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How To Fix 99% of All Acoustic Guitar Problems

Topics: mixing guitars, Mixing Skills, problem solving By: Chris Huff August 6, 2010

It’s my responsibility to know how to fix acoustic guitar issues when they happen.  I’m not talking about a busted a string; I’m talking about audio issues.  Over the years, I’ve dealt with everything from loose internal pickups, to dead batteries in the onboard EQ, to a simple issue that made me want to strangle the guitarist…and I’ll get to that soon enough.  This article tackles the five common acoustic guitar problems and how they can be tackled.

1.  No Signal from The Guitar

The best way to tackle this problem is to trace the signal.  The more cables between you and the guitarist (effects boxes, direct boxes, etc.) the more change of a bad cable or connection.  First, ask the guitarist to re-seat all their cables.  I find 25% of the time they forgot to plug their guitar in.

When dealing with an acoustic guitar, you need to know if it has an onboard EQ.  These bring two key components into play – the battery and the volume knob.  After checking the cabling, have the guitarist turn up the volume knob on their EQ and try again.  [NOTE: effects pedals can have mutes and volume controls so check these also.]  If there is no signal, ask them if the power light is on.  Some models have these and some do not.  At this point, swap in new batteries.

For the sake of completeness, make sure they are in the right channel and the gain / volume are set properly.  Try in another channel if everything seems to be in order – I had a channel go bad once and this was the step I had to take to find THAT out.

2.  Flakey Signal from The Guitar

This screams of hardware failure.  Just like dealing with a “no signal” issue, re-seat all the cables.  Next, swap in new cables one-at-a-time.  A bad cable will be easy to pull out of rotation at this point.  I had a case where this still didn’t solve the problem.  It wasn’t until I tried to replace the battery in the guitar’s onboard EQ unit did I discover there was a short in the wiring from the pickup to the EQ unit.

If you can’t find the source of the problem, or like in my case where it was a guitar issue, the easiest solution outside of finding an extra guitar, is placing the guitarist on a stool and hooking up a condenser microphone in front of their guitar.  Place the condenser in the region of the 12th fret.  I have found at 8 inches of clearance from the fret board gives the guitarist some wiggle room without causing problems.

3. No Onboard Pickup

Small church, new guitarist, old guitar, whatever the reason, sometimes you can find yourself in a situation where the guitar is devoid of any electronics.  There are two options on this one.  First, just like above, set the guitarist on the stool and hook up a condenser instrument mic.  I’ve done it with dynamic mic’s but prefer the sound/properties of the condenser.  Second, use a backup sound hole pickup.  These types of pickups fit into the sound hole and are easily inserted and removed.  These run the gamut as far as price but you can pick up a good one in the $100-$200 range.

4. Bad Source Sound

Guitars with onboard EQ’s are a blessing.  Guitarists with “good ears” can set these for the best sound in the room.  However, if you are finding a tough time setting the EQ on the mixer, try these steps;

  • If you are a guitar player yourself, borrow their guitar and get a long cable so you are in line with the house loudspeakers.  Set the onboard EQ on the guitar.  Then, tape over it with black electrical tape.  This way, it doesn’t get bumped.
  • Ask them to set the EQ faders to 0.  They might have them all pushed up all the way or down all the way.

5. Crappy Sound

Have you ever heard a guitar and thought “that doesn’t sound right but I’m not sure why?”  Have you ever watched all guitarist tune to the same source but one guitar just doesn’t sound right?  Welcome to the world of old strings.  Steel string guitars are made of metal.  Guitar strings are under a lot of tension.  Metal experiences fatigue with age and use.  The sound of a guitar can change over time as the strings age.  The problem comes in knowing when to change strings.  It’s not like there is an oil change sticker you can check!

In the case of bad strings, I’ve found it’s typically noticed by another guitarist because they aren’t used to hearing THAT guitar all the time so they innately compare it’s sound to what they think it should sound like.  Thus the phrase “dude, you need new strings.”

When old strings are a problem on Sunday morning, you’ve got a few limited options.

  • Beg them to change strings immediately.  Problem here is new strings can come out of tune more easily and have an abnormally bright sound.
  • Break the glass and grab the EMERGENCY SPARE GUITAR.  Don’t have one?  Me either.
  • Kindly instruct them that their old strings are negatively affecting the quality of sound and ask them to replace them before they place at the next service.

