If you have a Fender Strat you may have noticed that the metallic rods or polepieces on your pickups are at varying heights. Not all Strats have the staggered heights, but those that do are compensating for not having adjustable polepieces. But really this is just getting us to the question of why you would want to have staggered or adjustable polepieces. Fender explains:

"staggered polepieces help bring the volume of each individual string into balance so that one string or a couple strings aren't disproportionally loud compared to the other strings. This is a sonic phenomenon that can and does happen, and depending on your ear for tone it can range from mildly noticeable to outright maddening"

To read more about this concept check out the article
. I adapted the photo above from hyperbros to highlight the polepieces with my super high tech green arrows.

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We have a new free lesson by Jody Worrell on playing a guitar lick like Stevie Ray Vaughan. The youtube video is embedded below but you check out the lesson page for the higher quality Quicktime video and tab.

Billy at 300 Guitars answers the question "how many watts should my amp be?" Like most things, the answer depends on how you will be using the amp. Performance at a noisy club? Practicing at home? Luckily, Billy provides a quick primer on the basics of amps and gets you started on the right path of picking out what works best for you.

"From the above definitions watts and decibels are two different things. You can have a relatively low powered amp that is very loud and would be able to keep up with a drummer on a stage with no problem. Just because you have more watts does not always mean you are going to be louder and the watts increase is not directly proportional to the decibel increase. Take for example two Marshall heads. Let’s say one is rated for 50 watts and the other 100 watts. By looking at the watts you would think that the 100 watt head would be twice as loud because it has twice the power right? Wrong! The loudness difference between the 50 watt amp and the 100 watt amp is only 3 decibels (dB) which is not really a drastic difference. It would take 10 times the power of the 50 watt head to be twice as loud as the 100 watt head which is 500 watts! Ouch…..!"

(photo by the yankee quido)

The time constraints of the work week often force my longest practice sessions to happen on Friday and Saturday nights. As such, many of these one man jams also include short breaks for a sip of a beverage. But why should I settle for a drink with non guitar themed ice in my glass? Fred & Friends produces these ice molds in the shape of an electric guitar and the reviews on Amazon are overwhelmingly favorable. The molds are $9 and make three cubes at a time. Not a bad Father's Day, Birthday, Christmas, or Thank You gift for the fellow guitar players or teachers in your life.

One of the great things about the internet is the ability to reach a niche audience. Earlier this week we talked about Vince Gill decorating his studio in the style of an old tweed Fender amp. Turns out, there is an entire website devoted to Fender Champ amplifiers. From wikipeida:

It was introduced in 1948 and discontinued in 1982. [1] An updated version was introduced in 2006 as part of the "Vintage Modified" line. The Champ had the lowest power output and the simplest circuit for all of the Fender tube amps. The Champ had only one power tube, which meant that the circuit is single ended and class A. Five watts and the simple toneful circuit allowed the Champ to be used easily and often in recording studios."

My Fender Champ is chocked full of information about these highly adored amps. You can learn the basics about tubes, electronics, and amps in general. Of for owners or interested buyers, you can figure out how old a Fender Champ is by using this serial number guide. I love sites like these. Years ago I was given an old acoustic Guild Guitar and I've also bought an old junky Harmony flat top acoustic. By finding sites like these, I was able to figure out the year, make, and models of those guitars with serial number guides.

Fender has a new video interview with Vince Gill up on their site. And other than the uncomfortably close camera shot, it's pretty good. Vince discusses first seeing Telecasters played by Buck Owens and Waylon Jennings when he was young and how it's twangy sound has been important in country. He then goes on to discussing how he bought his first Tele. But perhaps most interestingly, Vince describes how he designed his most recent home studio. Unhappy with the sound and look of his studio, he decided to cover the walls in the same tweed fabric you'd find on an old Fender Tube Amp. If you want to learn how to play like Vince, check out Jody Worrell's Vince Gill Style Solo Lessons



(picture from momentsbymoser)