A few weeks ago, I completed an article about fixing my Ernie Ball/Music Man’s warped pickguard. While I had all of the electronics and pickguard off of the guitar, I noticed that the only shielding on the control cavity was a small strip of aluminum tape on the pickguard where the controls were.

Now, the normal pickups in this guitar are humbuckers: a Custom Custom and Alnico II Pro. Being humbuckers, the pickups themselves don’t hum. But get them near light dimmers, fluorescent or neon lights, and dubious club wiring, and all sorts of buzzing happens.

Continue reading “How To Shield A Guitar”

Have you never opened a guitar before? Or perhaps you’ve just opened one for the first time, seen all those wires, and run screaming in confusion to the internet for help? Never fear. We have a set of posts you can read to get yourself up to speed in no time, starting completely from scratch. Continue reading “Guitar Wiring Diploma Course”

Epiphone is well loved by many for their semi-hollow bodies, their range of selection and affordable prices. You may be ready to pull the trigger your first Les Paul style guitar but your credit card may refuse such a purchase – an Epiphone LP is a good alternative. After getting their hands on an Epiphone, it’s not uncommon for people to make a couple upgrades, including changing out the stock pickups to something with more output, less mud and more clarity, or just to get a sound more to their liking. In this new article we look at some great choices, most of which will work for a whole host of the many Epiphone models out there. Continue reading “Best Guitar Pickups For Epiphone”

Some people call them HSS Strats. Others call them Fat Strats. Some people don’t care for them, others don’t know what they’d do without them. Either way, you can’t deny the appeal of a guitar that combines the feel and mechanics of a Strat with the chunky kick of a bridge position humbucker.

And yet, by stuffing a big humbucker into the bridge position of a Strat, we are making a compromise. Even if you can’t stand it on it’s own, that bridge single coil is a big part of the essential character of a Strat, thanks to the “notch position” it shares with the middle pickup. Continue reading “The Philosophy of the Fat Strat: Single Coils and Humbuckers At Peace”

Over the years there have been many modifications to the electric and acoustic guitar. One of the more radical ones is the use of a scalloped fingerboard. This is an irreversible modification that ‘scoops out’ the wood between the frets. This article will explain exactly why someone might do this, the benefits and drawbacks of scalloping and why this became popular in electric guitar playing. Continue reading “Unleashing The Mysteries Of A Scalloped Fingerboard”

Guitar solos can be both beautiful and tragic. Savage or sublime…or even scary. Sometimes in the same solo. They can serve the song, but should not distract from it. But over the last 40 or so years of heavy music there are some solos that have earned legendary status. You may not be able to hum some of them, but they’re stuck in your head like the simplest of melodies. Solos that inspire listeners to pick up instruments upon listening because they wonder “how did he DO that?” then find themselves compelled to learn the answer to that question.”Life-changing” guitar solos, there I said it. We surveyed the Seymour Duncan Facebook audience to find out what ranked as their top guitar solos of all time. Here’s how the Top 10 broke down: Continue reading “Reader’s Choice Top 10 Guitar Solos”

Seymour Duncan makes a lot of pickups that are great in vintage designs like Strats, Teles and Les Pauls, but there are plenty of more modern-voiced pickups in the line-up too. Personally I’m a huge Ibanez geek (seriously, I think I have a problem – that problem is not enough space for all my Ibanezezes!), and although I consider it my duty as a guitarist to own a Strat, Tele and Les Paul (and some day an ES-335 please, Santa), I have plenty of experience with all sorts of Ibanez guitars and all sorts of Seymour Duncan pickups. So I thought it might be fun to share some of what I’ve found.

Continue reading “Best Pickups For Ibanez Guitars”

I like to brainstorm a lot with other guitarists about gear, music, tone and other assorted subjects when one subject came up which can be summed up in one simple question: what are the top 10 tremolo systems on the market, right now? Continue reading “Top 10 Tremolo Systems”

Back in the days before we had direct recording outs and stereo effects loops, if a guitarist wanted to take his favorite amp’s tone and make it LOUDER, it was done by something called amp slaving. This is accomplished by taking the signal of one amp and boosting it via the power section of  another amp. This method allow you to use the primary amp as you tone-generator, and the other amps to provide additional volume for larger venues. Continue reading “Obey Your Master: The Art Of Amp Slaving”

One of the great things about the Telecaster is the fact that there are so many cool alternate wiring schemes you can use. I want to tell you about three of my favorites.

Broadcaster Blend Wiring

The first one is the oldest one: the original Broadcaster wiring scheme with a blend knob.

With this wiring, position 1 is the bridge pickup, position 2 is the neck pickup, and position 3 is a dark neck pickup tone with all the treble rolled off. That position 3 sound is too dark for a lot of players, though some guys like it for playing jazz or faking bass lines. But the coolest thing is, when you’re in position 1, the tone knob acts as a blend switch, and you can mix in as much or as little of the neck pickup as you like. There are some really nice blends in there that you can’t get with the standard wiring scheme.

There’s a trade-off, though: You don’t have a regular tone control. So this is probably not a good choice for players who like using their tone knobs for wah-type sounds. But if you don’t use your tone knob a lot, or just use it to take off a little top end when you’re in the bridge position, you may find you get everything you need from the blended settings.

For a super-authentic tone, try this with my Vintage Broadcaster Pickup Set.

Tapped Tele® with 5-Way Switch

The next idea uses the Tapped Tele pickup I developed. I’d always wanted a Tele or Esquire pickup with two output levels: a lower-output vintage sound and a hotter sound with extra volume and sustain. I designed a version for Alan Dutton, Jeff Beck’s road manager. Jeff heard and liked it, and he used it on his Guitar Shop album.

When you install this with a 5-way switch, you get the usual vintage Tele sounds in three of the positions. But in the other two, you get the beefier, full-output bridge pickup alone, and the full-output bridge pickup mixed with the neck pickup. I like this one because you get all the traditional sounds, plus two great higher-output settings.

We sell Tapped Tele pickups individually, and as part of the Custom Shop ’53 Tapped Tele Model T Guitar Shop Set, which includes a 5-way switch.

Tele with 4-Way Switch

This is another cool wiring scheme that gives you all the traditional sounds plus something extra. The only special part you need is a 4-way switch.

This gives you the usual Tele sounds in the first three positions. But in position 4, you get both pickups in series like a humbucker. It’s a big boost in output and a big, fat tone.

But you need to make one important adjustment: The neck pickup’s cover has to be grounded with a separate wire. That means you have to flip the pickup over and cut the little un-insulated jumper wire that connects to the cover. That leaves a 1/4-inch nub of wire connected to the cover. Attach a new wire to that, and connect it to ground.

This wiring works great with any vintage-output Tele pickups. It’s also great with our Five-Two® for Tele pickups, which session players like Brent Mason and Dean Parks like because they provide great Tele twang, but with a slightly tighter, more focused low end.

Man, there are just so many great Telecaster wiring options. You can find even more of them at seymourduncan.com/wiring.