Sometimes when you’re contemplating a pickup swap or putting together a custom guitar, the hardest choice to make is what kind of pickup to use. Humbucker? Single coil? P-90? Each have their charms, of course, and you can split a humbucker into a single coil to expand your tonal reach a little further. But we guitarists are well known for looking at our instruments and thinking “What if..?” And it was one of these ‘What If Moments’ which led to a pickup which could do all three: the P-Rails.

Continue reading “The P-Rails: Three Times The Tone”

Choosing a set of pickups for a Superstrat with a single-volume, single coil/humbucker pickup configuration isn’t as easy as you’d think, especially if you’re looking for versatility. There are a few things to consider, but perhaps the biggest is nailing the balance between the neck pickup and the bridge humbucker. Continue reading “Building the perfect S/H beast: 59/Custom Hybrid & STK-S7 review”

Previously, we’ve discussed the history and reason for chambering. The actual effect of the chambering has not been mentioned, though. So what do the tone chambers actually do for your tone?

First let’s look at what tone actually is. The tone of a guitar can be the sound of the guitar when heard acoustically or through an amplifier. The pickups play a huge part in shaping the tone, and the amplifier plays a huge part in constructing it. If the pickups and amp are so important for creating the tone, then why should the wood matter? And moreover, why should the chambers matter? Continue reading “Chambering: Relief For Your Back or Something Really Different To Solid?”

Some guitarists think there’s something magical about the PAF pickups produced in the 1950s. And in a way this is true: some of these pickups have been responsible for some of the most memorable tones in rock and blues history. But note that word ‘some.’ Back in the 50s, production tolerances weren’t as tight as they are today, and individual PAFs could come out quite different from each other. Some were wound hotter than others and some were underwound, so there’s really no such thing as ‘the PAF spec.’ But you can recapture the particular characteristics that make individual or similarly-wound PAFs so special. You can learn a lot by measuring and examining those really special ones.

Continue reading “The Pearly Gates: Pure Texan Tone”

In Tinkering With Pickups 101 we went through some fairly simple modifications that can alter the tone of humbucker pickups. These didn’t really risk damaging the pickup, but the following modifications do carry some risk of damage, if you are not careful.
Continue reading “Guitar Pickup Mods 102 – Swapping Humbucker Magnets”

Okay, so not everyone can (or wants to) solo like this guy, but there’s no harm in trying!

The solo: for many of us, it’s one of the best things about playing guitar.  For others, it’s a terrifying prospect. This article is for those of us brave enough to step up and take the lead for a while, and it deals with a problem as old as the guitar solo itself: how to stand out in the mix when it’s your turn for the spotlight. Continue reading “Making Your Solos Stand Out, part 1”

Some players, myself included, have noticed a subtle but palpable difference between direct-mounted pickups and those mounted more traditionally in pick guards or mounting rings.

It was originally popularized by Edward Van Halen in his original Frankenstrat and various parts-mutt touring guitars, but it never really caught on in mass-produced instruments – maybe only a select few besides Eddie’s own EVH series.

Continue reading “Direct Mount Pickups: Why Direct Mount your Pickups?”

Want a classic 80s-style lead guitar tone but you’re not quite sure why nothing seems to work? The secret to those epic anthemic chest-pumping killer lead guitar sounds is deceptively simple, and it has very little to do with the right hairspray, leopard-print spandex or how florescent your pointy guitar is. And this little trick is so useful that it’s able to make even somewhat novice guitarists sound (relatively) good.

The secret is in the use of delay.

Continue reading “The Secret To 80s-Style Delay”

Since the humble beginnings of the electric guitar, there has been a steady increase in the technology that surronds the instrument. Whether it be amps that have exceedingly become more advanced or the birth of digital effets pedals. There is no doubt that during the last 15 years there has been an acceleration in the availability of both digital offerings and more recently, the ability to modulate amps and effects. While recording studios were once both uncommon and expensive there are now software programs that give a home user the power to do things that weren’t possible in the huge mastering studios of the ’70s and ’80s. We decided to look at some of the emerging technologies and what they might mean for the future of music making. Continue reading “Emerging in Digital Tone”

With so many basses on the market, finding one that plays great, can be few and far between. Since the creation of computerized building methods, manufacturers aim to continuously produce instruments that are basically identical. Regardless, there’s nothing better than picking up that “perfect bass”.  I personally feel that all basses feel different in one way or another. In some cases, a bass that plays great, may not sound great. Customizing your bass with Seymour Duncan pickups, a new pickguard, knobs and a Hipshot D-tuner, are just a few ways you can turn that old bass into one of your main basses.

Continue reading “Customizing your Bass with Seymour Duncan”