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Artist Guitars currently sells in Four Countries, AU, NZ, USA, and UK Because of this, we make different versions of all Artist Branded electronics. For example, Our EDK260 Kit Comes supplied in each country with an adapter that is made for your local market. This is one of the reasons we can't ship Items from Australia Internationally, as they are not made for the local market.... Read more

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To the beginner and experienced guitarist, the topic of guitar wood is a very interesting one. For acoustic guitars, there is a pronounced difference in the tone created by different woods, and this will not be discussed here. There are arguments all over the internet about the importance of tonewoods on your electric guitar. Some say that it makes a big difference to... Read more

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This is a Tricky question, both have their Pros and Cons. Cases can be more expensive but offer more protection when compared with a bag. Though a bag is easier to transport and usually cheaper. One thing we can agree on is that you can't do without at least one! ... Read more

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What is Plate current on Valve? There are 3 main parts to valves. (1) The Plate, (2) The Grid and (3) The Cathode. (Pentode valves have an additional 2 elements, but that is out of the scope of this article). The Grid is what controls the flow of current through the valve, much like the handle on a kitchen tap controls the flow of water. The Plate current is a measur... Read more

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This is probably one of the most talked about dilemmas and one of the most debated on. No, it is not whether to use your fingers or a pick on bass. It is “ which type of bass should you buy? ” For pro players and longtim... Read more

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In this article, I will be discussing some common mistakes that a lot of guitar players do not realize is having an adverse effect on their playing. By being mindful of these, you can be sure not only to learn properly, but also ensure that you will have fun doing so. “Practice Makes Perfect” We hav... Read more

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Just what is a locking tuner? Locking tuners... Read more

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Your mandolin setup is critical to the note accuracy and enjoying the playability of your instrument. The setup of the mandolin depends on your preference, however, no matter how you like your action, there are several important points to consider when setting up a m... Read more

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We have had a lot of people asking us where to find the best online guitar lessons and l earing materials. There is so much avai... Read more

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To the beginner and experienced, the topic of guitar wood is very important and interesting one to know about to make your choice of what guitar sound you want. I have found a great article from the GUITAR PLAYER magazine that perfectly describes these differences, and I know I couldn't have done a better job! All have done is just included the woods that we use... Read more

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This is a subject which is one that a lot of people have an opinion on and to be honest there is no right or wrong answer. As any serious guitar player will tell you, the hand that does most of the work is the left hand (the hand pressing down on the frets), but for all us right handed players we are using our weaker hand to do the hard work and our stronger hand to strum.&... Read more

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Body size can be confusing but here is a simple guide to help you choose. This chart works for solid top and solid wood guitars, for basic level Do you want Volume, Bass, Clarity, or a small size ? Our smallest body size is the Parlour size (OS50, 00125 and Little Artist all have very small sizes) A small body size will give you a much clea... Read more

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Greetings all, ... Read more

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Choosing which guitar to buy can be a confusing process. We recently built a site for beginners to help them choose the guitar that suits them best. The site is www.guitarsforbeginners.com.au This is a subject that can confuse people and I have been thinking about ways to explain this so its easier to unders... Read more

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If you have bought one of our guitars and would like to find out how to book a lesson, its really easy.... Read more

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Greetings all, It’s time to read up on the heart and soul of all guitars... the pickups. This is topic that I am most passionate about. I have tried almost all of them over my 20 years in the industry, so here is some info to get you started on your pickup journey and how you can improve the guitar to currently own. ... Read more

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When you buy any items from us you gain points as a reward. It's our way of saying thank you. These points then go towards your next purchase, giving you discounts on everything you buy. Here's how to redeem your Player Points. Step 1. Log into your Artist Guit... Read more

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This is a subject that we find confuses a lot of people. So here is how to work out the best supply for you. Power supplies have changed over the years and the power supplies you can buy today are much better than what you could buy in the past. Now all pedals sold in Australia have to meet efficiency requirements and that means that they are all generally digital supplies (digit... Read more

