Basic Guitar Setup and Adjustments - How to adjust your truss rod and action height

So today's blog post is on something that most guitarists know a little bit about, but few know as much as they should to keep their guitar in top playing condition.



Here you can see how we measure the action height of a guitar. To do this properly you need a metal ruler that ends exactly at zero, and preferably a wide one. The small rulers are OK, but a wide ruler is much easier to make sure you have it nice and straight (and if its not straight your measurement will be wrong).

So as you can see in the photo our action height is about 2.6-2.7mm.

So the first thing you would check is the neck adjustment OK ?



Do you have a curved neck like this ?

First of all you need to tune your guitar using an electronic tuner

Now to adjust your neck, you will need an Allen key (which normally comes supplied with your guitar).

To tighten (which will straighten the neck) you turn the key clockwise as you are looking at it. But be careful ! Don't over tighten or force it as you could damage your guitar if your not careful. A truss rod can often be turned completely off, so it feels like its doing nothing, but once it has started to adjust, a 1/4 turn is usually enough to make it straight again.



Ah now we have a nice straight neck and our action height is sitting lower, ready to play.

Please post any comments or questions so we can expand on this for you.

If you need Electric Guitars , Acoustic Guitars, Guitar Tuners, or strings go to www.artistguitars.com.au

How to choose the right size Violin

How To Choose The Right Size Violin ?

Here is a simple way to choose the most comfortable Violin size

• The first step is to have the player stretch out his or her arm fully ensuring that there is no bend in the arm.

• The second step is to measure the total distance from the neck to the center of the palm.

After following the above instructions, use the measurement and the sizing chart below to determine the proper violin size.

Artist Guitars has a range of student violin's

Top 5 Things to look for when buying an Electric Guitar

Top 5 Things to look for when buying an Electric Guitar

1. Machine heads - what is the quality like?
Big name brands usually can afford to get a few corners and use cheap covered machine heads on their budget ranges. At artist guitars we use diecast machine heads that are made from a precise mould for smoother, easier and more accurate tuning.

2. Pickups - Does it have a decent sound?
Your pickups are the most important thing to your sound. We use high quality Wilkinson pickups for a much better tone. I suggest you try listening to some of our audio samples.

3. Neck – is it comfortable?
We make our necks to feel comfortable and easy to play

4. Action – is it nice and low, setup from the factory?
All our guitars are set-up and ready to play, ensuring you have a great instrument right from the beginning

5. Price – Do you get good value for money?
When you buy a guitar from Artist Guitars you’re getting the maximum value for money. We back up all our guitars with a 12 month Warranty and 14 day money back guarantee. So you can be certain you’re getting the best possible value in Australia.

Do I need a brand name guitar?

It’s simple – brand name guitars have a brand that helps them sell – but do you want to buy a brand name or a better sounding, better playing guitar?

Now if your spending $1000’s of dollars to buy a guitar, brand may matter, but for your first guitar take a look at what we have to offer, listen to our audio demos and see why you get a much better guitar from us. Save your money and use it to buy more music equipment, like amplifiers and pedals.

Save money on your electric guitar – Buy from the Factory

When you buy a “brand” name guitar it’s usually already been sold 4 times.

1. Factory – Brand, 2. Brand to Australian Wholesaler, 3. Wholesaler to retailer, 4 Retailer to Customer. (No wonder you’re paying too much!)

(As far as we are aware there is no brand that makes their own guitars at anything under $1000 in the market at all)

Wouldn’t you rather buy direct and save on all of these costs?

Our Customer Testimonial

Have a read of what one of our customers said about our TC model.
“Thanks again for the gear mate - and I've got to say I'm really impressed with how the guitar feels and sounds for $150.
Regards, Tim”

About Us

Artist Guitars are different; we work hard to impress you with the quality and price of our guitars. There is absolutely no reason to spend thousands of dollars on brand name guitars, we make musician ready equipment that you can afford.

Start your search for a new electric guitar today! Go to: http://www.artistguitars.com.au

Top secret’s to keeping your guitar in tune (For steel string acoustics)

Today’s blog is all about how to keep your guitar in tune. For beginners (And even players of many years) this is a subject that doesn’t get much attention – but it’s a cause of incredible frustration.

