Hey everyone, we are back from the Elmira Guitar Show, and let me just say, we had a great time, met lots of friends and made some new ones as well. If it hasn’t been on your list to attend, you should add it for next year…even if all you do is network, it is a great place to do do just that….and see some extremely cool gear.
This months blog is going to look at three ways to improve your guitars….either through giving your axe the spa treatment (cleaning, waxing, treating), lubricating nuts, saddles and strings, touching up those dents and divots or stepping up the hardware for a better playing and sounding instrument!
Lizard Spit…..yeah I said it….Lizard Spit. It’s not cursing, it’s actually the name of a very cool mother-earth-friendly line of cleaning, polishing and lubricating products, which are the brainchild of our pal Chris Webster in North Dallas Texas….and its been around for over 25 years … with 97 endorsed artists from Christina Aguilera to Iron Maiden! They supply the home, automotive and marine markets, OEM products as well, and their music line includes scratch removers, polishes, fret-board conditioners, polishing cloths, wax polishes, nut lube, string lube, tolex treatment and a variety of care packs! There are a ton of cleaning products available these days, and one of the problems I’ve had, is that typically, there is a lot of each product, so if you don’t like it, you will end up using it anyway to not waste the money. I’m here to let you know that I have tried a bunch of these lizardly products, and I have found them to be of extreme professional quality. Don’t just take my word for it but if you bump into him ask my pal Hoogie (guitar tech) who has a rather impressive resume of bands he has worked with including Lamb of God, Shinedown to name a couple and currently on tour with Five Finger Death Punch….Hoogie is a big fan of the Lizard Spit line to protect, clean and lubricate really a lot of guitars on the road. If these products pass the touring band test, you know they will be simply amazing for you at home. Don’t take a chance on wasting your money, take the advice from the pro’s. You know the other cool thing about the Lizard Spit line is it is earth friendly…like Chris says, safer for you, better for your gear and easier on our planet!! Finally, despite an already impressive line-up of products, Chris is always dreaming up more products, so keep your eyes open on the Solo website and online catalogue for more great products you can trust.
Next we have our pals at Oxford Guitar Supply with a great new product that will help you restore some of your more used guitars, or just rejuvenate your instruments when they have been excessively abused… or have had one of those sad accidental bumps. Oxford now has Nitro-lacquer touch up pens in over 50 colours that match their spray can selection. This means there will be a colour to match pretty much any guitar you have. Whether it’s a scratch or a dent/chip, by following the simple directions to prime the pens, you can add from one to several coats (making sure to leave ample drying time between coats) and then wet sand and buff (if required) as if using their regular finishing products. The secret with the nitro based pen, is that the lacquer from the pen will actually melt into the lacquer on the guitar to potentially create an invisible repair. If you use the Oxford Touch-up pens on Poly finishes, you may need to increase the drying time as the nitro will not ‘melt’ into the finish, but will still create a good repair. Oxford has done its best to make the use of these pens as easy as possible, and to extend the shelf life of this product to make sure you get your value. (Please note, these pens are not for use on oil finishes or water-based finishes…they might work, but then again they might not, so I would be very careful). You already know how great the Oxford line of finishes is, so take a peek at the Solo website and see of there isn’t a touch-up solution for you.
Finally, Tone Pros have been around for about 26 years and have pretty much created their own niche in the hardware market. There is a theory on sound or vibration transference that says the more loose or moving parts the vibrations have to get through, the more transference you lose (by being wasted in vibrating the loose parts). I think it has something to do with the loss of kinetic energy or some other physical definition (how’d you do in physics?). In any event, Tone Pros created hardware of extreme quality and added measures to reduce the vibration and movement of the parts, either through locking mechanisms like Allen screws, or just extremely accurate manufacturing. Many hardware manufacturers suffer from pretty loose specs when it comes to their products so they can overcome certain manufacturing inconsistencies…in some cases they can be downright sloppy… let’s face it , it’s easier and cheaper. By switching out the sloppy hardware for Tone Pros, and then locking parts like tailpieces and bridges with the installed Allen screws, or just taking advantage of their precise machining, you can direct a higher percentage of string vibration through the hardware and directly to the strings, so your pickups work more efficiently. When I was teching, I had a pretty well known Canadian artist having trouble with a few of his uber-cool vintagy guitars he loved. Now, whether they were better after the switchover to Tone Pros because they hardware was way better overall, or whether the Tone Pros locking systems created better tone….or a combination of the two, he was very happy and there was a very clear improvement in sound, intonation and just the general feel of the guitars. I’d use them again in situations that called for a direct replacement of hardware. Check the Solo website for a complete list of available products.
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