C is the best choice and C is the choice that caused me to want to strangle a guitarist.  I told him about the old strings on three separate occasions!  The other guitarist in the band finally made a point of kindly confronting him about his old strings.

A “We” Bit of a Conclusion

We are charged with producing a great sound for the congregation to be in a worshipping environment.  The work dynamics of our environment don’t permit us the ability to say “change your strings or else” or “learn how to set your EQ.”  Everyone on the team (musicians/singers/techs) bring a specific level of knowledge.  Our goals in any problem-solving situation should be two-fold; fix the problem and educate others about the problem and solution.  When we do this, we increase the combined knowledge of the team.  That leads to further successes.

[UPDATE: Check out this HUGE new article on mixing acoustic guitars!]

Filed Under: Church Audio 101, Mixing Tagged With: mixing guitars, Mixing Skills, problem solving

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Comments

  1. Dave says

    August 8, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    I have a heavy mixer and the system I run it through is a Maui 5, I have a slight buzzing through the system, but whe I touch the metal part of the mixer it stops. Can you help.

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      September 2, 2020 at 4:14 pm

      that’s a serious grounding problem. call an electrician.

      Reply
  2. Don Lutjen says

    July 4, 2019 at 12:07 pm

    Changed the battery in my acoustic 3 days later I get a loud buzz from my amp particularly noticible when I have all EQ setting on fully. When I touch the metal jack where it enters the guitar the buzz disappears. When I go to my Fender strat there is minimal buzz almost nonexistent similar to my acoustic before I installed the new battery. When I initially put the new battery in place there was no discernible buzz, 3 days later there is??? Help!!

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      July 6, 2019 at 3:22 pm

      Look for loose ground wire inside.

      Reply
  3. Len s Evans says

    May 22, 2019 at 9:05 pm

    Hi
    The red light on maton Dreadnaught wont light up any suggestions. I have tried several new batteries no luck. I has been intermittent from the start?
    Cheers
    Len Evans

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      May 25, 2019 at 10:29 am

      Take it in for repair. SOunds like a wiring problem.

      Reply
  4. Cat Peterson says

    March 30, 2019 at 5:49 pm

    Aloha from Honolulu,

    I’ve got an “old” Taylor 12-string with an internal Fishman pickup.

    No onboard volume/frequency controls.

    Consistently when playing my gigs through the pub’s not-bad PA system, the 12-string is “too hot.” If my Taylor 6-string (with onboard controls) is at, say, 50% on the board, the 12-string is at about 5%. Both guitars have feedback dampers in their sound holes.

    Working with a guy who knows the board, the 12-string sounds OK, but I’ve got to be careful about volume and feedback. Zero problems with my 6-string. And the electric-guitar musician who plays after me sounds great.

    Diagnostic data point: at Island Guitars, one of the guys played the 12-string through an acoustic amp and not only did it sound great, but he couldn’t get it to feed back, even without the feedback damper in the sound hole. (I’m carrying enough stuff now and don’t want to add an acoustic amp… which I’d have to mic… etc.)

    Curious if you had any suggestions re. “cooling” the 12-string, apart from massively reducing gain, volume, etc. on the board. Ideally, the settings for the 6- and 12-strings would be comparable so setting up is a little less involved.

    One suggested solution: get a quality sound-hole pickup. As the current pickup does have a good tone and an external pickup seems extra live-performance set-up, I’d rather find a simpler solution!

    Hoping you have an idea or two. If not, c’est la vie! Even Taylor didn’t seem to have any notions.

    Warmest aloha,

    Cat

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      April 27, 2019 at 11:29 am

      Hard to say, i’d have to be there to work with it and take some guesses. Look at your setup and your location to any monitors.

      Reply
  5. Becca Gerig says

    January 31, 2019 at 1:12 pm

    I have a Takamine and the electronics are not working. I can’t get anything to come up on the screen and it doesn’t work if I plug it into an amp. Any ideas what is wrong? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      January 31, 2019 at 4:13 pm

      If you try a battery and it still doens’t work, take it into a shop because there’s an internal problem.

