i learneD From that
It’s a sHaW tHiNG
WritinG and researchinG our Mod squad column has been rather like going back to school. there would seem to be endless sources of online information but you really have to filter it and, in many cases, actually check that it’s correct.
i’ve been drawn back to those old fashioned things called books. adrian Legg’s customising
Your electric Guitar is still hugely valid, not least some of its circuit ideas and general guitar education. One of my most thumbed tomes is hideo Kamimoto’s complete Guitar repair from 1975. You see the guitar itself really hasn’t progressed very much and the basics of repair and set-up remain pretty similar even though today we have new fixtures, tools, glues and techniques. dan erlewine’s Guitar Player: repair
Guide is a must for any guitar library and, of course, his online home at stewMac is probably the no 1 site for guitar tinkerers and repairers and there are some excellent ‘how to’ videos too.
Yet there’s nothing like learning from the horse’s mouth. Over numerous interviews and emails i’ve learned an awful lot about pickups from tim shaw who was the primary pickup designer for Fender’s 2017 american Professional range; Paul reed smith is another ‘teacher’ although most of our conversations end up off the record while he educates me on the finer points, for example, of pickup and guitar design.
never has the expression “the more you learn the less you know,” or whatever it is, seemed more accurate. For this writer at least, it doesn’t seem school will be out anytime soon.