Pickups, an indepth look at how they work and all that influences thieir sound

[gearhead]

I know that most of us have asked questions about pickups, the sound we are getting from them, what

other factors influence the sound etc. I have been researching the subject in a quest for the sound I'm looking for.

I think that most of us also usually look at the ohms impedance as a deciding factor of how the pickup will perform, but there's a LOT more to it than just that.

EVERYTHING that is in the electrical circuit from the pickup to your guitar amp effects the tone

(pickups, wires, controls, cables, jacks, pickup covers, YES pickup covers do effect the sound) plus surrounding metal, magnets, pole pieces etc.

There are other factors that effect the sound, such as body material, bridges, strings etc, but this is just on the electronics.

I stumbled across a page on the web that I thought I would share as I'm sure many of us, me included,

would like to have a better understanding of how and what shapes the sound of the electric guitar pickup.

Grab a beer and sit down, it'll take a few minutes to read, but I think it's worth it!

 

 

The Secrets of the Electric Guitar Pickup

 

 

And one more.........

 

Knowledge Base Of Guitar Electronics

 

It has some interesting info and some other links.

[RaSTuS]

Great link GH, I've only browsed it, no read it completely yet, but it does seem to be a very thorough explanation, I've bookmarked it for future reference. Perhaps animalfarm could add it to the DIY thread.

[gearhead]

Thanks rastus, it is very interesting!

Like I said, GRAB A BEER (MAYBE 2), and maybe a notebook!

I forgot to add this link about measuring guitar pickup properties.

 

Electric Guitar Pickup Measurements

[bigneil]

good stuff, .... Jees! I'm such a geek

[Dougefresh91]

Awesome. Definitely interesting. I shouldn't drink at work so I guess I'll read it later.

[brianh]

I expect Helmuth would want you to drink only German beer whilst reading his white paper.

 

[gearhead]

Awesome. Definitely interesting. I shouldn't drink at work so I guess I'll read it later.

 

Work? Man, that's one of those four letter words (that I can spell), not anything like CASH!

But it is related!!!!

And Brian, I think I could drink with some of those German girls!!!!!

[Trewblue]

Great links...but a little over my head. I'm still wondering- When looking @ the K ohms of a pickup,is higher or lower hotter. I just replaced the pu's my LP. The stocks were around 13.3B and 8.4N. The GFS hb's that I put in were both around 8.3 or there abouts. The GFS's are a lot hotter. In the future, if I decide to take on another project,(replace the pu's in my SG) What should I look for? My amp is an AC4 and a VT15. I mostly play The Blues and I guess I'm looking for lots of crunch.

 

Anyway this is some great stuff and thanks for the info.

[gearhead]

Great links...but a little over my head. I'm still wondering- When looking @ the K ohms of a pickup,is higher or lower hotter. I just replaced the pu's my LP. The stocks were around 13.3B and 8.4N. The GFS hb's that I put in were both around 8.3 or there abouts. The GFS's are a lot hotter. In the future, if I decide to take on another project,(replace the pu's in my SG) What should I look for? My amp is an AC4 and a VT15. I mostly play The Blues and I guess I'm looking for lots of crunch.

 

Anyway this is some great stuff and thanks for the info.

 

Well that's something I'm learning too, just because the ohms reading is 8.5k and not 22k doesn't mean the pickup

has lower output, or won't distort as well! A higher ohms reading only indicates that there are more turns of wire on

the bobbins or the wire itself has a higher resistance value per foot of wire.

But that's where the magnet, pole pieces, geometry of the bobbins makes a difference.

You can't always go by the resistance (ohms) value of the coils to determine the sound of the pickup.

Which is exactly why I made this thread. MOST of the time a higher ohms reading does indicate a "hotter"

sounding pickup with higher output because of more wire being wound onto the bobbind, but not always.

Example:

I've been looking at Bill Lawrence L500 XL pickups, which by many accounts are VERY high output humbuckers,

hotter than most. BUT, the ohms reading is between 8-9k, up to 11.8 I believe!

The higher output comes from the magnet, pole pieces and overall design of the pickup.

Edit> Also they supposedly don't have much feedback due to the fact that the coil windings are encapsulated in epoxy resin, like EMG's.

 

So with that said, you probably need to do some homework, and read user reviews on what pickups make what kind of sound in a particular kind/style of guitar. Because the guitar itself (body materials, construction, hardware, controls, etc) have a lot of influence on the overall TONE!

[bigneil]

I expect Helmuth would want you to drink only German beer whilst reading his white paper.

 

 

 

I have really really got to visit this pub for a couple of pints.

[animalfarm]

Gearhead - Great Links! I've saved this thread into favorites "Whilst" I look

at potential use for the DIY. I have to look at "Is it useful to just a select few, or

to the masses in General"?

 

Taking this approach has allowed me to maintain the DIY (at Present) at 100 to 110

topics/threads, with lots of room for expansion, as needed. The DIY is at 3 pages so far,

hasn't turned into an encyclopedia just yet!

 

Always looking for data.

 

Thanks, Y'all, for your inputs!