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Build Your Own Talk Box out of Old PC Speakers

The talk box is a unique guitar effect that's been used over the decades by many artists such as David Gilmour, Richie Sambora, etc. Probably the most famous recorded example is the introduction to Bon Jovi's classic hit Livin' on a Prayer.

In this article we'll show you how to build a talk box from a pair of old PC speakers with just a few basic tools and a little bit of patience!

The making of Damjan Pejcinoski's custom guitar

The idea for making a guitar for Damjan Pejcinoski dates back a long time. The serious talks about the guitar started six months before the actual build started. There were a lot of things that had to be covered, like the shape of the body, the hardware, the pickups and many other details. Since we all live in the same city, Damjan was very often a guest at the workshop, talking about the guitar and defining the various details.

Diary of a repair man - Gibson Firebird Neck Break

Sorry guys, its been a while i know. Work expansion has left me busy, so not much time to write.

Thought i would show you a neckbreak repair that i did a while back, as it wasn’t as straightforward as most breaks to put right. Neckbreaks, or the more likely Headstock breaks. Is there anything worse that can happen to your guitar?

Lutherie is an art. The art of converting the soulless wood to a miracle that can speak to you, sing to you and travel your emotions. Lutherie is a science, taught in universities, but there are many things that cannot be taught. The luthier through his intuition can put his trademark to his own creations. It’s not only an art of visible things. The most fascinating is that it is an art of invisible things, ”seen” only by senses. Welcome to this incredible world. My article refers to my latest construction of a Les Paul style guitar with some differences from the original, and it is named so because of the feeling created by the top. Invisible vision! So, let’s get started.

Diary of a repair man - Fender Performer

The Performer is a very unique model, made for one year only (1985-86), and was built in Japan. It was introduced in the transition period from the CBS owned Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company to the new privately owned Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The unusual body and headstock shapes are rumored to have originated in the shape of the scrap wood leftover from making Japanese Strats. The design of the body horns is clearly based on the flat portion of the back of the Stratocaster body.

Many of us make backing tracks to assist us in practicing chops, scales, routines, teach parts from songs or to give them to our band members in order to elaborate their parts if we don’t have the luxury of regular rehearsals. The difficulty of creating a backing track can range from very easy to very complicated depending on the quality and complexity that we are after (possible mixing – mastering). This article is going to introduce you to all the basic steps needed to get a very easily made backing track... and it's going to be done as a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) based recording.

I had two Les Paul guitars come in this month, both very different but both with playability issues. Decided to show you both as its a good reference of an expensive original model and cheaper copy.

Diary of a repair man - Gibson L6-S Solidbody

Had this guitar come in for a total refret and some other work. Basically the guitar had been made completely unplayable due to a previous owner filing all the frets flat and messing with the bridge and nut.

The L6 is an odd guitar, while not considered rare, they do have a following as a limited and unique Gibson model. Made only from 1973- 1980 and never since reissued, they were based around the L5 jazz guitar and featured that models rotary pickup control, and unique for a Gibson, a 24 fret neck.

I dated this guitar through its pots and serial number to be a 1976 model.

Diary of a repair man - repairing IBANEZ RGT–320QRBB

Just had a beautiful guitar come through the repair shop for a set up and pickup swap, thought i would share it with you. A New customer of mine had just picked it up, and in his own words, didn’t have a clue what type it was, and said he bought it on looks alone!

I'll assume that anyone interested in this topic already has some understanding of recording techniques. Instead, I'll give you a few tips on how to achieve different results just by tweaking a few parameters. I can't stress enough the need for creative thinking and importance of inquisitive and experimental approach. Without it, we would have never built this vast pool of different sounds and effects.