electric guitar shop

An electric guitar if cared for properly will last for many years, The majority of maintenance you should be able to undertake yourself but some things should be taken care of by professionals.

When your guitar is not in use, it should be kept in a case to save it from spills and knocks and general protection. Electric guitars are made of wood and is therefore affected by extreme temperature changes which can cause the guitar to crack, try to Avoid very hot or cold environments however, if you have to take your guitar from one extreme to another, allow the guitar to adapt to the new temperature slowly before you play it. Never lay your guitar down unless you are performing maintenance on it or it is in its case. It should not be laid flat on the ground unless the guitar is in its case.

On the hand you use on the fret board keep your fingernails short to protect it, you will also find this is more comfortable for you, your hands should also be clean before playing. After you have finished playing your guitar it is always good practice to wipe the instrument and the strings with a soft cloth, this is to prevent dirt and oils building up, If you change your strings it is a good idea to take the opportunity to clean the fret board as dust and oils build up there also. To keep you guitar looking nice it is also a good idea to polish it occasionally to keep the wood in good condition.

It is a good idea to regularly check the tuning gears on the guitar for loose parts and good operation. I would suggest applying a small amount of light machine oil to the bearing surfaces twice a year if you have open gears.
Check the controls, output jack and switches periodically to check they are not becoming loose. If they are, tighten them up. You might want to remove the access panel and hold the jack or control from the back when tightening to make sure the part does not rotate, so you don't break any of the wire connections.

If you have to change a string then although you don't have to, it is a good idea to change them all, this is because if one string breaks it is a good sign that the set of strings are tired, another sign that your strings are getting tired and it is time to change them is if there is discolouration where you pick.

If you're the type of person who likes to add their own mark on their guitar, feel free to add stickers to it or replace the scratch pate and knobs, however, never try to reshape the guitar, reshaping the guitar could ruin it and the sound will become distorted.
It is a very good idea when you purchase your electric guitar to get a case for it, to protect it and to carry it around. There are many types of case on the market and are shaped to fit your particular instruments shape and size.

Following these simple steps will ensure your guitar gives you many years of pleasure.

One of the most important inventions in the 20th century was the electric guitar and is probabbly responsible for shaping and defining rock and roll music.
The first electric guitar came out in the 1930's however, people took a while to get used to it and didn't see it's potential early on so it took a while to become popular in American music circles. Although the electric guitar had a slow start to it's existence it eventually found it's place and has styled and inspired many new types of music throughout the years. The electric guitar is now regarded as the most dominant instrument in rock music today and is considered to be the most famous instrument that has been introduced by the United States.

Hawaiian guitars were played in the 1920s, which had a metal slide and the Hawaiian electric guitars were the first guitars that depended totally on their sound being amplified electrically rather than just acoustically.

Adolph Rickenbacker originally made metal components for Dopera Brothers' National Resonator Guitars. While he was working at National, Rickenbacker met George Beauchamp and Paul Barth who had been working hard developing magnetic pickups. Together they formed the Electro String Company together and in 1931 the trio produced their first Hawaiian guitars.
Thier success prompted the likes of Gibson and others to start producing electric guitars that were destined to become very popular,
Gibson new electric guitar models became established in the 1940s.

Guitar makers started to work on ways of applying the solid body of the Hawaiian and steel guitars to regular instruments, to come up with something that sounded good. In 1944, Leo Fender, a radio repair shop owner, teamed up with Doc Kaufman, a former Rickenbacker employee, set up K & F Company and produced some steel guitars and amplifiers. Fender thought the large pickup magnets in use at the time could be smaller and still successful. He incorporated a new pickup that he wanted to try out into a solid body guitar based on the Hawaiian shape but using a regular properly fretted fingerboard. This however, was designed only to demonstrate the pickup not actually for mass production but this type of guitar was soon in demand. In 1946 the Fender Electric Instrument Company was formed and the Broadcaster was introduced.

Les Paul was working in the same direction at about the same time. Paul had been experimenting with pickups in the 1930s but had experienced resonance and feedback problems. This made him start thinking about a solid body guitar after hearing about Thomas Edison´s solid body violin. Paul was sure that the only way to avoid body feedback was to reduce pickup movement so being mounted in a solid body would be essential. Paul built the historic "log" guitar in 1941 after persuading Epiphone to let him use its workshop on Sundays.
Paul Bigsby and Merle Travis built a solid body electric guitar in 1947 that was similar to the Broadcaster that Fender introduced in 1948. The two of them were situated near each other so perhaps some copying took place. Fender was more interested in practicality and utility then looks and wanted a regular guitar with the clear sound of an electric Hawaiian. He wanted to get rid of the feedback problems. The result was the Broadcaster that he began production in 1948 later renamed the Telecaster. Fender started production of the Stratocaster in 1954. With the Telecaster and the guitars Les Paul was designing for Gibson, they set the standard for solid body guitars.