      Reply
  6. Martyn Routs says

    January 31, 2019 at 10:56 am

    Hi Chris
    I use a low end Crafter 6 series guitar live XLR lead into the bands PA. Recently had a couple of scary sound check moments when after initial connection absolutely no sound but upon unplugging from guitar XLR connection and then plugging back in hey presto all ok and no further problems through 2hours of performance. Have tried a couple of pre tested leads so I can rule them out as being the problem so thinking maybe the guitar preamp is the fault. At home when playing though a Boss multi effects unit into my Bose system I use the guitars 1/4″ jack connection with no problem but as a test today I’ve gone from guitar XLR out into the effects unit and although its working there is a noticeable reduction in volume. Any ideas what could be going on here? Thanks

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      January 31, 2019 at 11:02 am

      Tough one. I’d start with replacing any on-board battery and also clean the battery contacts. From there, you might have a loose wire within the pre-amp. I’ve seen that before. I’m a little confused about your setup. What plug in on the guitar? 1/4? Where does the XLR come in? I’m just trying to picture the full signal flow from guitar into the system.

      Reply
  7. Bo says

    December 19, 2018 at 10:28 am

    Hello Chris,
    great helping guide. May I can ask you about my personal problem?
    I got a Yamaha APX500. The Battery drains after 2-3 Weeks, even though i do not play the APX that much. (~3h/week) I do not use the build in tuner. Cable is always unplugged, when guitar is not in use. I helped myself by removing the battery after every use. But this is not the way it should be.
    I would be very happy to get some hints.

    Regards, Bo (Germany)

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      January 12, 2019 at 9:13 pm

      Does that have a volume known that also works as an on/off sknob so when you turn it up from zero you are actually turning it on and then up?

      Reply
  8. Claude Lapointe says

    November 25, 2018 at 11:22 am

    Hello,
    During my shows, the volume on my acoustic electric will just go really low and maybe 8 songs later, the volume will be loud again. What can it be? It’s really annoying when it happens in the middle of a song.
    Please help!
    Thanks,
    Claude

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      November 27, 2018 at 11:01 am

      That’s very strange. Try plugging into a different channel. Also made sure the guitarist isn’t bumping a control on their guitar.

      Reply
      • Roy Morris says

        April 10, 2019 at 7:29 am

        I have a J45 and my pickup doesn’t work anymore, is there a battery inside? I have to take off the strings to get in. There’s a little black box just inside towards the neck, is that where a battery could be. ( I didn’t think there was a battery

        Reply
        • Chris Huff says

          April 27, 2019 at 11:27 am

          yes

          Reply
  9. Breece says

    November 6, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    I have a problem with my guitar. I have an onboard EQ, and it will only transmit sound if I push in on the volume knob. When I let go, all of the sound cuts out. Do you have an easy fix for this? Thanks in advance

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      November 13, 2018 at 10:56 am

      No easy fix. Sounds like an internal wiring problem

      Reply
    • Franklin Rebello says

      January 2, 2019 at 8:24 am

      You can try spraying a cleaning solution on the EQ Panel board which has the volume switch. Sometimes Oxidation causes a similar problem as yours. I too had a similar problem like yours. I then opened the panel and sprayed a Cleaning solution on the board and internally and it worked perfectly fine.
      regards

      Reply
  10. timothy says

    October 11, 2018 at 9:04 am

    i do not have a nut on my acoustic guitar . would that be the reason why the first 7 frets do not play proper sounds instead very screechy sounds

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      October 13, 2018 at 11:06 am

      yes, you need that to lift the strings up to where they need to be.

      Reply
  11. Robert A Collazo says

    October 4, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    Hi! When i plug in my line into my acoustic’s guitar jack the light turns on for a brief second then turns of, my 9v battery is new. What could it be?

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      October 5, 2018 at 4:44 pm

      Loose wire? Try another instrument and cable and see what happens.

      Reply
  12. Mark says

    September 7, 2018 at 1:11 am

    I have a Guild F4CE and the low E, A, and D string are not making any sound through the amp, but the G,B and high E does! It has a Guild Fishman transducers, my mother and I went in halves on this guitar for my 40th b-day, 19 years ago. I’ll pass this down to my son one day. It plays and sounds really good. I really want this fixed…..if I have to change out the electronics, how hard will that be

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      September 7, 2018 at 11:43 am

      Hard to say. You could probably do it yourself if you can find youtube videos to help you along.

