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

[Gitfidl]

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

First of all thank you for this discussion because probably a lot of us are trying to figure out sound and it IS a mixed bag. Confusing. I have five amps and each of the amps are different. Sound is much different in each of the amps.

I try to find soft warm jazz tones on each amp. I don't like buzz or over drive. I like nice mellow sound with maybe a touch of tremelo. I can get that but very few retail guitar salesmen can (so it is not the most popular way).

I tend to play in small areas to areas about 60 foot by 60 foot. Rarely an auditorium size place. Tone is more important than volume. The rooms are generally carpeted and have curtains.

My very best guitar came with Seth Lover pickups (designed and produced by Jol Dantzig). So I like Seth Lovers and had them put in my OTHER electric. Recently had the amplifier ace in San Diego do “magic” on tone. It is twice as great as it was.

I started playing in 1956 in Skokie, IL and had a job at Chicago Musical Instrument (Gibson) and my first guitar was a Gibson Round hole acoustic. My second guitar was an ES235TD which I had to get rid of after I got married. (I should have kept the guitar and got the divorce then).

In the 80's I got a dual pickup hollow body electric. I added a Les Paul Black Beauty from Epiphone in the 90's. Then I sold the Epiphone and got a Gibson acoustic and a Martin acoustic and then the Newport Custom Pro. Then voive mikes and then more amps and then one day I stopped acquiring bnew things (no more room)

I do not know everything I'd like to know about sound when it comes to guitars. Tone, volume and beauty in the ear are still a challenge. I do not know why one pickup is better than another. I do not know aht I ought to be doing now or to do next.

I do not know if I have made the right choices regarding amps and sound. I hope that I did. I am still learning (and humble)

 

[blueman335]

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

Got some very good points there, Ace. #4 in particular caught my attention. When I posted my first thread seeking new pups for my SG, a couple people suggested mag swaps. I don't feel that was very good advice for someone who hadn't even touched a soldering iron at that point. I found the people saying (for example) "a Distortion might work for what you're after" to be a LOT more helpful.

Mag swaps don't require skill or experience, and are a much less expensive way to get a different EQ. $3 for a mag, $75+ for a PU. A lot of guys like that. Sometimes when you get a new PU, you don't solve anything, you just have a new set of issues to deal with. This forum is all about taking control of you tone, instead of being at the mercy of it. With P-90's and uncovered HB's, there's no soldering involved in changing a magnet. The soldering needed to put a cover back on is easier than tying a shoe. Besides, if you change PU's, you have soldering, so I don't see your point. We're trying to help newbies, and that often means getting them out of their comfort zone and old habits, and opening their minds to more options.

 

[youngthrasher9]

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

In the past I've been guilty of every single one of those.

It just hit me one day that I was being stupid.

 

[Edgecrusher]

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

and opening their minds to more options.

I giggle any time you post about being open minded.

 

[Funkfingers]

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

Mag swaps don't require skill or experience.

I disagree. Magnet swapping requires a lightness of touch, the correct tools and a clear idea of how the finished article should turn out.

A great deal of the essential Pickups 101 information is presented in the main SD website and in printed catalogues. Regrettably, it seems too much for some punters to ask them to read any of that.

GIGO.

 

[Aceman]

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

Mag swaps don't require skill or experience, and are a much less expensive way to get a different EQ. $3 for a mag, $75+ for a PU. A lot of guys like that. Sometimes when you get a new PU, you don't solve anything, you just have a new set of issues to deal with. This forum is all about taking control of you tone, instead of being at the mercy of it. With P-90's and uncovered HB's, there's no soldering involved in changing a magnet. The soldering needed to put a cover back on is easier than tying a shoe. Besides, if you change PU's, you have soldering, so I don't see your point. We're trying to help newbies, and that often means getting them out of their comfort zone and old habits, and opening their minds to more options.

Emphasis on open mind, options, etc...

What mag will turn a Distortion into a Pearly Gates? None...so the advice to swap mags in that situation regardless of the cost is a bad idea just because it is 'cost-effective.' It isn't cost effective because it will not be effective.

But as I said - no need to swap a whiole JB out when an A8 fixes the bass/mids/highs problem that it appears many have,. for a few pennies.

And getting out of your comfort zone means learning how to: Set up the frickin' instrument, including adjustibng pups, basic wiring including pups and pops, and as of the past few years, swapping mags.

But if it is wrong, cheap and easy is not the reason to do it. I get paid to help people figure that out after they have repeatedly failed by doing the cheap/easy thing instead of the right thing.

 

[Aceman]

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

The 498 stinks. Of course I was kidding. As for my current non-magnetic efforts, Ace, well they certainly haven't diminished my expertise of the magnetic kind.

You are a saucy little thing today Frank.

 

[stevie_bees]

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

Twangbanger...

 

[King IzzO)))]

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

I'm of the opinion that you don't need to throw your two cents in if you don't have experience with specific requests, be it the pickup discussed, the artist or genre the requestor cites, or the equipment involved. We have a diverse enough group here that just about any questio could be answered by someone with first hand knowledge, rather than "I think it would work".

Yes, I'm guilty of it too, especially the "this is my favorite" thing.

One more thing, if you see what you KNOW to be bad advice given, make sure the OP knows it's bad advice.

