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Miss Jennie Enger

 
Blaze Harmon 
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Unit 4 Project Proposal: Basic guitar setup training manual for beginners

October 22, 2010

This memo is to explain what and how I plan to complete my unit 4 project proposal for our
English 320 class. The project that I have planned to do is to design and create a pamphlet or a
brochure that can be used to help people with basic guitar knowledge on how to properly
maintain and setup guitars so that they play better.

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I currently work in a musical instrument store and I am the only one of the ten employees that
has the knowledge and skills to do these tasks. All of the steps are fairly simple that with just a
little bit of research and practice anybody with basic guitar knowledge would be able to do. I
also feel that anybody who knows how to play a guitar should be able to do these tasks on their
own so that tune up their guitar whenever it needs it (normally when the seasons change). But
mainly I want this project to be used by my coworkers and future employees so that they can
continue to get the revenue that those services bring into the company. At the moment the
company does not give any training in this area, you either know it or you don¶t. I also doubt
that they will soon be willing to invest any money into the area of training. By creating this
pamphlet I hope to get the knowledge out there for free to help the greater good.

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The project will consist of a pamphlet that will be several pages long that will have many visual
elements so that the user can actually see what I am talking about in my directions. I plan to take
the knowledge that I already know and find sources to back up that information and then present
it all in an easy to understand format. When they get done reading though it they should be able
to complete any of the tasks that are described in it confidentially. They should also be able to
use it as a reference for when they come across the situations later.



Most of my writing I plan to have laid out in a step by step format. Parts will be bulleted and
other parts that have an order to them will be numbered accordingly. There will also be sections
that are informative that I will be presenting in a paragraph format. The text will also be broken
down into separate sections based on what task that they describing.


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I plan to use plenty of images and graphics to help the user to understand what my directions are
explaining. Some of the images will be actual pictures of my showing what I am talking about
and others will be digital representations of what I am talking about so that I can over exaggerate
them so that the minor details will be noticed. I plan to use quite a few images so that the user
doesn¶t get overwhelmed by the amount of text that goes with them.



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When I have completed my project I want my fellow employees to learn what I know and be
able to implement their newly acquired knowledge. I want them to be able to do this without
having to actually talk to me or ask me questions. Hopefully the pamphlet itself will be an all
encompassing work that is detailed enough to answer any questions they might have. I want to
make the information accessible enough for anybody who has any knowledge about guitars to be
able to take advantage of it. I hope to make it visually appealing enough so that they are
encouraged to take the initiative to learn it on their own time because they are genuinely
interested in it and not just because they are being told to learn it.




   
The first thing to do is for me to consider all of the areas of setup that I want to cover. For this
project I plan on sticking to the basic ones that most everybody should be able to do with no
formal training or knowledge of tools or equipment. I will then take the knowledge I know about
these areas and check other sources to confirm what I say and to maybe add to what I had to
offer. Once I have collected all of my research I will then organize it into sections and start
thinking about the layout of the pamphlet. I will then look through my text based step by step
procedure and try to figure out which steps are the ones that would require a visual aid of some
sort. Once I figure out what images I need I will set up scenarios and take photos of the
situations and photos of me showing how to correct them. But some of the images will require
too much detail that wouldn¶t be able to be represented well by actual photographs. At this point
I would go through and create my own images in Photoshop that exaggerate that detail so they
can get a full understanding of what I mean. I will then compile all of this information into one
unified format that is easy to understand and is pleasing to work with. Once I have a completed
piece I plan on giving it a test run on at least one of my coworkers to find out the effectiveness
that my project had. If it seems effect enough then I will show the evidence to my manager and
try to get him to implement it or have it available for the others as well.











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The chart below diagrams when I plan to be working on particular tasks for the project and due
dates that I will be meeting throughout the project.

        

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Research
Project
10/22
Proposal
Organize
Info
Collect
Images
Design
Pamphlet
Progress
11/24
Report
Test Run
Project
12/3
Due
Reflection
12/6
Memo





   
 

   

Pamphlet is well laid out with plenty of information in an easy to understand format.
The user is able to effectively learn from it and then apply what they have learned.

___Pamphlet contains only necessary information and that is all. Slightly difficult to follow,
and the user has some difficulties or questions that couldn¶t be answered by the pamphlet.

___ Pamphlet doesn¶t contain nearly enough information and was difficult to follow or
understand. User was not able to take advantage of the pamphlet for any effective purposes.
   

The text portion of the project was organized well. No grammatical or syntax problems.
Easy to understand. Any words that isn¶t common knowledge is explained.

The text portion of the project seemed a little unorganized. Some grammatical or syntax
errors. A little difficult to understand. Some unfamiliar words that most people wouldn¶t know
weren¶t explained.

 The text portion of the project was really lacking and needed some more development.
Lots of difficult or unfamiliar words.


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 Visually appealing as a whole, and the images and graphics were directly related to the
steps being shown. Any parts of the images that might be difficult to understand were labeled to
help explain.

 Attractive to look at but could use some work. Images don¶t exactly correlate with the
information being provided. Some images too complicated to understand why the image is there.

 Not pleasing to look at as a whole. Not enough images or the images do not match the
information that is being presented. Images that are there are too complex to understand and are
not of a good quality.
 Reading References

Adirondack, Dennis. Electric Guitar Setup. Adirondackguitar.com. Web. 22 Oct. 2010

Calvert, Brian. Tutorials. Projectguitar.com 2010. Web. 21 Oct. 2010

Erlewine, Dan. Guitar Player Repair Guide. Backbeat Books 2007. Print. 20 Oct. 2010