      Reply
  13. Tommy Høgh Vestergaard says

    July 19, 2018 at 4:53 am

    Hi Chris
    Thank you for your advises, i had a problem with an acoustic fender or so i thought, i changed the cable from the guitar to the amp, turned the volume knob on the built-in EQ up and it works.
    My wife and I play in a band in the local church, but my guitar issues made me play electric guitar, and it gave something new and better to our sound so I think I will keep that up. Thanks anyway.
    Tommy from Denmark.

    Reply
  14. Keith says

    June 26, 2018 at 4:33 am

    I have a crafter electro acoustic.

    I use 2 different mixer set ups.

    For Normal acoustic gigs I use a europower powered mixer and passive speakers, I plug the guitar direct in and manage to get a decent sound.

    When I play with my full band we use a mackie passive mixer, with dB powered speakers, I plug my crafter direct in but the sound has a muddiness or when strumming that I can not eq out.

    Any advice?

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      July 1, 2018 at 12:19 pm

      The guitar cable needs to run to a DI box to convert it to a balanced signal that you can then run to the mixer. If you run that cable with a DI more than 15 feet, you’ll have signal loss and pick up interference.

      Reply
  15. John Anderton says

    May 31, 2018 at 11:34 am

    problem with my pre amp on a cpx compass yamaha guitar. no sound when plugged in, but if I tap the battery casing hard it will work for a few seconds , should I just by a new battery casing to solve this problem
    I just wondered if anyone else has had this problem.

    Kind Regards

    John

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      June 4, 2018 at 4:21 pm

      loose wire somewhere. Take it to your local guitar store and let them take a peek.

      Reply
    • John Anderton says

      August 18, 2018 at 12:14 pm

      This must be a common problem I have the same guitar with the same problem

      Reply
    • Rodden Dsouza says

      October 11, 2019 at 2:27 am

      Hi John,

      I have a yamaha cpx 500. I have had it for a few years. Lately I am having this problem almost every 2-3 days. Suddenly I get a low battery indicator turn on and it mostly shows no battery at all.

      I have to keep on cleaning the copper contacts of the battery compartment with sandpaper. I also have to sandpaper the copper contact in the guitar where the battery compartment fits into. Reaching this is difficult so I fix a piece of sandpaper to the back of pen using double sided tape to get this done. Cause its deep inside the guitar and cannot be reached with the fingers. Am getting frustrated doing this almost every few days.

      Reply
  16. Ron says

    April 21, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    I have a Martin DM which I had electrified using an active piezo system. I worked great for all the years using it to perform live but I notice now that the small E string doesn’t resonate like the other strings. In fact, when sitting down with other people and taking over on a riff, I can hardly hear the first string at all. What could have happened? I had the guitar at a shop where the mechanic tried changing out the saddle with other used saddles he had laying around but the problem is still there. Any suggestions or thoughts?

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      May 10, 2018 at 10:46 am

      Strange, I’ve seen that with a loose connection or an internal mic that worked loose. I’d trace the wiring.

      Reply
  17. Liz says

    February 21, 2018 at 11:46 am

    I have a constant buzz when the electro acoustic guitar is plugged in. Tested different amps and different leads and battery is fine. Are you able to suggest anything? Thanks.

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      February 22, 2018 at 9:50 am

      I’ve seen this when a ground wire within the guitar worked loose. Have it checked out.

      Reply
      • Liz says

        February 22, 2018 at 12:27 pm

        Thanks I’ll check that out!

        Reply
  18. George says

    February 19, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    Hello!
    I’ve just installed a brand-new Fishman Sonitone Gt-2 in my acoustic guitar, and it is not working :(
    I tested the cables, the amplifier, i have new batteries. If I touch the piezo-part (or any other part of the amplifier) it makes noise, but if i put on the strings, it “stays” quiet.
    Could you help me?

    Reply
    • George says

      February 19, 2018 at 12:49 pm

      I didn’t mention that the Sonitone Gt-2 is an acoustic onboard-preamplifier.

      Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      February 20, 2018 at 8:18 pm

      That’s a tough one to diagnose without looking at the guitar. I’m wondering if there is a sensitivity level.

