Instructions For Strat Style Electric Guitar And 10w Amplifier

Click on read more for instructions on the strat style electric guitar and also the optional 10w amplifier that comes with the combo set.
© 2kool4skool 2013
Specifications of the Electric Guitar:
● Three (3) Single-Coil pick-ups
● 5-Way pickup Selector Switch
● Two (2) Tone Knobs
● One (1) Volume Knob
● Tremolo/Whammy Bar-
● Fully adjustable tremolo bridge
● Adjustable Truss Rod
● scroll all the way down for parts diagram

Tuning

Tuning your guitar is the first thing you need to learn. Use the tuners(O) to adjust the tuning of the guitar. When strung properly, turning the tuner clockwise should decrease the tension (and therefore the pitch) of the string and turning the tuner counterclockwise should increase the tension of the string. Please see our article at http://cooldiscountinstruments.com on how to tune a guitar for more information. Tuning is always easier with an optional electronic guitar tuner which is available in our store.

Strings

Strings are a crucial but expendable part of the guitar. They are the single most important part of the guitar, but they will lose their sound quality over time and break fairly often. Always have an extra set ready because it is no fun not being able to play until you buy more strings. Depending on how often you play and how you care for your strings, they can last from one week to 2 months. Many professional touring guitarists change their strings daily. To extend the life of your strings, wipe them down with a dry, clean cloth during and after each playing session. You can also put a packet of silica gel (the little back of pellets that accompanies many clothing and shoe products) and place is in your gig bag or guitar case. It will keep the moisture of of the guitar which is the main cause of strings going bad. You will need to replace it often because it loses it's moisture absorbing ability after a month or so. When a string breaks during practice, it is recommended that you replace all of the strings at the same time. When you notice the tone of the guitar start to get dull, changing the strings is well overdue. Once per month is the average for a beginner changing strings. We have an article about how to change your guitar strings on http://cooldiscountinstruments.com. We sell discount electric guitar strings in our store.

Pickups, Selector Switch and Tone and Volume controls

Pickups

This guitar has three single-coil pick-ups(C,D and E) and a 5 way switch (F) which controls which pickups are being used and in what combination. This, along with the volume(G) and tone(H and I)) controls, allows the player to have a wide variety of tone selections.
The pickup closest to the neck is the neck pick-up(C). The neck pickup has the warmest sound(the deepest tone). The one closest to the bridge, the bridge pick-up(D). The bridge pickup has the brightest tone (the most treble) The middle pick-up(E) has a balanced tone somewhere between the sound of the neck and bridge pickups.

Operation of 5-way selector switch

The operation basically follows the standard Fender Stratocaster pickup wiring.

From left(pointing to the neck pickup(C)) to right(pointing towards the tone knob(I)), there are 5 different positions this switch can sit in.

• When it is brought all the way to the left, toward the neck (position #1) you'll only have the neck pick-up active.
• One click to the right on position #2, and your neck pick-up along with the middle pick-up will be working together.
• One more click to the right (position #3) will only engage the middle pickup.
• Another click to the right (position #4) will make the middle and bridge pickups active together.
• One last click (all the way to the right) will be position #5 and only the bridge pickup will be active.

Since these are single-coil pick-ups, they naturally produce a slight hum in the frequency range of 60hz. This is only noticeable when any one single pick-up is selected (positions 1, 3, or 5). The middle pick-up coil wire is wound in an opposite direction, and this allows positions 2 & 4 to cancel out the hum generated by any single pickup. We won't go into how this works, but it is technology based upon principals of electromagnetics governing how the pickup works in the first place. If you are interested in this, we may have an article on how the eelectric guitar works on our site if you do a quick search.

TIP: sometimes you can get the switch to sit in "in between" positions which can give you even more tonal possibilities.

The Tone and Volume Knobs
Tone

A tone control adjusts the tonality of the sound coming from one pickup. In the same way that you adjust the tone or eq on a stereo. Turning the knob to clockwise emphasizes the higher frequencies while turning the knob counterclockwise emphasizes the low (bass) frequencies. Having the knob halfway between the maximum and minimum levels of the tone control will give you the pure sound of the pickup which that tone control affects.

