Purchasing New Pickups For Your Guitar

The harmonious and vibrant sound of electric guitars was the most important creation for rock and roll. In the 1950′s, this type of music was being played around with and then in the 1960′s and 1970′s, that sound was added to until it transformed into rock and roll. The crispness of sound that comes from an electric guitar is simply beautiful. It is amazing to imagine where music would have ended up if it hadn’t been for the improvement upon the electric guitar; a terrible idea. A band without an electric guitar is like a baby without its mama.

Electric guitars come in various shapes, sizes, colors, and designs. Many believe that it does not make a difference what electric guitar you get because they all are the same thing. This is is not the case; brand, size, pickups, and neck all make a difference in the sound that spews from the guitar. So, certain brands of electric guitars remained popular for decades because of the quality. However, the most important part to the sound produced is the pickups.

Whether starting a brand new band, jamming solo, or adding more guitars to your band’s arsenal, you should learn the different types of pickups for electric guitars prior to your purchase. Many stores will let you you to try them and can be very helpful in giving information that will lead one in choosing the perfect electric guitar. Make sure to learn about the different types of pickups. Thekinds of pickups for electric guitars are:

* Single Coil Pickups – This type of pickup has a single wire and coil. Single coil pickups are the oldest of electric guitar arrangements. When jamming with a guitar that has a single coil pickup, the sound is affected by other frequencies in the area which result in an unwanted hum. These types of pickups are rarely seen today but still used by some very well known musicians because of the old style sound they give.

* Humbucker Pickups – This pickup has two coils wherein the unwanted hum of the single coil pickup is eliminated. Essentially, the coil holds two signals: one that the strings are producing and one that kills the humming noise. The actual piece that does this is called a Humbucker which was patented in 1954. The humbucker is basically the arrangement of two coils.

* Double Coil Pickups – These pickups, just like their name, include two coils. However, for an unknown reason, musicians do like the hum sound once in a while so the double coil pickup electric guitars are usually made with a switch that can take out the second coil.

There are things that go into the sound an electric guitar produces. Though, pickups are the single most important part of the electric guitar. Other things like: neck length, shape, material, frets, and tuners make a difference too but not like the pickups. For years, rock stars have been experimenting the perfect guitar to make the optimal sound. Rock and roll has changed in some ways but in other ways it has remained indifferent.