Thanks to Thumbrella for spotting this – here’s a cool 12 picture series on how pieces of wood are transformed into a guitar, by luthiers from Knights Guitar. Below is a stage by stage example of how we made Jacks Guitar. All our guitars are handmade by either Gordon or Rob, both experienced luthiers. Our [...]

Here’s an instructable on how to create your own metal pickguard to replace the boring old plasticky one that came with your guitar.  It’s basically down to tracing your old pickguard on a sheet of metal, then painstakingly cutting out, sanding, trimming and polishing the piece to perfection.

Apparently, only 1 in 20 guitars that arrive from the manufacturers are correctly set up.  I’m not sure whether that claim is meant to be sensationalist or what the criteria is for being “properly set up”, but it does make a good point in that you should always make sure that you set your guitar [...]

Most valve amps need to be run loud to get a good tone out of them, which often makes it difficult when performing in intimate settings, playing late at night or if you have picky neighbours. An attenuator is an electronics device that reduces the amplitude of a signal without appreciably distorting its waveform – [...]

A killswitch can be a handy thing to have, as it allows a guitarist to immediately mute sounds coming from the guitar, as opposed to a messy cutoff using a volume knob or foot pedal. It can make for some interesting guitar effects, as demonstrated by Eddie Van Halen’s “You Really Got Me”. If you’re [...]

Would you pay $150 or more for these custom designed and crafted Shark Inlay control and trim plates, made of materials such as White/Black/Gold Mother of Pearl, Paua, Red Abalone, semiprecious stones?  Created by Master Inlay Artist Cliff Suttle to fit PRS guitars,each pieces cut and milled to tolerances in the 1000′s of an inch. [...]

Those handy with a soldering iron and a bit of DIY know how might want to check out this Instructables guide, on how to build your own tube amp from components.  There are currently pre-fab kits on the market, but it’s infinitely more fun building your own and tinkering with the design.  This guide looks [...]

I was trying to choose between two guitars the other day, each constructed of different woods.  Apart from providing unique looks, the types of wood used in guitar construction produces different tonal qualities as well, which will ultimately affect the sound your instrument produces.   Given the choice between a rosewood or maple, and I [...]

The Vox AC15CC, or AC15 Custom Classic is a nice amplifier – despite being manufactured in China, it has plenty of character and tone. Still, there are plenty of people on the internet willing to invest time into performing modifications on this amp to take it a step further. Having done quite a few modifications [...]

More and more people are getting into B.Y.O (Build Your Own) pedal kits, modifying a pedal or two, or even working on the electronics of their own guitars. So you’re looking at starting out building or modifying a pedal or two, or switching the pickups out on your guitar? What gear should you have to [...]