Fender’s alternative to strap locks taking the world by storm

For years guitars have been falling off their straps; for years they’ve been taking damage. And for years people who care about their guitars have been fitting strap locks to prevent this problem. So no problem then? Well not until you forget the strap with the lock heads on… or until you get a second or third guitar…

Strap locks work great, but they can get a little expensive if you have several guitars; but Fender have come up with a cheap, incredibly simple and highly effective alternative. They cost under $2 for a pair, are pretty durable, and they are easy to move to a different guitar, installing in seconds. And THEY WORK GREAT! We can’t recommend them enough. Strap Blocks are available from Amazon, and most music stores. Check out the Guitar Savers Strap Block, for an even cheaper, unbranded version.

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Vintage Guitars as Investments

The Hollywood Vintage room, LA. Most of the guitars on this wall were priced in the range $8,000-$80,000 (Aug 2008)

The Hollywood Vintage room, LA. Most of the guitars on this wall were priced in the range $8,000-$80,000 (Aug 2008)

Why do people collect guitars? They are usually guitarists, of course, but not always. For some, the guitar is art: displayed on walls, or free-standing as scultpure. For others, it is an exercise in preservation, or museum curation. But increasingly, people are buying guitars primarily as a financial investments.

Vintage guitars made by the likes of Martin, Gibson and Fender, can make great investments, with the right guitars gaining in value more than many stocks and bonds. The guitar investment market is subject to very different forces than the stock market, and investment companies are reportedly turning to instruments as part of a balanced portfolio.

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Best Beginner Guitar

What is the best beginner guitar? OK, theres no such thing. There are hundreds of entry-level guitars, all basically doing the same job, in pretty much the same way, with most of them sounding pretty darn good. But today I put forward the proposition that the best beginner electric guitar is the Fender Squier Affinity Strat.

Squier by Fender BulletStrat w/Trem, Brown Sunburst

  • Basswood body with gloss polyurethane finish
  • Maple neck with 9.5 in radius rosewood fingerboard with 21 medium jumbo frets
  • 3 Single-Coil Strat Pickups
  • Synchronous Tremolo with Cast Saddles
  • Master volume with 2 tone controls with 5 position pickup selector switch

Our Bullet Strat with tremolo is a simple, affordable and practical guitar designed for beginners and students. Classic styling includes the added benefit of a single humbucking pickup/ two single-coil pickup configuration. Other features include five-way switching, synchronous tremolo and a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and 21 frets.

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The Fender PT-100 Guitar Stage Tuner

Fender PT100 chromatic pedal tuner

Figure  1 – The Fender PT-100 chromatic guitar tuner

I think i’ve found one of the most useful pieces of equipment any guitarist can own! Such statements shouldn’t be made lightly, but in this case I stand by it. If you need a new tuner you really should consider this one. In the PT-100, Fender have a solid, durable and, most importantly, easy to use tuner that works for guitar and bass. It does the job, and it does it well.

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Fender Automatic Guitar Tuner AG-6 Review

Fender decided to mix up the guitar tuner industry norms with the Fender Automatic Guitar Tuner AG-6. We’ve all seen the tell-tale signs of a cheap guitar tuner, but Fender is covering its tracks with the AG-6 model. In fact, this model has a few innovative design features- a backlit display, for example. The first thing that will be noticed, however, is the glossy and sparkly surface that screams 1980’s glamour.

Fender AG-6 Sparkle Tone Tuner Red
Figure 1 – Three sparkling colors to choose from? The guitar industry is becoming chic- but does does the Fender AG-6 still function well as a guitar tuner? Continue reading Fender Automatic Guitar Tuner AG-6 Review