Can you get away with not shielding an electric guitar?
This is an electric guitar subject you're not supposed to talk about, but I'm talking about it.
Over many years it has been pounded in our brains that for any, and I mean any electric guitar, it must be shielded. No ifs, ands or buts about it...
...but do you have to?
Before answering that, there are guitar players that "build" (as in part together) guitars and never bother shielding the electronics. Is that due to not knowing how to do it? No, because shielding is easy. Is it due to cost? No, because copper shielding tape is cheap. Is it due to laziness? Also a no.
The main reason some don't shield is because it can alter the way the pickups sound.
Truth be told, if your solder connections are done properly, your cable management is in order, your output jack is a Switchcraft, the grounding is good, and you're using thicker modern wiring (as in formvar coated wires, a thermoplastic resin, and not cloth coated stuff)... you may in fact be able to get away with no shielding at all.
Does this mean you will end up with a guitar that has massive amounts of electronics buzzing?
Possibly not.
A good example of this are entry level Squier Bullet Strat guitars. Yes, they are shielded, but just barely. Many of them only have cheap shielding tape covering the volume pots and maybe the pickup selector with no conductive shielding paint in the electronics cavities whatsoever.
For the ones with a humbucker pickup on the bridge side, I seriously doubt you would hear much more electronics noise if you simply removed the shielding entirely since there's barely any to begin with. The single-coil pickups would most likely blast out electronics noise, but the humbucker would probably still sound okay without too much noise. Or at least okay for a dirt cheap humbucker pickup.
Is there truly a difference in tone when the electronics are not shielded?
Some guitar (and bass) players swear that the "purest" tone you can get is when there is no shielding and the pickup is wired directly to the output jack. Yes, I mean no tone control, no volume control. When you plug in, that guitar or bass is "always on 10" all the time. If you want volume control, you would have to use a volume pedal.
Guys who put together guitars and basses this way sincerely believe that anything interrupting the signal, which they believe includes shielding, takes away articulation from the pickup. And what that means is the belief that shielding somehow "disconnects" the pickup from outputting its true potential, so to speak.
Then there are other guys who put together a more standardized electronics setup with volume and tone controls, add the shielding, and the guitar to their ears doesn't sound right. The shielding is removed, and they hear a positive difference in tone, so they just leave the guitar that way.
Am I brave enough to no-shield it?
With a single-coil Strat, no.
However, I have entertained the idea of parting together a two-humbucker guitar.
I play mostly clean tones these days, and it would be interesting to see if not shielding the instrument at all would result in something I'd enjoy playing.
Would I do the wired-direct-to-output-jack thing? No. I like having volume and tone controls. But I would wire mine in a minimalist way. Two pickups, one pickup switch, one volume, one tone.
And if with no shielding it blasted out noise, well, that's not really a problem since I can just add shielding to quiet things down.
Remember that shielding is never mandatory. If parting a guitar together (particularly with humbucker pickups), try it without shielding first as it might work for you. If not and things get too noisy, add the shielding in.
Why spend Fender Jim Root money when you could go Squier?
A modern style Tele that brings the thunder.
I was inspired to write this one per a discussion I had on Twitter about this guitar.
The Squier Contemporary Telecaster RH looks like an odd duck in the Squier lineup - until you realize this is the next best thing to the Fender Jim Root Telecaster without having to spend Fender money to get it.
Firstly, RH does not mean Right-Handed, even though it is. RH means Rail Humbucker, which is what is loaded into the Squier on the bridge side, meaning it's technically an HH. However, if you've never experienced a pickup with rails in it instead of pole pieces, the immediately advantage is absolutely no drop in volume no matter how hard you play.
I'll explain.
When you pluck a string, it obviously vibrates. The harder you pluck, the wider the vibration gets. When the string vibrates widely enough from very hard plucking, the strings (particularly the wound ones) can get away from the pole pieces they hover over, causing a momentary volume loss. Pickups with rails don't have this issue. Every pluck, no matter how wide the vibration gets, never has a volume loss. The sound gets louder with harder play, just as you'd expect it to.
Second, there is a belly cut on the rear, meaning the body won't cut into you during play when seated or standing.
Third, there is a sculpted heel on the back for very easy higher fret access.
