surf Green Guitar with Block Inlay
Mr. Rick Mariner Owner and Founder and CEO of Haywire Custom
Guitars Inc.
He is a member of The Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
(A.S.I.A.) as well as a guitar player. Rick holds a bachelors degree
from University of Md.and a Masters degree from George Washington
University. Rick developed his exclusive 8 – Point “Gig- Ready” guitar
process that allows for Custom Guitars that are “GIG-READY”. With Rick’s
many years of development and guitar set-up experience, Haywire Guitar
shop “Builds satisfied players… one Haywire guitar at a time”.
Successful musicians consistently do things that unsuccessful
musicians are unable, or unwilling to do. As a musician it is your
responsibility to learn your instrument. Learn how it works, learn how
to adjust and set it up for maximum benefit
for you, the player. The learning just begins there.
A player also
needs to learn the music, the styles and thoroughly know the content and
repertoire. Most importantly, the successful player knows how to get
along with the other members in the band. They also have a back-up
instrument in case of emergency.
Better yet, each player in a band, trio or group situation should
learn enough material to cover a whole night by themselves. Yes, that’s
right each player needs to have a whole night of music ready to play.
The other members need to learn the tunes as well. So, 4 members equals 4
whole song lists that every other member is completely familiar with as
well.
Teach every member in the group your songs and learn theirs. Why?
What if a member or two fails to show for a gig? You already got it
covered. Right? No worries. The show must go on. And successful
musicians prove it will.
If you want to get asked back to a venue,
then do a good job. Show the boss you can handle any situation that
arises. Successful bands deliver the goods-always!
Mr. Rick Mariner Owner and Founder and CEO of Haywire Custom
Guitars Inc.
He is a member of The Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
(A.S.I.A.) as well as a guitar player. Rick holds a bachelors degree
from University of Md.and a Masters degree from George Washington
University. Rick developed his exclusive 8 – Point “Gig- Ready” guitar
process that allows for Custom Guitars that are “GIG-READY”. With Rick’s
many years of development and guitar set-up experience, Haywire Guitar
shop “Builds satisfied players… one Haywire guitar at a time”.
First you’ll need to understand what poles are and the relationship they
play in a pickup design.
Pickup poles are magnet posts that run perpendicular to the string
windings in the guitar pickup’s coil to serve as a conductor for each
string above it.
Often you’ll notice one pole piece per string on a single coil is used.
Some of today’s designs have one long bar pole piece, or blade, per
string.
Poles look like small metal circles under each string.
Flat poles are
all the same height.
The staggered poles have some poles reaching higher for certain strings
and some are lower. They have a very non-uniform look.
Flat-pole pickups simply give your guitar a better string balance. When
the pole pieces are all level then your tone is more balanced.
No volume on any string will dominate the others.
Fender Teles until
sometime in 1956 had flat-poles. Leo Fender decided that since some of
the strings were so far away from the guitar he needed to compensate and
make some poles higher. In his mind, it would bring the volume out in
the more distant poles for strings sitting higher.
Now, moving guitar pickup poles closer to the strings does increase their
output-only more windings will do that. However it will make the string
louder.
Think about a pole as being a microphone for each string. Think about a
singer. What happens as a singer gets farther away from the mic?
The volume drops but the mic still has the same output. Placement is
important!
