What's a Truss Rod? A Truss Rod is a long metal rod that runs the length of the guitar neck, underneath your fretboard. It anchors at each end so that when you tighten or loosen the nut on one end it will straighten or bow the neck of the guitar in order to counteract the tension of the strings. You can use your truss rod to get your neck almost straight, leaving sl... Read more
How do I setup a mandolin? Your mandolin setup is critical to the note accuracy and enjoying the playability of your instrument. The setup of the mandolin depends on your preference, however, no matter how you like your action, there are sev... Read more
What should I think about as a lefty? This is a subject which a lot of people have an opinion on. honestly? there is no right or wrong answer. the best way is to decide what is right for you. ... Read more
Tuning a 12-string guitar is a little more complicated than tuning a regular 6-string. There are twice as many strings and a lot more tension on the guitar. You may find you'll need to tune it a few times over before you get it right because, by the time you finish the first round of tuning, the... Read more
You've just broken into the gigging scene after lots of practice and tryouts. That big gig is coming up so you decide to change your strings. You start your first song but something is wrong... The guitar is already out of tune! But how? Is the guitar low quality? Maybe the new strings are bad? You tune it again. halfway through the next song, it's out AGAIN? What is going on?... Read more
How to stretch the strings on your guitar to help it stay in tune, and why! Stretching your strings is really important for correct tuning stability. Let me explain how it works, why you want it, and how to do it. Okay, what is it? Stretching your strings is the act of pulling on your strings to even out any imbalances of... Read more
So a lot of people think that you can change the strings on your classical guitar from nylon to steel, and the strings on your steel-string guitar from steel to nylon. But today I'm going to explain to you the 4 reasons why you shouldn't do this. 1. String Tension The first reason is string tension. On your typical classical guitar, you have a string tension of about... Read more
Why Do I Need A Guitar Stand? You've bought a guitar from us, and if you're a beginner, it probably came with a gig bag, spare strings, some picks, and a strap. So why do you need a guitar stand as well? There are three broad reasons to buy a guitar stand: protection, convenience and display. This blog post will address these as well as how to choose the best guitar stand... Read more
To the beginner and experienced guitarist, the topic of guitar wood is a very interesting one. For acoustic guitars, there is a pronounced difference in the tone created by different woods, and this will not be discussed here. There are arguments all over the internet about the importance of tonewoods on your electric guitar. Some say that it makes a big difference to... Read more
A Brief History of Boost Boost pedals are one of the first innovations in the neverending pursuit of tone. It was a way of increasing the signal amplitude after the pickups but before the amp (that's why these are sometimes called pre-amp boost pedals, but that's a separate debate). A key concept to understand before we dive into boost pedals is amp headroom. Headroom is the th... Read more
There are four main contributors to the D-string breakages that plague many classical (nylon string) guitar players. String construction Restring technique Guitar construction Playing style String Construction String construction is arguably the largest contributor to the D-string breakage problem. As a genera... Read more
This blog post is going to explain basic MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) connections. The way to think about MIDI is that the “out” is where you would send the note out from your device. So if you think of an electronic drum kit, MIDI out would send the notes that you're playing out to another unit. The other unit that you're connecting to would need to be receiving an input. So if... Read more
In this blog post, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different power supplies you can buy for your pedals. We will cover the following types of power supply: Batteries Wall wart Hub power supply Individual power supply Individual isolated power supply Batteries Advanta... Read more
So around 20 years ago, I was working with Craig Upfold, one of Australia's renowned luthiers. And he told me a story during our travels and factory visits, about the time when he was working with Daniel Johns. This was when Silverchair were just starting out, when they first had a few hits, and Daniel Johns was flying to gigs in America and other parts of the world. He came back to Craig and h... Read more
