Behind The Mixer

Learn Church Audio Artistry | Church Sound

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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!]

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Comments

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

    • 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. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

    • 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. 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

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. 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. 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

    • 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. 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

    • 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. 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

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. 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. 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

  21. 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. 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

  23. 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

  24. 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

    • 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

    • 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. 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

    • 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. 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

  27. 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

  28. 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

      • 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. 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

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

    Reply

  31. 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

  32. 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

  33. 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

  34. 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

    • 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

  36. 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

    • 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. 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

    • 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. 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

    • 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. 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

    • 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. 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

  41. 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

  42. 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

    • 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. 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

    • 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. 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

  45. 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

  46. 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

  47. 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