EMG Guitar Pickups
May 31, 2009 Gibson Guitars
EMG, Inc first started manufacturing guitar pickups back in 1976, known as EMG pickups. Over the years they have earned the reputation for quality, clear sounding pickups used by many professional artists. ESP guitars and Jackson guitars currently use EMG pickups as their standard pickup design. Their high output is preferred by hard rock and heavy metal guitarists because of the pickups higher gain output as opposed to most lower output pickups. Some of the bands and artists who currently endorse EMG pickups are Tom Morrello, Zakk Wylde, Stephen Carpenter, Metallica, and Slayer.
If you are interested in a signature model of EMG pickups then the most common available are the Kerry King Signautre Model, Kirk Hammett Set, Zakk Wylde Model, and the Afterburner. The signature models are set up to the specific artists exact configuration used for live and studio action. For example the Kerry King signature model comes with a PA2 (20db gain booster) along with a combination of EMG-81 and EMG-85 pickups.
The most common EMG pickups are the EMG 81 and 85. The EMG 81 is usually considered to be the lead pickup and is more commonly used in the bridge position, while the EMG 85 is mainly used as a rhythm pickup more used in the neck position.
Personally I have had great success with using EMG pickups in a Gibson Les Paul and 7 string ESP guitar especially if you are into heavier sounding music. The clarity, deeper tone, and added gain are what make the pickups more suitable. One negative thing about the EMG active pickups is the need for a 9-volt battery, but it's not much of a problem because the battery lasts for a long time. You just need to make sure you replace the battery at least every 6 months because of tone loss over time.
Installation for a set of EMG pickups is fairly easy depending on the type of guitar you have. With the right tools I was able to install a set of Zakk Wylde custom EMG81 and EMG85 pickups in a Gibson Les Paul in under an hour. Make sure you have a basic knowledge on how to solder. The basic soldering tools you will need are a low-heat soldering iron with tips, solder, flux, wet sponge and a desoldering tool. As long as you follow the right installation diagrams for your type of guitar you should not run into any problems.
kiss Ace frehley gibson guitar commercial
May 31, 2009 Gibson Guitars
Tags: Ace Frehley, Gibson Guitar, Kiss
Guitar Picks – Which Material and Thickness to Choose?
May 31, 2009 Gibson Guitars
Generally, guitar picks are isosceles triangle-shaped ones made up of different materials to play guitars. Guitar picks are made up of various materials including, plastic, nylon, rubber, tortoiseshell, bone, wood, felt, stone, polycarbonate, Lexan and metal. Although different manufacturers use different shapes, the most common shape is isosceles triangle with highly rounded two equal corners and less rounded third corner. You can also go for customized guitar picks of your taste.
Customized Guitar Picks
Most of the guitar picks have a sort of imprint. This may range from imprinting manufacturers’ logos to fully customized guitar picks for artists. In addition, guitar picks come with signatures and logos of popular bands and musicians. For example, Rick Nielson mass-distributed customized guitar picks of “Cheap Trick,” a renowned rock band. Customized guitar picks evolved over time, as the printing technology evolved. Even many guitar enthusiasts started collecting various types of custom guitar picks, as guitar picks have become more colorful with attractive designs and look. You can get custom picks from music concerts, since at times many guitarists throw their used guitar picks on the crowd. You may even notice some celebrity guitarists selling their guitar picks.
Guitar Picks Made of Bone
Bone guitar picks in general and many in particular favor dinosaur bone guitar picks. These guitar picks made of bone come in natural colors and some of them are even transparent. Dinosaur bone guitar picks are hand-made and fully fossilized or agatized. Bone guitar picks are ideal for rock guitarists. However, these picks are relatively costlier than picks made up of other materials.
Types of Picks and Music Styles
Guitarists use different types of picks of different thickness to generate their desired sound. The thickness of the guitar also depends on the kind of strings and playing styles. Electric guitar players who play rock and metal music prefer thicker picks to produce more controllable, delicate and great music. Guitar players who play farthest genres, such as, black metal, death metal or punk rock prefer soft guitar picks. Many Jazz guitar players prefer to use very thick guitar picks, since they like heavy gauge strings. However, there is no written rule on selecting a particular pick. It is purely based on personal choice. Steel guitar picks are believed to be producing much brighter sounds than that of plastic picks. However, steel picks may damage the finish of the acoustic guitars.
Finding the Thickness of the Guitar Picks
Several of the manufacturers, including, Alicem Jim, Dunlop and Teckpick, imprint the thickness of their picks thousands or in mm on the pick itself. Popular guitar manufacturers like Fender, Gibson, Ibanez and Peavey sometimes used cryptic way of denoting the thickness of the picks.
Therefore, if you have the passion for guitar picks and want a celebrity signature, it is better to opt for customized guitar picks. You can claim you are a collector too.
Tags: Guitar Enthusiasts, Music Styles, Nylon
It’s Gonna Be Me “Live at the Gibson Guitar Lounge”
May 30, 2009 Gibson Guitars
Tags: Christmas, Christmas Party, True North
The Electric Guitar: From Big Band To Rock And Roll
May 29, 2009 Fender Guitars
Compared to its acoustic cousin, the electric guitar has a very short history. In modern times, electric guitars are most often associated with genres such as rock and roll, blues rock, and jazz. However, this instrument has its origins in the big band music of the 1930s and 1940s. As the jazz orchestras of those days grew and their brass sections increased proportionally, the need for an amplified guitar became more and more pronounced. Adolph Rickenbacher, George Beauchamp, and Paul Barth, all of who eventually founded the Electro String Company, are usually credited with the production of the first electric guitars around 1931. Whoever did it first, the eventual result was a guitar that used pickups to convert the vibrations of its steel strings into an electrical current, which was made louder with an instrument amplifier and speaker.
As mentioned, an electric guitar's strings are always steel. This is, however, one of the few features shared by all the various types. Electric guitars come in a variety of models, including solid body, hollow body, wood, metal, one- six-, seven-, eight-, nine-, and twelve-string, and even double neck models.
The first of these, the solid body type, is the most common. They are generally made of some kind of lacquered wood, which can be anything from maple, to koa, to ebony. The average solid body electric guitar has six strings, and the vibrations of this type of guitar are produced by the strings alone. This is notable in comparison to the hollow body electric guitar. Although the two types work similarly, the body of the hollow body guitar vibrates along with the strings, which means that the pickups convert both string and body vibrations into an electrical signal. A semi-hollow body guitar is a combination of the solid and the hollow types, and it is generally held to strike a balance between the attributes of the two. Then there are the metal body electric guitars. The bodies of these models are chambered (due to weight considerations), but they are designed to be played as though made of solid wood. Finally, the electric guitar can sport anywhere from one to twelve strings, which makes for, as one might imagine, a plethora of sounds and potential musical applications.
While there are any number of electric guitar manufacturers in the world, some are certainly more famous than others. Fender and Gibson, for example, established their reputations in the 1950s as makers of high-quality mass-produced guitars, and they remain some of the most well-known products available. Other reputable companies include BC Rich, ESP, and Peavey.
The electric guitar has gained a certain notoriety over the years, thanks to its association with a number of high-profile artists, among them Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, and the irrepressible Keith Richards. Interestingly, there has been a movement over the past few decades towards the use of the electrical guitar in contemporary classical music. However, such compositions are by no means common, and the genres of rock and jazz remain the primary territory of the electric guitar.
Tags: Electric Guitars, Jazz Orchestras, Rock And Roll Blues