In this article, I will be discussing some common mistakes that a lot of guitar players do not realise is hurting their playing. By being mindful of these, you can be sure not only to learn properly but also ensure that you will have fun and making progress! “Practice Makes Perfect” We have all heard this cliché before, and it applies to no one more t... Read more
Discussing potentiometers or better known as pots can be quite confusing to a lot of people, including experienced musicians. What pots should I use for my volume and tone knob? Is a 500k pot better than a... Read more
This is a tough choice, both hard cases and soft gig bags have their Pros and Cons. Cases can be more expensive but offer superior protection when compared with a bag, although a bag is generally much easier to transport and usually cheaper. One thing we can agree on is that every guitarist should have at least one gig bag or hard case for transporting their instrument. ... Read more
Here's a great video tool from Reverb on how to choose the pickup to best suit you and your playing style. Unfortunately, youtube broke the feature built into this video of having clickable sections, however, in the video description there are links to each type, and we've copied the time-stamps below for reference. ... Read more
We have had a lot of people asking us where to find the best online guitar lessons and learning materials. There is so much available online it can sometimes be difficult to sift through the dirt to find the gold. Here are a few site... Read more
Body size can be confusing but here is a simple guide to help you choose. This chart works for solid top and solid wood guitars, for basic level Do you want Volume, Bass, Clarity, or a small size ? ... Read more
Choosing which guitar to buy can be a confusing process. We recently built a site for beginners to help them choose the guitar that suits them best. The site is www.guitarsforbeginners.com.au This is a subject that can confuse people and I have been thinking about ways to explain this so its easier to understand.... Read more
Here's how to redeem your Player Points. When you buy any items directly from our website you gain Player Points as a reward. It's our way of saying thank you. These points then go towards your next purchase, giving you discounts on everything you buy. Player Points are not allocated when placing an order through any channel other than ou... Read more
This is a subject that we find confuses a lot of people. So here is how to work out the best supply for you. Power supplies have changed over the years and the power supplies you can buy today are much better than what you could buy in the past. Now all pedals sold in Australia have to meet efficiency requirements and that means that they are all generally digital supplies (digit... Read more
I have noticed, over my 20 years of experience, how people approach buying guitars and what they tend to stress about. Here I will address a few common problems, and what is and what is not worth worrying about when buying a new guitar. String action- the height of the strings from the fretboard This is the most common complaint people make when trying out a guitar,... Read more
This is a topic that can be quite confusing for a lot of people. Strings break for a number of reasons, but if you have some of the reasons it will make it much easier for you to avoid string breakage 1. Playing Too Hard When I first started playing guitar I used to break a lot of strings, but I noticed recently that even though I play guitar everyday I rarely break a stri... Read more
I noticed a very curious thing in our showroom over the years. When someone would try a guitar on display they would often choose the guitar that had been hanging on the wall over a new guitar, fresh out of the box. That got me to thinking, what made the same guitar on the wall sound better than the guitar in the box? Now, this answer mainly applies to solid-top and s... Read more
Here is a recent question from one of our customers Q: I want to buy some of your TT10 TRS cables, are these the right cables for my studio monitors to run to my Mbox? The ones I have make annoying buzzing sounds. I really need balanced c... Read more
This is a subject that is a little left of center and many of you would not of heard of this before. Nashville high strung tuning is basically the process of taking the higher strings only out of a 12 string set. So if you think of a standard 12 string it looks like this From 6th to 1st Low E Octave E A Octave A ... Read more
The 4 steps to setup a mandolin are - 1. Tune your Mandolin (we have tuning charts here ) 2. Adjust the action height at the 12th fret to 1.9-2.1mm (Its best to use a steel ruler that has a zero point for this) 3. Play the 12th fret harmonic, then lightly fret the 12th fret note, if... Read more
There are a couple of secrets to correct intonation on an Electric guitar Before you adjust your intonation, make sure you do the following 3 steps: 1. Install fresh strings! Older strings will not intonate as well as new strings. It's best to use fresh strings that have been recently installed and stretched 2.... Read more
