Members honeyiscool Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 Given a pickup with simple construction like a Strat pickup or a PAF style humbucker, what makes one better than another? Let's say you have a cheap humbucker where you changed out all the parts you could manage (magnets, slugs, screws), is there still such a thing as good coil wire and bad coil wire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members adlo76 Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 "good" pickups sound "good" and "bad" pickups sound "bad". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PrawnHeed Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 Mine are good, yours are bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LesPaulFetish Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 Mine are good, yours are bad. That's not what your GF said.... :poke: Seriously though, probably attention to detail and experience in whoever's making them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 There are different gauges of wire that can be used IIRC and the winding pattern is critical in voicing the pup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PrawnHeed Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 That's not what your GF said.... :poke: but when she didn't say that, was she talking about me or herself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metallica_00 Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 Just like everything else, there's the raw input materials and the actual design and construction. And it just so happens that certain input materials assembled in a particular fashion generally produce sounds that most people find preferable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 A pick-up that picks up (unintentional play on words) the tonal quality of the acoustic instrument, it's complexity and characteristics. I imagine a really bad pup sounding much the same and two dimensional whatever guitar it's put in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xrleroyx Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 The tone is in the paf sticker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 I'm not so convinced that "bad" pickups are very common anymore. just different ones. GFS guitars and GFS pickups, which are very low-end price wise, are perfectly fine and useable for whatever job you need. if $30 pickups on $160 guitars don't need to be "bad", why would ANY pickup need to be bad? we can talk all day about what pickups we prefer, but as far as "bad" pickups I haven't run into any. at least not in a long while. I'm waiting on a BG pups "A3 rock wind" for my tele's bridge position right now. is it because my old tele pickup was bad? no, not at all. the stocker in my standard tele sounds great. I'm going to swap it because something that can push an amp a bit more easily and has a bit thicker sound will suit my purposes. replacing a pickup that sounds fine "just because" you want to upgrade it to something "better" is a lot of hype driven money wastery. imo, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Strung_Out Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 "good" pickups sound "good" and "bad" pickups sound "bad". I was going to post this exact same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 If you are looking for that harsh yet still muddy sound than there are probably plenty of good pickups out there for you. Most of the cheap import guitars do improve with a pickup change. As for what I think that you are really asking is the same thing I asked a while back. Why in the hell (or even better, how in the hell) do you make a bad pickup in today's world? Its not like any of these are really unique designs. For the most part their all derivative of the same humbucker, P90 or single coil. They all have the same basic components. You'd think that by now the difference between assembling a pickup on a machine, using wire, some plastic and a couple magnets in china and one in america wouldn't make that big a difference. But I've heard it and I've recorded it just to prove it to myself. It's almost like you would have to go out of your way to make a bad pickup today. But harsh and muddy is still out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BoneNut Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 For me... A good pup should pickup the nuances of the pick and fingers, responding to string atack. It should be very clear, not icepicky, just clear so the tone knob is actually usable, giving a wide range of tone, from dark to bell like clear. It should be very defined and articulate, strum a chord and distinguish each string, never muddy. It should also respond well to adjustments such as height and post level. A bad pup? One that lacks one or more of the above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members etawful Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 Good pickups work, bad ones don't. Oh wait, you were talking about the other kind of good vs. bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members unworthy Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 I'm waiting on a BG pups "A3 rock wind" for my tele's bridge position right now. is it because my old tele pickup was bad? no, not at all. the stocker in my standard tele sounds great. I'm going to swap it because something that can push an amp a bit more easily and has a bit thicker sound will suit my purposes. Bryan wound me an A2 Rock Wind for the bridge of my Tele a few months back and that little partscaster has become my #1, I can't hardly pick up anything else. The GFS Hot '62 it replaced sounded quite bland in comparison, so I suspect you'll be very happy. