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Electric Guitar Pick ups

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Today I want to tell the talk about the basics of guitar pick ups. There are basically 2 types are (1) single coil and (2) Humbucker.

The pick up is essentially made up of magnets, that are placed perpendicular to the strings, that have wires wrapped around them. The signals, the guitar strings vibrations, then travel through them, out through the guitar and then into a amplifier.

I could go into more detail but, I realize that all of my readers are not guitar players so I’ll save them the boredom of it all … maybe not next time though!

Pickups are essentially magnets. Your strings are made of magnetic metals; usually electric guitar strings have a steel core wrapped in nickel, or are just plain steel. Your pickup creates a magnetic field that when the strings move, disturb. This disturbance is transferred to an electrical signal by your pickup, effected by all your guitar’s electronics and eventually reaches your amp and is turned into vibrations which you hear as your guitar.http://www.ultimate-guitar.com

I have a number of classic guitars in my collection and each one has a unique sound quality to them. My 1959 Fender Duo Sonic has 2 lovely single coil pick ups. Using both pick ups together, the pick up selector in the middle position, gives it a Humbucker effect to it, somebody was certainly thinking way back then.

I also have another Fender guitar. It’s my 1980 Fender Lead II. They produced this baby between 1979-1982.This one has a single coil pick up but, when you listen very closely to this one beside my 1959 Fender, there are subtle differences for sure! The pick up in this is called a X-1.

The last one that i have in my possession is my pride and joy, the 1989 Gibson RD-Artist! This one has Humbucker pick ups. Also incorporated into this is some real neat active electronics. The pick ups in the RD-Artist was developed by none other then the creator of Moog keyboards!

So all those out there that have an electric, what type of pick ups do you have in them?

Keep on Jammin’





Backup singers for those who have none

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The DigiTech company has created this tool that can help you with your singing. No, it cannot improve the timber of your voice, it can help you construct a nice layer to it though with their Vocalist Live 4 foot pedal.

In my early days of playing guitar, we didn’t have all the racks of electronics that they have for today’s guitar player. There was a couple of staple pedals out there with limited capacities. KISS (keep it simple stupid) was the rule of the day. In today’s musical environment, it’s a whole new ball game.

I tend to do mostly solo playing when I perform live, due to the fact that I’m the only one on stage at the time. My voice is not the greatest but, it works for the most part. When playing most songs, I attempt to produce that full sound that I hold so dearly to my heart. During some songs that require chording in certain parts, I let them come out in my mind … unfortunately this doesn’t come out over the PA.

In one of my many monthly music magazines I subscribe to, I came across this device from DigiTech that helps you form harmonies on either you home computer or live. This product is called Vocalist Live 4.

Basically the foot pedal works on what your instrument is playing. It follows the chords you are playing and it then formulates that appropriate harmonies that you can use. You can tailor fit it to your own parameters, for you to ultimately control.

You can either create the pre-set patterns on your computer with a Midi sequencer (I would highly recommend this one) or you could do it through faceplate in real time (I’m not that coordinated, how about you?).

Of coarse there are the endless add on’s to any modern day devices that can drive you out of your mind! If you are a simple performer like myself but, your not into all the technical rings that you have to jump through while playing live, it’s still nice to know that their if you need them.

Here is an example of how it works and it seems really neat and helpful for this guy on stage. It seems simple enough and I can’t hear the traditional hissing sound that is normally associated with products like this.

Has anyone out there used this product OR something similar to it now or in the past? I’d love to find out more about this and other devices like it. To everyone else reading this post, if you know someone who is a musician that might find this item useful and your looking for a gift for them then, do your homework and see if it’s in your price range. It would be a GREAT donation to a musical friend that will have a big effect on their performances today and in the future for sure!

FYI: if you have more dollars then sense/cents, then I’m looking for a really good friend too!

Keep on Jammin’

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