Being a wooden instrument you will experience some movement in the neck from time to time, particularly between seasons. This is completely normal and easy to remedy if you know how. It's important to note that over-tightening or loosening (our guitars have a 2-way truss rod) can result in damage to the guitar. If you work in sm... Read more
We thought we would make a little chart showing you how to check which size cello is correct for your child To chose the cello size based on your child's height 1/8 to 1/4 size - below 4 feet 1/2 size - 4 to 4 1/2 feet 3/4 size - 4 1/2 to 5 feet 4/4 size - 5 feet and above... Read more
The top 5 Answers in our recent survey As you might know we recently surveyed our list and got lots of great responses. Here is the top 5 things people answered and how we are going to tackle these 1) Simpler freight We have made our whole site freight free, with a couple of simple (and affordable... Read more
One of our good customers was asking me recently about how to solve a nut issue on a 12 string How do I stop my 12 string guitar snapping the High G string each time I tune it up? We have 2 different things that really help this issue 1. Change your high G to a 9 gauge - We find that by... Read more
This is one of our most asked questions - How to choose the right guitar for a particular sound Guitars come in all different shapes and sizes, and personally I wish I could have them all at home for when I needed them (but I only live in a small apartment so it’s not very practical) The first step in choosing a... Read more
So there are 2 things you need to consider when you match a speaker head and an amplifier. Power handling (How many Watts it can handle) and impedance. Wattage is pretty easy and most people understand it, but impedance is a little tricky. I like to think of impedance of like being the gears in your car, the lower the impedance (say 4ohms) is like running your car in first gear,... Read more
So today we answer another one of the common questions in our recent survey Tell me more about the materials on your guitars - what makes them different, and how can I set up my guitar to play better? One of the key factors that make our solid top guitars sound so good is the bone nut and saddle. For any guitar, you want t... Read more
Thinking about learning an instrument? At The Ultimate Guitar Academy , we believe you should choose GUITAR! Here's why... ... Read more
Should I remove my strings if I’m leaving my guitar for a long time, or planning on taking a flight? The answer to this is a very strong " NO !". Most guitars have a truss rod, which is a long metal bar inside the neck that changes the bend of the neck, or keeps it straight. In many guitars, it only works one way (to straighten a... Read more
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 Es... Read more
Choosing the right vioin can be difficult when faced with so many size options. First you need to ask yourself a cou... Read more
What is the difference between a Nylon String and a steel string guitar? To start, the difference in tonality between classical or flamenco (nylon strings) guitars and that of a steel string acoustic guitar exists solely for the application that they are going to be used for. If you play a song on either nylon strings or steel string, the song always remains the same, but it is its... Read more
Ever wondered what the deal is with Flatwound strings? Who would use a set of strings that cost so much more than regular roundwounds? If you like the classic old school, vintage double bass sound, then these strings could be for you. Traditionally used for jazz and blues styles of music, they're now popular in the indie world and bands who are chasing the classic sound of 50's Rock n... Read more
After operating in Australia and New Zealand for nearly 15 years, we're very excited to announce the next chapter of the Artist Guitars story. Artist Guitars UK is open for business!... Read more
Got trouble hearing your guitar through your amp? Troubleshooting signal loss can be tricky if you don't know what to check, and it can be hard to tell if the problem is with the amp, the guitar or the lead. Step 1 is always to isolate the signal as much as possible, so remove any effects pedals in your chain then try the following. First, you'll need to check yo... Read more
Here's a series of hot-rodded Artist Guitars. We'll be adding to this so check back in from time to time to see the latest works of art! AG505 5 String Bass - Fretless conversion: By Cameron Hopcroft. Before: ... Read more
These can be tricky to setup if you haven't done it before, so don't beat yourself up if you can't figure it out. Whatever you do, don't force it open and bend the struts. This will reduce the life of your stand and make it harder to setup in future. The simplest way to remember how to setup your portable music stand is Long Arms Up, Short Arms Down . Or, as... Read more
DOWNLOADS: Windows: Cerberus Firmware & Editor Software Mac: ... Read more
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