So What is something you can’t do much about ? Machine heads. There are good and bad (and some that are extremely expensive), but the most fundamental difference is diecast and covered. At Artist Guitars we only use diecast or other high quality machine heads. The difference is quite simple, a diecast machine head is made from a mould at high tolerance, so it will be smoother and stay in tune better – these days with the much better production techniques there is really no excuse to use cheap covered machine heads, in our opinion you should always choose a guitar with diecast machine heads.

So now that’s out of the way – What are things you can do something about ?

There are 5 main causes of tuning problems on a steel string guitar.

1. Machine heads
2. Too little string on the machine head
3. Too Much string on the machine head – the ideal here is 3-4 turns
4. Gaps in the string on the machine head (this is a common issue and so easily solved)
5. The ball end of the string is not sitting on the sound board (or top of the
guitar)

So how do we solve the 4th and 5th issues – it’s so simple ... Pull on your strings

Let me explain.

Pulling on your strings helps remove the slack at the machine head , It also helps settle the string into the top of the guitar.

Go and grab your guitar now. Play a note - Pull the string (give it a good go , if you’re worried use the low E as there is no way you can break this string) play the same note again. If the pitch is the same your guitar was fine, but if it changed you had slack in your system. This simple secret will keep you in tune for much, much longer.

Now try another test. Gently pull your bridge pin out (but only half way or the string may come out – be careful here and protect your eyes) if you can do that without the note changing pitch then you were setup correctly - you should be able to move the bridge pin and have almost no effect on the pitch of the string.

How do I stop the bridge pin issue happening the next time I change my string’s ? Put a bend in the end of your string 1-2cm from the ball, as you push the bridge pin in the guitar pull back on the string so it’s sitting right on the sound board (as an added benefit your tone will also be much better)
Ian Bush / Artist Guitars
ian@artistguitars.com.au
www.artistguitars.com.au

Choosing your first guitar – What to consider.

Choosing your first guitar is something that is extremely important and also very confusing. A guitar player of many years has learnt about all the subtle differences and knows exactly what they want to do but beginners need help. Unfortunately the right advice can be hard to find.

So here are a few key points to consider;

1. Body Size and Neck size and weight

Especially for smaller, younger, or larger players (particularly hands) this is really a critical question.

An Electric guitar has the smallest body size (making it the easiest to play), weighs the most (So it could be too heavy to stand up with for a child) but it has the thinnest neck (Very easy to play)

Classical Guitars or Nylon string guitars have a medium size body, the widest necks (which can be difficult for smaller hands)
Acoustic Guitars have the largest bodies (hard to play for smaller people), Medium size necks.

To give you some idea of the dimensions the neck on a standard Acoustic is 44mm, Electric is 42mm and Classic is a whopping 50mm (3/4 size is smaller at 46mm)

2. String type, Electric vs. Steel string, Steel String vs. Nylon String

Nylon Strings are the easiest to press

Electric strings are thinner than Steel Acoustic strings – not so hard to press
Steel Acoustic Strings are the thickest and hardest to play (And the thicker the strings the better the tone)

There are many ways to consider this - firstly you need to consider what sound you really want. I remember as a young child wanting to sound like Mark Knopfler playing distorted guitar on Money for Nothing, when I got my first nylon string guitar and it didn’t sound the same I was really disappointed (I was only 9 so forgive me for making the mistake !) I should have bought an Electric guitar with an amp given the time over again.

The reasons are,

1. It would sound like what I wanted to hear – and that’s a huge motivator.

2. The neck on an electric is actually the thinnest neck you can get (much thinner than a classical guitar)

Right now I play a steel string dreadnought most of the time, It suits the music I like, and it’s really convenient.

Nylon string guitars are great for a particular purpose and have their own sound, but for most people it’s not the sound they hear in their heads. That being said Nylon string guitars are by far the most popular in Australia, they are cheaper to buy and easier to play (but be careful of the bigger neck).

Ian Bush/ Artist Guitars

www.artistguitars.com.au