Dealing with Noise

All electric guitars introduce some noise into the audio system. Single coil pickups are especially vulnerable because they are designed to pickup electromagnetic interference with in their electromagnetic field. That's why they produce a very clean shimmering sound for clean amplified guitar. In other words, when a string gets played and vibrates, the pickup is made to detect and amplify that sound. Usually guitar players turn their amp up so they don't hear the interference noise while playing.

A humbucker pickup is better because it is essentially two singles coils, next to each other, but reversed. Therefore a lot of extraneous electronics noise is subdued or canceled out. There is a trade off as humbucker pickups are not as clear and distinct when played clean. They are however, awesome distortion monsters and that's what most guys use for crunch.

That's one reason our 621 series has a humbucker and two single coils, to get the best of both worlds.

Now, the Fretlight light system does introduce a bit of extra noise into the system because of the microprocessor and Bluetooth receiver in the butt of the neck. Also, 132 LED's don't help the situation. The Bluetooth is sending our signals and the microprocessor is radiating some of its signals and guess who's right there to detect those signals - the neck pickup.

No worries though, we have found that using the Fretlight guitar with the bridge pickup selected can reduce most of the noise. You'll hear some, but again, no more than you would with a single coil in the bridge position of a standard, non-modified electric. What else can you do to reduce noise in your guitar system? If you look at the chart below you'll some other tips to reduce noise. Also, you can run through an iRig system and use one of the iRig's on-board notch filters, that really takes the noise to zero. Just remember, when you have the Fretlight light system on, think of yourself being in practice mode. If you want to be in performance mode, turn the lights off and rock out!