Cheap Electronics, or Bad Circuit Design? (5 Surprising Truths About Guitar Wiring)
Have you ever heard someone say “the electronics are the first spot manufacturers go to when cutting costs” ???
Most people think that has to do with sound, and it makes sense why they would. As gear nerds we’ve been conditioned to analyze our instruments down to the component level. Usually without fully understanding the system those components exist in.
The harsh truth is this:
When looking at passive guitar electronics, component quality has little to do with sound and EVERYTHING to do with durability.
What we hear as players is almost entirely based on circuit design choices the manufacturer made rather than the “quality” of the component.
What do we mean by that?
Let’s go over five common complaints that often get blamed on cheap parts.
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1. Overall Sound:
Sound will always be subjective, and you may indeed just not like the pickups in your instrument. But the value of your pots is routinely an overlooked thing.
A lot of times guitar manufacturers (especially on the lower end of the price spectrum) will pair the “wrong” pot values with said pickups.
The common pot value rule of thumb, or even a manufacturer's recommendation is realistically just a loose guideline.
Seriously. People should not treat it like it's a law.
Single coils don’t have to have 250k, and humbuckers don’t have to use 500k. (In fact we often recommend that our single-coil Burnsides be paired with 500k potentiometers.)
Those ceramic overwound humbuckers can sound amazing paired with 1meg pots, and a nice twangy tele set can be even better with 500k.
Pot value has a massive influence on how your pickups sound, and deserves the same consideration you put into choosing your pickups.
2. The “Feel” using the controls
This one is usually followed by a complaint about “dime sized” pots. But what this really has to do with is the pot manufactures taper.
There's no standardization when it comes to what style to use, so you find endless variations on whether OEMs used an audio or linear pot on the volume or tone.
3. Filter circuit:
Most people don’t realize this, but the way your guitar is wired creates a specific type of filter circuit. Utilizing the exact same components and changing how the volume and tone are wired, changes the EQ curve of the instrument’s output signal.
It is even more exaggerated at lower volumes.
This tends to be a truly subjective thing, and is the reason we include the option to easily change it via a simple internal switch on our solderless kits.
4. Tone control:
This one is often blamed on the “cheap” cap itself, but this solely has to do with the value used.
You can control how deep or mild it goes, by raising or lowering the value. Like pot value, this should be tuned to your taste and pickups.
People often try to fix their perceived issue by buying a high end or PIO cap while keeping the stock value.
If the value of the capacitor doesn’t change, neither will the response/sound.
5. Pickup Architecture:
It's surprisingly common for people to love the look of an instrument's shape but hate the way it sounds. We see this all the time, in budget offset shapes.
The owner will say something like "If this instrument had the real (high-end model) pickups it would sound way better." But even after changing them to the real ones, they still don't like the sound.
Folks will literally attempt to force themselves to like an instrument that just isn’t for them or their style of playing.
If you are someone that just can’t find say a humbucker that to you sounds good. Try a single coil, or vice versa. Musicians are not cookie cutter so why should you settle for stock configurations.
Do you agree with these? or do you think with missed the point. Let us know below.
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4 comments
NAILED IT,
This is the Best and most informative detailed explanation of the top 5 complaints abut sound and bad circuit design I’ve ever read!
Thank you GunStreet for this illuminating bit of information
and the great wiring kits you manufacture.
James D
Seriously though, if you can’t find a sound you like, you really just need to keep playing your guitar. Lol – mad props on your work, I want a kit for my 7 string!
Mark
Good points all! Glad to hear the law of load resistor values broken!
And the cap type…. Typical cap materials do have different properties but way outside the range of a guitar…!
Al
Loved this, one thing worth mentioning though is the impact speaker choice has on tone, as it’s probably far more noticeable than anything else. Still, great post.
Glenn Howells
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