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 Bryan wound me an A2 Rock Wind for the bridge of my Tele a few months back and that little partscaster has become my #1, I can't hardly pick up anything else. The GFS Hot '62 it replaced sounded quite bland in comparison, so I suspect you'll be very happy.D A2? is that by special request? anyway, I'm definitely expecting good results. in the past, I've gotten a BG bucker as well as a couple of pure 90s from bryan and all have been good, particularly the pure 90s. I think the pure 90s are a real stand-out pickup, they sort of make me wonder why anyone would want an ordinary humbucker. They can fill a humbucker's role but sounds so much more detailed... The ONLY thing currently stopping me from putting a pure 90 in my tele's neck position is that I want whatever's there to be chrome. yeah, it's an appearance thing. but even then I still may do it, who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members unworthy Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 A2? is that by special request? Yes. I described to Bryan (by email) what I was looking for (something with more output to balance better with the SD SM-1 mini, but only slightly elevated mids) and that was what he suggested. The output didn't balance quite as evenly as I hoped, but it was closer, and for some reason the combination became more responsive to vol and tone adjustments. I just love that little guitar now. D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 Yes. I described to Bryan (by email) what I was looking for (something with more output to balance better with the SD SM-1 mini, but only slightly elevated mids) and that was what he suggested. The output didn't balance quite as evenly as I hoped, but it was closer, and for some reason the combination became more responsive to vol and tone adjustments. I just love that little guitar now.D jinx, an sm-1 is what I'm leaning towards trying in my tele's neck. does it play well with 250k pots? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Quarter Posted May 8, 2011 Members Share Posted May 8, 2011 ... The ONLY thing currently stopping me from putting a pure 90 in my tele's neck position is that I want whatever's there to be chrome. yeah, it's an appearance thing. but even then I still may do it, who knows. Have Bryan wind you one of his H90's. It's an Alnico 2 HB sized 90 style that uses the open top chrome cover, a favorite of many in the neck of a Tele.Here is a thread of atrox's HC giveaway from a couple years back that had a H90 in it.And the demo http://bmlrock.com/guitar/hceg/finished/hceg.mov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Willyguitar Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 In general, I have found pickup changes to have a smaller effect than I expected, although I have found humbuckers (at least those trying to be PAFs) to have a wider variability. But I think there must be a skill to actually winding them, as well as the components, otherwise certain companies would, I suppose, not be able to maintain such a high reputation. Sometimes you can get a pickup that is 'cheap' or 'stock' to sound pretty much how you like by just altering its height. All other things being equal, like most other things, it is all, then, down to individual preference. One man or woman's terribly harsh, icepicky pickup will be another man or woman's heaven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 For my it's all in the ratio. If the magnet overpowers the coil too much, it'll be ear-piercing bright. If the coil overpowers the magnet too much, it all goes to mud. Windings, wire gauge, magnet size, magnet compound, etc. all go into that ratio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jimo Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 About $60........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mistersully Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 I was going to post this exact same thing. ditto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Darkstorm Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 Its mainly a question of personal sound likes really. Some think crunchy pups sound bad compared to smooth voiced ones. And some think the opposite. Though in general terms one could say that bad pups have muddy voice with no articulation and/or that they tend to have a jagged or sudden note drop off rather then even slow note fade out for sustain char. Just because a pup might be a guitar brands house pups doesnt mean theyre bad pups at all. Ive liked some of these better then some of the dimarzio & seymour pups for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ozzeh Posted May 9, 2011 Members Share Posted May 9, 2011 For me...A good pup should pickup the nuances of the pick and fingers, responding to string atack. It should be very clear, not icepicky, just clear so the tone knob is actually usable, giving a wide range of tone, from dark to bell like clear. It should be very defined and articulate, strum a chord and distinguish each string, never muddy. It should also respond well to adjustments such as height and post level.A bad pup? One that lacks one or more of the above. Very well put. I've noticed stock pick-ups lack character and articulation whereas name brand pick-ups (EMG, SD, Dimarzio) enhance a guitar's natural sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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