 

[ratherdashing]

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

I'm of the opinion that you don't need to throw your two cents in if you don't have experience with specific requests, be it the pickup discussed, the artist or genre the requestor cites, or the equipment involved. We have a diverse enough group here that just about any questio could be answered by someone with first hand knowledge, rather than "I think it would work".

Yes, I'm guilty of it too, especially the "this is my favorite" thing.

One more thing, if you see what you KNOW to be bad advice given, make sure the OP knows it's bad advice.

A thousand times yes to everything in this post.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

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

The "comfort zone" blueman spoke of was for newbies. I can't see what sort of "comfort zone" a newbie tone-chaser would have, though, aside from swapping pickups. Most people go straight for a pickup swap without considering pots, cap/resistor mods, or even their amp (eq, change that out completely, etc). I've also read a lot of posts that say they want their 3 tonally-different guitars to work with their one amp without changing the amp in any way, and expect to find a pickup to do that.

Personally, I say let them spend $1000 on various pickups. The knowledge of what the various pickups sound like in their guitar through their amp when they're playing it is something everyone needs, so they don't just follow anyone's advice that a JB or RC/UOA2/4/5/7/8 solves everything.

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

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

I don't know, if it's all that.

A few years ago, I posted that I wasn't happy with my main guitar at the time, a Dean Cadillac. A certain forum member said that if he had that guitar, he'd put a custom 5 in the bridge, a pearly gates in the neck, and some other pickup in the middle (don't remember which one it was.) So, since I had the bug to modify my guitar anyway, I took that person's advice and put a pearly gates in the neck, a Custom 5 in the bridge, and Phat Cat in the middle. I was much more happy with the sound of the guitar after that. In fact, I was really surprised at HOW MUCH happier I was with the sound (I still don't like some other things about it's playability.)

That person was .. DUN DUN DUN! .. Aceman.

 

[Aceman]

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

Well, Everyone knows a Pearly Gates is the ultimate Les Paul style neck pickup.


And hopefully I said I don't have a 3 pup LP/Caddy!!!!!! I USUALLY do - but maybe not always...

 

[DrNewcenstein]

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

Out of the ~100 electric guitars I've owned over the years, I can only think of one where the pickup merely amplified the acoustic tone. That pickup was a Duncan Custom, and the guitar was a homemade strat-style a friend of mine put together.

 

[LesStrat]

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

The Brobucker will cure what ails ya.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

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

I disagree. Magnet swapping requires a lightness of touch, the correct tools and a clear idea of how the finished article should turn out.

Well, I guess we're all lucky that pickup swapping doesn't require any of those things.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

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

Hey, guys. I'm new to the forum and am looking to improve the sound of my set-neck mahogany Telecaster into my Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I want to get a sound like Smashing Pumpkins on the song "Zero". Any ideas?

Hmmm… Telecaster and a Deluxe Reverb, eh? Well, I don't like the Smashing Pumpkins, but I would put a set of Five-Two's in a Tele any day of the week. Yeah, do that!

What should I put in the bridge of my LP?

Anything but a JB.

Anything, as long as it's a JB.

A JB neck model, with a graham-cracker-cast chrome-pewter IX magnet, installed upside-down with the output leads connected to your blender to mix the two coils together.

:flowers1:

 

[Myaccount876]

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

I don't know, if it's all that.

A few years ago, I posted that I wasn't happy with my main guitar at the time, a Dean Cadillac. A certain forum member said that if he had that guitar, he'd put a custom 5 in the bridge, a pearly gates in the neck, and some other pickup in the middle (don't remember which one it was.) So, since I had the bug to modify my guitar anyway, I took that person's advice and put a pearly gates in the neck, a Custom 5 in the bridge, and Phat Cat in the middle. I was much more happy with the sound of the guitar after that. In fact, I was really surprised at HOW MUCH happier I was with the sound (I still don't like some other things about it's playability.)

That person was .. DUN DUN DUN! .. Aceman.

When I saw 'Pearly Gates neck', I knew immediately it was Aceman.

 

[Myaccount876]

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

Originally Posted by Forum_NoobHey, guys. I'm new to the forum and am looking to improve the sound of my set-neck mahogany Telecaster into my Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I want to get a sound like Smashing Pumpkins on the song "Zero". Any ideas?

Originally Posted by Jaded_Forum_Regular
Hmmm… Telecaster and a Deluxe Reverb, eh? Well, I don't like the Smashing Pumpkins, but I would put a set of Five-Two's in a Tele any day of the week. Yeah, do that!

Originally Posted by Forum_Noob
What should I put in the bridge of my LP?

Originally Posted by Jaded_Forum_Regular
Anything but a JB.

Originally Posted by Another_Forum_Regular
Anything, as long as it's a JB.

Originally Posted by Third_Forum_Regular
A JB neck model, with a graham-cracker-cast chrome-pewter IX magnet, installed upside-down with the output leads connected to your blender to mix the two coils together.

:chairfall:haha::biglaugh::lmao:

I think you need to put an A8 in everything.

 

[CountFeedback]

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

I like where Aceman is coming from on this post.
Keep it polite #1, in almost every newcomer situation keep it simple, and always keep it honest.

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: