5 Stocking Filler Ideas For Guitarists
Ho Ho Ho!
Well, it is that time of year again, sadly I don’t get a stocking any more, but if I did, here are some cool little thing I would be asking Santa for this Christmas.
Why not post your own ideas in the forum! – http://www.dirtbox.net/forum/index.php?topic=197.0
These are not listed in any order, just ten things that would make a great gift for a guitarist at Christmas, so whether your looking to add something to your personal list or a parent wondering what to get your child rockstar at Christmas, then read on!
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1 – TC Electronics PolyTune (Around £70)
The PolyTune may very well revolutionise how we guitarists tune. IDEAL device for tuning in between songs at gigs as it allows you to roughly tune all six strings at the same time before going in depth and tuning each string individually. A great time saver, nothing worse than having to wait thirty seconds after every song whilst a band tunes up.
I’ll be getting one soon, and so should you.
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2 – String Winder (Around £3)
Ah the humble string winder. Available from a variety of manufacturers including Dunlop, DVille and Planet Waves the string winder is a simple but revolutionary device! No guitarist ever buys themselves one because they think: ‘What a waste of three quid’ but after one single string change I promise they will thank you for it.
It makes string changes so much easier and, more importantly, quicker. A real bargain buy!
Note that you can also get batter powered automatic ones and winders with various tools etc attached for more money.
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3 – The Pick Punch ($25 / Around £20)
Another cool gadget! This one is essentially a hole puncher but it punches out standard sized plectrums instead of mere holes. It can punch pretty much any material you can get your hands on (within reason) but works especially well with Credit Cards and similar material, so BE CAREFUL!
A cool gadget not just used for making picks but also people have made jewellery out of the picks they have punched.
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4 – V-Picks Set (Around £40)
In my opinion the best guitar picks on the planet!
With so many V-Pick sizes and shapes to choose from it can be hard to know which ones will suit you, so V-Picks have a solution: A box set of twelve of their most popular guitar picks.
Once you have used a V-Pick it will be very hard to go back to anything else, providing it suits your playing style of course.
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5 – Guitar Pro 6 (Around £55) 
Guitar Pro 6 has taken the fantastic Guitar Pro series of notation software aimed specifically for guitarists and improved on it yet again!
GP6 is the perfect tool for laying ideas down and songwriting, I use it daily and although it is not perfect it is certainly getting there. Simply the best notation software aimed at guitarists in my opinion.
17 Dec 2010, 3:41 pm
Agreed! The EBow only just missed the list.
14 Dec 2010, 6:09 pm
I like to add the Ebow to the list of stocking filler ideas. It’s use in many classic songs, makes it a great accessory for any guitarist..
14 Dec 2010, 1:12 pm
I’ve sold my Polytune shortly after I got one. The function is nicer in theory than in practice I think.
First of all when you really dig in at a gig, you can feel which strings are going out of tune, and there is a drop in volume and attack on the strings that are sharp, no need for a tuner for that. Secondly, the Polytune actually takes more time I think, because the poly feature is very unprecise and you can’t tune on it, because the moment you strum only one string to correct the tuning, it switches to single string tuning mode, and the display changes take a while, you actually have the string in tune audibly before the display changes to single tuning display. Then when it changes the single tuning display, it takes some time before it starts tracking, and if you hit a second string, it goes black again to pop up the polytune display some time later. In comparison to Boss TU tuners, I think it’s really slow. Other thing is that it’s not visible at all in daylight or with hard white lights on it. The concept is very nice, but I guess I’m spoiled by the speed and ease of use of Boss TU tuners, I can’t really go back to anything else.
13 Dec 2010, 6:50 pm
that one seems good too, just never been a fan of headstock tuners. Who wants a tuner on their headstock when their rocking out?
Lol.
13 Dec 2010, 5:22 pm
Awesome article man. My only substitution would be the tuner. The Planet Waves headstock tuner is to be reckoned with
http://store.daddario.com/category/152540/Headstock_Tuner