X-bracing or the X brace pattern has been around since the 1800s. We don’t really know who invented it, but it most commonly attributed to Christian Frederick Martin of the Martin Guitar Company between 1840 and 1845. The originally X-brace design was invented to support the first steel string guitars. Before the 1800s, acoustic guitars only had classical stings often made from animal guts. These guitars were incapable of producing and projecting loud sounds, so Martin sought out to fix that. With the industrial revolution well underway, Martin had, for the first time in history, steel guitar stings at his disposal. He could use these steel strings to produce a louder guitar. The only problem was that he had to create a guitar body capable of supporting the increased tension from the steel strings—thus the X-brace was born.

The X-brace consists of two braces crossing under the sound hole and either side of the bridge forming an “X” pattern. These two braces provide the majority of the guitar top’s support. Under the X-braces, there are typically two tone bars that help carry the vibrations from the X to the lower portion of the guitar top. Finger braces are usually placed around the sound hole. There is also usually a wide thin brace that is placed perpendicularly under the tongue of the fretboard for support. This brace is often called a popsicle brace.

Acoustic guitar action refers to the height of the strings above the fretboard. It is also used to describe the general feel and playability of a guitar. Generally a guitar’s string height is measured at the 12th fret. This center measurement gives a good point of reference to tell how high the strings actually are. Action is also measured at the first fret. I’m sure you have heard people comment on guitars with “high action.” This just means that the strings are too high off the fretboard. Obviously, “low action” would mean the opposite.

Now that we know what action is, why is it important? Action is probably the most important part of any guitar setup. Proper acoustic guitar action not only controls the comfort and playability of the guitar, but it also helps the guitar stay in tune and maintain intonation. Acoustic guitar action is a little different than electric guitar action in that acoustic guitar strings need more room to vibrate. Think about it like this. When you play an electric guitar, you don’t really need to strum that hard in order to get a loud sound—acoustic guitars do. Also, acoustic guitar strings are much thicker than electric strings. Acoustic guitars need a higher action than electric guitars to prevent the strings from buzzing. Generally, the higher the action on a guitar, the more difficult and uncomfortable the guitar is to play and the lower the action, the easier and more comfortable the guitar is to play. Usually an action setup is a compromise between having the strings high enough not to buzz on the frets and low enough for comfortable playability. If you picked up an expensive guitar in a music store and found that it was uncomfortable to play, it could be that the action is not properly set. The feel of this guitar has nothing to do with the price or even the quality of the guitar; it is probably just not setup correctly.

After reading all of this, you are probably wondering how high should your action be. The truth is that it depends on your playing style. Acoustic guitar action and volume are directly related. That is why classical guitar players have higher action than steel string guitar players. Before there were amplifiers, classical players had to project their sound, so people could hear them—thus higher action was required. Lower action allows guitarists to play faster and more comfortably without compromising the volume. Essentially, the action on your or anyone else’s guitar is pure preference. There is no right or wrong string height, to an extent. Most guitars come out of the factory with standard action settings that the manufacturer deems appropriate. Some of these setting are not always the most comfortable for individual players’ styles. I will show you how to set your action to an industry standard action setting. Beyond that, it is up to you to fine-tune the action on your guitar to fit your personal style.

Most electric guitar fretboards are unfinished—meaning there is no lacquer sprayed on the fretboard itself. Among these unfinished fretboards, ebony and rosewood fretboards are the most common. You can use any number of special fretboard cleaning products to clean your fretboard, but I like to use Murphy’s Oil Soap. Oil soap not only helps clean your fretboard, it also helps condition and moisturize it. Since your fretboard is unfinished, there is no layer of lacquer to help protect it from the elements. The fretboard can dry out and even crack if it is severely dried out. Oil soap will prevent your fretboard from drying out. It will also give your fretboard a new clean shine. To clean your fretboard, simply drip a small amount of oil soap on your fretboard. It does not take much—a little goes a long way. Then take some #0000 steel wool and rub the oil soap into the fretboard and remove the dirt buildup. You may want to cover your pickups so that pieces of the steel wool do not get magnetically stuck to the pole pieces While the steel wool is soaked in the oil soap, you can rub and polish the frets with the steel wool until the frets are shiny and clean. After the fretboard and frets are cleaned, you can wipe away the excess oil soap with a piece of paper towel. Now your fretboard is clean and conditioned and your frets are nice and shiny.

Not all unfinished fretboards are made out of ebony and rosewood. Some unfinished fretboards are made out of maple. Maple fretboards pose a challenge to clean. The light color wood can easily be stained by oil soap and dirt. DO NOT use oil soap on a maple fretboard. Use a razor blade to clean an unfinished maple fretboard. Simply take the razor blade and lay it flat against the fretboard. Then scrape the razor across the surface of the wood removing the dirt. You will need to mask off the fretboard with a fret-mask or with painter’s tape before you can polish the frets. The mask will help protect the maple wood from the steel wool. Once the fretboard has been masked off, you can rub the frets with #0000 steel wool. Do not use oil soap to polish the frets. After you have polished the frets, you can blow the dust off the masked fretboard and remove the mask. Now your fretboard is clean and conditioned and your frets are nice and shiny.

