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. Welcome back! If you haven’t done so [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

The world of DIY effects has become even flashier with the introduction of two different kits for creating your custom effects. The Beavis Board from Beavis Audio is a kit consisting of a breakout box, breadboards and a collection of components that enables you build a huge array of stompbox circuits including overdrives, distortions, fuzzes, [...]

Sure, you can carry around a tuner to help you get your strings back into musical zen, but why have a separate item to lose when you can have it built into your guitar?  I’ve seen guitars that have built-in tuners from the factory, but these tend to be acoustics, where they can afford to [...]

Bringing your guitar amp off the ground and pointed in an optimal direction has a few benefits.  For a start, the controls will probably be more accessible to you.  Also, because an amp’s output is quite directional, it often helps you hear your playing better by angling it towards you.  Finally, when performing on stage, [...]

If you’ve ever fancied yourself as a wanna-be luthier, these articles will certainly pique your interest. 1. The Reesely Strat This page describes how I built an electric guitar, it has a bunch of pictures and a fairly detailed explanation of the steps. If you have the usual power tools and some experience in woodworking, [...]