Pyle Guitar

Introduction

Please take a few moments to read through this booklet. In it you will find answers to many of your questions and other invaluable information about how to attach a guitar strap and how to tune a guitar.

A. How to Attach a Guitar Strap

Follow these steps to properly attach a guitar strap:

1. Step 1: Adjust Strap Size

   Adjust your guitar strap to the correct size.

   [Image Description: A sequence of three images (A, B, C) showing a guitar strap being adjusted for length.]

2. Step 2: Secure the Strap End

   Take the looped end of your strap and thread it through the key hole on the front of your strap, tying a knot close to the hole.

   [Image Description: A sequence of three images (A, B, C) demonstrating how to loop and tie a knot on the strap end to secure it.]

3. Step 3: Attach to Guitar Body

   Adjust your guitar strap to the correct size and attach it to the guitar's strap buttons.

   [Image Description: A sequence of three images (A, B, C) showing the strap being attached to the guitar's strap buttons.]

4. Step 4: Secure to Headstock

   Run one side of the strap through the headstock and tie a knot on the other side.

   [Image Description: A sequence of three images (A, B, C) showing the strap being threaded through the headstock and secured with a knot.]

5. Step 5: Ready to Play

   Your guitar is now ready to be played with the strap attached.

   [Image Description: A sequence of three images (A, B, C) showing a person wearing the guitar, ready to play.]

B. How to Tune a Guitar (for First-Time User)

Follow these steps to tune your guitar:

1. Step 1: String Placement and Stretching

   Hold the strings down with your left hand while stretching the strings away from the body with your right hand. [Image 1]

   Use some pressure to wiggle strings back and forth. You don't need to be gentle, but make sure you don't pull too hard once you feel the string resisting, or it can break. [Image 2]

   [Image Description: Image 1 shows hands holding strings down on the fretboard with the left hand and stretching them with the right. Image 2 shows hands wiggling the strings back and forth.]

2. Step 2: Identify String Notes

   Memorize what the strings are on the guitar: E (Low), A, D, G, B, E (High). [Image A, B]

   Look at the tuners of the guitar. [Image C]

   [Image Description: Images A and B show a person holding a guitar, with text overlay "EADGBE" indicating string names. Image C shows a close-up of guitar tuning pegs.]

3. Step 3: Adjusting Pitch

   Pluck the string with a pick or your finger. As you move the tuner, you can hear the pitch get lower. Turn it the other way to tighten and hear the pitch get higher. [Image A, B]

   [Image Description: Images A and B show hands adjusting tuning pegs.]

4. Step 4: Using Clip-On Tuners

   You can also use clip-on tuners. Attach them to the headstock; they read the vibration off the guitar and tell you what note it is or its closest match. [Image A, B]

   [Image Description: Image A shows a clip-on tuner attached to a guitar headstock. Image B shows a hand adjusting a tuning peg.]

5. Step 5: Fine-Tuning with Tuner Needle

   Move the needle of the tuner to get the right tune of the string. If the needle goes too far, bring it back down, even lower than the note needs to be, and then bring it back up until the needle hits the right tune of the strings.

   [Image Description: An image showing a close-up of a guitar tuner with a needle indicating pitch.]

6. Step 6: Stretching New Strings

   Once you've tuned all the strings, gently tug each string in the middle back and forth to help stretch it. When stretched, the string will drop pitch and go out of tune. After stretching, re-tune each string and repeat this process 6-8 times. This stretching process is only necessary for new strings, and the instrument will hold better in tune after they are broken in.

   [Image Description: Images E, A, D, G, B, E show hands adjusting tuning pegs on the guitar headstock.]

How to Adjust an Acoustic Guitar Truss Rod

Your truss rod needs adjustment when the neck of your guitar has too much or too little upbow or too much backbow.

Tightening or loosening the adjustment nut adds or lessens pressure on the rod and neck. As a general rule, tightening the nut moves the neck away from the string pull and removes upbow. Loosening the nut allows the neck to relax into an upbow again (especially when helped by the strings' pull). Controlled upbow is known as relief.

However, with a one-way truss rod, if the neck warps away from the string pull, no amount of loosening the truss rod will pull the neck straight, because the truss rod only works against the pull of the strings.

Two Primary Signs Your Truss Rod Needs Adjusting:

1. There's a noticeable change in the action; the height of the strings over the frets has become either too high or too low. The most common scenario is that the strings get higher as the neck upbows from the string pull.
2. Some strings buzz on the frets between the nut and the fifth fret. This indicates that the neck is either too straight or it is backbowed from the truss rod's slow, constant pressure over time.

[Diagram Description: A diagram illustrating the guitar neck, showing the adjustment nut, a wrench, and indicating tightening for "bow" and loosening for "hump".]

Truss Rod Adjustment Parts and Measurement

The following parts are involved in truss rod adjustment:

• 1. 1/4" nut
• 2. 3/16" washer
• 3. Threads
• 4. Main shaft of the truss rod
• 5. Truss rod anchor
• 6. Truss rod compartment cover
• 7. 1/4" nut driver

[Diagram Description: A diagram of the guitar neck with numbered callouts (1-7) pointing to specific parts involved in truss rod adjustment.]

Measurement Guidance: As you press the string down at the 1st and 14th frets, the string should be approximately .010” away from the 6th fret - about the thickness of a business card.

Support

Questions? Issues? We are here to help!

Phone: (1) 718-535-1800

Email: support@pyleusa.com