The Senior Project Manager at zZounds, David started playing piano at 7, and around 13, began learning guitar after being inspired by fellow middle school students playing “Brain Stew.” Today, David is in a number local projects around Chicago playing blues, jazz, classical, and rock. He leans a lot on his Fender Telecaster, Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, and his perhaps overbuilt pedalboard. David’s other loves include trains, video games and cats.
Changing Electronics on a Semi-Hollowbody Guitar
An important idea came up in my previous post about guitar nuts that can be summed up to something like “a good luthier respects the work enough to ask to be paid more for it.” Legendary theme park entrepreneur John Hammond might say “we spared no expense.” Chances are playing and repairing instruments will not […]
Does a Guitar’s Finish Affect its Tone?
The first time I heard anything about Fender applying finish to their guitars was in a lesson with my first guitar teacher. Upon showing him my first Midnight Blue Telecaster, he responded with stories of men in hazmat suits, who might as well have stepped off the set of E.T., bulk-spraying dozens of guitars. Attached […]
Bringing Your Guitar Back From the Dead (of Winter)
Whether it’s cars colliding with cavernous potholes, or football opponents colliding with “Bear weather,” Chicago is a city known for its winters. It is also true that instruments are not safe from the grasp of Old Man Winter, which can expose the mortality of even the “elite.” While winter has proven capable its ability to […]
Five Factors That Make a Good Guitar Nut
A mentor who I came to trust very much, once told me that when it comes to having a nut made, make sure to go with the luthier who is looking to charge you the most. This flies in the face of convention when coming from the perspective of a struggling artist, and a college […]
Experimenting With Pickup Wirings
The Fender Stratocaster has been my main guitar for years now, and despite the trademark five pickup positions that come stock on these guitars, I have always ended up using only one of them. While there are so many tones to explore on this instrument, I always end up falling back on position one, the […]
Two Mods to Make Your Stratocaster Sound Like a Telecaster
Since its release in 1954, the Fender Stratocaster has proved to be a tried-and-true instrument. Loved by many for its tone and versatility, it featured a number of innovations that separated it from other guitars of the era, including a three-pickup system which was controllable with a 5-way blade switch. While the new middle pickup gave […]
Tips on Changing Guitar Strings
I love cats too much to revert to a certain old adage, but when it comes to restringing guitars, there’s more than one way to do it. I have had a few go-to methods to restringing steel string guitars over the years, but finally settled on one which has proven to be the quickest and […]
Setting the Action on Your Acoustic Guitar
While changing the action on an acoustic guitar is not as simple as turning a screw like on an electric, it is no more difficult than adding or subtracting a little material. The trick is knowing how to measure ahead of time to save time and avoid any further complications later in the process. In […]
Confessions of a Guitar Synthesis Addict
Nobody says, “when I grow up, I want to be a guitar synthesis addict.” Well, my name is David, and I have been addicted to guitar synthesis for quite some time now. My own journey through pursuing “synthesizer” sounds on my guitar began with a major realization at a buddy’s show at the Burlington in […]
