I have a guitar that I bought pretty cheap at the pawn shop that was having some problems.

I stopped playing it (badly and loudly) because it just didn’t sound right anymore.

I thought there was something wrong with the output jack….maybe the pickup wiring….maybe something else.

Maybe ALL the pots had slowly gone bad?

This guitar was cheap….and kind of old. It made sense that I’d cheap out and buy something that didn’t really work if I thought that I could save some money.

I didn’t enjoy playing that guitar that didn’t work. I left it alone for a while.

I was thinking about that guitar again recently, though….after leaving it in its case for a year or so….and realized that the battery….if those EMG pickups were like all the other ones I’d seen and needed a battery to work….that those pickups needed a fresh battery.

You won’t get any sound out of a bunch of pickups with a dying/dead battery.

So I took the strings off….took the neck off….took the pickguard off….took the battery out….replaced the battery with a fresh one….put the pickguard back on….put the neck back on…..put some new strings on it….tuned it….and VOILA!!!  I COULD PLAY BADLY REALLY LOUDLY AGAIN THROUGH MY CHEAP AMP…..the amp that needs some attention, too.

Here’s a guy I saw on Austin City Limits back in 1984….and when I asked about him at the record store the next day, no one knew who he was….

Eric Johnson….

I think that he keeps his guitars in better shape than I do.

I think that he uses fresh batteries.

That’s why he sounds a lot better than I do.

His batteries….are fresh.

I’ve never heard this song on any of his albums that I remember.

This performance was before he’d released any mainstream albums….so it made sense that the guy at the record store didn’t know anything about him.

Eric Johnson….one of the greatest guitarists I’d ever heard….and no one knew anything about him.

That changed….pretty quickly….when he released Tones…..

Here’s another performance from that same show back in 1984….

This is a “signature tune” that did make it onto his first album, Tones….

It is amazing what fresh batteries can do for you.

(I’m kidding….I don’t think that he plays any guitars that need a battery.)

My guitar needed a battery…..and it’s a fresh one now.

So….I can play really loudly again.

My battery is fresh.

Cover your ears.

 

(The link to the “Tones” album is missing the song “Zap” for some reason. Look it up if you want to hear it…it’s a good one….)