What causes and eliminates Quack?

[Guitar Toad]

I found the following from another forum:

I was told that quack is the result of 2 TRUE single coil pups in rw/rp. ]
Ghesh, Talk about the land of misinformation in this world! !!

FACT: A RW/RP is an option for the middle pup, it Actually! , TAKES AWAY, QUACK,VOLUME, & TONE While reducing 60 cycle hum.

Quack is the result of two pups ON TOGETHER in PARALLEL and the distance or spacing apart of the two pups They Quack!

Move the spacing, wire them in series, or stick a hot pup in the middle, and kiss your Quack goodbye!

Is this correct?

 

[tone4days]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

hmmm, while it's true that rw/rp doesnt result in quack, i dunno 'bout your explanation if for no other reason than i've heard a solitary pickup all by itself with plenty of quack ...

t4d

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I guess the "quack" is just how it sounds... I mean because of the high resonant peak of those single coils maybe? I think it's just like a nickname for the Strat sound, but I'm not really sure... just what I think it could be...

 

[DrewB]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

FACT: A RW/RP is an option for the middle pup, it Actually! , TAKES AWAY, QUACK,VOLUME, & TONE While reducing 60 cycle hum.

From my experience, that's the way it always seems to go, unfortunately.

 

[Breogan]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I allways thought that quack was a strong middy tone that it's more evident when playing around the 12th fret and plucking the string around where the 24 fret should be. Tipical in the Hendrix and SRV tone arsenal.

Quack really comes through when you use the neck pup, but you notice it with any pup. Some pup's, cause the frecuency reponse, make it easier that others. Anyway, RP/RW only takes away hum and doesn't affect the "tone" output at all, hence it doesn't affect to "quack" or anything else related with the "sonic output" except noise.

That's what I allways thought it was "Quack" but I could be wrong. Let's If some other people says anything else...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I always thought folks were talking about that Dire Straits tone Mark Knopfler gets on Sultans of Swing and Clapton gets on Bell Bottem Blues when they combine the neck and middle pickups on thier Strat, when people talk about Quack.

Although I've never heard that tone as being a quack...a duck quacks! I hear it as being more of a cleanish, shimmering, slightly crunchy chime, like crushed glass.

Two alnico 5 vintage style Strat single coils (like SSL-1's or Surfers) will produce that Sultans of Swing and Bell Bottem Blues tone perfectly.

One pickup being reverse wound has nothing to do with it and will neither diminish or accentuate that quality, IMO.

Lew

 

[musicalhair]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

Now I'm not pretending to be any kind of expert, but I thought "quack" was a stock strat pickup selector position 2 and 4 kind of thing. When I got my strat I noticed the very unique sound in those positions, which I love for groovy chord changes especially but not exclusively for funky stuff and it seems better when played rather clean. I find that for what I'm calling "quack" to really shine through an overdriven or fuzz or distorted sound, the amp or pedal must be tweaked carefully or the magic disappears. Also the tone knobs being opposite of each other really helps it IMHO.

The strat makes a lot of unique sounds, the one I'm talking about is definately one of them: if that isn't "quack" then I'd like to know what it is so I can use the right word.

I'm very afraid of "upgrading" the pickups in my strat because i don't want to lose this rythmn guitar dynamite. The only strat pickups that have my interest are the antiquity surfers and other real single coils because I just think that I'd be losing my favorite strat sound if I stray too far from stock.

 

[Breogan]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

As I said... I could be wrong!!!

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

i think that quack is the cool tone heard by combining the neck and middle or the bridge and middle pickups. The 2 and 4 notch positions, to me, sound sort of pinched and/or muffled when the n+m or m+b are combined. yes I think of the Sultan's Of Swing also.

Do you get a quack when combining the bridge and neck?

 

[Robert S.]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I was told that quack was a result of mids getting cancelled when the two coils are connected in parallel.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

Yes you do GT.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

Thanks Robert S.
I may have to get wired for N+B.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I've always associated it with Doctors who take your money, then offer the same advise a garbage man could of given you, for a Cigarette. (Cymbal Crash!)

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I've always associated it with Doctors who take your money, then offer the same advise a garbage man could of given you, for a Cigarette. (Cymbal Crash!)

Don't quit yer day job for comedy you Seinfeld wanna be! :laugh2:

 

[BlueGuitar]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I found the following from another forum:
I was told that quack is the result of 2 TRUE single coil pups in rw/rp.
Ghesh, Talk about the land of misinformation in this world! !!

Hmmm... there is a current discussion on this subject at the Pickup Makers forum at AMPAGE:

http://www.firebottle.com/fireforum/fireBB.cgi?cfg=gt&forum=pmgd&thread=315562-000000.msg

I believe that Robert S.'s answer here best explains the phenomenen ("I was told that quack was a result of mids getting cancelled when the two coils are connected in parallel.")

FWIW I tried a DuckBucker in the middle position of my FrankenStrat and it quacked all by itself, and with every linkage that included it (series or parallel):

http://www.blueguitar.org/new/articles/blue_gtr/gtr/franken2.pdf

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I also find that I can really tweak this notched position quack by adjusting the middle pickup....In my case,I Like the middle position pickup down lower as this creates that cleaner and quackier tone...I Like having the bridge pickup highest and then tweaking the middle pickup until it sounds right alone and in the 2 and 4 positions...Lew is right when he tells you to use either the Surfers or the SSL1s in the middle neck and bridge positions to get that Sultans Of Swing or Bell Bottom Blues strat tone alot of us love...
The A5 pickups bring this phenomena on in spades compared to the sweeter and less chimey tones of the A2 strat pickups..

 

[Breogan]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

As I said... I could be wrong!!!

Oh my... :smack: I am completely wrong. Everyday we learn something new...

 

[Toenail-Tommy]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

My APS's give me notch quacks. Especially as pointed out...you lower the middle in comparison to the neck and bridge. RWRP doesn't seem to rob any of the quack virtue, tone or output level.

I thought (perhaps wrongly) that the Duckbucker (quack?) was an accentuator of this joyous character?

 

[musicalhair]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I was wondering about that especially in light of the info presented here and in that linked discussion on the other forum: do the duckbuckers truely "quack", do they quack more consistently and over a great portion of the guitar's range, and then if there is a humbucker in the middle position what is the best approach to the other two pickups?

Clearly, I need another strat to start exploring these possibilities.

If I picked up like an old Kramer H-S-S wannabe-strat, would this give me a good place to experiment, or does it have to be a Fender and S-S-S?

 

[Toenail-Tommy]

Re: What causes and eliminates Quack?

I'd say the kramer HSS will work for quack, but mostly between the s & s. I have an Ibanez H S S and it produces no quack off bridge + mid. But does betweet S & S

And no, i don't think it has to be Fender. Perhaps the spongy influence of the trem system adds. But i doubt it, cause i played a strat hard-tail and it quacked in notch.

I know what you mean with the sweet spot - kinda in the area where you get the pinched harmonics, that aids quack.

Hummer in mid? Hmmm, never heard one of those 3 bucker Gibson SGs quack!