After some time of playing an acoustic guitar, you might want to make the switch to an electric guitar. Making the switch might be overly expensive if you’re on a tight budget, in which case, it might be convenient if you could only somehow convert your acoustic guitar to an electric one. Well, if that is you, you will be pleased to learn that you can make your acoustic guitar sound like an electric guitar.
To transform an acoustic into an electric guitar, you first have to turn it into an electric-acoustic one. After that, you should plug it into an electric guitar amp and put the emphasis on high tones while eliminating bass tones. You can use effects such as delay, reverb, and compression.
Whether you’re on a tight budget or a lover of DIY projects who would like to electrify his acoustic guitar, you’re in the right place. We’ll give you a step-by-step guide on what to do to turn your acoustic guitar into a proper electric guitar.
Related: 5 reasons why acoustic guitars are so expensive and 12 reasons why acoustic guitars are better than electric.
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1. Turn It Into an Electric-Acoustic Guitar
The first step toward turning your acoustic into an electric guitar is making it electric-acoustic. This step boils down to installing a pickup in your acoustic guitar and suppressing feedback to increase sound quality.
There are multiple pickup choices, and what you choose will determine whether this project will be successful or not.
There are three types of pickups you can get:
- Clip-on pickups
- Piezo pickups
- Soundhole pickups
Let’s examine these pickups and see which one is the best option.
Clip-On Pickups
Clip-on pickups are the cheapest and easiest way to add a pickup to your acoustic guitar. As the name suggests, you are supposed to simply clip them onto the soundhole under the strings, and they should work just like any other type of pickup. They’re also called microphone pickups for this reason.
While they’re theoretically easy to install, it might be difficult to find the right place to attach them to get them to work as best they can. Additionally, the wires can get in the way 一 they don’t look particularly nice, which might be another deterrent.
They can give you a decent sound compared to the price (and some are ridiculously cheap), but it won’t be as good as the sound you might get from another pickup. A clip-on pickup might be right for you if you’re on a very tight budget. Otherwise, it might be smart to go for something else.
Piezo Pickups
Piezoelectric pickups are another good option for electrifying your acoustic guitar. They’re common on electric-acoustic guitars, so they’re a time-tested option that works well. These pickups rely on compressed crystals to detect vibrations from the guitar’s wood and transmit those signals further.
This probably sounds like some sort of black magic, but it really works. This technology is actually older than electromagnetic pickups. However, it’s not as widespread as it is less versatile and more difficult to install.
The sound you get from a piezo pickup is usually good, especially for electric-acoustic guitars. However, it’s relatively difficult to install. While the pickups are not pricier than electromagnetic pickups, they’re more difficult to install, which drives up the total cost.
Additionally, these pickups are not commonly used to make electric guitars. Therefore, they’re probably not the best choice for turning your acoustic guitar into an electric one.
The bottom line? Piezo pickups are not the best option unless you just want to play around and see what you’ll get.
Soundhole Pickups
A soundhole pickup is attached to the guitar across the pickup. It’s usually screwed on, and a cable is run through the guitar to create a permanent installation. If you aim to permanently turn your acoustic guitar into an electric, soundhole picks are the best option.
These pickups are electromagnetic, meaning they work the same way as electric guitar pickups. This makes them a great choice if the end goal is to replicate the sound of an electric guitar.
Soundhole pickups are typically not expensive. They’re usually in the range of $50–$250, which is within most people’s reach. They’re also not difficult to install, so you might save some money by doing that as a DIY project. But if you’re not confident in your skills, it’s better to find a guitar technician or luthier who can do this for you.
Eliminating Feedback
Electric-acoustic guitars are prone to feedback. The feedback can worsen if you try to fully electrify your guitar. Therefore, it’s very important that you eliminate potential feedback or at least reduce it if it’s already existing.
The easiest way to do this is by getting a feedback suppressor. A feedback suppressor is a piece of rubber inserted into the soundhole. It’s quite commonly used by guitarists in live settings and does a very good job. It’s also cheap, so it’s a minor investment that can mean quite a lot.
If you prefer something different from a feedback suppressor, you can invest in a noise gate pedal. This is a costlier option, but it does a great job. Noise gate pedals eliminate noise and buzzing in your signal before it gets to the amp, so they can’t cause any additional trouble.
2. Use an Electric Guitar Amplifier
Having turned your acoustic into an electric-acoustic guitar, it’s time to move forward with the steps. You’ll now have to connect it to an amplifier to get an electric sound. Dedicated amps for electric-acoustic guitars exist, but they won’t cut it if you want your guitar to sound like a proper electric guitar.
If your goal is to emulate an electric guitar, then an electric guitar amplifier is the only choice. Once you’ve got an electromagnetic pickup and an amp designed to receive signals from such a pickup, you’ll be much closer to getting the sound of an electric guitar.
It’s best to use a clean tube amp with lots of headroom. Headroom refers to how much you can increase the volume without distorting the sound. The more headroom, the better. At this point, you want to avoid distortion to get as clean a sound as possible.
Once you’ve connected your amp to your almost-electric guitar and it sounds reasonably good, it’s time to turn some knobs an