Setting up an acoustic guitar

By: Seth Tucker of Seven Kings



    The average guitarist, especially those just starting out, is not looking to spend several hundred or even thousands of dollars on a guitar. Many of us are happy finding a deal online or heading to a local music store and buying off the wall for under $200 or $300. If this is you, there may be a bit more set up involved to optimize the sound and feel of your guitar. There are a few easy adjustments that can be made to get the most out of your new purchase without having to break the bank.

Dreadnought

Grand Auditorium

    1. New strings. 

     Now it isn't entirely necessary to also grab strings when you are purchasing the guitar but it will have quite an impact on the quality of sound produced. Your guitar had to be built by the manufacturer, shipped to a dealer, shipped to a store, and then probably sat there for three months before it was lucky enough to find you. The strings will reflect that. To decide on the type of strings we want, we'll want to consider a few things. What body style is your acoustic? The two most popular shapes for acoustics are the dreadnought and grand auditorium styles. By identifying the body style of your guitar you can better decide what gauge is best suited for your acoustic and your playing style. The higher gauge strings will create greater tension on the neck of the guitar, pulling it upward against the force of the truss rod, which runs through the length of the neck. Dreadnoughts are typically designed to withstand a bigger medium gauge string, while grand auditorium guitars are better suited for a lighter gauge that creates less upward pull on the neck of the guitar. If you're doing mostly strumming type play, you may decide you like the richer tones of a higher gauge string. Inversely, if you're mostly finger picking you may want something that won't shred your picking hand. In this case a lighter gauge may be appropriate. Once you have decide on strings it's time to check the ol' truss rod. (1) 

Found on http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/truss_rod_adjustment.pdf

    2. Tightening the truss rod. 

    The truss rod is used to assist the neck in resisting the pull of the strings and keep the action (The distance between the string and fret.) lowered. Without it, you would have an inward bowed neck and a painfully high action. Depending on what gauge strings you chose, you may or may not have to tighten the truss rod to counteract the string pull. Just take a look down the length to check for any bowing and tighten the nut accordingly. (Located at either the top or bottom end of the neck.) This alone, may not lower the action to a comfortable level. For that we move on to the next step. (2) 

    3. Action! 

    You may find the strings still sit a bit high off the neck, meaning you will have to press harder to avoid that oh so ugly buzz. For those of us that are just starting out this can be quite painful and a bit discouraging for progress. Do not fret! (One pun won't kill you.) Lets bring those strings down to a more comfortable level. We can start by loosening the strings and removing the pins and strings from the bridge. From here we have some options. Check under the saddle for spacers that are sometimes put in by the manufacturer. Pulling those out and replacing the saddle alone may fix the problem, depending on the severity. If the action is still too high we can do some light sanding, using a high grit count, to the bottom of the saddle to lower its profile and therefore eliminate some space between the strings and fret. Take note that if you sand too much you will cause the strings to touch the fret board and you'll have to buy a new saddle. (Only a couple bucks a pop online.) You may also need to make some adjustments to the nut. That's the grooved plastic piece at the top of the neck which the strings run through. A simple needle file should work nicely. Use care while filing the channels, so as not to go too low or wide with your filing. (3)

    Maintenance. 

    Now that we have adjusted the neck and brought our action to the right level we are ready to rock... go ahead.. I'll wait.
Now when we aren't playing the guitar it may be best to store it in the case. This is to help control the moisture gain or loss. Depending on where you live, you may have to take extra care to keep the humidity levels right. Those in dryer climates or the extra cautious will probably want to purchase a humidifier to keep their guitar in great shape and avoid any bowing, cracking, or splitting. Also keep in mind that higher temperatures and humidity will weaken the bond of the glue. It's also a good idea to grab a string cleaner/lubricant like Fast Fret to keep your strings in good condition and make moving across the fret board a bit smoother. (Quick tip: Wash your hands before playing to avoid the wear and tear of excess dirt and oil on the strings.)

    There you have it. A few adjustments and you'll have your guitar sounding and feeling much better than when you left the store. Now go practice!

1. http://www.guitarfriendly.net/best-acoustic-guitar-strings/
2. http://www.instructables.com/id/Acoustic-Guitar-Setup/#step1
3. http://www.instructables.com/id/Acoustic-Guitar-Setup/step6/Adjusting-the-Nut/

What guitar pick material, shape, and gauge should I use?

by Brix Milner of Seven Kings

Shapes from left to right: ISO, Jazz XL, Standard, Rounded Triangle

The answer is: Whatever feels best to you. Thank you and goodnight.

 This could very well be the end of this article, because that is a true statement, but we will try to help you decide based on some things we have learned over the years and the general laws of physics. I will say it now and probably later in this article, there are always exceptions. There are professionals who defy the rules of logical choice and surprising applications will continue to reveal themselves until the end of time, or until computers play guitar for us.

Let's first talk about materials. There are many exotic materials of guitar picks such as bone, turtle shell, wood, stone, shell, metal, leather, tusk, tooth, and the list goes on... I have even heard of dinosaur bone! We will not be talking about those. We will be talking about the common materials used by most of the world. The most common materials are celluloid, delrin, acetyl, nylon, and plastics of different varieties beginning with the prefix "poly". I am not going to go into the history of each material, boring details of origins, or manufacturing techniques. Let's just get to the nitty gritty of helping you decide what material may be best for you. 

