Beginning in Guitar Electronics

[Jesuselpacifo]

Hi all. This is my first post on these forums.
I'm really into unique guitar rigs (I've been looking up David Gilmour's rig, because he has such an unusual tone) but when it comes to the electronics I'm in the dark.
Can anyone recommend any books or website that go through beginning electronics and the electronics related to electric guitars?

[Jazz P Bass]

This is one of the coolest sites that I have ever come across.
Graphics & explanations.
Link: Amplifier Classes

[J M Fahey]

Read Jack Darr's "Electric Guitar Amplifier"

[Mark Hammer]

Craig Anderton had a book in the early 1980's called "Guitar Gadgets" that was a really nice introduction, at kind of a systems level, to categories of effects and what their respective controls did. Dave Hunter has a more recently published book on effects, but I found it frustrating and often misleading, in comparison to Anderton's. By contrast, Hunter's book on pickups is much better, though I understand some here have a bone to pick with it for accuracy.

Aspen Pittman's book on tube guitar amps, pretty much any edition, is a very useful thing to have around, and Donald Brosnac's book on guitar wiring and electronics is still quite a good resource.

[Jesuselpacifo]

Thanks guys! I really need something that goes through basic electronics first, because I really don't understand any of this stuff yet.

Thanks!

[Steve Conner]

I'm sure David Gilmour doesn't understand basic electronics either, yet he does a great job of sounding like himself. What exactly is your goal?

[cminor9]

I'll assume you want to learn how electronics work, including guitar amps.

First and foremost: understand the dangers of working with tube circuits, and how to work safely with them. This is posted on like every website that even mentions vacuum tubes. Because they run on high voltages, nobody wants the legal liability of telling some greenhorn to reach in and touch a wire carrying 450v.

Read this forum. It won't make sense at first, it's like learning a new language. Just read and absorb what you can. The Theory and Design forum is a great place to start. Or anything in under the Build Your Amp forum. Also, check out Fun With Tubes. This was invaluable when I was starting.

Read old fender schematics (I have a site with them on it at Ampedia). They are generally well drawn, easy to find, and can teach you a lot. If you don't understand something, then fill in those knowledge gaps. Don't know what those squiggles are on a schematic? Look it up. Don't know why there is a resistor going into the grid of a 12ax7? Not sure why a tube works? Then you need to understand them at least on a basic, practical level. Seek the answer. Ask here. Google. Whatever you need to do, but make sure you get the understanding you need.

There is a site (pentode press or something) that breaks down the Fender Bassman (5F6-a) circuit. Read this. Repeatedly if necessary, until you get it. Google valve wizard, read his site. I already mentioned funwithtubes.net. On this site, you can generally (nobody's perfect, but generally speaking) take as gospel posts by guys like Enzo, Bruce Collins, merlinb, Old Tele Man, R.G. MWJB, Steve Conner, and a few others. Of course, they would never tell you that, but I've been hanging around long enough to tell you whose posts to weight highly

Read Jack Darr's book someone else recommended.

Learn some basic electrical math, such as Ohm's law, how to calculate power (wattage), how to calculate the total impedance of parallel resistors, and so on. And learn how to *apply* these to a circuit. For example, how would you use ohm's law to find out how much current is flowing into a resistor of known value?


This is what I wish someone would have told me about 5 years ago. I asked this question somewhere and someone, well meaning indeed, pointed me to RDH4. Waaaay too advanced. Download it, and save that for later.

FWIW, before I got into this, I didn't even understand what resistors and capacitors did. Oh, I thought I understood them, but I soon learned that I did not. I knew how to work safely with electricity, though, and have always been mechanically inclined. I had all kinds of electrical tools, because a decade ago I had worked as an electrician for a while. With that background, it took me about 6-8 months of learning and reading before I felt I was ready to tackle my first project (a 5E3 build). It went pretty well and many more projects have followed. I took the approach of learning before doing. I don't think I would recommend just jumping in if you have no electronics background. Take the time to build up some knowledge, you'll end up safer and less frustrated in the end.

[Jesuselpacifo]

Thanks. I've got a bunch of books lined up to buy on ebay on the weekend. I've also borrowed some books from a library on electronics. My goal is to basically create my own gear so I can have a tone no one else has (Brian May for example). I really want to make my own pickups too.

I some questions. I know that silver has the highest electrical conductivity of any element. What if you used silver for the wiring in a guitar rather than copper? What if you used it for the coils in the pickups? I know that Seymour Duncan has a pickup out using silver wire (incredibly expensive though...hehe). And what if you used it for the strings? Gypsy guitars have silver strings, why not electrics? Would it make any significant difference?