You also get jumbo frets, sealed tuners, graphite nut, and although you can barely see it from the photo, knurled flat-top metal knobs (those are the best Tele style knobs).
This Squier is a modernist Telecaster for sure and is made for hard rock and metal.
My style of guitar? Not at all, but I'm glad it's in the Squier lineup. At first I didn't really get why it exists, but then when I compared it to the Fender Jim Root model, then I understood. I'm not saying the RH is the Squier version of the Root Tele, because it's not. But for a rock/metal specific Tele, this Squier delivers in all the right ways and needs no upgrades at all.
Three colors for this guitar. Pearl White (seen above), Shoreline Gold and Gunmetal Metallic. I actually do like the gold one. You wouldn't think blacked out hardware would work with the gold, but it actually does.
Lekato Looper Review with audio import tutorial
Transparency notice: Lekato sent this looper pedal to me for free for review. Consider this a sponsored article.
Lekato reached out to me and asked if I wanted to review a product of theirs. I said yes, and I'm glad I did.
Full disclosure: Lekato sent me the pedal for free. While they did not pay me, they did send me a pedal at no charge, so you can consider this a sponsored review.
You can find the pedal here, and they also have an Amazon store where they have a whole bunch of other recording and guitar stuff.
This is going to be different than other looper pedal reviews in that it will also include an audio import tutorial. But before getting into that, let's talk about the looper pedal I chose.
For the price this pedal sells for, you do get your money's worth. The pedal worked out of the box and it's very easy to get along with. Loopers are supposed to be easy, and this one definitely is.
The case is metal and the pedal overall has good weight to it. This combined with the rubber feet on the bottom means it won't go sliding all over the place, which is nice.
The footswitch, knob and button are actually really nice. Usually it's the case where the footswitch is too stiff or too loose. The Lekato pedal got the footswitch just right on theirs. It can be operated by hand (for on-the-desk use) or by foot with no problem at all.
It is easy to read the pedal display from a standing position, which is a huge plus.
I do like that the pedal has undo and redo. Many loopers have undo. but not too many at this price point have redo. This one does.
The "sync" feature (which means "start recording when it hears audio") is a nice thing to have. I consider it mandatory on any looper, this pedal has it, and it works great.
The only thing I can think of that some may not care for is that the pedal I chose supports a maximum of 3 loops, however, there is a 9-loop version. Does it cost more than the 3 loop version? Yes, but the price still stays nice and low. If you need more than 3 loops, get the 9; it appears to operate the same as the 3 does.
This pedal is quiet (meaning not noisy), operation is easy, and again, you get your money's worth with this. Other loopers that sell for way more than do way less.
I can genuinely recommend the Lekato looper. It's better than other loopers that barely have any features at all, and for the features it does have, you won't be spending hours learning this thing. All it takes is a few minutes. Again, it's easy, and easy is good.
Importing audio
The video tutorial below shows the start-to-finish process of importing audio into the Lekato looper, but here is a basic rundown to make an audio file work with the pedal:
Download and install Audacity.
Bring an audio file into Audacity, be it MP3 or WAV.
Resample to 48000Hz by clicking Tracks > Resample, select 48000Hz, and click OK.
Mix stereo to mono (if necessary) by clicking Tracks > Mix > Mix Stereo Down to Mono,
Set the bit rate to 24-bit by clicking the audio track header > Format > 24-bit PCM. If you can't find this, the video below shows it.
Export to WAV by clicking File > Export > Export as WAV. The file name has to be named 1.wav, 2.wav or 3.wav for the Lekato pedal to read it properly.
Copy the WAV to the Lekato pedal.
Power on the pedal, select the loop and play.
Again, if you are unable to follow one or more steps above, watch the video below. I go through every step of the process.
Yes, guitar string metals really do matter
When you start experimenting with strings made of different alloys, weird noises might happen.
I can say with absolute certainty that when a guitar string manufacturer says a certain string is made of something different, it's not just lip service. Different metals do result in a different sound. Sometimes this is good, sometimes not.
An example of this is Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt. I use the very light 8-38 size, which is model 2725.
I was able to wrangle a fairly decent sound out of these, but it comes at a slight cost, and I'm not talking about price.
This is a direct quote from the Ernie Ball page on the Extra Slinky Cobalt strings:
Ernie Ball Cobalt Slinky Electric Guitar Strings provide an extended dynamic range, incredible harmonic response, increased low end, and crisp, clear highs. Cobalt provides a stronger magnetic relationship between pickups and strings than any other alloy previously available. Cobalt Slinky guitar strings are also soft and silky to the touch, making string bending a breeze.
Is all this true? Yes. However, a drawback is that the increased harmonic response can in fact be too good.
On my Squier Stratocaster, when I palm mute the A or D strings, really high harmonic "ping" noises can be heard. Problem with the pickups? No. Problem with the guitar? No. What's happening is that since the response of the strings is so prominent, it brings out unwanted harmonics for certain play styles.
Is this a problem with the string? No. The string is actually doing exactly what Ernie Ball said it would... a little too well.
This can also happen with stainless steel strings
The go-to example for this are D'Addario XL ProSteels. On that particular model, the wound strings use a stainless steel wrap instead of nickel plated. This string is not the same as the Ernie Ball Extra Slinky Cobalt, but like the Cobalt strings does change how things sound.
With ProSteels, yes, they are brighter. Are they too bright? That I don't know. I haven't tried them personally but might in the future.
What I do know is that whenever you use a string where the metal material is not the standard nickel-plated stuff, the sound does change. Sometimes the change is good, not-so good, or introduces a particular quirk.
Can changing to a string with a different metal "save" a pickup?
Short answer: No.
Long answer:
Using a string like the Cobalt or the ProSteels can and does result in a better magnetic attraction from string to pickup. However, even though this is true, a string can't magically revive a pickup magnet that's lifeless or close to dead.
If you have a pickup that sounds great but is otherwise low-output (some humbuckers with alnico II magnets are like that) and need something to give it a boost in harmonic range, that's a solid reason to use strings with different metals in them...
...but just be aware that sometimes changing to a string made with different metals may bring about weird/unwanted sounds. If it does, there's nothing wrong with your guitar nor the string.
How to stop a Stratocaster from making spring noises
Springs in Stratocaster guitars make noise, and this is how to stop that noise.
A Stratocaster guitar can, amazingly, have up to 11 springs in it. Two pickup springs per pickup and up to 5 tremolo springs in the rear.
I'll cover the tremolo spring noises first, then the pickup spring noises.
How to get rid of Stratocaster tremolo spring noise
The easiest way to muffle tremolo spring noises is to snake a piece of paper towel through it.
Take the tremolo spring out first.
Take an old guitar string (a wound string like a low-E, A or D works best) and bend it in half so it looks like this:
Push the bent point through the tremolo spring, then rip a piece of paper towel about twice the length of the tremolo spring and put it through the bent point of the string, like this:
Pull the string so the paper towel goes through the spring, like this:
Cut off any excess paper towel you have, then tuck the ends into the tremolo spring with a pen, so it looks like this:
Reinstall the tremolo spring in your guitar. Can you guess which one has the paper towel through it? No you can't, because when you do it right, it's completely invisible. It will look like this:
All tremolo spring noises are now 100% gone. The paper towel not only muffles the spring ringing, but also allows the springs to work completely normally.
Now let's move on to pickup springs.
How to get rid of Stratocaster pickup spring noise
You have two options for this one.
Option 1: Teflon tape
The very cheap and easy solution is to use Teflon tape. Yes, the same tape you use for shower heads, sink filters and so on.
Option 2: Picking mounting tubing
If you ever wanted to know why upscale Fender Stratocaster guitars don't have annoying pickup spring ringing noises, it's because many don't use pickup mounting springs at all. Instead, they use picking mounting tubing.
Are the tube pieces expensive? No. It will probably be the lowest priced official Fender part you ever buy. As inexpensive as they are, they do absolutely work. These tubes stop pickup spring noise 100% since they're not springs.
Does this work on Telecaster guitars too?
Indeed it does, specifically on the bridge-side pickup. If you've got annoying ringing coming from that rear Telecaster plate, chances are it's pickup springs making the noise. Tape the springs up with Teflon tape or use the tubes, your choice.
On an end note, DO NOT use masking tape or any type of tape with adhesive on it on the pickup mounting springs. Not only will it not stick, but also won't stop ringing noise and fall right off. Use Teflon tape or the tube pieces, as those are the two that absolutely will work to stop pickup spring noise.