Fender Bass - Secrets To Buying The Right One For You

Fender Bass - Secrets To Buying The Right One For You
By Daniel Wright

Electric guitars have been popular almost since their invention. This is in no small part due to variety of sound options and special effects that are available through amplification. One brand that stands out above the others is Fender Bass. It is known as a best buy bass guitar for its quality and reliability and is known to so many musicians and fans just by the name alone as the must-have bass guitar.

The Fender brand has been around since 1946, ever since Leo Fender created his electronic solid body bass and opened his California-based company. While other firms produced electric basses, Fender's were the first to be successfully mass marketed. In later years, the Fender company was bought by a larger corporation, but then reacquired by the employees. Its headquarters are now in Scottsdale, Arizona, while the guitars are manufactured around the world in Korea, Japan, Mexico and Corona, California.

You can be certain that any Fender Bass will be an excellent instrument and carrying the standard and guarantees of the brand with it. However, choosing just the right instrument for any one musician may be an intimidating process due to the number of options and choices to consider.

Price is always important for any purchase, but in this case it is more important to find the instrument that best fits both your style and they way you plan to use the guitar. Some styles of necks, frets, keyboards, and body shapes will be good for one, but bad for another player. The sound also varies with the type of wood used to make it, as well as with the different designs and even the coating of the instrument.

Some guitars are better suited to rock music and others are intended for the more mellow sounds of jazz, and you can find one to meet either style, or many other styles like blues and country music. A list of those stars playing a Fender Bass or other style guitar from the brand will demonstrate how respected and versatile the brand is. Artist Freddy Fender renamed himself in honor of his guitar brand!

When you choose a Fender Bass model guitar, you will need to try it out, and find the one that is the best fit for you. Shop for the best price. Even if you must finance the purchase, it is better than settling for an instrument you will never be happy with. The smallest of details can make a very big difference. Even small things like a coating on the fret board will change the sound. Even good guitars are less desirable on a poor amplifier.

Dealer information is listed on the company website. You can visit a local dealer and try out the various models, including the jazz and classical precision lines as well as other models to see what best fits you. Most musicians will find that several models fit their style and can pick and choose based on their overall needs and price.

Browse dozens of Fender bass guitars and hundreds of other electric guitars at The Guitar Center.

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All You Need To Know About A Bass Guitar

All You Need To Know About A Bass Guitar
By Victor Epand

The bass guitar is a bass stringed instrument played with the fingers either by plucking, slapping, popping, or tapping or using a pick. The bass is similar in appearance and construction like an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and scale length, and usually four strings tuned, one octave lower in pitch than the four lower strings of a guitar.

Materials used for making a bass guitar

The bodies of these special instruments are typically made of wood although other materials such as graphite have also been used. The most common type of wood used for the body is alder, for the neck is maple, and for the fret board is rosewood, though a wide variety of woods may be used to make the body.

Other regularly used woods include mahogany, maple, ash, and poplar for bodies, mahogany for necks, and ebony for fret boards. The choice of body material and shape of these guitars can have a significant impact on the timbre of the completed instrument as well as on aesthetic considerations. Other design options include finishes, such as lacquer, wax and oil along with flat and carved designs. Bass guitar necks, which are longer than regular electric guitar necks, are generally made of maple.

A brief history

In the 1930s, inventor Paul Tutmarc from Seattle, Washington, developed a guitar style electric bass instrument that was fretted and designed to be held and played horizontally. Unfortunately, Tutmarc inventions never caught the public imagination, and little further development of the instrument took place until the 1950s.

In the 1950s, Leo Fender developed the first mass produced electric bass. In the 1950s and 1960s, the term Fender bass was widely used to describe the bass guitars, because of early popularity of Fender in the market for mass produced bass guitars.

Different components of the bass guitar

This kind of guitar uses various components to produce music. Some of these components are strings and its tuning, fret or fretless bass, pickups, amplification and effects.

Frets and fretless bass

Frets are a raised metal strips inserted into the fingerboard that extend across the full width of the neck. On a fretted bass, the frets divide the fingerboard into semitone divisions. The original Fender basses had 20 frets. Fretless basses have a distinct sound, because the absence of frets means that the strings must be pressed down directly onto the wood of the fingerboard.

Strings and tuning

The standard design for the bass has four strings, tuned E, A, D and G, with the original frequency of the E string set at about 41 Hz, making the tuning of all four strings the same as that of the double bass. This tuning is also the same as the standard tuning on the lower four strings on a 6 string guitar, only an octave lower.

Pickups

Most electric basses use magnetic pickups. The vibrations of the instrument metal strings within the magnetic field of the permanent magnets in magnetic pickups produce small variations in the magnetic flux threading the coils of the pickups.