      Reply
  19. Matt says

    February 1, 2018 at 7:48 am

    You actually have a 4th option on Sunday morning. Sometimes you can squeeze a little more life out of old strings by cleaning them. Just get a rag or paper towel, spray some glass cleaner on it and wipe all the old crud off the strings. I’ve done it many times and I’m always amazed at how much stuff comes off of them. It won’t restore your sound for any extended length of time. But you can usually get another gig out of them. A second cleaning won’t yield the same results.

    Reply
  20. Nigel says

    January 19, 2018 at 7:30 am

    3 minute switch off on Takamine EG440sc tuner not working so 9V battery runs out prematurely.
    I assume that pushing the tuner button is meant to turn it off with second push. This doesnt happen.
    Is this due to short, faulty tuner switch or what???

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      January 21, 2018 at 3:37 pm

      Could be a faulty switch. Search for other people with the same problem.

      Reply
  21. Jakob Lose says

    January 12, 2018 at 1:34 pm

    Hi there,
    Just bought a Yamaha a3m with the SRT pickup system.
    It sounds amazing but sometimes the volume drops for 0,5 s. as when you change the microphone setting or push any other the button.
    It happens randomly. Sometimes 5 times in a row, other times once every 5 minutes, some days never! But it’s very annoying and not good for live use :(
    Any idea of what it to be or how to solve it?

    Thanks a million!

    Reply
  22. Jesse says

    December 11, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    I have a new guitar, but the preamp doesn’t work. I figured out that it works when the strings are looser, but as soon as it exceeds a certain tension, the sound will cut from the amp. I can just tune one string higher and the sound will cut out, but when I tune it back down, the sound will come back. The on board tuner has the same problem. How can I fix this problem? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      December 12, 2017 at 11:58 am

      That sounds like a bad connection. When the tension changes, the angle of the neck changes. ANd it might be just enough to pull (or not put tension) on a wire connection. You’d need to take it in for repair.

      Reply
      • Jesse says

        December 12, 2017 at 9:28 pm

        Thanks for the reply. Is this typically an easy fix?

        Reply
  23. Hanna says

    December 8, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    I’ve replaced the batterys on my pickup so many times and the battery light still doesn’t come on,
    I don’t get anything on the amp.

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      December 9, 2017 at 9:38 am

      Might have a loose wire somewhere inside. I’ve seen that happen.

      Reply
  24. Bruce says

    August 12, 2017 at 1:51 am

    On my acoustic guitar the tiny volume wheel just inside the top of the sound hole came loose and is flopping around held by it’s wire. What is the best way to re-attach it?

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      August 15, 2017 at 9:18 am

      Hard to say. You could try double-stick tape or a small dab of silicone adhesive. But if there’s a glue residue on it, you’d need to clean that off first.

      Reply
    • EricW says

      October 10, 2017 at 11:39 am

      I use double-sided duct tape. I knocked mine loose when I put in a sound hole cover and didn’t pay attention to the fact that the volume wheel was sticking out past the sound hole edge (Gibson J-45). Poor Gibson design. Now it’s sitting further behind the sound hole edge.

      Reply
  25. Richard Blennerhassett says

    July 5, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    I have had 3 acoustic guitars with the same problem and no one seems to acknowledge that the problem exists. The G note on strings A,D.C &B do not resonate. The A and D strings are the worst. My current guitar is a G series Takamine and its tone is wonderful but when playing those G notes it lets me down. Will new tuners fix the problem?
    warm regards; Richard

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      July 6, 2017 at 9:40 am

      If every other note on that string is in tune then the G note will be in tune. How it sounds in that guitar is another matter. And that leads to questions for you to ask on a guitar forum. :)

      Reply
  26. Mark Eliot Jergesen says

    June 16, 2017 at 8:30 pm

    My acoustic equalizer light turns on for a few seconds and then dims out. Likewise, I get sound from my amp that fades at the same time. I just bought this Yamaha APX-4A used and had to resolder three wires to the output jack. I’ve tried new batteries, but the problem continues.What do you think is going on?

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      June 20, 2017 at 9:44 am

      Could be something within the electronics. Take it to a guitar shop.

