rdclmn7
New member
Someone had given me a much abused generic Strat.
It had a drop-in Schecter pickup assembly with its metallic pickguard and toggle switches.
With one bad pickup, it was time to do some shopping.
I bought a single-colil staggered white single-coil from Seymour Duncan.
It had the magnet below, the polepieces above.
The Schecters had fat magnetic poles.
So, I finally had a chance to compare the two types.
The Schecter had a very, very slight edge to it.
Not enough to justify blowing big bucks, that's for sure.
If string balance is an issue, you can grind magnetic poles, if they get hot, you can ruin the sound.
I usually pull out non-magnetic poles, grind them and just push them straight into their spot.
Pole pieces/blades and the importance of good alloys.
I had an expensive single-coil dual rail pickup.
It had a horrible tonal response when it came to the bas strings.
I had the wild idea of placing a small nail onto the rail, the output dropped dramatically.
No doubt about what different alloys can impact your sound.
Oddball things about magnetic pickups.
My father-in-law has used a suspended adjustable single-coil for years.
The odd thing is that he switches the first three strings to nylon, the genre he deals in doesn't need treble strings that much.
One day I was goofing around with it and discovered that I could hear the nylon strings. It took a few minutes to adjust the pole pieces, but I made it happen.
Why a electromagnetic pickup would detect nylon strings, clueless...
I ripped a base magnet off a pickup and was surprised to hear the sound of strings coming through my amp. The output was nowhere near what it should be, yet there it was, even without a magnet, it still works.
It had a drop-in Schecter pickup assembly with its metallic pickguard and toggle switches.
With one bad pickup, it was time to do some shopping.
I bought a single-colil staggered white single-coil from Seymour Duncan.
It had the magnet below, the polepieces above.
The Schecters had fat magnetic poles.
So, I finally had a chance to compare the two types.
The Schecter had a very, very slight edge to it.
Not enough to justify blowing big bucks, that's for sure.
If string balance is an issue, you can grind magnetic poles, if they get hot, you can ruin the sound.
I usually pull out non-magnetic poles, grind them and just push them straight into their spot.
Pole pieces/blades and the importance of good alloys.
I had an expensive single-coil dual rail pickup.
It had a horrible tonal response when it came to the bas strings.
I had the wild idea of placing a small nail onto the rail, the output dropped dramatically.
No doubt about what different alloys can impact your sound.
Oddball things about magnetic pickups.
My father-in-law has used a suspended adjustable single-coil for years.
The odd thing is that he switches the first three strings to nylon, the genre he deals in doesn't need treble strings that much.
One day I was goofing around with it and discovered that I could hear the nylon strings. It took a few minutes to adjust the pole pieces, but I made it happen.
Why a electromagnetic pickup would detect nylon strings, clueless...
I ripped a base magnet off a pickup and was surprised to hear the sound of strings coming through my amp. The output was nowhere near what it should be, yet there it was, even without a magnet, it still works.
