INPUT ARTICLE: Article: When deciding on a type of stone, you have to make a decision about stone type. One major factor in the decision-making process is whether your project is for commercial or domestic use.  Commercial use implies there will be a lot of traffic on your stone. For example, stone used on a walkway or on the floor of a shopping mall would be commercial use. You should go for a heavier, sturdier type of stone. Limestone, a common stone used for DIY projects, should be avoided. Domestic use is stone that would be used privately in your home. A stone counter would be domestic use, for example. You can use softer, cheaper stone for a domestic  project. Stone types like granite or other natural stones would work well. You may not always find your first choice in stone. Depending on your area, certain types of stone may have to be shipped to providers. This can get costly. Write down a variety of stone types you would be okay with and then check with a local provider to see what's readily available. Stone can get expensive, so be willing to work within a budget. Many types of stone may require special finishing procedures. If your stone-type is particularly slippery, for example, sanding, finishing, and flaming may be necessary. These types of projects are cost and time intensive and offer require professional assistance. Look into a type of stone that does not need a lot of special finishing.

SUMMARY: Decide whether you're using your stone for commercial or domestic use. Stick to stones in your price range. Use stone that does not need finishing.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Like an acoustic guitar, an electric is basically just strings that vibrate over wood, but with the addition of all kinds of confusing-looking selector switches and knobs. Learning to identify the basic components of electric guitars can help demystify the process and help you focus on the most important parts.  Pick-ups will be placed under the strings near when the guitar is plucked. There may be as few as one pick-up and as many as three or four, depending on the guitar. These are used to pick up the sound of the guitar, which vibrates an internal magnetic coil, producing an electric signal that travels through the amplifier. Volume knobs will be included, sometimes as many as three. These allow you to adjust the output volume of the guitar. Tone knobs are used to toggle between the high and low frequencies in the pick-up. There are usually different tone knobs for each pick-up in the guitar. Selector or cut-off switches are used to select between the individual pick-ups and activate them, or cut them off. On most guitars you can use some combination of different pick-ups. The output jack is usually on the back-end of the guitar, or the bottom lip, where the guitar is plugged in to the amplifier via quarter-inch cable. To the untrained eye, all electric guitars might look basically the same, but body styles can be broken into several basic categories, each with its own subtleties of sound and playing style. Some body styles work better for certain genres, though there's no rule that says so. Lots of it has to do with your personal playing style and the music you want to make.  Solid body guitars are sturdy and weighty, made of a single piece of wood. Because there's no resonance chamber, solid-body guitars must be played through amplifiers. The variety of pick-ups and the electronics of a solid-body guitar are very important. These are the go-to guitars for rock 'n roll, punk, and metal music. Famous solid-body guitar styles include the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul. Hollow body electric guitars are, as the name suggests, hollow on the inside of the body. While there's no sound hole as will be found on an acoustic guitar, hollow-body electric guitars will often use a different variety of pick-up than a solid-body guitar. These are often used for playing jazz, featuring a warm and deep mid-range, and work best with mellow, low-volume amplifiers. Semi-hollow body electric guitars are hybrid models that feature a cut-out design and a small hollow portion of the body. These guitars have a bright and chime-like tone that's perfect for country music, folk-rock, and for lead-guitar work. The Rickenbacker and the Gibson ES are famous semi-hollow guitar models. Electric-acoustic guitars look basically like acoustic guitars, but feature pick-ups that allow them to be played like electric guitars. While these typically will have fewer features than other forms of electric guitars, electric-acoustics offer the versatility of playing them without the use of amplification. Primarily, the sound of a given electric guitar will come from the pick-up, though the pick-ups of a guitar can be changed out, customized, and upgraded. For a reason, it's important to give some consideration to the wood that the guitar is made from, but beginners will likely not notice a huge difference in sustain, so try not to be led down a garden-path by a salesman telling you that you have to upgrade to koa wood. Still, it's good to learn a bit about the different types of woods used to demystify the process. Most bodies are made of maple, mahogany, or poplar. Maple is known for its long sustain and bright character, while mahogany is known for its warmth. Poplar is great for bright and crispy high-register tone. Let's face it, the number one reason most people end up picking the guitar they pick is because it looks cooler than all the others. This is a perfectly legitimate reason to pick a guitar. Almost every guitar player who ever picked up an axe did so because they saw some other guitar player who looked awesome standing on stage.  Famous Gibson Les Paul pickers include Jimmy Page, Zakk Wilde, Slash, Randy Rhoads, and Bob Marley. Famous Fender Stratocaster players include Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Other iconic guitar models include the Gibson SG, played by Angus Young, the Fender Telecaster, played by Bruce Springsteen, the Gibson Flying V, played by Kirk Hammett, and the Fender Jazz Master, played by Kevin Shields, Elvis Costello, Thurston Moore, and J Mascis. Gearheads often fall into the same trap, thinking that super-expensive and obscure gear is also better than cheaper industry standard stuff. Sometimes, this is the case, but if you’re looking for a guitar to learn on, don't judge by the price. There are expensive guitars that have the resonance of a brick, and there are cheap guitars that really sing. Old Fenders that sell for thousands of dollars today started out life as inexpensive solid body guitars.  By the same token, if you're going to invest in a guitar to learn on, you need to get something that's worth playing. Toy guitars sold at places like Walmart aren't even worth the low price tags offered. It's better to go for a used guitar or a cheaper model of the guitar you want. Fender offers the "Squire" series, using somewhat cheaper materials, but the same designs as their other more expensive guitars. You can get a Squire Strat for around $300, compared with the $1400 it might cost for an American Stratocaster, if you're lucky. Explore used guitars and do your research to find deals. Some players will only play guitars that have been broken in a bit and worked over by other players. Neil Young is known for only playing old guitars, for example, and never plays new ones.

SUMMARY:
Learn the basic components of an electric guitar. Decide what kind of body style you want. Learn a bit about tone woods. Look to your guitar heroes for inspiration. Don’t be afraid of deals.