      Reply
      • Mark says

        June 20, 2017 at 12:15 pm

        Obviously

        Reply
      • Terry says

        January 3, 2019 at 10:07 pm

        Had the same problem on an Ef 341 tak the wires at the battery pack were soldered but quit a few of the strans on the ground were fraide resoldered good as gold

        Reply
  27. robert says

    February 25, 2017 at 8:55 am

    hi I have a problem with my g string tuning, this is not on one guitar but several ie Wilkinson and gretsch and they were not cheap items. when I tune perfectly on pitch the c chord is correct but when I play a d chord it is completely out of tune, this appears to be an issue with mid priced guitars and no body seems to be able to help, can you??

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      February 27, 2017 at 9:11 am

      Maybe I’m misunderstanding the question because when you strum a D chord, you don’t hit the G because a D-major is D, F#, A.

      Reply
      • Jeremy says

        February 11, 2019 at 12:01 am

        A D major chord on the guitar does in fact utilize the G string on the second fret. This sounds like a nut issue to me.

        Reply
  28. Genesis says

    October 14, 2016 at 10:41 pm

    Hi I need help with my Acoustic guitar when I play it especially like the A or F# chord it does this howling noice and I hav to stop it all the time by palming the bridge. please tell me what can I do to stop that howling noisse

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      October 18, 2016 at 10:18 am

      Sounds like an internal pickup might have worked loose. Check with a guitar forum for more help.

      Reply
      • Nick says

        October 18, 2016 at 10:29 am

        I think the impression is that THIS is a guitar related forum, as this post is about acoustic guitars and how to fix 99% of problems.

        Genesis, if you can give more details perhaps someone could look into it –
        Guitar model, pickup model/brand, what kind of pickup, how you are amplifying it, the room you are in… the more details the merrier!

        Reply
  29. Rodrigo says

    October 1, 2016 at 6:12 am

    Hi!,

    I have an electroacoustic guitar with onboard EQ. From one day to another, it stopped working.

    I tried change batteries, change the jack cable… nothing… I know the problem is not the amp cause it works.

    The problem might be from the electronic part of the EQ. But the guitar is just 2 years old.

    Can you give me any advice of where the problem might come from?

    Thanks so much

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      October 4, 2016 at 10:58 am

      Do you mean the EQ adjustments don’t work but it still sends out a signal? Sounds like the electronics in the guitar.

      Reply
  30. Bazz says

    August 29, 2016 at 3:26 pm

    I have a takimine g series acoustic ,the problem is the e string (1st) doesn’t sound through the pa . Any advice

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      September 10, 2016 at 9:16 am

      Might be the internal pickup under the bridge has come loose.

      Reply
  31. terry dyck says

    May 23, 2016 at 12:37 pm

    i have a crafter ct 120 series accoustic hollow body it hasnt been played in a while and worked just fine last time i put away ,i went to use it and the electronics dont work, when i plug in guitar i get a spike on my board no volume no sound battery is new i press mute button indicater comes on that its muted, it has battery indicator light does not come on as it does when bat. is weak, ive pluged the micro jack into another guitar eq and pick up works, is there a way i can check the eq pre amp to see if it is good this pre amp i might add is a crafter modael lr-f plus with bass ,mid,treb,scoop, phase button mute button and dial style volume any thoughts

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      May 23, 2016 at 8:46 pm

      Take it to a guitar shop. Sometimes the internal stuff works loose, gets a short, etc.

      Reply
  32. Jim Melichar says

    February 8, 2016 at 3:12 pm

    i am in need of having a D’armand vintage pickup (acoustic in hole) rewound. can you do this for me if i send it to you? thank you for the reply, please.

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      February 8, 2016 at 3:17 pm

      That’s something for a guitar forum. Beyond the skills of anyone here.

      Reply
    • Nick says

      October 18, 2016 at 10:31 am

      Try TDPRI.com or musicelectronics.com. There are lots of winders there who could help.

      Reply
  33. JOSE LUIS ACEVES says

    February 1, 2016 at 8:32 pm

    i was looking for a solution for my guitar (electro acoustic) it has to much treble sound when amplified, even though I remove it from console and from pre amp. What could be the problem ?
    it is a yamaha nylon electro acoustic guitar, new strings (La Bella), has never given me this problem before, I’ve owned this guita for 10 yrs.
    If you could help me out I’d really appreciate it. Thanks

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      February 1, 2016 at 9:24 pm

      It could be an internal pickup has come loose and so you aren’t getting those low end frequencies.