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Greeting all, I have noticed over my 20 year experience how people approach buying guitars and what they tend to stress about, which at the end of the day those issues should not cause any stress at all. Below is a couple of common issues: STRING ACTION - the height of the strings from the fret board Th... Read more

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Tuning a 12-string guitar is a little more complicated than a regular 6 string. There are twice as many strings and a lot more tension on the guitar. You may find you'll need to tune it a few times over before you get it right because by the time you finish the first round of tuning, the tension o... Read more

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This is a topic that can be quite confusing for a lot of people. Strings break for a number of reasons, but if you have some of the reasons it will make it much easier for you to avoid string breakage 1. playing too hard When I first started playing guitar I used to break a lot of strings, but I noticed recently that even though I play guitar everyday I rarely brea... Read more

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I noticed a very curious thing in our showroom over the years. When someone would try a guitar on display they would often choose the guitar that had been hanging on the wall over as new guitar in a box. That got me to thinking, what made the same guitar on the wall sound better than the guitar in the box ? Now this answer mainly applies to solid top and solid wood guitars. Pl... Read more

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Here is a recent question from one of our customers Q I want to buy some of your TT10 TRS cables, are these the right cables for my studio monitors to run to my Mbox? The ones I have make annoying buzzing sounds. I really need balanced ca... Read more

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This is a subject that is a little left of center and many of you would not of heard of this before. Nashville high strung tuning is basically the process of taking the higher strings only out of a 12 string set. So if you think of a standard 12 string it looks like this From 6th to 1st Low E Octave E A Octave A... Read more

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Hello all, This is a question that we get asked a lot, and is a very common question around the world. .. "What is the difference between a Nylon String and a steel String guitar? I am a beginner and I don't understand!" ... Read more

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The 4 steps to setup a mandolin are - 1. Tune your Mandolin (we have tuning charts here ) 2. Adjust the action height at the 12th fret to 1.9-2.1mm (Its best to use a steel ruler that has a zero point for this) 3. Play the 12th fret harmonic, then lightly fret the 12th fret note, if... Read more

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Tuning a Floyd Rose style floating tremolo can be quite a tricky task. Tools you will need 1. Spare strings 2. Allen keys 3. Digital Tuner 4. Screw driver Here are the preparation steps you should make before you start tuning 1. Make sure you have a full set of strings on your guitar 2. Loosen... Read more

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There are a couple of secret's to correct intonation on an Electric guitar Before you adjust you intonation make sure you do the following 3 steps. 1. Have a new set of strings (at your favourite guage on the guitar) Older strings will not intonate as well as new strings. 2. Have you action adjusted to the corr... Read more

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Here is a quick and easy process to check and adjust your truss rod Tools Required Capo, Feeler Gauge, Truss Rod Allen key, Tuner Steps 1. Tune your guitar to your normal tuning (with your normal gauge of strings on the guitar) 2. Place a capo on the first fret 3. Hold the guitar in... Read more

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We thought we would make a little chart showing you how to check which size cello is correct for your child To chose the cello size based on your child's height 1/8 to 1/4 size - below 4 feet 1/2 size - 4 to 4 1/2 feet 3/4 size - 4 1/2 to 5 feet 4/4 size - 5 feet and above Thanks for reading this blog! to give you even m... Read more

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So what is the difference between a Humbucker and a single coil? How did pickup design all start? The first commercial pickup design went into mass production in 1932 by the company that would end up becoming Rickenbacker Guitars. Many people had experimented with pickup design, Les Paul (the inventor of the famous Les Paul Gibson... Read more

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One of our good customers was asking me recently about how to solve a nut issue on a 12 string How do I stop my 12 string guitar snapping the High G string each time I tune it up? We have 2 different things that really help this issue 1. Change your high G to a 9 gauge - We find th... Read more

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This is one of our most asked questions - How to choose the right guitar for a particular sound Guitars come in all different shapes and sizes, and personally I wish I could have them all at home for when I needed them (but I only live in a small apartment so it’s not very practical) The first step &n... Read more

