Active pickups for "piano tone"?

[Eric Dahlberg]

Would you guys recommend active pickups for getting that kind of "piano tone" that bassists talk about, i.e. clean, bell-like, and naturally compressed? If so, which ones?

Also, if you have any other tips for getting that tone, I'd appreciate hearing it. I'm building a custom guitar with a Warmoth baritone conversion neck and can order any kind of body for it, so wood type, pickup types, bridge type, semi-hollow, etc. are all on the table.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

SSL-7 on strat neck position, wired through 500k volume without tone control. It wasn't very good for anything else, but that clean tone was brilliant. Would have described it as a perfect "piano tone".

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

Thanks! Is there a hum-canceling equivalent?

 

[beaubrummels]

Active pickups for "piano tone"?

Active pickups for "piano tone"?

Delete - sorry, read the post too fast. You only want active pianos. Sorry I can't help there.

 

[vinta9e]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

Yeah, but there are Steinways and there are Bechsteins somewhat like Marshalls and Fenders... oh wait, this is a dead end street.

Somewhere between flatsawn necks, solid mahogany bodies, passive pickups and DR Tite fit strings you might be able to find what you're looking for. Good luck!

 

[dave74]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

^^^Actually that's a good point about the larger-core strings.
I personally found them to be a bit lacking in harmonic-richness, but large-core models do indeed lend a stronger fundamental and less overtones.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

I've always found stratocasters to be the most 'pianistic', the longer scale length and the bell like sounds from the in-between positions (2 and 4) sound very rich and piano-like to me.

If you want more of the richness and less of the brightness, then I find baritone guitars to be beautifully lush. Listen especially for when he has the neck pickup on, and listen especially for the warmth of those low notes:



It's also technique based. One thing we learn early on in jazz guitar playing is 'piano comping' where you play a chord by picking all of the notes at the same time with your fingers. Aim for getting a totally even tone between all of your fingers. Hybrid picking is also cool here because your pick will hit the bottom string and give it some definition while the upper notes will sound softer, heres an example in case you don't know what any of the concepts I mentioned are!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

The jazz is the most clear and pristine pickup that I've tried. Made me think piano tone.

 

[Coma]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

That Suhr video is crazy. If i hadn't seen him play an electric, I would've sworn that was a nylon acoustic with a piezo.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

Hey, I've gotten it on a 25.5" scale, maple/ash bodied Strat, using a Five Two pickup in the neck and middle with fresh strings. I like that sound on a bass, too, and don't think it is exclusively the domain of active pickups. Good, clear sounding pickups with the right strings (and a brighter wood) can do it.

 

[Davii]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

My list of wants just got a bit longer...

 

[Jacew]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

Thanks! Is there a hum-canceling equivalent?

I don't think there is. And there isn't even RWRP version of SSL-7, at least it wasn't availabe when I bought mine, so I don't know then...

 

[Eric Dahlberg]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

Thanks, everyone! That Suhr example is brilliant, I'll use that as my baseline. I'm going to give the EMG Retro Active RA-5's a shot and will report back how it goes. We have some Suhr Classic Pro's in stock so I'll be able to do a side-by-side comparison.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Active pickups for "piano tone"?

Some member had excellent review on the livewires single coil. AFAIR my HB neck sounded great.