The middle knob(H) only controls the tone of the neck pick-up. Therefore, the selector switch must be in position #1 or #2 to adjust the tone with this knob. The 2nd tone knob(I) only controls the tone of the middle pickup. The pickup selector switch must be in position 1, 2 or 3 for this knob to have an audible effect. When the pickup selector switch has not chosen the appropriate pick-up, the corresponding tone knob does nothing. When adjusting a knob corresponding to a pickup which is not active for a particular pickup selector setting, there is no affect on the tone. There is no tone control for the bridge pickup be cause the tone of that pickup only contains the treble range to begin with.

Volume

The volume knob(B) controls the overall volume of the guitar. In most cases, this should be set at maximum (all the way clockwise) and you can control the desired volume with the amplifier controls. However, there are times during a performance or while playing that it may be desirable or more convenient to control the volume of the guitar from the guitar itself.

Bridge and Tremolo Bar

Bridge

The bridge(J) on your guitar is fully adjustable to allow ou to change the action, intonation and tension for the tremolo.

Adjusting The Action

The action is the distance of the strings from the fretboard. A low action is often preferred by beginners and novices, while a medium to high action is preferred by intermediate and experienced players, Action set too low will result in fret buzz, or the light touching of the strings to the frets in unwanted places when the strings are plucked. Too high action will result in awkward fingering and poor intonation. The action has been optimally set by the factory. Improper adjustment may make your guitar unplayable so please adjust only if you have experience. If you wish to adjust it use an allen wrench or hex key and turn the tiny screws in the saddle(K) clockwise to raise and counter clockwise to lower each saddle. There are 2 screws per saddle and each should be turned slowly and evenly, alternating one turn each time for each saddle screw.

Adjusting The Intonation

The intonation of the guitar is the effective length of each string between the saddle(K) and the nut(R). This is important because it effect how well the guitar plays in tune. It has been professionally adjusted at the factory. You may want to adjust this for a variety of reasons but it should only be done by a professional tech, or someone with experience. These adjustment screws are not for tuning your guitar. Intonation and tuning are 2 different things. Use the tuners(O) to tune your guitar. The saddle adjustment screws(L) for this are very small phillips screws located at the end of each saddle. Turn clockwise to shorten the effective length of the string and counter clockwise to increase the effective length of the string.

Tremolo

Use of the tremolo bar is optional.

A tremolo (or whammy) bar is an angled metal rod that when attached to a tremolo enabled bridge, gives the player the ability to place leveraged pressure on the bridge to temporarily change the intonation and pitch of the guitar. A tremolo bridge has high tension springs underneath (inside the guitar's body cavity) which allow the bridge to move temporarily when pressure is applied through the tremolo bar and then spring back into normal position. This is an advanced guitar technique which gives a pitch bending or diving effect utilized by many rock guitarist such as Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix.

The tremolo bar is designed to be attached to the bridge(J). There is a small round hole(M) in the bridge plate. This is where the tremolo/whammy bar can screw into. Make sure the threaded part of the tremolo bar is perpendicular to the hole befoe screwing in so that it doesn't strip the threads. 3 full turns should be enough. Let it swing. DO NOT TIGHTEN THE TREMOLO BAR, as it can have undesired effects on the sound of the instrument. Screw it in just a few turns. It should not be tight. Let it swing freely so that you can reach down and grab it when you want to use it. It should be able to fall 90 degrees when not occupied, and point towards the floor. When pulling on it for the tremolo effect use restraint. Using the tremolo bar can make your guitar strings go out of tune, even after you release the bar. Pulling too hard can make the strings break. Pulling extremely hard could damage the guitar.

Truss Rod

(for expert use only)

Warning:Improper use of the truss rod adjustment can damage your guitar and make it unplayable.

The neck of this guitar is reinforced with a technician adjustable steel truss rod. It runs from the headstock(Q) (just behind the nut) to the base of the neck where it meets the body(BB), in a channel just underneath the fretboard(T). This enables you to adjust the tension of the neck so that it does not bow or warp making the strings touch the fretboard in unwanted places. Beginners should leave this alone. This has been adjusted at the factory and should not need any adjustment, especially when the guitar is new. There are a few reasons that you would want to make this adjustment.

• You change the gauge of strings on your guitar to a very heavy gauge (or from a heavy gauge to a light one)
• The guitar has been subjected to a large temperature change, or you are using your guitar in an extremely cold or hot climate
• The guitar has been modified extensively
• The guitar has aged significantly

If you feel that it does need adjustment, take the guitar to a guitar technician have it adjusted by a professional, so you don't run the risk of warping the wood in the neck. Often, your local music store is not qualified to make these sort of adjustments, so please find a true guitar tech or call us for help. The truss rod adjustment screw(CC) is located just behind the nut on the headstock of the guitar and us adjusted using an allen wrench or hex-key.

