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Musicians and DJs  » How To Make A Cheap Guitar Sound Great

How To Make A Cheap Guitar Sound Great

Most beginning guitar players start with a rather inexpensive

instrument. They usually have a mass production clone of a

Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul. The most popular

clones are made overseas by Gibson and Fender themselves through

the Epiphone and Squier lines. These are built to the same specs

as the American made models. They are decent instruments in

their own right but they can be improved greatly with just a

pickup replacement. As long as the neck is straight and the

tuning pegs are fairly tight, this is often all you need to

upgrade to a pro sound.

Iv'e modified several Mexican made Stratocasters and I'll take

you through the process. The first thing you want to decide on

is what kind of sound you're looking for. Replacement pickups

are available with a lot of variety in sound output. I like to

use Seymour Duncan pickups because they have proven to be of

high quality and reliability. They also have a good selection

and have a CD of sound samples you can listen to. Most dealers

have the CD's and you can also listen to the samples online.

Choose your replacement pickups and you're ready to upgrade.

You'll need several things for the job. A good stable workbench

or table, with plenty of room to lay your tools out, makes

things much easier. Here's a list of what you need:

1.screwdriver set, both flat head and philips 2.soldering iron

3.solder 4.new set of strings 5.wire cutters/strippers

The first thing you need to do is remove your guitar strings. I

usually leave the low E-string on to keep a little tension on

the neck. Next remove the pickguard cover. Make sure you save

all the screws in a cup as they are small and get lost easily.

After you remove the screws you should be able to lift up on it

and slide it off under the E-string. You should now see your

three pickups and the wiring thats attached to them.

The new pickups come with a wiring diagram that is color coded

but take a good look at each pickup before you replace it in

case something isn't quite right with the color code. It's

important that you replace one pickup at a time so as not to mix

up the bridge, middle and neck pickups.

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Heat up your soldering iron. Remove the first pickup. I usually

start with the neck pickup. Cut and strip the wires according to

the instructions and solder the wires to the new ones. Repeat

the process for the other two. Not too bad, huh?

When you replace the cover/pickguard, be careful not to

overtighten the screws or they might get stripped. Now would be

a good time to clean the guitar before you put the new strings

on.

Replace and tune the strings and plug in. You'll be pleased with

the results. I have several of these upgraded strats for the

price of one expensive one and more versatilty with different

pickup sounds. You can do the same thing with an Epiphone Les

Paul to produce a sound that rivals the Gibson for about a third

of the price. Now you can spend more money on all the cool

effects gadgets. Have fun and keep practicing.

About the author:

Rich is the webmaster of Guitar Reviews and has a

blog about Guitars