Music Factory

For a long period of time back in the 1950s, joining the school band was a lot more common. In fact, most kids were either involved in school sports, cheer team, or band. In modern times, fewer and fewer kids are becoming involved in after school activities. There’s no real culprit, except for the fact that kids just seem to have so much more to do these days, with video games, television, and all the various forms of entertainment. In addition, back in the 1950s, there was a lot more pressure for kids to join in after school activities because all their peers were doing it.

While there will always be at least a few jocks and cheerleaders on the school campus, band is one after school activity that has made a resurgence in recent years. Music has always been a popular theme amongst teenagers, but with it becoming easier than ever for musicians to get their music heard (through the internet, digital recordings, and social medial websites), a lot of kids have a renewed interest in band. There are dozens of different fun band instruments kids can learn to play, and finding the right one is all about trial and error. Encourage kids to play a band instrument, and nurture their problem solving, creativity, and artistic senses!

The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed.

Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. It is the largest such instrument family, with more than a dozen types. Of these many are rare or obsolete, and music written for them is usually played on one of the more common size instruments. The unmodified word clarinet usually refers to the B-flat soprano clarinet, by far the most common clarinet.

A person who plays the clarinet is called a clarinetist or clarinettist.

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.