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.

- It's attack of the Giant Flying V Guitar over at Music Thing. Do you think they keep strings for that in stock at Guitar Center?

- Guitar Wars has a review of the complete overhaul Fender has done to their website.

- Gotta Strat? Wanna leave the world of relative obscurity behind for the fast paced and glitzy lifestyle of internet semi-fame? Head over to Me and My Strat, where they will post a picture of you and you gorgeous stratocaster.

- The Guitar Channel has a review of Robben Ford's new album. If you're looking to learn some Robben Ford style riffs you should check out our Altered Blues Licks lesson.

- Guitar Stuff brought our attention to a fantastic lesson by flatpicking great Brad Davis on double down up picking. The video starts off with a somewhat cheesy interview but later moves on to some truly valuable instruction. Take a look and see what you think.