Pickups act like a microphone.

[bmedeiros678]

Hi all,
My '97 rg7620's pickups act like a microphone. I can hear my voice when I talk(LOL I can hear my voice through my guitar amp when I talk). Is this normal? Why would this happen? What can I do to fix?

[Mr.WizardNeck]

Originally Posted by bmedeiros678

I can hear my voice when I talk. Is this normal? Why would this happen? What can I do to fix?

*enter smart ass remark here*

But honestly, unless you have an artificial voice box, that shouldn't be happening at all. I've used pickups to make a sort of speaker phone when I've been lazy and also used a bass pickup on keyboards without a line or headphone out to sort of make my own but you shouldn't be able to do that with anything that doesn't have a magnetic source (or metallic vibrations).

[SeanB]

I can get a similair effect....but I litteraly have to shout directly into the pickup. I thought it was normal haha.

[wilch]

http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/...ical/index.php

[bmedeiros678]

Originally Posted by wilch

http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/...ical/index.php

Thanks wilch.

[bmedeiros678]

Here is what the manufacture just wrote me.

"It is normal to be able to hear your voice through the pickup when the strings vibrate in response to your voice. If you remove the strings and you can still hear your voice, that’s not normal. The pickup might be mounted too loosely. You can try stuffing some foam rubber under the pickup to tighten up the mounting. There might also be excess pickup cable vibrating inside the guitar, which can cause the same effect. If the pickup itself is microphonic, we might be able to improve it by re-potting the pickup. However, if you are not getting feedback, you might consider this to be a feature rather than a problem."

[Fender868]

When i place the guitar on my chest and scream loud, you can hear me. I know Steve Vai had fun with this phenomenon for about 10 secs with Billy Sheehan on his Live in Astoria gig. Can't remember which song, but you hear them talking through their guitars and it's funny cause you can barely make out what they're saying. He's probably calling him a ****bag or something. Oh billy.... :P

[jazzedout]

Paul Gilbert shouts at his pickups at the end of (i think) "Get out of my yard"...

[Nordhauser]

Pickups are microphonic.