VAUGHN SKOW's blog

What Will Gibson's Bankruptcy Mean For It's Guitars?

So, overall the word seams to be that folks generally think this will be GOOD for Gibson's actual guitars moving forward.  One blog I just read states  "The good news is Gibson will now focus more on its popular guitar brands" ... a determination made by the fact that In a statement, Gibby CEO Juszkiewicz said,

What a Guitar Speaker Sensitivity Spec Really Means in the Real World

Of all the speaker specifications, this one is the one that probably matters the most because this one dictates how loud your amp will be.  First this disclaimer: we're talking about GUITAR speakers here; we ain't talkin about home stereo speakers, PA speakers, and we sure as heck ain't talking about car audio ... although much of this info will transfer into those fields just fine.  Let's jump in!

First, commit these numbers to memory.

The Most Important Spec in Electric Guitar Pickups: Induction!

The Most Important Spec in Electric Guitar Pickups: Induction/Inductance (the active form of induction)!

How Resistance of a Guitar Pickup Affects Tone and Output.

Okay gang, here is part TWO of our discussion on understanding specifications of guitar pickups ... how to turn numbers into an idea of what the TONE will be!  The resistance of a guitar pickup is often the most miss-understood spec ... even though it's often the ONE SPEC people think they actually understand!  This specification simply tells you how difficult it is for electrons to move from one end of a guitars coil through to the other end. Seriously friends, that's it! Folks read waaaaaay too much into this spec.  Let's talk about that!  If you're in a hurry, feel free to skip to the bullet-points at the end.

Exactly What Guitar Pickup Gauss / Magnetic Charge level means and why it's important to TONE!

Hi cyber friends!  So a question came in on the WGS Forum asking about pickup Gauss levels, and I thought that would make a good full-length blog topic.  This one "spec" is possibly the most important in the overall tone of a pickup, yet it's something that almost NOBODY seems to care much about ... and hardly anyone even has the ability to actually measure the Gauss level of their pickups.  Holy cow ... we need to talk about this!

Checking the Gauss of a particularly highly charged Alnico V Telecaster Bass pickup from the 1970's. (This is about as high as A5 gets.)

The Black Keys: Why Guitar Players need to play in flat keys.

Howdy fellow guitar buds!  Just a few days back I was having this conversation with a fellow Nashville Producer, engineer and player, and it hit me that this topic was blog-worthy!  Guitar players often gravitate toward the "guitar-friendly" keys of E, G, and A ... some would include C in this short list as well.  Folks, I would also call these the VANILLA keys, sure they're sweet ... but once you've tasted double-fudge chocolate, Rocky Road, Mint chip, and so on ... vanilla tastes downright bland.  Let's talk about some TASTY keys!

Which Strings are Best & What Should I Buy For My Acoustic Guitar

Howdy once again tone seeking buddies!  Last blog we talked about what strings are best for your ELECTRIC, this week we'll discus ACOUSTIC guitar strings.  And once again, this will be an important blog to many of you, especially if you are still a little uncertain of just what exactly the plethora of string  options really means where it counts ,,, on your guitar, in your hands, and through your rig!  I've learned a thing or two in my decades as a recording engineer, record producer, and of course professional guitar player, I LOVE sharing what I've learned, so listen up grasshopper!

Which Strings are best & What Should I Buy For my electric guitar

Howdy tone seeking buddies!  This will be an important blog to many of you, especially if you are still a little uncertain of just what exactly the plethera of string  options really means where it counts ,,, on your guitar, in your hands, and through your rig!  Now, you could do what I did and spend decades trying EVERYTHING that's out there, but I wouldn't recommend it; life's too short, plus it's expensive!

Should I Replace My Pickups or Get a Different Guitar?

So last week I wrote about if it made sense to replace the speaker in an amp, or if it would be better to just get a different amp, I'll bet some of ya saw this weeks topic coming, right?  Once again I must begin by stating that even though we design, build and sell pickups here, we will NOT offer biased information (I promise); remember, we are real-world guitar players too.  Yep, we also need to carefully watch how we spend our money lest we find ourselves without a roof over our head!  And I mean really, I could take being homeless ... but I'd NEVER do that to a good GUITAR! Shall we dive in?

Should I Replace My Speaker or Replace The Amp

So, we design, make, and sell speakers, which makes you think we'd be biased, right? Wrong.  Truth is, we're players just like y'all; we balance budgets and try to figure out if we can afford new gear or need to fix the car instead just like you!  I've been amazingly blessed and fortunate to have made tone and guitar gear my life's pursuit for nearly four decades now, I've swapped more speakers in more amps than any other human who has or will ever live.  I am the worlds preeminent authority on speaker swaps.  Okay ... maybe I need to stop listening to pro wrestlers speeches, or President Trump, for that matter; but hey, if ya don't toot your own horn, who's going to?  But it IS true that I have a lot of experience in this, and I'd love to pass this experience on to you.  It's what I do, I'm here for you!  Let's dig in.