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So we have all been there, you’re at a friend’s house and they have a guitar and it’s terribly out of tune - but they don’t have a tuner. So what is the best way to tune a guitar using harmonics and how does it all work? I learnt this great little trick about 20 years ago, one of the guys I was working with showed it to me... Read more

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So there are 2 things you need to consider when you match a speaker head and an amplifier. Power handling (How many Watts it can handle) and impedance. Wattage is pretty easy and most people understand it, but impedance is a little tricky. I like to think of impedance of like being the gears in your car, the lower the impedance (say 4ohms) is like running your car in first... Read more

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So today we answer another one of the common questions in our recent survey Tell me more about the materials on your guitars - what makes them different and how can I set-up my guitar to play better One of the key factors that make our solid top guitars sound so good is the bone nut and saddle. At this point in any g... Read more

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Thinking about learning an instrument? At The Ultimate Guitar Academy , we believe you should choose GUITAR! Here's why... ... Read more

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A lot of people are confused about what the different acoustic guitar woods are, and what they do. When I first started working in guitars (It doesn’t seem that long ago but it’s close to 20 years now) I had no idea what the different woods were for acoustic guitars and what the differences actually did. I’m going to distill some of the information I have le... Read more

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Should I remove my strings if I’m leaving my guitar for a long time, or planning on taking a flight? The answer to this is a very strong "NO”, most guitars have a truss rod, this is a long metal bar inside the neck that changes the bend of the neck. In most guitars it only works one way (To straighten a bowed neck) but in our guitars we use a 2 way... Read more

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So today's blog post is on something that most guitarists know a little bit about, but few know as much as they should to keep their guitar in top playing condition. Here you can see how we measure the action height of a guitar. To do this properly you need a meta... Read more

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Today’s blog is all about how to keep your guitar in tune. For beginners (And even players of many years) this is a subject that doesn’t get much attention – but it’s a cause of incredible frustration. So What is something you can’t do much about ? Machine heads. There are good and bad (and some that are extremely expensive), but the most fundament... Read more

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Choosing your first guitar is something that is extremely important and also very confusing. A guitar player of many years has learnt about all the subtle differences and knows exactly what they want to do but beginners need help. Unfortunately the right advice can be hard to find. So here are a few key points to consider; 1. Body Size and Neck size and weight Es... Read more

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A balanced signal is when you have 2 copies of the same signal but one is phase reversed. This is used to remove noise from your signal because when the 2 phase reversed signals are switched back in phase, any noise picked up by the cable is phase reversed - effectively cutting in out completely (Its really ingenious when you think about it). So How do I tell if I should be runnin... Read more

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Here is a simple way to choose the most comfortable Violin size • The first step is to have the player stretch out his or her arm fully ensuring that there is no bend in the arm. • The second step is to measure the total distance from the neck to the centre of the palm. After following the above instructions, use the measurement and the sizing chart bel... Read more

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Last January, our very own Ian Bush was able to attend the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) show. It is an annual gathering for those who buy and sell musical instruments, equipment and just about everything else related to music performance... Read more

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Ever wondered what the deal is with Flatwound strings? Who would use a set of strings that cost so much more than regular roundwounds? If you like the classic old school, vintage bass sound, then these strings could be for you. Traditionally used for jazz and blues styles of music, they're now popular in the indie world and bands who are chasing the classic sound of 50's Rock n' Roll. Rou... Read more

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Much like changing a guitar string, changing your drum heads will liven up the sound of your drums making them come alive again. Where guitar strings should be changed every 2 – 4 weeks (or every show for most professional players), drum heads need only be changed 2 – 4 times a year, depending on how much you play. Generally speaking, your snare drum cops the most punishment, so it... Read more

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A Truss Rod is a long metal rod that runs the length of the guitar neck. It anchors at each end so that when you tighten or loosen the nut on one end it will straighten or bow the neck of the guitar, changing the distance between the frets and the strings. From time to time you may need to make adjustments to your guitar to straighten your neck. If you switch from a light... Read more

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