guitar technical question!

stew · Post by **stew** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:01 pm

You could try putting the original pickups back in and see if you like that sound better.

They should still be fine, there is barely anything that goes bad in a guitar over time (unless it starts gathering rust).

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:27 pm

A Les Paul type of guitar is definitely less 'twangy' than a fender-type guitar. Have you already tried each setting of the pickup selector switch? It should have three positions. Also, changing the strings is good advice if you have not done that.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:42 pm

the easiest test is to wire directly bypassing the pots, anyway you should contact a professional to check it and then perhaps choose pots to your liking.they make a lot of difference to the sound. I have my custom electric wired with a 5 position switch only no pots at all, no volume, no tone at all.I am a bit obssesive/extremist about tone.

Aunt Acid · Post by **Aunt Acid** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:36 am

Here's a cool site that had a lot of info on wiring last time I looked.

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/

leandrogonza · Post by **leandrogonza** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:01 am

thanks guys

the problem was solved.
One of the cables in one of the tone pots was almost loose.

Personally i like the sound of my jazzmaster better.

But now My Orville By gibson is sounding special. It sounds awesome.

By the way, now i can definetly advise everyone, look into Orville by gibson guitars made in japan, ARE Reallly good for the price.

I had to change the humbuckers. because the ones on the guitar were almos micro-phonic. The sound was not full, and muddy.

With the new pick ups, and the fix in the tone pot it is sounding much better that a couple gibson les pauls that i used in guitar center.

thanks

itook4lefts · Post by **itook4lefts** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:09 pm

leandrogonza wrote:the ones on the guitar were almos micro-phonic.

don't want to jack the thread or anything, but i was thinking about this the other day. what are microphonic pickups? i remember seeing the guy from sigur ros signing into his guitar - is that how this is done?

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWR-jJ3v ... ed&search= at about 6:20)

dancerchris · Post by **dancerchris** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 4:53 pm

I'm not sure of the specifics of what makes it microphonic and it is usually considered an undesirable trait (undesirable frequencies). EVH was famous for dipping his PUPs in melted Dr. Zogg's Sex Wax (surf wax) to eliminate the microphonics. This is called potting.

leandrogonza · Post by **leandrogonza** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 6:15 pm

What i think is micro-phonic

Is that the pickups, for some reason maybe the magnets?? Lose the rich sound, they can not capture the proper sound that they were design for.

I don't know technically if i am right or wrong.

But that is what i think micro-phonic means.

stew · Post by **stew** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 6:45 pm

Microphonic pickups are pickups with loose coils, essentially turning them into (really really bad) microphones which have a strong tendency for terrible feedbacks when being played loud. As mentioned above, you can dip them in melted wax (candle wax will do to) or lacquer to fixate the windings.

itook4lefts · Post by **itook4lefts** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:09 pm

ok, thanks for the tips guys. probably not what sigur ros was doing then, since he had a pretty good sound.

didn't brian may set his coils in glue? for the same reason?

stew · Post by **stew** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 1:16 pm

Quite possible.
The advantage of wax is that it doesn't contain any aggressive solvents that could potentially damage the coil wire's insulation. However, pretty much every modern day guitar pickup comes properly potted, even the cheap ones, so you rarely have to do this yourself any more (unless you're winding your own pickups).

itook4lefts · Post by **itook4lefts** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:44 pm

true. i wasn't going to do this to any of my guitars. just wondering how that guy did the signing thing. cheers.