Amplification and effects

The electric bass is always connected to an amplifier for live performances. Electric bass guitarists use either a combo amplifier, which combines an amplifier and a speaker in a single cabinet, or an amplifier and a separate speaker cabinet.

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High-End Acoustic Guitars

High-End Acoustic Guitars
By Damian Sofsian

High-end acoustic guitars are the modern form of acoustic guitars which are developed with steel strings for a brighter and louder sound than earlier acoustics. High-end acoustic guitars are comprised of several features and are well descended from classical guitars. This form of acoustic guitar is designed with a heavier construction to withstand the added tension. In general, high-end acoustic guitars are also referred as steel-stringed guitars to differentiate from classical guitars.

High-end acoustic guitars are specially constructed with a solid top made of high quality wood. They are developed from durable and elegant materials like rosewood, spruce, and mahogany. They are specially designed to generate louder and more natural sound. There is a huge selection of high-end guitars in models that have different features. High-end, solid top, and 6-string acoustic guitars have the ability to please even a jazz guitar master.

High-end acoustic guitars provide you with high quality sound, when compared to other ordinary guitars. Typically, traditional nylon tone and high-end electronics are used in these guitars to produce enhanced playability. High-end acoustic guitars are also available in few forms which involve a cutaway body type, and can be made of spruce, mahogany, or rosewood, most commonly. In some models, high-quality ebony is used for the bridges and end pins, as this lasts longer than ordinary plastic bridges and end pins. Takamine guitars are also a popular high-end traditional acoustic guitar.

Flamed curly koa is a premium wood that is mostly used for developing high-end acoustic guitars. Whether you choose to use koa in your acoustic or solid body, the tone of your guitar will benefit from added sweetness and pronounced midrange. Koa is typically used in most of these guitars, since it looks wonderful for your tung-oiled, satin, or a gloss finish guitar. Takamine, Blueridge, and New Larivee are few of the top high-end acoustic guitar manufacturers. They ensure you by providing high quality guitars with few exquisite guitar models. These high-end guitars are expensive, when compared with other models of guitars. Typically, they cost around $250, but can exceed more than $1000 depending on their models and features.

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Pitfalls To Avoid When Finding Electric Guitars On Sale

Pitfalls To Avoid When Finding Electric Guitars On Sale
By David Smithe

Whenever you can save a buck, it is advisable to go ahead and snatch up the deal. There are several issues about purchasing any musical instrument that warrant caution whenever you see the big red "sale" signs about.

Scratch & Dent

You might find electric guitars on sale that are floor models. These instruments have been picked up and shredded on by thousands of hands, some of them knew how to play the guitar and some did not. Some of them knew that their belt buckle might damage the finish on the guitar and some did not. If you are not concerned about any scratches or dents in the finish, then a floor model is perfect for you. Buying floor models is an excellent way to get a bargain on an electric guitar, but buyer beware! There are other problems that can exist where a floor model (or even a used) guitar is concerned. You will want to check and make sure that all the electronic components of the guitar are in good working order. People have a tendency to do things to floor models that they would not do to their own instruments, such as use the electronics improperly. Also make sure that the neck of the instrument is true and straight, and that it has not undergone any damage from over or under tight strings for long periods of time.

Online Buying

When you purchase an instrument online, it is a significant risk. Once it arrives, if you do not like it, there are going to be costs to return it. It might get lost in the mail, and it might take months to get a refund. Avoid problems like this by identifying models you are interested in purchasing, and see if a local music store carries the same or a similar one. It is almost a given that you will find electric guitars on sale on the internet for much less than in-store prices, but it is important that you are satisfied with your product. Trying the same or a similar instrument is the only way you can begin to test the waters. Before you buy online, try to find a guitar that you can actually put your hands on first.

Places to Avoid

Never, under any circumstance, should you purchase electric guitars on sale from a department store. You would not buy an engagement ring at a department store, you would not take your car in for a new transmission at a department store, so do not buy an electric guitar at one. Department stores sell very cheap, poorly crafted electric guitars at low prices. These are not instruments that will last a lifetime, or even one year if you actually play it. No matter how nice the sale price looks, a department store guitar is not a good investment.

Buying a guitar is a huge investment. Finding electric guitars on sale is not a sure sign of faulty machine heads or warped necks, but you do need to exercise the same type of caution you would if you were purchasing a car.

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History of Electric Guitars

History of Electric Guitars
By Seth Miller

The guitar is a popular string instrument. It produces sound when the strings along the surface are plucked. It used to be looked upon as a proverbial instrument connected with chivalrous courtship. String instruments existed prior to the guitar. The first documented record on the guitar is in the 14th century chronicles. In its initial form, it had three double courses of strings and sometimes a single string. The guitar probably originated in Spain, around the 16th century. It was a social requirement for entertainment among the middle and lower classes.

