Tune-O-Matic and Wraparound bridges are two of the most popular types of bridges for electric guitars. They’ve both been around for decades (having been introduced in the 1950’s) and are well known for being the choice of bridge for Gibson Les Paul’s. But what’s the difference between them? And is one better than the other? …
Fixed and floating are the two main types of guitar bridges. The bridge is crucial to how the guitar plays, sounds and its setup, so understanding the difference between the two is important. When choosing a new guitar (especially if you’re a beginner) or looking to do an upgrade getting the right bridge is key. …
The guitar bridge is more important than you might first think. It’s play a major role in how a guitar sounds, it’s tuning, intonation, sustain and general playability. But with so many different types of guitar bridges available it can be difficult to know what they do and which is right for you. From classic …
The length of a guitar cable to the amp would, on the face of it, seem completely unimportant. It couldn’t affect your tone.. right? Well actually that’s wrong. Believe it or not but the guitar cable length does have an impact on tone. A longer cable means the signal of your guitar will face some …
I’ve never been all that fussed about how a guitar looks. Over time that’s changed somewhat as I began to understand how having a guitar you like looking at actually inspires you to pick it up and play. But generally I care a lot less about the appearance of a guitar when compared to something …
The zero fret is a little bit of an enigma. In some cases reviled and hated, by others adored and considered a technological marvel that makes tuning stability and your tone much better. But they’re a bit odd. You tend to find them either installed in really cheap and poor guitars or the highest quality, …
How many frets and the scale length of a guitar is important to the feel of it and how it plays. So how many frets does a Fender Stratocaster have? Most Fender Stratocasters have either 21 or 22 frets as standard. It depends on the model of Strat as to whether it’s 21 or 22. …
You may have noticed that guitars have colored bits of plastic attached to their bodies. They tend to be below the strings and can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. These are pickguards. And they are designed to do as their name says: guard the guitar from picks. When you strum with a …
Guitar bridges are often talked about as being really important to how a guitar works and sounds. But what is a guitar bridge? You might be able to identify one but do you know exactly what it does? Or why? If not then you’re probably interested to know more about the bridge on a guitar. …
Most guitars come with volume and tone controls. But even experienced guitarists can be a bit confused by what the guitar controls do. You’ll have seen and probably used the knobs on your guitar. But are you absolutely sure you know how to use them properly. Do you fully understand what the tone controls do? …