Celluloid: This is a softer material in relative terms. Think about the plastic material that encases your television and other electronics vs. a plastic tub in which you store your Christmas decorations. It would be more like the latter... maybe not quite as soft, but this is just to give you an idea. Celluloid has an "eggshell" finish, somewhere between glossy and flat. In my opinion, this material is the least "clicky" on the strings (excluding leather, felt, or other pick materials that we are not discussing here). Celluloid is said to give a "warmer tone" than harder materials. This material will wears fairly quickly as compared to others, but once again this is relative... there are players who wear them down in two songs and others who have a handful of celluloid picks that last for years. With any pick, wear depends on how hard you play, the angle of the pick when you play, how often you play, the amount of back and forth strokes in the music you play, etc.

Delrin / Acetyl: The most popular version of delrin is offered with a matte finish. With Seven Kings this line is known as Delrinex™. We use DuPont delrin tumbled in a special media. The matte finish provides better grip, but this also creates more friction on the strings. This is a trade off because sometimes you want grip, but also want the maximum "string release" that another material can give. In my opinion many people use this material because "everyone else does" and they may think they need the grip, but really would have no problem holding on to a pick of a different material that could be better for their playing style. A great example is someone who is doing a lot of fast picking and riffing as in many genres of metal. Many metal guys use Delrinex™ (or other companies version), but in my opinion may do better with a slicker material that would help the pick slide off of the string quicker instead of "grabbing" it like a matte finish pick does. Don't get me wrong, this is a great material and very long lasting I should surely note, but give some other materials a try if you have not, or are just going with this material because your buddy uses them. Acetyl is simply delrin without pigment, so acetyl will be a slightly "see-through" grayish-white. Some companies offer this material polished as opposed to tumbled, giving it a gloss finish as opposed to matte.

Poly plastics: These can vary greatly in finish and durability from brand to brand depending on the "recipe". The Seven Kings G-Poly™ line is made from polycarbonate plastic. These picks are fairly hard, and have a high gloss finish. They provide maximum string release, meaning they slide off the string with less resistance as compared to other materials because of the high gloss finish. Players who have excessively sweaty fingers may have trouble holding on to these but this is not always the case, even with sweaty fingers. Like I said before, rules and logic do not always make sense in the guitar pick world. G-Poly™ picks wear slightly faster than Delrinex™.

Nylon: I will start by saying that we (Seven Kings) cannot print on nylon picks, and as far as I know, no one else can either. Nylon picks are fairly slick for the most part, but almost always have a grip built into them or raised letters and/or logos that act as a grip. These are also said to give a "warm tone" as mentioned with celluloid. Players who tend to break picks often use nylon because they are practically unbreakable. 

Let's now move on to shapes. We will only talk about the basic shapes that we carry because that covers 99.9% of players. There are some crazy shapes out there if you want to dig. Seven Kings guitar picks come in Standard, ISO, Large Rounded Triangle, and Jazz XL shapes. 

There is not much difference in Standard and ISO as you can see on our web site. The ISO is just slightly more triangular than the Standard. The Large Rounded Triangle is the same height as a Standard shape when measured from the tip straight up to the middle of the adjacent "side", but the wings stick out and make the pick appear quite a bit larger (see images). A Jazz XL shape has a more pointed tip and is slightly smaller than a Standard or ISO (see images).

Standard and ISO are the most popular pick shapes out there for any instrument and any type of music, but once again, there are no real rules for any of this. Many bass players who use picks prefer the Large Rounded Triangle simply because the mass of the bass strings better match the larger surface area of the pick. Bass strings cover more area when they move back and forth and the larger pick makes it less likely the strings will be hitting your fingers. With that said, there are more than a few 6 string guitar players who prefer these as well, and there are bass player who use tiny picks. Our Jazz XL shaped picks are more pointy and I feel are great for fast riffing and lead playing because there is less surface area at the tip, thus less resistance, allowing the pick to move quickly back and forth across the string. Although, these are good for any and all types of music.

The subject of gauge (thickness) may be more subjective to randomness than anything above. If you are not sure, go with "medium", which is between .71mm and .81mm. Below these gauges the picks are considered "light" or "thin". A .96mm is considered a heavy and many would agree that a 1.14mm is extra heavy whereas a 1.35mm is extra extra heavy. At that point the picks do not bend at all, but some companies make picks up to 2.0mm and beyond. The few points I will make regarding gauge are as follows:

Many bass players like a heavy gauge; some acoustic players like heavier gauges; and many technical and/or metal players like a heavy gauge. Light gauges are good for guys and gals who jump around and use their whole arm to strum (think punk rock style) because the picks "give" when they come slamming down on the strings. A stiff pick would tend to make the strings go sharp (in the music scale) when hit hard and maybe even break strings. 

Although these guidelines are not absolute, they will get you started... especially if you are a beginner. These suggestions will apply to 90% of guitar players no matter your age or instrument. The best thing you can do is try all materials, gauges, and shapes and decide for yourself. You can own every pick out there for under $10 or $20, so why not? This is nothing compared to the price of a guitar, an amp, lessons, cables, and everything else that comes along with guitar playing. You will be surprised at how much the right pick can improve your playing.

Check out our site www.SevenKings.com and give us a call or email if you have further questions. Please comment on this blog thread, as we would definitely like to hear your opinion on the subject. Thanks!

Brix Milner

Seven Kings