Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

[Swampy]

That might be what you'd call it.

Is there any such thing out there? Something that you'd be able to mount a pickup to, and it would sit over the strings, upside down of course. Maybe mounted to the guitar with mini suction cups or something. That way you could test the sound of pickups quickly, without removing strings and wiring up. You could alligator clip an output jack direct.

Anyone try something like this? Is what I'm explaining even making sense?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

i build a test guitar that i can slide pups under the strings and mount any where between the bridge and neck. its ugly but it works for testing. got a set of 500k controls and 250k controls too. did i mention its ugly?

 

[Swampy]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

i build a test guitar that i can slide pups under the strings and mount any where between the bridge and neck. its ugly but it works for testing. got a set of 500k controls and 250k controls too. did i mention its ugly?

That's pretty rad. Pic?

I'm thinking of a device that'll allow you to hear the pickup on the guitar you may be putting it in.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

Sounds plausible to me, at least to get a ballpark idea of the sound.

 

[jonsick]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

Since I first started using guitar forums slightly after the Internet was a thing, back when I used to annoy my parents by using the phone line and the phone constantly engaged, when I used to have to load CD-ROM drivers on my machine from a 3.5" floppy disk containing MSCDEX.exe and my NEC's driver, back when I marvelled at my friend's Inkjet printer compared to my old Citizen dot matrix screamer, back when we put those old modems that sat under your phone's receiver away and got them fancy new 56kbps jobbies, back when I first found porn using Altavista, before Google was a thing, before I'd heard some bloke going on about this really amazing new encyclopedia that anyone could add to in the world and experts saying it was a retarded idea (wikipedia), I have found people having these exact same discussions about ways to quick-test guitar pickups. Back on the old IIRC channels, back when Yahoo Chat was amazeballs, back when I first found the Online Guitar Tab Archive which then became harmony central, yep, people have had wild theories, chopped up perfectly fine guitars for the purpose.

In a nutshell, if it's not been done satisfactorily in the last 20 years, I don't hold much hope for you. Simply as even if you build such a contraption, but the time you physically install the pickup in the guitar itself, it's going to be different all over again.

To me the tried and true advice stands tall. If you really have no idea, install a JB and either a 59 or a jazz. Then come back to other folks and tell them what you want more or less of.

Job jobbed.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

That's pretty rad. Pic?

I'm thinking of a device that'll allow you to hear the pickup on the guitar you may be putting it in.

i dont but i could take one when im back at the shop. its not pretty lol. its a swimming pool rout in a rough cut body with a wrap around bridge. it was made from scraps years ago but it serves its purpose well

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

Couldn't be any less pretty than Les Paul's "log" he used to test pickups with.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

I've seen pics of similar things, and they are always DIY affairs. However, since each piece of wood is different, it works to compare pickups, although it won't tell you what it will ultimately sound like in the guitar the pickup will end up in.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

totally correct. i built the thing so i could test the results of different tensions, tpl, wire size, insulation thickness/type, etc... for that purpose it was a great tool.

the log looks like a guitar at least, mine hasnt been out of the basement and looks like a bunch of unfinished parts thrown together

 

[daenius]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

This thing here? http://www.axetrak.com/tester.asp

 

[Swampy]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

This thing here? http://www.axetrak.com/tester.asp

Figured there was something out there.

 

[Davii]

Re: Quick mount pickup tester clamp?

I was thinking about buying a bolt-on Fender style neck, and attaching it to something akin to what Jeremy has. Other than actually lining everything up, the only other thing that I'm wondering about is what part scale length will play.