Budget
The first thing to consider when buying an electric guitar is what your budget is. You can purchase a guitar for a very cheap price or you can buy a far superior one for the price of a small house. However, there is usually a reason why cheap electric guitars are so cheap. It is usually best to pay a little bit more to make sure that you purchase a guitar that is free from defects and playable. Although having said that, if you are new to the world of electric guitars, generally you should not spend heaps of money for a top-of-the line electric guitar.

Are you planning to play occasionally or do you have the commitment desire and drive to practise daily and become the next rock legend? These factors greatly influence what type of guitar would be best suited to you and it is a good idea to have some idea on this before walking into the shop and being confronted with rows and rows of guitars. Remember, the most expensive guitar you can see is not necessarily the best model for you. It is also important to understand that you will also need to buy an amplifier and guitar case too and they should be factored in when making your budget decisions.

Style Of Music
What kind of sound are you after? What kind of music do you plan to play on your electric guitar? Some electric guitars are designed for a certain type of music - jazz, rock or blues for example. Others can play many types and have a slightly different sound. If you know you play only hard rock music, it might be a good idea to mention this to the music professional in the guitar store who can point you towards what he thinks is a suitable guitar for you. If you are after a specific type of sound, you can play a recording to the sales assistant and if he is worth his salt, he will be able to identify which type of guitar produced the sound and recommend something similar for you. If you know nothing whatsoever about electric guitars, you should find someone who knows a lot about them as your ear will not be as finely tuned as his and something that sounds great in the music store might not please you so much after a few months of playing.

Research
Before buying an electric guitar it is best to do some research first. The fact that you are reading this web page is a good 1st step, but there are other resources that could be looked at. Buying magazines on guitars can be a good place to read reviews and get an idea of prices. Also it is a great idea to talk to other guitarists about their experiences with guitars and the reasons they selected their particular electric guitar.

Defects
The neck is the most important thing to look for when searching for defects in electrical guitars. A bad neck means a bad electric guitar. You should always check to see if the neck is straight. Check the back of the neck and headstock for cracks and finally, examine the fingerboard for excessive wear on the frets or the wood between the frets. You should also check the body of the guitar for any large dents, but this is not as important as the neck checking. It is also a good thing to test the electronics. Try adjusting the volume up and down to test whether scratchiness occurs and that the tone controls work. Basically then play the guitar and determine whether anything jumps out at you in a bad sound way while adjusting pickups and other controls.

Comfort
The most important thing is that your electric guitar is going to be with you for a very long time, so you have to pick one you are totally happy with. You should love its sound, like the way it feels and feel comfortable playing it. If you feel unhappy with any of these things, put the guitar back in the rack and try another. Never rush the purchase of a music instrument. If you are not comfortable with the guitar, that might come across in your playing. Take as much time as you need to select a guitar that you love. There is plenty of choice and there is something available for every type of guitar player, no matter how amateur or advanced you might be and no matter what kind of music you plan to play on it.

Tuning a guitar is something else that can be learned easily. A guitar sounds bad if it is played out of tune. Tuning up means altering the strings on the instrument so they play in a certain key when played open. To change the pitch of the guitar strings, you have to make them either tighter or looser - change their tautness. The machine head, which you use for doing this, is found on the headstock of the guitar. Turn it anticlockwise to tighten a string (when you need to raise the pitch) or clockwise to loosen the string (for lowering the pitch). Most pieces of music written for guitars are in ´standard tuning´, which means when you play the notes openly, the sixth string (nearest the top) should play E, the fifth should play A, the fourth should play D, the third should play G, the second is B and the first string (the string nearest the floor) is E. You can remember this easily - look at the first letter of every word in this saying - Every Alsatian Dog Grows Big Ears. It sounds silly but it will help you remember the order.
Tuning can be achieved in a number of ways, by ear to a keyboard or tuning fork or the easier method of purchasing a guitar tuner, these devices are cheap and have a display that shows you when your guitar is in tune.