A lot of restrings and basic repairs come through our shop daily. When a simple “clean up and restring” job comes in, we always take the opportunity to check over the entire guitar to ensure there are no major problems with it. A Japanese Stratocaster came in that was very nice, but one of the bridge studs looked like it was leaning over a little.
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Every once in a while, an old part comes in that none of us here at Ant Hill can identify right away… This one was in the case of an 1880′s banjo-mandolin that came in for repair. After some searching online we found the original advertisement. We just had to put it in and try it! The concept of the Vibrator was to have
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It’s always a pleasure when unique instruments come into the shop, especially when our buddy, and local musician Toby stops by with one of his hot rods. This strat is a 2001 American Stratocaster Texas Special with a turquoise metal-flake finish. This is only 1 of 100 made especially for Mars Music before the company dissolved. There were also more limited editions in red sparkle.
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Overcoming Stage Fright (Or, how to be better than the Black Eyed Peas) Forget “just be yourself”. What kind of advice is that? We’ve got five real, proven cures for stage fright along with some examples of the big names bombing it hard. The last thing you want to have happen is to get on stage for your first or biggest show only to earn
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Install Tuning Machines on An Electric Guitar After Step 1 of building your own electric guitar, Attaching An Electric Guitar Neck, you’ll be installing the tuning machines into the headstock. To complete this step and follow our video, you will need: The electric guitar neck you chose for this project Kluson SD9105MN six-in-line tuning pegs Kluson MB65N-L US large hole adapter bushings Plumber’s tape Electric
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Attach an Electric Guitar Neck: Part 1 of the Build Your Own Guitar series The first step in building your own guitar is fairly straightforward. In this video we’ll be installing a guitar neck. To follow along with the video you’ll need an electric guitar body, a stratocaster neck and a backplate with mounting screws. Remember, part of the fun of building your own
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BYOG (Build Your Own Guitar) Ant Hill Music proudly presents the Build Your Own Guitar video blog series. By watching our free exclusive videos you’ll learn how to build an electric guitar from scratch. A guitar you can play gigs with. Your passion for music will breathe life into this instrument and it will serve you well on your quest for Rock n’ Roll glory.
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Guitar frets that cut from the sides are a result of the wood of the neck shrinking over time while the metal frets stay the same length. All guitars do this, regardless of the quality / appraised value of the instrument / how cool it is. Once your guitar reaches this age, carefully use a steel chisel file like the one in the photo below
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Cradling the fuzzy corpse of the armadillo in my hands, I wonder whether the murder and taxidermy of this curious critter was worth the effort in making this South American specialty instrument. I strum the nylon strings of the Bolivian charango. Out of the hollow body bursts a loud chord that resoundingly answers that question; totally worth it. This ukulele-like instrument is now made out
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We’re getting good at this. The cigar box ukulele is a satisfying DIY project that can be done differently every time. The ukelele you see in the picture below is my electric cigar box uke, made from a quality Don Lino cigar box and salvaged parts from other instruments I’ve repaired. This one took about 20 hours of work. Click on the photos for the
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