      Reply
  34. ronald Ioia says

    December 28, 2015 at 3:54 pm

    My shallow ovation 12 string with the treble and mids on both the guitar and amp turned all the way down still are too twangy and too much treble.i have tried it on a vox valve,kusum acoustic and peavey modeling amp.how do I get rid of the highs and ad more lows.

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      December 29, 2015 at 10:02 am

      Part of that might be the fact that it’s an Ovation – known for it’s particular sound. Play it unplugged to hear how it should sound. Then if you plug it in and you get a lot of high-end then take it into a guitar shop.

      Reply
  35. li says

    September 19, 2015 at 11:58 pm

    I have a peavey sd-11pce, built in eq doesn’t power on. I’ve changed batteries, wiring is allbgood. What can I do?

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      September 20, 2015 at 9:35 pm

      short in the wiring or interal circuit out. take to get repaired or replaced.

      Reply
  36. Daniel says

    September 12, 2015 at 10:49 pm

    Hey,
    I have a strange problem. My acoustic electric will randomly just sort of turn off two or three times during 3-4 hour gigs while I am in the middle of the a song (obviously really embarrassing).
    The only way to turn it back on is to unplug the 1/4 inch jack from the guitar and plug it back in. I have removed the jack from the guitar and it looks solid all the way around. Connection is good while playing; It is as if the guitar thinks its no longer plugged in and just turns the pre-amp off to save power. This happens no matter what cord I switch out and use.

    Battery is new. changed it out anyway.. still happens… happens with different amps and PA systems….. ect….

    Reply
    • Philip says

      March 24, 2016 at 1:18 pm

      I had the same problem. It was due to one loose connection between the connectors. Once i removed the connectors and join the wires directly, problem solved.

      Reply
  37. Justin S. says

    August 18, 2015 at 1:06 am

    Hello,. I have the strangest issue with feedback. I am getting horrendous feedback from my passive pickups (2 Bill Lawrence A-345 and a Dean Markley Pro Mag). all pickups have been tested through a Fishman Loudbox and a Acoustic practice amp with the same feedback results.. I checked the outlet for grounding and it is grounded. It was a random issue but now it’s unavoidable. 2 of them have not been clipped for a female jack, i.e. no alterations.. I have not tested them off of my property yet.. I live near a military base, could this be the reason?? I cant for the life of me figure out why this is happening..

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      August 21, 2015 at 9:40 am

      That’s a tough one. The base location has nothing to do with it. Are the pickups too close together. I’d just take it to your location guitar store and let them fix it.

      Reply
  38. Justin Kline says

    August 4, 2015 at 2:46 am

    Hi,

    I have a Takamine acoustic with a on-board preamp. Plugging in a 1/4″ cable gets a very weak signal from the pickups. However, when I turn on the on-board tuner included with the preamp, I get a good signal for 2 minute before it automatically turns off and I am back to no signal. I have already replaced the preamp and battery and nothing has changed. I suspect it has to do with the wiring. Any ideas?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      August 4, 2015 at 5:15 pm

      Could be wiring or the preamp. If you turn it on and get a good signal, let it just sit untouched and see if it lasts 2 minutes and dies or longer. If it lasts longer, then it’s probably wiring and moving around jostles the wires. If it’s less, it’s something else.

      Reply
  39. robbiw says

    May 9, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    I have just recently bought a new elctro acoustic guitar but for somw reason when plugged in, the two bass strings wont register, its the pickup is busted.. help!

    Reply
    • Anonymous says

      June 20, 2015 at 4:14 am

      Check your ground to the pickup…if there is an on board EQ on your guitar, check your ground to that. I would bet what your hearing is the “leeching” of the high frequency which would be residual if the ground somewhere is not correct.

      Reply
  40. Gilbert says

    May 3, 2015 at 9:32 am

    Hi. Hope you are well.

    I have an electroacoustic. For some reason recently I can’t tune time it using a tuner or my effects pedal. It doesn’t pick anything up from the guitar. I have got a new cable and also made sure the battery in the first is new. The green light on the first turns on. I am having trouble just trying to get it to play through an amp.

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      May 3, 2015 at 10:10 am

      sounds like a loose wire inside the guitar, from the battery pack/amp to the jack or elsewhere inside.

