Whole Lotta Neck... interesting observation

[AlexR]

Re: Whole Lotta Neck... interesting observation

^ Damn eyebrow acting;-)

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Whole Lotta Neck... interesting observation

^ Really. When I spoke with Zhangbucker about bridge position winding, he indicated the screw coils were a brighter more chimey tone due to the lower physical size of the material.

The difference between a coil with slugs and one with screws is not huge, but it's there. But the physical positioning of the coil relative to the length of the string is far more important than whether it has screws or slugs.

When he winds his offset coils he gives 'more winds to the slug coil for more grunt'.

The slug coil of a bridge pickup is farther from the bridge and thus sees more mids and lows than the screw coil (yes, that small distance makes a big difference), so I wind it hotter to emphasize those freq's since there is no shortage of bite and slice coming through the screw coil.

I do the opposite on neck humbuckers because the freq's over the screw coil are to my ear more desirable than over the slug coil -- more classic flutey loo-loo-loo whereas the freq's over the slug coil tend to be a bit more like middle pickup guh-guh-guh.

All the above naturally assumes standard installation, ie: screws to the outside, slugs to the inside.

He's mentioned also that a double screw pickup is less aggressive and more polite.

That really depends on how you adjust the screws. On a bridge pu, if you have the 6 screws next the bridge raised up and the other 6 screws flush with or below the top, it will have a lot of bite and slice. If you reverse this (screws facing the neck raised and other 6 lowered), you get a lot more midrange. Thus having 12 screws gives you a LOT of potential tone variation, almost like having a parametric mid built into the pickup.

For those who want to try this out for yourselves but don't have a 12-screw pickup, just take the standard bridge bucker you have and install it with the screws facing away from the bridge and raise those screws. You'll hear what I mean. (You may be able to fix a shrill/brittle sounding bridge pickup this way without having to bother with either me or Seymour for a solution.)

But assuming you have either a 12-slug or standard slug/screw bridge humbucker with all screws flush with the top and compare them with a 12-screw bridge humbucker with all 12 screws flush with the top, the 12-screw will have a touch less bite then either of the other two. This is because slugs don't drag any of the magnetic field down below the baseplate while screws do.

Also -- the alloy of the screws and slugs makes a big difference too.

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Whole Lotta Neck... interesting observation

I've been playing with one for months in the neck of my Hamer Studio Custom and didn't have to adjust a damn thing for it to sound amazing.

I have mine flush with my ring which is how I usually set all of my neck pickups in that guitar... sounds perfect!