The LTD F-100FM - Strings, Strap, Pickups and Tuning

Let me start by saying that despite the title of this post, this doesn't just apply to this brand or model of guitar! However it probably won't apply to all guitars (I don't know, I'm just a beginner!) .


The Strap

One thing I learned very early on is that a guitar strap is a necessity (for me at least). Holding the neck of the guitar up for any length of time can really start to make your wrist ache, and using your arm to prevent the guitar from sliding down your lap can make strumming a bit awkward. Bear in mind I am telling you what I have discovered as a beginner, this is by no means proffessional advice!
As you can see in the picture below, my guitar has a curve on the underside (if you are holding the neck in your left hand) that you can put over your knee to help hold the guitar in place, this helped until I got hold of a strap.


The Strings

If you read my last post you will know that I managed to snap the bottom string (the thinnest) while trying to tune it. This posed several dillemas for a beginner such as myself. Firstly, how do I remove the string? Secondly, what string should I get to replace it? And thirdly, how do I reattatch the new string?

Fortunately for me it was easier than I thought. There is a hole in the body of the guitar through which the string is threaded, and the string has a small metal ring on the end so that it cannot be pulled all the way through. So all you need to do is push the broken string back through this hole and the ring with come out the back of the guitar's body and you can grab this and pull the string out easily. If the top of the string is still wrapped around the machine head it should be possible to just pull it off or unwind it. Obviously be careful that you don't scratch your guitar but as the string is useless you don't have to worry about cutting or bending it any more.

As to which string to get, I will cover that in more detail later. All I did on this occassion was go back to the music store where I bought my amp, and ask for a good but inexpensive set of strings that would be suitable for a beginner. When I can find the packet I'll tell you what they were! Each pack contains a single string of each type, and costs around £6.99.
Putting the string back on is a bit more fiddly but easy enough if you're careful to put it on the right way. If you have any doubts about your ability to do this ask the guy in the music store to show you how do do it (obviously you'll need to take in your guitar for this). As long as you bought either your guitar or amplifier there they are likely to be happy to help, or at least explain things to you probably clearer than I can.
Essentially, you need to push the 'top' end of the string (the end without the ring) through the correct hole in the body of the guitar, and thread it through. Then push the top end of the string through the hole in the machine head (the part you twist to tune the guitar) and then loop it back through itself. You can then twist the tuning peg until the string starts to tighten. Make sure the bottom end of the string is mounted on the little groove in the bridge in the same way as the others.

IMPORTANT: Make sure the string is looping around the machine head in the same direction as all of the others on that side!

The Pickups

I don't know a huge amount about these yet, but I'll write what little I know. On an electric guitar, the pickups 'pick up' (unsuprisingly) the vibrations from the strings and translate them into electronic signals that your amplifier can interpret. They are located on the body of your guitar, beneath the strings, and usually look like little metal circles.
Where your pick (plectrum) or thumb hits the string makes a difference due in part to the location of the pickups in relation to the height and tension of the strings. Strumming/plucking a string further towards the neck above those pickups will generate a deeper sounds whereas strumming further down the body over the pickups nearer to the bridge will generate a sharper brighter sound. At least it does when I do it!

Tuning

I have been using my amp to help me tune my guitar, though you can get seperate guitar tuners and some people can tune by ear (infact I believe most guitarists can after some time). I'll go into more detail about how I do that in a later post, but for now I'll just give some advice based on what I've done.

Take your time. It's better to make small slow adjustments than sharp large ones, simply because some of the notes are very close together and you will 'overshoot' them by tuning too agressively. You need to be quite precise sometimes. It's also quite hard to judge how much resistance the string is giving when you turn the peg too quickly, which makes it easy to miss the 'threshold' of the string and therefore snap it.

Pluck the string more than once. Electric tuners sometimes seem to pick up different notes as the string vibrates less and less after you've plucked it or get confused if you change the string tension whilst plucking it. Stop it vibrating once you've plucked it and then pluck it again once you've made any adjustments you need to. The amp/tuner should pick up the new note cleanly.

Keep your tuning low if you can. You won't snap you're strings easily if they are not very taunt. Higher notes mean taunt strings and if you wind the tuning peg too far you might snap them.