The 16th and 17th centuries saw the guitar become popular in other European countries. By the late 17th century, a fifth string was added on, below the other four. The guitar attained its modern look by the mid-18th century. This happened when the double courses were made single and a sixth string was added, above the lower five. Guitar makers in the 19th century broadened the body, increased the bow of the waist, flattened the belly and changed the internal holders. The modern machine head replaced the old wooden tuning pegs.

Adolph Rickenbacker invented the electric guitar in 1930. The guitar can be traced to the Greek "kithara", but there is no similarity in the structure or sound of the two instruments. The sound of the electric guitar strings is both amplified and manipulated electronically by the performer. The American musician and inventor developed prototypes for the solid-bodied electric guitar.

Electric guitars gained popularity with the increase in number of rock and roll bands. The electric guitars became necessary, to compete with the loud large brass sections, commonly used in jazz orchestras, especially the Big Bands, in the thirties and forties.

Electric guitars have evolved from being simple, hollow arch top bodies, to state- of- the- art music equipment.

Electric Guitars provides detailed information on Electric Guitars, Acoustic Electric Guitars, Cheap Electric Guitars, Electric Bass Guitars and more. Electric Guitars is affiliated with Piano Lessons.

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Guitars - Rickenbacker

Guitars - Rickenbacker
By Michael Russell

Alongside guitar names like Gibson and Fender, you can't mention the best of the best without adding the name of Rickenbacker. This company has been around since 1931, but it wasn't until 1956, on its 25th anniversary, when Rickenbacker began to make a name for itself in the world of guitars.

That year, Rickenbacker introduced the Combo 400. Guitar collectors call it the guitar with the butterfly style body. But Rickenbacker didn't stop there. That same year they added a solid body electric bass guitar. The one thing about these guitars that made them different from any other guitar was that they had necks that extended from the head to the bass of the body. Today they call this neck through body construction. Rickenbacker was the first company to make guitars like this and soon came to be a trademark of the company.

During the 1950s, Rickenbacker had many popular models. Probably the most popular were the hollow body six string Capri models. This guitar was first unleashed on the world in 1958. The guitar itself was designed by Roger Rossmeisl. There were three models of this guitar and each one had a different body style.

But it wasn't until the 1960s that Rickenbacker has sealed its name in rock and roll history when its guitars got permanently fastened to the British invasion of the mid 60s. This invasion came in the form of the greatest rock band of all time, the Beatles. The groups featured several Rickenbacker guitars in its arsenal. Before the Beatles called it quits for good, John Lennon had owned four Rickenbacker guitars himself. The guitars had become so attached to the Beatles that one of the models was known as the "Beatlebacker". Never in history had one guitar been so identified with one particular group or person.

It wasn't long though until Rickenbacker made its way to a number of groups. Roger McGuinn of the Byrds bought himself a Rickenbacker after seeing the Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night". The sound of the guitar that McGuinn bought actually became the trademark of the Byrds' sound. Other groups and artists that latched onto the Rickenbacker were Pete Townsend of The Who, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Kay of Steppenwolf. By the late 60s there was a six week waiting period just to get one of these guitars. They were beyond popular. They were a true phenomenon.

By the 1970s, Rickenbacker started making guitars with detachable necks. They even matched slanted frets to match the angle of the player's hand. They also started making their famous double neck models that became quite standard. Other groups started jumping on the Rickenbacker bandwagon like Tom Petty and R.E.M.

Currently, Rickenbacker is as popular as it ever was. More current groups like Oasis, Pearl Jam, Radiohead and U2 all use Rickenbacker guitars to get their patented sound.

If you want to get an idea of just how popular Rickenbacker is, George Harrison of The Beatles was once asked what guitar he played and he answered, "Of course it's a Rickenbacker".

Could there have been any other answer?

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Guitars

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Electric Guitars - How Do They Work?

Electric Guitars - How Do They Work?
By Max Kersten

The right electric guitar feels smooth in your hands and wraps around your body while you play. She can also sing to you in a way that only you can hear, no matter how much you share her unique sound with others. It's no wonder that the guitar has impacted the world of music so deeply over the last 60 years that it has permanently embedded itself into history. The guitar practically defines 'cool' all on its own, yet the whole concept starts with technology.

Surprisingly, the tech talk associated with the electric guitar isn't so far fetched or difficult to understand. So if you love your instrument so much that you're looking to hear how she works, listen up.

The first thing you should know is that there are two types of body styles: Hollow and Semi-Hollow.

