Listen, before you assume certain things after reading this, i am very well versed in the phenomenons that go along with human hears, placebo effect, etc etc etc. Been playing since the early 70s and couldn't possibly remember a fraction of the pickups i have swapped and mods i have done and all that. But theres one thing i have come across a few times thats really puzzling and makes me wonder if some pickups can change the way they sound considerably after first being installed and played. I have no idea what could be responsible....maybe once a current is introduced from new maybe certain magnets are affected somehow or some such wacky thing. I really have no idea. But this has happened to me a number of times over the years.
I'll give you and example with the last time which was just recently. I bought a van zandt tele bridge pickup. It was HELLACIOUSLY bright. To the point i had never heard a tele bridge pickup even close before. Luckily he agreed to let me return it in exchange for a different model that is wound much higher. (around 6k vs 7.4k for the exchange) It turned out to be usable but still very bright, close to the first one. But this one i kept rather then yanking it 5 minutes after install like the initial pickup. In time i came to find it sounded much less bright and i couldn't understand why. Note that i also compared it to another pickup i previously had in the tele that was 6.2k (bootstrap) and same A5/42AWG and was not near as bright. But now that pickup sounds only a little brighter then that pickup. Recently i decided it's too hot and put the bootstrap back. A while later i decided to see what the van zandt would be like unwound to around the same as the bootstrap. I unwound it till it read 6.1k and it now sounds fabulous, hardly any brighter then the booststrap. What the H happened? Both this van zandt and the first one were crazy bright and i haven't even changed my amp settings. Now it sounds clearer than the bootstrap but i can't really say it's any brighter, at least not to any degree thats notable. By the way, the bootstrap was a custom wind i had done that initially was 74k and i unwound that too. It lower output now but hardly and tonal change and has never changed. How in the world did the van zandt for from kill me with treble to close to the originally far darker bootstrap after playing it a short time. I have had others where this has happend in other ways where not a case of bright to dark but just changing to a different sound thats just too different to be placebo effect. And if it WAS placebo, how do i explain why this has only happened to a handful of pickups of the probably 150-200 or more i've bought over the years?
I just posted this to see what other have to say, see if anyone else has experienced this, and if indeed there IS a reason someone knows of.
I'll give you and example with the last time which was just recently. I bought a van zandt tele bridge pickup. It was HELLACIOUSLY bright. To the point i had never heard a tele bridge pickup even close before. Luckily he agreed to let me return it in exchange for a different model that is wound much higher. (around 6k vs 7.4k for the exchange) It turned out to be usable but still very bright, close to the first one. But this one i kept rather then yanking it 5 minutes after install like the initial pickup. In time i came to find it sounded much less bright and i couldn't understand why. Note that i also compared it to another pickup i previously had in the tele that was 6.2k (bootstrap) and same A5/42AWG and was not near as bright. But now that pickup sounds only a little brighter then that pickup. Recently i decided it's too hot and put the bootstrap back. A while later i decided to see what the van zandt would be like unwound to around the same as the bootstrap. I unwound it till it read 6.1k and it now sounds fabulous, hardly any brighter then the booststrap. What the H happened? Both this van zandt and the first one were crazy bright and i haven't even changed my amp settings. Now it sounds clearer than the bootstrap but i can't really say it's any brighter, at least not to any degree thats notable. By the way, the bootstrap was a custom wind i had done that initially was 74k and i unwound that too. It lower output now but hardly and tonal change and has never changed. How in the world did the van zandt for from kill me with treble to close to the originally far darker bootstrap after playing it a short time. I have had others where this has happend in other ways where not a case of bright to dark but just changing to a different sound thats just too different to be placebo effect. And if it WAS placebo, how do i explain why this has only happened to a handful of pickups of the probably 150-200 or more i've bought over the years?
I just posted this to see what other have to say, see if anyone else has experienced this, and if indeed there IS a reason someone knows of.
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