The Rickenbacker 360 is part of the 300 series and adheres to Rickenbacker design traditions while mixing in a number of updates certain to please the guitarist nowadays. The 1st component you’ll discover would be the semi-hollow style of the luxurious body. Made from Walnut, your body includes a rounded top edge and the body back for your maximum with ease and comfort, and it’s handsomely bound. Unlike most semi-hollow electric guitars, this sound hole from the 360 is usually a unique bound crescent moon shape, an incredibly allowed journeying in the common violin-style f-hole. The particular pick-ups throughout the act on the attractiveness tend to be two hi-gain single coils of Rickenbacker design, managed by way of a variety of knobs along with a switch on the multi-tiered plexiglass pickguard. This pick-ups are usually wired with two dual, stereo system outputs, permitting one to break up ones sign in any respect you want. The bound triple-ply Maple and Walnut neck is placed in to the semi-hollow body, and also the 24 frets around the 24 3/4-inch scale length neck could make you feel like you’re right in your own home.

The Rosewood guitar fretboard is completed having an obvious varnish and inlayed with triangular fret markers, and like a number of other Rickenbackers, dual truss rods ensure stable tuning and rigid neck strength as long as you own the instrument. Talking about tuning stableness, even more decorating the by now handsome headstock are a set of three to a side Schaller tuners, then when you’re about machine heads, you’ll be aware that these work most effectively.The bridge and tailpiece are a fascinating duo indeed: as the tweakable 6-saddle bridge may not turn any heads, the “R” tailpiece certain will. With regards to the sound that this guitar produces, things get really subjective. Rickenbacker 360 has independent tone and volume controls for every pickup in addition to treble and bass balance control. The clean sound this guitar has the capacity to produce is excellent and, because of the control knobs, it provides a lot of versatility. Nevertheless, the sound is extremely specific and also it can’t be used in most genres. If you prefer a guitar that screams, this guitar is certainly not for you personally, you need to have a look at stratocaster-like guitars, that are just the opposite of Rickenbacker.

The guitar’s weight is 3.6 kg and it is101 centimeters long. It provides a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. It’s 24 frets that are marked with triangular markers. Unlike the 330, additionally, it includes a neck binding. Like other guitars in the series, 360 includes a standard Rickenbacker “R” tailpiece. Two hi-gain single gold coin pick-ups offer mono and stereo system output with stereo system being the conventional one. It will come in Fireglo, Mapleglo, Jetglo, Night time Blue and Blueburst color. A number of renowned trails in the Beatles, including “A Hard Day’s Night”, have been performed by George Harrison on the 12 string Rickenbacker 360. John Lennon was noted for his utilization of the short scale Rickenbacker 325. Roger McGuinn, from the Byrds, performed a 12 string Rickenbacker 360. Pete Townshend from the Who and John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival also used Rickenbackers. The 6 string Rickenbacker 360 may be the primary guitar of R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. You’ll find very good deals on the used Rickenbacker 360 online or perhaps in the local music store but you need to inspect all of them carefully. Abuse on any semi-hollow style guitar can leave hairline damage that isn’t easy to identify. Make certain too that you compare serial numbers from the Rickenbacker database to make sure you come with an original.

Typically, $1700 is fairly common for any new Rickenbacker 360 but you can sometimes get lucky and find a decent used one for $1300. Summing up, Rickenbacker 360 won’t offer only an outstanding clean seem with amount of feasible versions, but they can also be extremely at ease to have. With the distinct noise, it cannot be applied in parcels of types and it is therefore certainly not suitable for rookies. If you are to buy just one single guitar, this kind of guitar is probably not in your case. You can definitely you’re an seasoned gambler hunting to include a brand new guitar for ones variety, Rickenbacker 360 provide you with your British 60’s appear other various guitars are not able to develop. The Rickenbacker 360 is the emassing of years of electric building experience. Before you decide to invest in a Vintage Guitars check out these two fantastic sites!

First step to repaint your guitar is to remove the excess grain filler and sand back the guitar until you have got a surface prepared for painting. Remember you are prepping the body of the guitar for painting at this time and any issues with the surface will become exaggerated with each coat you apply from this point.

Next you need to begin applying your undercoat. Always make certain you apply each coat gently, countless coats isn’t a problem and is advisable to avoid runs. Once you have a good surface to color on let the guitar dry (usually 12 hours) and then get ready to apply your color.

When applying your color coats don’t forget to spray the guitar from a distance of roughly 2 feet and move quicky over the surface applying light coats. Build the color up as you go with each coat and avoid runs that are difficult to remove and slow your progress. You should also follow this process with your seal coats. You could need to let the guitar dry completely which can take anywhere up to 4-6 weeks before it’s possible to start polishing using stell wool or a fine grain sandpaper to truly get a polished appearance to your electric guitar.