Thanks for taking time for this.
I'm in the process of building a fret-less electric guitar that will mostly be used with an Ebow. I just really wanted something like a guitar that would give some controllable dynamics/sustain, unlimited gliss with some "strings" like expression. The body is walnut and the neck is mahogany with a black ebony fret-less fingerboard.
My main concern is how the choice of pickup will manifest in tone, primarily the higher frequencies. I've noticed that those playing fretless guitars with an Ebow seem to collectively manifest a loss of shimmering highs, the kind of highs that don't get lost with fretted guitars. This doesn't surprise me assuming that the combination of the string meeting wood and skin is going to cause a significant degree of damping in the higher frequencies - and maybe that couple with the fact that the majority of Ebow users seem to gravitate to humbucking pickups which could also add to a roll off of those more sparkly frequencies.
Naturally, I'm going to have to experiment to truely know which pickup will be best suited for this fret-less Ebow project but, I wanted to ask your suggestions on what pickups might work to compensate for the damped loss of highs. I suppose I'm looking for pickups that are exceptionally bright and have unusually or overly extended and predominant band of high frequencies. And I'd be interested also in hearing about humbuckers as well as single coils. If a humbucker, I would have every intention of wiring it for series, parallel cut coil to take advantage of all the response possibilities. Of course, I may find out that it is some single coil that is going to do it for me. It may end up being one of those 4K lipstick pickups! And that's OK if that's what it takes in the end. But, I know I'll need to try a few and your input, comments and opinions will be very welcome regardless of what I end up using. Your suggestions may give me a good starting point. I'm very excited about what this instrument might do when its done.
Thank you all,
Phil Donovan
I'm in the process of building a fret-less electric guitar that will mostly be used with an Ebow. I just really wanted something like a guitar that would give some controllable dynamics/sustain, unlimited gliss with some "strings" like expression. The body is walnut and the neck is mahogany with a black ebony fret-less fingerboard.
My main concern is how the choice of pickup will manifest in tone, primarily the higher frequencies. I've noticed that those playing fretless guitars with an Ebow seem to collectively manifest a loss of shimmering highs, the kind of highs that don't get lost with fretted guitars. This doesn't surprise me assuming that the combination of the string meeting wood and skin is going to cause a significant degree of damping in the higher frequencies - and maybe that couple with the fact that the majority of Ebow users seem to gravitate to humbucking pickups which could also add to a roll off of those more sparkly frequencies.
Naturally, I'm going to have to experiment to truely know which pickup will be best suited for this fret-less Ebow project but, I wanted to ask your suggestions on what pickups might work to compensate for the damped loss of highs. I suppose I'm looking for pickups that are exceptionally bright and have unusually or overly extended and predominant band of high frequencies. And I'd be interested also in hearing about humbuckers as well as single coils. If a humbucker, I would have every intention of wiring it for series, parallel cut coil to take advantage of all the response possibilities. Of course, I may find out that it is some single coil that is going to do it for me. It may end up being one of those 4K lipstick pickups! And that's OK if that's what it takes in the end. But, I know I'll need to try a few and your input, comments and opinions will be very welcome regardless of what I end up using. Your suggestions may give me a good starting point. I'm very excited about what this instrument might do when its done.
Thank you all,
Phil Donovan
