Complete Guitar Wiring. With a foreword by Dan Erlewine.

Whether you’re swapping your first pickup or you work on guitars for a living, you’ll find Complete Guitar Wiring crammed full of expert technical and practical advice to help you out.

From the basics of how things work, to electric and acoustic pickup systems, through a succession of soldering and wiring projects, this book will walk you through step by step. There’s a huge library of reference diagrams, modifications, and lots of troubleshooting tips in case things go wrong.

Written in a friendly, easy to understand style and richly illustrated in full colour throughout, Complete Guitar Wiring is the best (and most complete) way to learn guitar wiring.

Complete Guitar Wiring has over 400 pages of information for beginners and professionals alike. Here’s what you’ll learn:

Chapter 1: Theory Learn about the parts and components in most guitars, how they work, and how they combine to build a circuit.

Chapter 2: Electric Guitar All about electric guitar and bass. A deep dive on pickups and considerations on choosing and installing them—body modifications, component choice, and pickup setup.

Chapter 3: Acoustic guitar Acoustic instruments can have pickups too. A look at the choices and practicalities on acoustic pickups and preamp installation.

Chapter 4: Wiring An introduction to soldering and the tools you’ll need is followed by step-by-step guides to a number of wiring projects. We start easy and work up to swapping pickups and rewiring guitars.

Chapter 5: Troubleshooting Learn what to do when things don’t work as planned. From basic troubleshooting and how to use a multimeter, to dealing with out of phase pickups, to hum problems. There’s even a section on acoustic pickup troubleshooting.

Chapter 6: Wiring Diagrams A huge library of common (and some hard to find) wiring diagrams. Over seventy guitar and bass reference circuits with accompanying notes.

Chapter 7: Modifications Dozens of wiring mods to change the tone, switching, or operation of an instrument to better fit the ideas in your head. From the everyday to the esoteric, there’s plenty of inspiration here.

Appendix: Reference A collection of specifications and reference materials for common components. Pickups, pots, switches, jacks, resistors, capacitors, and more… Even the screws used to hold things together.

“Man, I wish I’d had this book when I first became obsessed with electric guitar wiring and mods! Gerry Hayes’s Complete Guitar Wiring is both a how-to book for beginners and a reference manual for the experienced. The explanations are clear yet substantial. The diagrams are gorgeous. It’s equally useful for troubleshooting and finding new inspiration. Complete Guitar Wiring already has a permanent home on my workbench tablet.”
Joe Gore, Joe Gore Guitar Pedals, editor, Premier Guitar

“Out of all the guitar books on the market—tech, coffee-table, and otherwise—I haven’t seen any that provides such thorough yet accessible instruction in the art of electronics and wiring. Not only has Gerry Hayes identified a real gap in the available resources, but he has done a phenomenal job of filling it with a book that’s comprehensive and detailed while also very approachable, offering plenty to beginner, novice, and experienced DIY’ers alike. Well done!”
Dave Hunter, author Fender 75 Years, The Electric Guitar Sourcebook, The Guitar Pickup Handbook

“When you’re in the guitar business for any length of time, you have the opportunity to meet the best—people like Gerry Hayes. His book about guitar wiring is a must-have for any luthier, guitar technician, roadie, guitar shop, and of course any player who is into guitar electronics.”
Dirk Wacker, CEO, SINGLECOIL-Guitars Germany, writer, Premier Guitar Magazine

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