Troubleshooting an Acoustic Electric Guitar

When you first purchase your brand new acoustic guitar, the thought that it can ever breakdown never enters your mind. However, just like any other piece of equipment, your acoustic guitar is subject to the natural processes of wear and tear. One day you suddenly realize that your guitar is not producing its usual sound. Worse still, it may totally shut down and fail to produce any sound. If it is your first break down, the first thing you will want to think about is how you can get to a professional repair-person as quickly as possible. However, that need not be the case. This article aims to show you that you can identify the problem first before rushing to a repair shop. In addition, if the problem is minor you may do the repairs yourself thereby saving your self some money.

Devices that are connected to the acoustic guitar are normally the culprits of a break down. A number of problems may occur because of a defective part. The acoustic electric guitar may produce a distorted or static sound.  A number of problems some of which we shall examine below may cause this problem.

The first part that we shall examine is the guitar cable.  Try to move the cable gently and listen to the sound that will come from your instrument. If you hear a crackling sound then you should know that there could be a short along the length of the guitar cable. You can also try to press the cable   at the ends. If this produces a crackling sound then this indicates a problem with the cable connectors. These two problems may just require replacement of the guitar cable. This is something that you can do for yourself.

Input jacks may also wear off and cause the acoustic guitar to produce a distorted sound. You can identify this problem by simply moving the guitar cable back and forth at the ends. A crackling sound means that the input jack is not working properly and may need replacement. The other problem that may cause a distorted or static sound is the battery of the preamp.  The preamp is the device that boosts the signal before it is directed to the amplifier. The battery simply losing power or just going plain dead may cause the problem. This problem is easy to solve. All you have to do is replace the battery and your acoustic guitar will revert to its original form.

Sometime acoustic guitars fail to produce sound at all. The first place to check is whether the amplifier is working. Ensure that the amplifier is on. Also, check the volume knobs to ensure that they are working as expected. The problem could be in the knobs. This would simply require a change of the knobs. If the acoustic guitar is connected to a direct box then check to see that the box is working properly and that the cable is not damaged.

These are just some of the places that you can check for defects. Should the problem prove too difficult to solve, then that might be the time to take to a professional repair shop. So next time your guitar does not produce the sound it should, try to check some of tips discussed above. The problem might be minor.