Troubleshooting

No sound

if you don't have a sound coming from the amp after you follow the instructions above,make sure that......

• you have the cable plugged in all the way at both the guitar end and the amp end
• the volume control on the guitar is turned up (clockwise)
• the amplifier volume control is turned up
• there are no other volume controls on the amp that are turned down (sometimes an amplifier has multiple stages on volume or "gain" controls to produce "overdriven" sounds)
• you have the cable plugged into the main input of the amp and not a headphone or other output jack

If you have checked all of these things and you still don't hear a sound, it often means that you have a faulty cable. A faulty guitar cable is the most common cause of no sound coming from the amplifier. In order to find out the cause of the problem, we will use the process of elimination. In order to do this you will need another guitar cable that you know is good, another guitar, keyboard, bass or other electric instrument that you can test with, and/or another amplifier which you know works. First swap out the guitar cable and see if you get a sound. If you do, then the problem was a faulty or improperly inserted guitar cable. If you still are not getting sound then try a guitar or other instrument that you know to be working with the cable in question. if you do get a sound with the new instrument, then there could be a problem with the guitar's wiring or the volume or pickup settings. Try the guitar in an all of the pickup selector positions and turn the volume and tone controls all the way clockwise. if you still don't get a sound please contact us through the contact page at http://cooldiscountinstruments.com

Fret Buzz

if you are experiencing a buzzing sound that happens when you pluck the strings lightly, which sounds like it is being made by the strings vibrating against the frets(S), then there may be several reasons.Plucking the strings very hard will always result in fret buzz. the most common cause of fret buzz is improper fingering technique, but there are also other less common reasons that relate to the setup and adjustment of the guitar.

• Make sure you are pressing your fingers firmly against the fretboard directly behind the desired fret (the side closest to the nut(R))
• The action on the guitar may be set too low. refer to the section on adjusting the action.
• The neck may be bowed. This can often be corrected by a professional guitar tech by adjusting the truss rod.
• Uneven frets. Sometimes one fret is raised higher than the others and will be the source of buzz. this usually occurs because of temperature change and can be fixed by a professional guitar tech.

Please contact us directly if you need help with any of these issues. All of our employees are experienced musicians and we can help you find the cause and remedy of any of these issues.

Hum

if you are experiencing an electronic hum or buzz coming from the amplifier, it may be caused by many things. It is extremely common for an electric guitar to exhibit some hum. The guitar, with all of it's metal strings, many yards of pickup wire windings and long guitar cable, as well as being connected to an amplifier which may use various types of circuitry which can amplify all frequencies, is basically a giant amplified antenna. Having said that, the guitar should not have a large amount of hum which drowns out or even approaches the volume of the guitar sound. Almost all sources of guitar hum are external. Here are ways to reduce hum.

• Use the 5-way pickup selector switch in the 2nd or 4th position, so that two pickups are utilized. Since the pickup wire windings are wound in opposite directions, this can help to cancel out the hum.
• Use a shielded guitar cable. Often the guitar cable picks up external noise. using a cable that has a metal jacket under the rubber or braided cover rejects this noise.
• Use as short as possible cable length and keep it away from power cords and wall wart transformers. don't stuff excess cable in the back of your amp or coil up, especially near power cords.
• If your cable has to cross a power cord, make it cross at a perpendicular angle. Do not let the instrument cable run alongside the power cord.
• Stay away from fluorescent light fixtures. The ballasts in fluorescent light fixtures have powerful transformers which can cause noise in guitars and amps.
• Turn off Bluetooth and WiFi devices on computer equipment. These signals are powerful and can be picked up by the guitar, cable or amplifier under certain conditions.
• Keep the guitar and amplifier away from microwaves and wireless devices operating than the microwave frequency range, especially those which operate in the "giga" range such as 2.4ghz wireless headphones and other such devices.

if the hum you are experiencing does not seem to be affected by external circumstances, try replacing the guitar cable. If that does not solve the problem, please contact us. Remember that some sort of hum is standard for ALL guitars. There is no such thing as a guitar that produces absolutely no hum under any circumstances, but it should not be overwhelming.

How to use your optional 10-watt Amplifier:

if you purchased the combo that included a 10w amp, please click on this link for instructions on how to use the 10w practice amp

Electric Guitar Parts Diagram