subject: 5 Reasons Why Your Electric Guitar Can Sound Poor [print this page] Just About Every keen guitar player out there who plays an electric guitar, has probably at one time or another suffered weak sound quality from their instrument. Assuming that the amp plus the lead are in appropriate working order, the underlying problem can often be connected to the guitar pickups.
Here are 5 typical reasons why you may be encountering inferior quality of sound from your electric guitar:
1. Both humbuckers and single coil pickups have screw controls that enable them to be located nearer or further away from the guitar strings. If they are lowered too much and so are for that reason too far from the strings, weak output is most likely the direct result. Lowering them produces a greater distance between the magnetic poles of the pickup and the vibrating strings which is bound to deliver lower output.
If however they are adjusted too near to the strings, increased output would be the result but be wary as a nasty side effect of this inaccurate adjustment can be frequent tuning difficulties. It is because the magnets are extremely close to the strings and the regular intense pulling motion can play havoc with the tuning. With a little experimentation the optimal position that's not too close or to far away can be found.
2. Sometimes what you come to feel is substandard sound coming from your guitar can simply be the fact that the pickups installed on your specific instrument are not suited to the sort of music you are trying to play. To give an example, should you be playing heavy metal music, reduced wind, low output pickups would not be ideal. In the same way, high wind, higher output types would not be the ideal choice for jazz. You should always be utilising the ideal type for what you will be seeking to achieve.
3. Another reason for weakened output from an electric guitar could be that the magnet or magnets inside the pickup have become de-magnetised as time passes and consequently weaker. Your local guitar repair man can assist you with this particular situation.
4. This is a somewhat less evident reason behind a weakened and lightweight sound and it's that a pickup is wired out of phase. On a humbucker design this is often because the hot and cold coil connections are wired inaccurately or the magnetic polarity is the wrong way round. In some instances it might be that the coil is wound in the wrong direction. A number of people quite like the out of phase sound but in certain situations the result is poor and would need an uncomplicated remedy.
5. The final reason that the sound originating from an electric guitar can be unsuitable is quite simply that the pickups are low-priced and made from far inferior materials. This could be the case with budget versions where the electrics utilised on it, particularly the pickups, are where much of the price-cutting takes place. This means that it is probably time to have an aftermarket set to grant your type a welcome boost.
So there you have it. When you are going through frustrating results from your electric guitar and you know for sure that your amp and lead are in perfect working order, consider the 5 points in this article as one of them may be the answer to your problem.
