Hanging your Guitar on the wall
Published on 08/13/2009 by Elwood | 2,266 views.What do you need?
- Guitar Hanger (hardware)
- Stud Finder
- Screw driver or drill
First, the Hanger
Drywall Screws
Guitars are hung on the wall using specialized devices that are easy on the neck. Pick up one from your local music store or grab one of these ones below from Amazon. These hangers will fit most guitars.
You may have to look a little harder if your trying to hang a 7-string or guitars with strange neck widths, but I have used them to hang an acoustic, classical, electric, and 12-string acoustic without any problems. These are some of the bestselling and highest rated.
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Ovation Makeover
Published on 08/08/2009 by Wayne | 4,771 views.Background
Every so often your guitar needs a tune-up. It can be as simple as buffing your frets or a wax job
while changing your strings. Reminds me of that Mott the Hopple song, “Man, that’s your instrument! I felt
so ashamed!”
Anyway, we all have different skill levels when it comes to working on our guitars. The more complicated work should be left to qualified luthiers .
Not all luthiers are qualified. Me? I’m not a luthier. I’m crazy!
I bought my Ovation in 1974. It’s a Custom Balladeer model 1112 and I’m the original owner. In those days they came with a lifetime
guarantee as Ovation guitars were relatively new to the market and they needed help from people like
Glen Campbell
and others to promote them. I remember people saying Ovation guitars were “toys” and “real” guitars are made of wood.
Let’s face it. All guitars have their own sound and personality. You can hear it and you can feel it. That’s why
God
made so many different guitars in so many different styles for so many different players. I think I read that in the
Old Testament.
My Ovation has met many people over the years. It performed for the passengers in the First Class Lounge of a 747 on a commercial flight from O’Hare to LAX. There were people dancing in the street as I sang solo in a bar for free beer on Bourbon Street.
When we played the 4th of July on the Santa Monica Pier, mounted cops were called to disperse the crowd. There were so many people they thought the pier might collapse. We’ve been on ski trips to Mammoth, campfires on the Colorado, countless parties, weddings, gigs, recording sessions and the list goes on.
Makes my head hurt just thinking about all the beer. My Ovation has been a great companion and a friend. It’s the guitar I reach for when I write. It’s also a Chick Magnet. Don’t believe me? Ask my wife. I can’t get her to leave!
I’m not a luthier so I can’t take responsibility if you mess up your guitar by reading this. I’ve
always worked on my own guitars but never any re-finishing stuff. In fact, I’ve worked on just about everyones guitar I know and then some. My guitar buds would have me work on their guitar buds guitar.
Did that make sense? Kinda like three guitar buds on a blind date and two don’t know Jack from Adam. Let’s get started!
Sometime before Christmas
I started out wanting to do the usual. Adjust the truss rod, buff the frets, clean it up and change the strings. Then, as I took inventory of it’s condition, I felt so ashamed! Man! This guitar has been so good to me over all these years and this is how I’ve treated it! Then the other side of me said,”Yeah, but look how old it is. Almost 35. Why don’t you trade her in for a couple of 20 year olds?” I started looking at the dents and the scratches and remembering the story behind each one. Then I started looking at the dents and the scatches I couldn’t remember.
Wow! This guitar could look like new if I refinished it! Haha, you laugh! I took a piece of sandpaper to the back of the neck and I was committed. Ah, feels pretty smooth. Hmmm, it doesn’t smell like paint. It smells like a surfboard.
As I wondered aloud my fingers were busy on the net finding out what kind of finish I was sanding off. I fired off an email to Ovation and continued sanding. I’ve seen guys play with sanded necks. It looked different and they were all good players. Maybe they knew something I didn’t. They must be cool to sand down the neck of an expensive guitar, right? Turns out my Ovation was sprayed with a cataylized polyester. I masked off the places I didn’t want to scratch with some musicians brand duct tape, removed the hardware and continued to sand.
On my next trip to the big box hardware store I see that MinWax makes a waterbased product called Polycrylic in a spray can. It’s too cold to test on a sample so I continue to sand. I also debated on staining the wood to its original color and decided not to. So, I’m sanding everything to the bare wood except the front of the headstock. I wiped the neck down with a little alcohol (just to see) and it looked beautiful.
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Make Picks from Old Credit Cards
Published on 07/28/2009 by Elwood | 430 views.
Here’s a quick and dirty way for getting a few free guitar picks.
Continue reading Make Picks from Old Credit CardsMake a Cigar Box Guitar
Published on 07/12/2009 by Elwood | 190 views.How to Make Your Own Capo
Published on 07/11/2009 by Elwood | 15,990 views.
Bill Russel Capo
The makeshift capo is a simple and cheap device used raise the tuning of the guitar by clamping the strings across the fretboard. It’s design is based off of a Bill Russel style capo (seen on the left).