More is always better...... Right?

C

Chocklit_Thunda

New member
So I have a scrap strat copy that I can mess around on and plenty of loose cheap pickups in my parts bin....... I'm thinking of playing around with adding more pickups to the standard strat configuration.... Maybe 5 or 6 pickups with individual on off switches for any combo. Probably 5 pickups, just adding 2 in between the existing 3.

Any pros and cons to this?
Aside from string pull (but how severe would it be?) are there any other major problems?
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

String pull will be your biggest problem but its still manageable. I have an HSH guitar loaded with Rio grande muygrandes which are 2 large mag single coils tied together and there is no string pull issue unless you do a serious dive with the trem... I wouldnt worry about it.
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

Cool. I will probably have to look into optimising the pickup heights for the least string pull.
Those pickups like the Muygrandes and stag mag, how much more strong pull is there over a conventional bar magnet humbucker?
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

Chocklit_Thunda said:
Cool. I will probably have to look into optimising the pickup heights for the least string pull.
Those pickups like the Muygrandes and stag mag, how much more strong pull is there over a conventional bar magnet humbucker?
Click to expand...

They pull just like a normal single coil because thats what they are just 2 tied together in a humbucker format. You have to be a little careful to not get them too close but its no big rub.
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

I plan to try this soon myself. I'm planning to do something a little over the top that will allow patching the pickups to get various combinations of series/parallel/in or out of phase, and it will look ugly, but if I wanted the guitar to look decent, I'd definitely do five three-way on/off/on switches to allow changing the phase of the pickups.

String pull will probably only affect the low E or low A, possibly causing "wolf tones", if you have fully charged magnets raised close to those strings.

I did something like this with five switches as a teenager, and in general I think this is more of an experimental thing to do, because the combinations tend to be too thin to use on a regular basis, and lots of little switches become tiresome after a while.
 
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Re: More is always better...... Right?

Explain "wolf tones"? I've heard the term but have no idea what they are.
Yeah I'm planning a Brian May style wiring system.

@EdgeCrusher, or anyone who knows about these things, I take it rod magnet singles have more pull than a bar magnet humbucker coil or those bar mag cheapie singles?
I assume this will just take some tweaking to get right
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

Its mostly the proximity of the mags for the extra pull... humbucker bar mags are under the coils and quite a distance away where single coil rod mags are right there
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

Chocklit_Thunda said:
Explain "wolf tones"? I've heard the term but have no idea what they are.
Click to expand...

It happens a lot around the 12 fret and above with the low E string, and it sounds like you're hearing two notes at once, one in tune and one out of tune. It happens mostly at the 12th fret and above because a) the string becomes closer to the pickups the higher up the neck you go, and b) most of the vibration happens in the mid point of a string, relative to where it's fretted, and fretting near or past the 12th fret puts the mid point closer to the pickups and their magnets, making it easier still for them to interfere with the vibration. I'm thinking that five pickups might extend the problem to the A string as well.

Some people complain about string dampening causing all the strings to lose sustain, not related to "wolf tones", but I think that's wildly overrated. IMO, you more than make up for it with the increased output afforded by the stronger magnet 99% of the time. If you want to avoid the issue and are willing to spend money, you could do Lace Sensors.
 
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Re: More is always better...... Right?

Edgecrusher said:
Its mostly the proximity of the mags for the extra pull... humbucker bar mags are under the coils and quite a distance away where single coil rod mags are right there
Click to expand...

I wonder if the fact that the magnetic field is dispersed over an area almost twice as wide has something to do with it also.
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

DreX said:
I wonder if the fact that the magnetic field is dispersed over an area almost twice as wide has something to do with it also.
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Yes it does... also the orientation of the rod mags plays into it. A few years ago i did some very unscientific experiments to see the strength of mags using paper and fine iron filings. You could easily see the patterns and dispersions created. Could also see the difference in strength between alloys.
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

I don't really believe in string pull, although you might be stretching it.

The bigger problems are, IMHO:
  • The magnetic fields of the pickups interfering with each other when they are too close
  • Position really matters. You won't be able to make the pickups that are in unusual position sound like what you are used to
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

Well I'm looking at trying 5 pickups instead of 6. I sized it and they could fit in the gaps on the strat setup. Would the magnetic field stretch that far?

As for the unusual positions, I think that's a big part of it. Getting different sounds than the normal 5.
 
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Re: More is always better...... Right?

If you want to see what the magnetic field will do, just take a working guitar, strum it, and hold another pickup in close proximity to the one that's currently active. I just tried, I didn't hear any difference no matter where I oriented the second pickup.
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

I won't judge.

World-039-s-Ugliest-Guitars-11.png


Crazier things have been tried before

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Re: More is always better...... Right?

Haha those types of guitars are where I got the idea in the first place. These and the old Eko models with 4 pickups kinda got me wanting to try this.
I wouldn't go so far as to add a separate volume for each pickup though..... In that case I may as well include an on board mixing desk.
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?



Though I've performed a body transplant, I've had this guitar/pickup config for over 20 years. Lots of cool sounds you could never get otherwise. I've alternated the polarities so I can get hum canceling, but it also reduces the string pull by providing a return path for the fields instead of focusing them upward. Ghost notes and aliasing are definitely a problem if the pickups are too close to the strings.
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

Damn! Nice guit you have there, Frank :)
I was looking into the polarities of the pickups. A lot of the cheapie Asian guitars come stock with a RWRP middle pickup. I assume I'd have to move those to position 2 and 4 and keep the middle pup the same as neck and bridge?
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

Thanks.

Sure that's one way to do it. Just watch if they're cheap single coils with ceramic bar magnets underneath, it'll really negatively affect the magnetic field. You can use regular single coils with Alnico rod magnets, but if you start combining ceramic and Alnico there is always the potential to degauss the Alnico with them so close to one another.
 
Re: More is always better...... Right?

Yeah I've got a mixture of alnico and ceramics.... I might just use the ceramics and keep the alnicos for another project.
 
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