Let's take our pickup advice game up a few notches

[Funkfingers]

Re: Let's take our pickup advice game up a few notches

Mr. Ghost. All of your imitation forum member quotations seem terribly familiar. As for that noob with the Tele and Les Paul, is he left-handed? :scratchch

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Let's take our pickup advice game up a few notches

My 2.5 cents:

Soundclips don't mean crap. Some of you have been to my site and have seen I have clips there so, yes, I'm a big fat phoney on that. But they sell pickups and I reluctantly gave in to having them. Nonetheless, there are too many variables (guitar, string gauge, material and thickness of pick, playing technique, amp, effects, mic, recording gear, your computer speakers, on and on and on) for them to really mean anything. The most effective pickup advice I have EVER gotten is from someone whose ear I trust comparing Pickup A I'm asking about with Pickup B that I'm already familiar with.

Why? Because if he says, "Pickup A has more bottom than Pickup B", then this is ALWAYS the case regardless of rig, player, string gauge, recording gear, etc. With the exception of extremely high gain or other extreme situations, these variables are all but completely eliminated by this comparison technique.

So for newbies out there, ask what the pickup someone is recommending sounds like compared with a pickup you already know.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Let's take our pickup advice game up a few notches

On a personal note as someone who likes to buy used pickups I loathe the Idea of hundreds of unknown amateur mag swapped pickups floating around :nono:

With all due respect, I think it's on you to buy from someone you can trust who, if they know they have a pickup with a swapped magnet, will tell you about it. It's just another case of caveat emptor. With a lot of pickups, someone could just as easily remove a sticker and lie about what it is. If you want guarantees, buy new.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Let's take our pickup advice game up a few notches

The most effective pickup advice I have EVER gotten is from someone whose ear I trust comparing Pickup A I'm asking about with Pickup B that I'm already familiar with.

Why? Because if he says, "Pickup A has more bottom than Pickup B", then this is ALWAYS the case regardless of rig, player, string gauge, recording gear, etc. With the exception of extremely high gain or other extreme situations, these variables are all but completely eliminated by this comparison technique.

This is why I bought - and continue to use - the SD Journey Is The Destination sound clip CDs.

I am under no illusion that any guitars I modify will turn out exactly like the sound clip for my chosen pickup model.

What I do is compare an "unsatisfactory" guitar sound to the sound clips. If, for example, a Stratocaster with "vintage" replica pickups sounds too thin and wiry, I can use the sound clips to suggest which other model of pickup would give a more pleasing result.

Unfortunately, for my bank balance, the answer is increasingly frequently turning out to be SD Antiquity pickups.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Let's take our pickup advice game up a few notches

Why? Because if he says, "Pickup A has more bottom than Pickup B", then this is ALWAYS the case regardless of rig, player, string gauge, recording gear, etc. With the exception of extremely high gain or other extreme situations, these variables are all but completely eliminated by this comparison technique.

However, I used to have a Mexi Strat with stock pickups. The tone of the bridge pickup, even with low gain, was piercing, yet vocal. Like Rob Halford hitting his high notes on Vengeance, Defenders, or Victim of Changes. Or Bruce Dickinson on Number of the Beast. The neck pickup tone was very glassy and jangly, with a deep bass tone on the low strings and a sharp bite on the high strings.
Until my singer-guitarist played it and made it howl in a deep, mournful tone. I played the same note on the same string on the same fret through the same amp with the same settings, and even used his pick, and I could not get close. I handed it back to him and he did it again immediately, so it wasn't like I heard it then drove for an hour before trying it.

Ergo, while your method works for you, personal experience proves it will not work for me.

IMO if you're going to do sound clips for internet samples, it should be done direct, either through a vst or a preamp/modeling unit rather than a miked amp, simply to eliminate the room/amp/cab/speaker/mic variables. As well, open strings only, since even fretting a chord can introduce a tonal variation. With open strings, you're limiting the variables to pick attack and the guitar itself. It's dull and one-dimensional, but running through Little Wing with flawless Hendrix/SRV technique might give someone the impression they'll get that tone without the technique.
Open strings would give a better reference point, since you can compare those against your own personal results directly in either a spectrum analyzer function of a daw or piped through an amp/cab. From there, you could determine whether you might need a brighter pickup or darker pickup to recreate the tone of the clip with your guitar and your pick attack.