• Hollow body: This type of guitar is exactly what it sounds like. Essentially, the center is hollow, like an acoustic guitar. The hollow body allows the sound waves created by the guitar to bounce and ricochet inside it, affecting its sound. This is what causes that twang-like sound that you get from a hollow body electric guitar.


• Semi-Hollow: These are obviously a lot more solid than the hollow-body and produce a more solid sound. The electric guitar is not meant to sound like an acoustic guitar on a wide scale. In fact, the semi-hollow keeps the sound from bouncing around inside the equipment to give you a more crisp clear sound.

Next are the sheer mechanics. Electric guitars pump their sound out by means of magnetic pickups. A pickup is a group of magnets with a coil wire wrapped near or around them. These would be the metallic pieces that subtly vibrate your guitar and you may or may not be able to see your pickups, depending on what guitar you own.

When your guitar is plugged in but not being used, the magnetic field associated with your pickup is also relatively still, except for the electricity running through it. As soon as you strum your girl, however, the wire around or touching that magnetic field picks up the changed field, which produces an electrical signal. The wire essentially carries that signal through the pickup and to your audio wire, which is "programmed" to recognize the signals and interpret them to your amp at the other end.

At the top of your guitar, on the neck, you'll find next, your tuning pegs. These pegs are holding your strings or wires in place and by winding them tighter, you can produce a higher pitch. When allowing them to hang more loosely, they will produce deeper sounds when strummed. This is, obviously, how a guitarist tunes their instrument, the same way a cello or violin is tuned.

The sections along the neck that are marked by bars or lines into evenly measured segments, are called frets. When a guitar is finely tuned and you press at the right fret for the right pitch, your strum is affected by your shortening the string. This is, of course, how you get notes. Learning to read sheet music, of course, will give any guitarist a tool to increase their skills and use their frets properly.

The controls that are usually located on the body of an electric guitar alter the tone's brightness by using a simple filter that lowers or raises the frequencies of the pickup.

All in all, the simple set up of an electric guitar, using magnets, wire, some steel and wood are what manufacture the amazing sounds that come from them. Quality, clarity and reliability, however, depend on brand, manufacturer and parts. So with your new found knowledge on the inner workings of the guitar, get out there and research which one makes you sleep well at night and want to wake up in the morning.

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Guitars - Yamaha

Guitars - Yamaha
By Michael Russell

In the world of guitars, Yamaha isn't exactly the first company that you think of. Known more for keyboards, digital pianos and synthesizers, Yamaha still makes some decent guitars which are more than reasonably priced. We're going to go over some of the guitars that this 40 year old company makes.

Yamaha started in 1966 long before the first synthesizer came out. But by the mid 80s they were making some of the best synthesizers on the market, including the classic Dx-7. But in spite of their reputation as a keyboard giant, the land of guitars was not very far away.

Yamaha guitars are not the fanciest looking models around but they do have a decent sound. The AES series includes the AES 420 through 920 series numbers, with the exception of the 820 which doesn't exist. No explanation is given for the missing number.

The Pacifica series, which has a somewhat sleeker look than the AES series, includes the PAC 012 through 812, again missing a couple of series numbers including, again, the 8 series. They must have something against that number. Yamaha was always very unoriginal when it came to naming instrument models, whether they were keyboards or guitars.

The Gigmaker series is one of Yamaha's newest additions. The look is very similar to the Pacifica series but that's where the similarities end. The Gigmaker series features 20-watt, 2-channel drive guitar amp, protective gig bag, Qwik Tune Digital chromatic tuner, guitar cable, instructional DVD, guitar strap, extra strings and guitar picks. It may not sound like a big deal for those who have purchased the bigger name brands but for the price, this isn't a bad guitar. The best part about this series is that it comes with a lifetime warranty. Even if you drop it off of a building, they'll replace it free of charge.

One of the smaller series of guitars as far as how many are made, is the E series, which consists of only three models, the 112, 103 and 121. The guitars are actually very well made and come with not two, but three pickups. Two single coil and one humbucking pickup. Plus, they come with a vintage vibrato system and tremolo bar. And they don't cost a fortune.

Another small series of guitars is the RGX series. Consisting of the 320, 520 and XA2, these guitars feature two Yamaha humbucker pickups and the original Yamaha AES series bridge. The three position pickup switch is a nice touch.

The Archtop series of guitars, which have some really fat looking bodies include not one but seven different models. They come with three single bar coil pickups, duel three way selector switches and a chrome Bigsby tremolo. These are some nice sounding guitars.

Rounding out their line of electric guitars is the Eterna. This guitar also comes with three pickups, two single coil and one humbucking.

No, you won't find Yamaha guitars being played by your bigger rock and roll bands, but that's not to say that they don't make a decent instrument, especially for somebody who doesn't have $2500 to spend.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Guitars

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