Getting a Takamine preamp out of the guitar body is something that’s confusion to many. There are no obvious screws or clips. There’s a hole that might do something but, just one. What gives?
Read More
Taylor’s Expression System preamp mounts very sleekly in the side of their guitars. If you ever have to remove one, though, you hit some bushings that can cause head-scratching. Check out the best (and safest) way to remove them.
Read More
Another look at the integrated saddle/piezo pickup. You’ll most often find these in Takamine guitars but there are variants around. Like this Epiphone pickup. The action needed a little finessing here and this version presented it’s own challenges.
Read More
Advances in piezo materials paved the way for an evolution in under-saddle transducer pickup design. Let’s see the main types available now…
Read More
First time you encounter a Takamine Palathetic pickup, you’re all, like, “Woah! Dude!? What gives?”
Yeah, it’s a bit weird-looking compared to most other under-saddle transducer pickups but there’s method behind Takamine’s madness.
Check it out… (Dude)…
Read More
Normally, Id recommend a bone saddle as a good upgrade for an acoustic instrument. However, here’s a rare instance where I’d advise against bone. Takamine-style integrated pickups don’t always play nicely with bone saddles.
Find out more…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
More stuck stuff. A slightly unusual one, this week.
If you work on (or if you have) an older Gibson you’ll occasionally come across a guitar with a curious output jack…
Read More
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…
Read More
Ever have a loose output jack on your guitar or bass? Ever tried to tighten it and been frustrated as it spun round and round inside the guitar?
Then, oh boy, are you going to like this. Check it out jack-spinners. 😉
Read More
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.
Read More