Music Factory

If your pickup is not performing like it used to, or you want to modify your guitar to get a richer sound, you need to install a new electric guitar pickup. Pickups are an essential part of your guitars performance and replacing or adding one can change the sound significantly, especially if it’s done incorrectly. Here’s how to install an electric guitar pickup and get the sound you’re looking for.

• Assess which pickup is giving you trouble, unless you are looking to modify your pickup configuration. On a Strat, it’s easy to tell which one needs replaced by the toggle switch on the board. With others you may have to guess which one is the culprit.

• Acquire a wiring diagram for your electric guitar and take the time to learn how to read it. Pickups are fairly simple to wire, but if they are wired incorrectly, you may fry your whole system. If you have any doubts about your ability to wire the new pickup in place, take your guitar to the shop and let them do it.

• Select your new pickup. Expect to pay about 60 or 70 dollars for a single pickup, or about 110 dollars for a double pickup. Make sure you check compatibility, especially if you are doing modifications to your guitar’s wiring. Get a shops opinion on the brand and style selection for your electric guitar.

• Unplug and remove any battery power source before proceeding.

• Remove the old pickup and modify the body of the guitar, if necessary to accept the new pickup. Unscrew the pickup from the pick guard and gently pull it from the body. Read your wiring diagram and remove the wires from the pickup, being careful not to damage them. Gently open up the body to accept the new pickup, if needed.

• Rewire the new pickup and screw into place. If you have modified the body, you may need to fill and re-drill the holes to screw the guitar pickup in place.

• Plug it in and give it a try. If you’re experiencing any buzzing or other undesirable effects, ask a professional to look at it.

When people make resolutions or set goals for themselves, a common thread is that they would like to learn how to play a musical instrument. And for many people, there is a strong desire to learn how to play the guitar. Guitar is a great starter instrument because once you learn some of the basics, you can already sound halfway decent. Of course, learning the finer points and the complicated picking patterns can take you years to master, but it really only takes a few weeks to master some of those basic chords.

This is why so many people choose to teach themselves how to play the acoustic guitar. If you want to learn how to play this instrument, just pick yourself up a guitar, a tuner, and a few how-to beginner books. These will offer the basics of reading music along with a chord list. Once you feel you have a handle on these very basic elements, hop onto YouTube for step by step tutorials on how to play all your favorite songs.