Wired!- Pickup Basics
Pickups
Pickups are used on guitars to capture the vibrations of the strings and convert them to an electrical signal that can be amplified or recorded. I want to focus on the three most popular pickup types for guitars:
Magnetic
Magnetic pickups are by far the most popular type of pickup for electric guitars. They use permanent magnets (alnico) wrapped in a few thousand turns of fine insulated copper wire to convert the vibrations of the strings into an electrical signal. The two types of magnetic pickups are: Single coils and humbuckers. Single c
oil pickups use one coil (a few thousand turns)of wire around the magnets which gives them quite a clear, bright tone, but they also pick up what is called a mains hum from interference. The humbucker or double coil pickup is basically two single coils side by side, the coils are reverse to each other and the polarity of the magnets are opposite too. This design cancels out the hum and produces a warm fat, tone that will overdrive or distort more easily- the classic humbucker sound!
Piezo-electric
They have been starting to use these more recently, mainly in acoustic and semi acoustic guitars 
but also in some electrics and basses. They have a very different sound from the magnetic pickups and benefit in that they don’t get that hum or other interference or feedback. The piezo electric pickup is made from a material that reacts to vibration. They produce an electric signal proportional to the vibration produced by the guitar, and have to be run through a preamp to ensure a consistent full frequency response.
Multi-transducer
Multi-transducer or hexaphonic pickups have a separate output for each string, instead of all in one like most other pickups. They can be either magnetic or piezo- electric. These pickups aren’t very common yet compared to the other types.
Action Setup Basics- Step 2
Truss Rod Adjustment
Following on from the fret work post, make sure your guitar is strung up and tuned properly. Also make sure your truss rod is in the neutral position.
Use a striaght edge to evaluate the neck bow, make sure you are doing this in playing position so you get an accurate measurement. Your neck should be bowing forward now because there is no pressure on the truss rod, if its not make sure you have loosened of the truss rod and tuned the strings up properly.
Straighten the neck by tightening the truss rod if the neck is bowed forward, ultimately 
you want the neck to be just about straight with a very slight amount if forward bow. This small amount of forward bow will help reduce fret buzz. Just remember every guitar is different and you may find that one guitar requires more relief than another, or if you change string sizes you might have to adjust the truss rod again (bigger strings= more tension= tighten truss rod).
Action Setup Basics- Step 1
Action Setup Basics
Most guitarists think setting up their guitar is something beyond their own capabilities, and because of that they are never game to adjust their instruments. I'm going to explain the setup basics to you so you can confidently adjust your guitars to get them playing great.
Fret Work
This first part of setting up your guitar should never be overlooked, if you make sure the frets are all level and crowned properly first up it will make things allot easier later on! Doing a good job on the fretwork will enhance your guitars playability and tone and make it much easier down the track to get a nice low action without any fret buzz.
Leveling
Before you get into the fret work loosen your strings and pull them out of the tuners so you have a clear fretboard. This will allow you to get to the truss rod and also make it much easier to do the fret work.
Then mask up the fingerboard to protect it while your working. You don't want to leave the tape on for too long, maybe a few hrs at the most. Some types of masking tape are more sticky than others and if left on for a while they tend to leave some of the adhesive on the fingerboard, if this happens you can use metho on a white rag to gently rub it off.
Next, take of yourtruss rod cover if you have one. Usually the truss rod end that you want to adjust will either be found on the headstock (could be under a cover) or down the other end of the neck (you may have to take the neck off to adjust these, if acoustic look inside the sound hole towards the neck).
Now loosen the truss rod by turning it anti-clockwise until you feel no more pressure, then go back clockwise until you just feel pressure again and stop. Its usually quite handy to mark this position on the truss rod with a marker. The most common tool for adjusting truss rods is definitely the allen key, although there are a few different types. Now the neck should be straight and now we are ready to attack the frets.
What we need to achieve here is to get all of the frets exactly level. Before you start get a black marker and cover the tops of all of the frets, this will help you to tell when you have got the frets level. You will need a medium sized fine file for this, run it over the frets until you have taken a bit of the marker of each fret right the way across.
Crowning
Crowning the frets is basically just reshaping them, you may need to do this after leveling the frets or if there is any excessive wear from playing. This can be a bit monotonous, but it is very much worth doing properly to get the best action possible. Before you start cover each fret again in black marker. While you are crowning the frets you will be able to see how much you have taken off where you have filed the black marker off. Aim to have a thin black line of marker left along the top of each fret when you are finished.
Each fret is crowned separately by filing on a 45 degree angle across the fret on both sides. If done properly you will be left with a thin black line of marker still on the top of each fret, use this as a guide to make sure each fret is the same. You will want to protect your fingerboard while you are doing this by using a steel fingerboard guard or a stanley knife blade if you don't have one of these.
After you have crowned all the frets they will need to be sanded with fine wet and dry sandpaper to smooth them ready for polishing. I usually use about 360- 400 grit paper on the end of my finger and rub each fret separately across its length (the same way you filed it).
Polishing can be done either by hand or with a dremel, make sure you leave the fingerboard taped up until this step is over. If you are doing this by hand use some good quality metal polish on a rag to rub each fret until they are all nice and shiny! Once you have finished polishing the frets take the tape off your fingerboard and string the guitar back up again. Remember that your truss rod should still be at neutral and that your neck will probably have some forward bow in it. Now we are ready to adjust the truss rod.
Neck Design 1
Design
In this chapter I want to give you a detailed look into the most popular building techniques used by both luthiers and manufacturers, and the impact these designs will have on the sound, playability and structural integrity of the instruments so that you can make an educated decision on what methods you would like to use in building your own instruments.
Neck
The neck is one of the most complicated parts of an electric guitar because it impacts all three of these areas so strongly. I would suggest that you take your time building the neck and getting it right because if you do this right it makes everything else so much easier in the end.
Neck Joints and Profiles
Neck-Body
There are three main types of joints used here:
- Set Neck
The set in neck is made separately from the guitar and permanently glued into the
guitars body. It offers amazing sustain and a warm tone. When using this method you must make sure that the neck angle is perfect before gluing and also that you are using the right glue for the job. Generally once the guitar is finished the neck is never changed so do it right the first time! However if need be it is possible to remove the necks for repair by melting the glue between the joint and gently pulling apart.
- Bolt On Neck
Bolt on necks are also made separately from the guitar body and offer big advantages in 
that they can be separated from the body to be worked on or adjusted. These types of necks can often be swapped around to customise an instrument to your liking. If done right this type of joint is very good for a clear, bright sort of tone and sustain. These are probably the most common neck joint because they are so easily adjustable and interchangeable and still sound great.
- Through Body Neck![db5fm[1]](http://www.customguitarz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/db5fm1-222x300.jpg "Through Body Neck")
The through body neck goes right through the centre of the body making it very strong and giving it great sustain. The big disadvantage of this is it is almost impossible to remove the neck for adjustment or repair. This style of neck is used alot in bass guitars to make them stronger because of the longer necks required.
Neck/Headstock
- Scarf Joint![ScarfJoint[1]](http://www.customguitarz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ScarfJoint1-300x225.jpg "ScarfJoint[1]")
This joint is used to get the angle of the headstock without having to machine it out of a solid piece of timber. Its the best way of doing this without effecting the tone and still having an extremely strong joint.
Neck Profiles
The main neck profiles used are called the C neck, U neck and the V neck, and they all are referring to the cross-sectional shaping of the neck. Usually these shapes are more pronounced towards the nut and get wider as u get closer to the heel.
