Hybrid guitars seem to be all the rage these days. The benefits are obvious – being able to obtain electric and acoustic guitar sounds at the flick of a switch without changing your guitar. Imagine going from a loud, rocking opening song to a quiet, intimate acoustic ballad without having to change guitars. The reality [...]

One of my good friends actually camped out in the freezing winter cold for the launch of the 3G iPhone in Australia, and managed to obtain the dubious title of the first person in the city of Melbourne to get a 3G iPhone.  For his efforts, his mug was plastered all over the newspapers, interviewed [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Looking through the guitar auctions on eBay recently, I was astounded by the number of cheap guitars on offer. Most of these are copies of the most popular models out there, made as cheaply as possible (and some in the most garish of colours!), made mostly in China and at sold at prices too good [...]

Most electric guitars come with a variety of knobs and switches. At the bare minimum, there will be a volume knob, and a tone knob. When I first started to play electric guitar, I had no idea how to use these basic controls effectively, and like anyone picking up the electric for the first time, [...]

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 [...]

Introduction
Tim Jauernig is the creator of the ‘Luxury Drive’ and the hilariously named ‘Diabolic Gristle Tone Manipulator’ a.k.a. DGTM (a phrase coined by zany guitarist and Fender clinician Greg Koch). According to his website the Luxury Drive is closer to a booster, while the DGTM is an overdrive pedal. Both pedals have received such rave [...]

Many of us guitarists often take for granted the operation of our guitars. You get a guitar, plug in a few cables, turn on your amp and voila! You start playing!
While playing electric guitar should be like watching TV: You turn on the TV and watch it – you don’t really have to know how [...]