Dylan McKerchie

Vibration and FeedBack... If you go back to our post about how pickups work, you will remember that we don't really want anything inside the pickup moving around. Because the entire guitar vibrates when we play, it is inevitable that the parts that make up the pickup will also vibrate. This can be a blessing and a curse. The downside is that when the larger metal parts vibrate, they can cause uncontrollable feedback. This usually is heard in the form of a squeal. Bad stuff. It is made worse when we play very loudly or use a lot of gain....

Series Vs Parallel Switching Usually when multiple pickups are installed in a guitar, they are connected to operate in parallel. This means that the signal passes through the pickup from ground and then on to the tone circuit, volume control, or straight to the pickup selector. Even when two pickups are on at once, you are hearing the sound of them working independently. When you wire two pickups in series, the signal passes through one pickup, straight into another pickup... and then back to the rest of the circuit. When wired correctly, these can be hum cancelling. You can have...

Vintage Vs Modern Pickups... Are "vintage" pickups really better? Are the materials they were made of really different than the materials of today? Wire There is a lot of debate about whether the copper of yesteryear is any different from the wire of today. There has been numerous studies that say that copper is copper, but the die-hards will say that it it different. One thing is for sure, the tolerances were looser in the old days because the lasers used today for measurement were not around. The insulation compounds have changed, although this has less of an effect than...

Vintage Pickups Vs Modern Pickups.... Many times the word "vintage" shows up in the ever elusive quest for tone. What is it that makes people want old stuff so bad? we will talk about the changes in materials and if they affect tone in another post.... Today, we want to understand what questions we should be asking when purchasing pickups. Many people will call a pickup company and say, "I want a vintage spec pickup". What does that mean? What is a "Vintage" Pickup? It is an old pickup.... plain and simple. Usually what people really are requesting is a...

It's  always fun to work on and modify our guitars. The first thing we do is jump online and check out some forums and videos. The resources for learning how to repair your guitar and make additions to it are endless. Then we go and buy a new part or pedal or etc and then we install it. Today we want to share a few things to keep in mind when working on your guitar. Most importantly, some things to avoid. We don't want to do damage to the instrument we are trying to improve. Watch the video below for...