The SPC or “Strat Presence Control” is often called the ‘fat control’. For many players it is the most popular upgrade to perform. The original intent of the SPC was to turn the tone of a single-coil pickup into a dual-coil pickup. This is accomplished by boosting the gain in a broad mid-band fashion and [...]
Guitar Upgrades Articles
Guitar Setup-Step 2: How To Check Guitar Neck Relief
July 11, 2008 – 11:15 am
The next logical step in checking and setting up your guitar, step number two is the natural procedure to perform next. Step number one demonstrated effectively how to perform a basic Neck Evaluation and Truss Rod Adjustment.
Step number two is how to professionally check the amount of relief in the guitar neck with a [...]
Guitar Setup-Step 1: Neck Evaluation and Truss Rod Adjustment
June 27, 2008 – 11:20 am
Before we can move to the actual setup and action adjustments we must make sure the neck is adjusted properly. I will detail how to check and adjust a neck that is not damaged or needs a new truss rod.
The first thing to do is to ’sight’ the neck. In other words, with [...]
Wiring for Stratocaster & Three-Pickup Guitars
June 3, 2008 – 8:33 am
5-way Lever-action Switch
Wiring for Stratocaster & three-pickup guitars
Typical Strat three-pickup wiring. The switch is usually installed with the spring facing away from the pots, but can face either way—there’s no difference, electronically.
Reduce unwanted electrical noise by using shielded coaxial cable for your longer [...]
Want to Get a Perfect Set-Up? Find a Luthier..
June 2, 2008 – 10:15 am
Frustrated?
No disrespect to the people who know what a ‘luthier’ is. However, there may be some folks who don’t recognize the term. No brain surgery here, a luthier is a ‘guitar maker’. A person who repairs, upgrades and builds musical instruments. Obviously we are talking about guitar makers here.
All luthiers are not the same. [...]
Is A Custom Carved Bone Nut Better?
February 26, 2008 – 3:41 pm
At some point in ones road to becoming a great guitar player you may need or want to have your guitar set-up and even upgraded to further personalize and improve tone.
What is a basic set-up? A basic setup, lets assume the guitar has no serious problems first. If you need frets or have a scratch [...]
A Cool Upgrade for any Electric Guitar With Passive Pickups
February 22, 2008 – 11:10 am
As I get ready to buy and install the Active Guitar Tone Controls or TBX Boost as in The Eric Clapton Strat, I noticed a bit of info that would be considered important. Make sure your guitar has passive pickups.
Definition: Active and Passive Pickups:
Pickups can be either active or passive. Pickups, apart from optical [...]
Avoiding Hum for a Guitar Players Rig
February 20, 2008 – 12:07 pm
Danger-Electricity!
Any time you hook up a multitude of complex electrical components with lots of cables, the rig or setup is probably going to have some annoying electrical noise. It’s a problem electric guitar players have faced forever with varied success.
One of the prime reasons for hum is the ground loop, caused when the sound [...]
Active Guitar Tone Controls or TBX Boost as in The Eric Clapton Strat.
February 4, 2008 – 12:33 pm
Active tone controls create a pretty hot signal and most guitarists love the full, flowing range of sound provided by active electronics such as the Eric Clapton Stratocaster boasts. What is the difference you ask? To explain it in terms you understand without over simplifying the answer consider this:
In a passive circuit the crude [...]
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