VAUGHN SKOW's blog

Guitar Players, Why You Should Know Some Jazz Chords

Howdy guitar gang!  This one is gonna be short and straight to the point.  If you can't play some big, full complicated Jazz chords, you're missing out on a lot.  Why, well read on!

A few years back I was asked to play some background "jazzy" guitar for a wedding dinner.  They had no particular songs in mind, they just wanted it to sound like sophisticated jazz during the time the guests would be eating.  I'd never played any real jazz, but I took this as a great opportunity to learn, and I might mention the gig payed a BUNCH of money, so there's that.

Bass Players, The Gear You Need for 2019, 2020, and beyond!

Summer NAMM 2019 :  The Low-Down

Now that the dust has settled on another NAMM show am once again drawn back to December of 1950 when an unassuming bespectacled guy named Clarence opened up his case to roaring laughter.  “Nobody will EVER play THAT” was the consensus.  The instrument Clarence Leonidas Fender had just unveiled was, of course the worlds first solid body electric bass.  It was also the worlds first bass with frets, which is why he dubbed it the “Precision” bass.

Yep, NAMM is always like a giant crystal ball we can look into and view the future of our industry.  Turns out more than a few folks DID play Leo’s bass, and we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation were it not for Mr. Fender and his crazy plank with strings!

Galacta Vise, Super Cool Guitar Compressor Pedal Kit

Hey fellow guitar tone freaks!  So ... last night I had a wonderful experience I just gotta share with ya!  In a scant hour or so I built my own guitar compressor pedal.  It was a fun, easy build but the best part is that it's actually a totally great sounding and full featured compressor.  In a minute you can watch my build video, but first let's talk a little about the Glacta-Vise pedal ... it's features and sound!

A lot of guitar comp pedals are really stripped-down control-wise, some

Capacitors: What You Need to Know about The Differences in Guitar Tone Caps

Wow!  This blog really began many months back with THIS BLOG on Tone Cap VALUES, which are very important, so read that blog first if you have not yet!  Y'all know that I sometimes get a little more long-winded than necessary, so if ya want to jump right to the point here it is: Don't waste your money on caps that are very expensive, any good quality non-polar cap will work PERFECT as a guitar tone cap.  As a general rule, any cap that costs more than a buck or two is as good as it gets.  Want more?  Then read on!

WARNING: Watch Out for Chinese FAKE Fender, Gibson, and other Guitars!

Howdy guitar gang!  I have a huge confession/admission to make right here and now:  At the last Guitar Show I showed at, I actually got taken with a FAKE "Fender Custom Shop" guitar!  (It's the one pictured) OMG, how could this happen to ME??? I'm actually considered quite a Fender expert, and routinely appraise and authenticate vintage Fender guitars and amps.  So what the heck?  Well, the short answer is that 1) those darn Chinese are getting much better at faking big-name guitars, and 2) they are really starting to flood the market here in America.  So the take-away is easy:  be careful, and look

1957 Alnico 2 PAF vs 1959 Alnico 5 - What's the difference between a 57 and 59

 I had a question come in via email that I felt was deserving of a through video/blog ... as I just bet it's a question many folks have pondered.  The question was "what's the difference between 1957 PAF pickups and 1959 PAF pickups.  At this point I should specify that there are no differences in the PAF pickups produced from 1957 through 1958 (none intentional anyway).  Likewise from 1959 to 1961 there were no changes to the specifications.  So when I say "57 PAF", that can be interpreted to mean PAFs made from in 1957 and 1958.  When I say "59 PAF", I'm talking about the ones made from 1959-1961.  Ok?  Let's go!

Fender Guitars - Leading the Pack in 2019!

Shoot, 2019 is just flat looking AMAZING for us guitar players!  Last week I wrote about how good Gibson was looking as they emerge from bankruptcy. But This week I'm going to ramble on a little about the OTHER great American Guitar company, who seemingly has the Midas touch and "gets" us players in a way that makes me wonder if they have secretly bugged the home of EVERY guitar player on the planet.  Yep, I'm talking Fender; and if you have dreampt of a guitar, chances are Fender already has it in production ... seriously, how do they do that?  Let's talk about it!

Gibson Guitars in 2019 - Looking Good, VERY Good!

Howdy Gang.  After a couple of my previous blogs about how awful Gibson's quality had fallen and what stupid decisions they were making with the guitar models and features they were offering ... this blog might come as a bit of a shock.  Shoot, just a year or so I was even skeptical as to if Gibson even COULD stage a comeback!  But let me explain.  In the past weeks I've had several 2019 Gibson guitars on my bench; a Les Paul and a 335 for pickup upgrades and a J45 acoustic for a setup tweak.   Man, I gotta say that all three were really fine guitars, shoot as good as anything

Choose The Perfect Guitar TONE Pot

Hello once again fellow tone junkies!  Welcome to part two in my series on guitar pots, this time around we'll be talking TONE pots.  Some would say tone pot selection is not as important as volume pots, and I tend to agree ... but it's close, very close!  First, I'll mention that if you also want to know my take on tone CAPACITORS, check out this blog.  Okay, ready to roll?  Let's jump in.  Warning, some of the info will be exactly the same as in my previous blog about VOLUME pots, if you have not yet, please read THAT blog first!

Choose The Perfect Guitar Volume Pot !

Howdy y'all!  I've danced around this subjecty a few times but never did a full-on blog about it so here goes!  Please note that this will be part ONE in a two-part series, in part TWO, I'll discuss TONE pots.  There is a little confusion out there, and even some downright wrong info, so listen up ... your tone depends on it!