Advice on Aria STG strat pickups wanted please

[avoriaz]

Hi, I am new to the forum and fairly new to guitar playing so treat me gently please.

At the grand old age of 54 I have decided it is not too old to become a rock star, or at least learn to play for myself. I have bought a Yamaha 310 acoustic and an Aria STG strat style electric and small amp, all second hand but new condition on ebay. I have made quite good progress over the past few months on both and I have surprised myself and my wife at the nice sounds I can now make.

The purists on here may well sneer at my budget Aria but it is fine for a beginner like me except for one thing. The guitar itself is very nice with an easy action and a reasonable tone, at least to my inexpert ears. However the sound is not balanced properly across the strings. The 3rd and 4th middle strings (G and D) sound noticeably louder. I have tried adjusting the height and angle of the pickups with no success.

Is there a way I can adjust the individual pole pieces?

They are all currently at different heights, with the 3rd and 4th being raised quite considerable more above the pickup cover than the others on all 3 pickups. I%ume that this is the cause of the unbalanced sound. From close examination I can see no way of adjusting them.

If adjustment is not possible I would be prepared to replace them with better quality pickups. I have read widely on the net but all that has done is confuse and overwhelm me with the huge range of options available.

Any sensible advice, comments and suggestions on suitable pickups would be most welcome.%ume that I play rock and blues style music with a preference for a cleaner rather than too heavily distorted sound. I am quite competent at basic electronics and I have already removed the pickguard and had good look around the underside and seen how the wiring etc all works. If and when I fit replacement pickups I may also replace all the other pots and switches and QTB the cavity etc. I do realise that it is silly to spend too much upgrading a basic guitar so I don’t plan to go over the top. I would not want to spend more than about £50 (in English money) or so on pickups. That is about $75 in US money

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions. Anyone posting a reply will automatically get free tickets when I headline at Madison Square Gardens in 2008

Avoriaz

[avoriaz]

Sorry, I intended to post this in the pickup section. Please could an administrator or moderator move it there for me please. Thanks

[UnklMickey]

hi Avoriaz,

welcome to GuitarNuts2.


it's usually a very bad idea to attempt moving the pole-pieces in a Strat-style pickup.

it sounds like the pickups you have are made with a 'vintage' stagger. this works well with a 'vintage' neck (7.25 inch fretboard radius). your neck is probably closer to modern (12~16 inch radius) or perhaps even dead-flat. so your 3rd and 4th strings are much too close to the pole-pieces.

there are 2 things that can be done to minimize this problem.

1 -- set your pickups a little bit lower. this will make the difference in height less important.

2 -- set your 3rd and 4th string saddles a little bit high. if you set them too high, the difference in the action compared to the other strings, will make playability a huge issue. so don't try to cheat too much.


thanks for the ticket offer, but i'll be playing at Royal Albert Hall that night.

cheers,

unk

[avoriaz]

Thanks for the advice Unk. I lowered the pickups more than I had previously tried and that has helped quite a lot. The sound is much better balanced now. I think it has also improved the tone so you have probably saved me the expense and time in replacing the pickups. I owe you a beer or two.

I haven't tried increasing the height of the action as I am still a beginner and a low action helps me a lot. I can play barre chords easily on the electric whereas I still struggle a bit on my acoustic. I can start off with a barre chord OK but moving to a barre chord while playing still produces an occasional buzz or dull note. It is getting better the more I practice so hopefully in a few weeks I will crack it.

Sean

[UnklMickey]

hi Sean,

glad that helped!


the flatter the fretboard, the less comfortable it is to play barre chords. at least i find it to be that way.

what kind of radius do your fretboards have?


cheers,

unk

[avoriaz]

I don’t have a figure for the radius. I looked on the Aria and Yamaha web sites and neither give the fretboard radius. Both fretboards appear to have a fairly similar curvature though it is difficult to judge accurately by eye. I think the problem is my still relatively poor technique rather than the fretboard. Both guitars, especially the Yamaha acoustic, are made for beginners. They are both strung with light strings; 9-42 on the Aria and 12-53 on the Yamaha and both have low actions compared to other guitars I have tried. The Aria in particular can be set very low without fret buzz. I think it is amazing value for a budget guitar though maybe I was lucky and got an especially good one.

I just need to keep practising. I am self taught from books and downloaded lessons. Maybe I should get a few professional lessons soon. I am not particularly worried as I am making steady progress and very much enjoying it. I wish I had started 40 years ago.

Sean