      Reply
  41. ken says

    March 20, 2015 at 11:04 pm

    i have a davis classical guitar, in my case the e and a string of my guitar have a weak sound… how can i fix that????

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      March 21, 2015 at 7:37 am

      If it sounds good when you play it, then it sounds like an internal pickup under the bridge has worked loose.

      Reply
  42. ck says

    June 29, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    Hi, lately, I’ve issues with the guitar sound. There is no sound from the house speakers, aux monitors. We are using electric-acoustic guitar connecting to the JDI passive DI box and from there, an mic out to the wall socket.

    There is sound before the practice but when all devices (microphones, keyboards) came together, the guitar sound is no longer there. The guitar onboard pre-amp battery indicator is switched on which means the battery is still working fine. And also, a small device (VOX amplug) was used to check whether the guitar pre-amp is working ok, it was working perfectly.

    Can you advise me how should I go about troubleshooting the issue? Thank you.

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      June 30, 2014 at 11:07 am

      Start with simple solutions and then go from there. First, does the gain/trim need to be increased due to all of the other instruments. Plug headphones into the mixer and then hit the SOLO/PFL button on the guitar channel. You should be able to hear the guitar in the headphones. If you do, then it’s a gain/trim issue and just turn up the gain. If you don’t hear the guitar, unplug that input cable for that channel into a different channel that is known to work. See if you hear anything. If you do, it’s something wrong with the mixer channel.

      Reply
  43. aminsh says

    April 25, 2014 at 2:46 am

    i have an classical takamine guitar with a graph_ex preamp !!!
    in my case the first string of my guitar have a weak sound !!!do you know why ???? how can i fix it???

    Reply
    • Chris Huff says

      April 25, 2014 at 9:29 am

      Could be the strings need replaced as they are getting old. If you put on new strings and it still sounds weak, could be a pickup inside has become loose. Take it to a shop and get it fixed.

      Reply
  44. aine says

    April 10, 2014 at 6:24 am

    my guitar doesnt have a battery port..so it cant be picked up in the mnixer….can i install a new system witha a battery inside?

    Reply
    • Chris says

      April 10, 2014 at 9:18 am

      I don’t understand your question. Does your guitar have a place for plugging in an audio cable?

      Reply
  45. Franco Solomon says

    December 4, 2013 at 11:39 pm

    my acoustic guitar davis that I have was replace a new metal strings.
    when I tune in up into standard tune.
    the sound of “G” chords was perfect, but when I strum to “E” chords, the sounds not pretty smoot.
    What should I do

    Reply
    • Chris says

      December 5, 2013 at 8:18 am

      Might just be the sound of new strings.

      Reply
      • Franco Solomon says

        December 5, 2013 at 11:15 pm

        does the acoustic guitar affect the sound when you change it from nylon strings into metal strings?
        what of those strings have good quality of sound?
        is it nylon or metal strings?

        Reply
        • Chris says

          December 6, 2013 at 8:17 am

          that’s a huge difference. Check out a guitar forum for more help.

          Reply
        • Nick Burman says

          February 12, 2014 at 6:56 am

          Nylon strings and steel strings require different bridges and set ups. Generally speaking, a guitar built for one type won’t work with the other.
          If some chords are in tune and some aren’t, it is possible that the intonation on your guitar needs to be adjusted. Your local guitar shop or a luthier will be able to help.

          Reply
  46. Jacques says

    November 2, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    I had new strings fitted on my Takamini EG552C, action was also adjusted. Now the tuner only registers the bottom for strings, not E & A. Furthermore when amplified, the you only get sound on bottom four.

    How can i overcome this problem?

    Reply
    • Chris says

      November 2, 2012 at 1:38 pm

      Jacques, I’d guess the action adjustment wasn’t done properly and it’s either too far out or not connecting the bone to the top of the guitar. I’d take it back and have them re-adjust it at no charge.

      Reply
    • Anonymous says

      December 4, 2013 at 11:31 pm

      simply adjust the nut below the strings.

      Reply
  47. oB says

    January 28, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    hey, i have an acoustic crafter guitar wit a mute button, the problem is tht wen i connect it to a system i have to push the volume button down in order for sound to get through, do u know how to fix this or if it has to be fixed by a professional

    Reply

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