Wow. Yesterday was a pretty crazy day. Complete Guitar Wiring launched and people seemed to like it. It’s been AWESOME. Thank you so much.
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It’s happened. Complete Guitar Wiring is now available. Can I get a woohoo?
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One day to Complete Guitar Wiring launch and I’m excited and terrified. Check out the last few details on this and prepare for launch day on the morning of Friday 18th.
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I had a fantastic response to the news that my new book, Complete Guitar Wiring would launch soon—thank you! Here’s an introduction to what you can expect with this book. More will follow very soon…
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My new book, Complete Guitar Wiring will launch soon. Thought I’d write a little something as an early introduction and it was a good excuse to look at how guitar circuits work. Check it out…
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Advances in piezo materials paved the way for an evolution in under-saddle transducer pickup design. Let’s see the main types available now…
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Lowering the action on an acoustic guitar is generally a (relatively) straightforward task.
Unless, of course, your guitar has a Takamine-style ‘integrated pickup’. Then you need to regroup.
Get the low-down…
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Electric guitar pickups turn string vibrations into electricity. So do the piezo pickups often used in acoustic. The only difference is the way they do it.
We’ll talk more about the properties and problems of different acoustic pickups over the next few weeks so, for now, a piezo primer…
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Obviously, as someone who installs pickups regularly, I often get asked for some recommendations. Players are considering an upgrade or swap and will hit me up for some advice on the tone of this or that pickup, or whether a particular pickup will suit the style they're going for. You know the sort of thing.
Click through and check out my advice…
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If you've ever had to wire or replace components inside a hollow or semi-hollow guitar, you probably know what a pain it is. You have to fish all the wiring and components through the f-hole to work on them. Even worse, then you have to get them back. It's like building a ship in a bottle but there are some tricks to make things a little less annoying.
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I love the way that the three pickup Gibson Les Paul and SG looks. Crazily cool.
Their wiring, however, seems like an afterthought. That middle pickup is pretty much wasted with the standard wiring scheme.
So let's mod it for heaps more flexibility.
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In an electric guitar or bass, it's usually necessary to 'ground' the strings.
By this, I mean that all the strings should have a path to ground — a wire that connects them to a ground point inside the instrument. Usually that ground point will be the back of a pot or the sleeve of the output jack.
When it's properly grounded, you can touch the strings of your guitar and you'll usually hear the background hiss reduce. Yay.
There’s a common misconception that by touching the strings you are grounding the guitar.
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