If Your Electric Guitar Is Sounding Poor Check These 5 Important Points Out

Monday, December 24, 2012
Every keen guitarist around who plays an electric guitar, has almost certainly at one time or another suffered inferior sound quality from their instrument. Assuming that the amp plus the lead are in ideal working order, the underlying problem can regularly be linked to the guitar pickups.
Here are 5 common reasons why you might be suffering from bad sound quality from your electric guitar:
1. Both humbuckers and single coil pickups have screw controls that enable them to be positioned nearer or further away from the guitar strings. Should they be lowered a lot and they are for that reason too far from the strings, weak output can be the outcome. Lowering them produces a greater distance between the magnetic poles of the pickup and the vibrating strings that's certain to produce lower output.
If on the other hand they are adjusted too near to the strings, higher output would be the final result but be careful as a bad side effect of this wrong realignment could be continuous tuning issues. This is because the magnets are too near to the strings and the frequent aggressive pulling motion can play havoc with the tuning. With a bit of testing the right position that is not too close or to far away can be located.

2. Occasionally what you come to feel is poor sound coming from your guitar can merely be the fact that the pickups mounted on your particular instrument may not be perfect for the sort of music you happen to be playing. As an example, if you're playing rock music, reduced wind, low output pickups would not be recommended. In the same manner, high wind, high output versions would not be a great choice for jazz. You should always be using the correct type for what you are seeking to achieve.
3. Another reason for poor output from an electric guitar can be that the magnet or magnets inside the pickup have become de-magnetised after a while and thus weakened. Your local guitar repair man will help you with this particular situation.
4. This is a slightly less apparent cause of a weak and lightweight sound and it's that a pickup is wired out of phase. On a humbucker type this could be because the hot and cold coil connections are wired improperly or the magnetic polarity is the wrong way round. In some cases it may be that the coil is wound in the wrong direction. Some people quite like the out of phase sound but in certain situations the actual result is inferior and would require an easy fix.
5. The final reason that the sound coming from an electric guitar can be unattractive is quite simply that the pickups are low-cost and made from inferior components. This can be the way it is with budget products where the electrics utilised on it, particularly the pickups, are exactly where a lot of the price-cutting occurs. This indicates it is probably time to get an aftermarket set to give your model a welcome boost.
So there it is. Should you be suffering from discouraging results from your electric guitar and you know for sure that your amplifier and lead are in optimal working order, think about the five factors above as one of them could possibly be the answer to your problem.

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