Talk about...'the best pickup'

[ZMAN]

its all about EQing the piece of wood ...pick ups are just another volume level and eq ... i agree with most of the statements here ... and dead wood is dead wood ... ive had 2 guitars that were DEAD ! I look at at the eq levels on seymour and dimarzios web sites and get a general idea of what i need for a certain type of wood IE : alder (lil bright and punchy) basswood (in the middle but can have good output or projection) etc. . I wind up going with seymours typically but , i wont rule any co. out . To me its not the co. its all about the Bass Treble Middle and output levels .

Z

 

[Ventura]

Bareknuckle all the way. Anyone ever had a bad experience with one?!!!

yes

Fortunately no. I told Tim what ax was in question and what I wanted it to do, along with the amps, and shazam, he sent the pups. No complaints, totally happy

V.

 

[ElectricTurkey4369]

Bareknuckle

Haven't tried nearly all of them but I love the Painkiller and WarPig sets I have

Im with you man! I put a Holydiver in my Les Paul, and its so much better. The stock 498T/490R were so muddy...

Im really wanting to try a Cold Sweat, and put it into a solid mahogany guitar

 

[Rev]

Has anyone had any experience with Rio Grande pups? I've always been curious.

 

[amiller]

Hmmm...that really makes it difficult to reason which pup goes with which guitar without trial and error. I've got an LP that sounds great with the stock pups. I've also got an LP that sounded harsh and muted at the same time. I put a Suhr Aldrige in the bridge and it sounds a little better but still has that harsh but muted thing happening..any suggestions?

 

[ElectricTurkey4369]

Hmmm...that really makes it difficult to reason which pup goes with which guitar without trial and error. I've got an LP that sounds great with the stock pups. I've also got an LP that sounded harsh and muted at the same time. I put a Suhr Aldrige in the bridge and it sounds a little better but still has that harsh but muted thing happening..any suggestions?

The Aldrich is pretty high output, try lowering the pickup a bit, mabye the magnetic pull is too sttong on the string which gives some weird tone problems.
High output pickups also have less treble than low output so that could be the muted thing going on, especially in a les paul, which is a pretty fat sounding guitar.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I'm with the camp that believes wood affects the tone in different ways. But if you're using a passive pickup mounted with plastic rings and that ring is screwed into the wood, how much of the tone is transferred from the wood and not the plastic? I can, however, absolutely see how pickups mounted right into the wood transmit more of the tonal properties of the particular wood.

 

[Mr. Willy]

Has anyone had any experience with Rio Grande pups? I've always been curious.

I've got the BBQ/Texas in my LP Custom. The BBQ is killer for classic rock and really crunchy stuff. It sounds great for modern rock too, but it wouldn't be my first choice for metal. Think Billy Gibbons tone, and you're in the ballpark. I'm not totally satisfied with the Texas in the neck though. It's a bit underpowered/dark/bassy for my tastes. It's ok though, certainly not bad. You can't go wrong with the BBQ in a Les Paul.

 

[Meathead]

I'm with the camp that believes wood affects the tone in different ways. But if you're using a passive pickup mounted with plastic rings and that ring is screwed into the wood, how much of the tone is transferred from the wood and not the plastic? I can, however, absolutely see how pickups mounted right into the wood transmit more of the tonal properties of the particular wood.

Think of it this way...I had a Charvel where the notes just died really quickly, it had very little sustain. Nothing can change that, unless I try a new piece of body wood.
I have a tele and a strat that both really resonate well and sustain for a long time, that goes through the pickups and into the amp for us to hear a nice long sustaining note, the wood makes a big difference.
Why don't we all just use guitars made out of plastic or aluminum? You could have any body shape you like, it would be light and very durable...but would it resonate nicely? Would it sound good? Not like wood.

 

[Meathead]

Think of a guitar pickup to strings as a microphone is to a singer.
The singers vocal chords sound rich and full because the singers throat, mouth, nose, head, etc resonate and the microphone picks it all up. Chop off the singers head and tell him to sing...it would sound pretty weak and thin with nothing to resonate.
The guitar strings resonate and sustain and sound full because the guitar is made of wood and it resonates. The vibrations of the wood contribute to how the strings keep on vibrating...and the pickup (like a microphone) picks it all up and sends it to the amp.
Just like a singer that has many choices in which microphone will suit their voice/tone best...the same for guitar pickups.

 

[JamesPeters]

That's some low grade wood, though, and MY personal experience with that is a poor piece of wood is a poor piece of wood, no matter how high end the stuff attatched.

...however, get a good cut of tone wood, and look out...
find the right match of a pickup and what suits your ears, and it makes it just right.

It's a bit of a misnomer, calling it "low-grade" wood. The wood would probably meet guidelines for a given grade (whatever grades exist that are applicable in the circumstance); there's just no actual grade for what sounds good in a guitar. And various cuts within a batch which all look the same can sound very different. I don't disagree that some companies (lots of them) choose less expensive wood purposely for their less expensive guitars, but within any batch of wood there seem to be good sounding pieces. That's how you can get Squiers (currently made) which sound amazing if you try enough of them to find the right one.

I usually stick a Duncan Distortion in everything - it's worked so far. Except I had a strat with only a single route cut so I put a Hot Rails in - I liked that one too.

Bareknuckle
Haven't tried nearly all of them but I love the Painkiller and WarPig sets I have

I put a Tom Anderson H3 in the bridge of all my guitars, I love it.

It's always good when it works out.

If you choose a guitar based on its sound, it's easier to know (usually) if a certain pickup you like will work out well in it or not. If you buy a guitar without comparing it to one you like and are familiar with, you are rolling the dice. I could put "pickup X" in any of my guitars and it'll sound good, as long as it sounds good in one of the guitars.

On the other hand, sometimes upon listening to a guitar (comparing it to others) and remembering what various pickups sound like in other guitars, you can make a completely wrong presumption about what might work best for a given guitar. There was a hollowbody Ibanez a friend of mine owned which sounded weak and bland overall, and after trying several my pickups in it (and running out of them), I tried the Humbucker From Hell in the bridge. To my surprise (as anyone would guess based on how the pickup normally sounds), the sound was powerful, full, and balanced. I had to take it out to look at the model number to be sure I put the H From H in it, since I didn't believe the result. The H From H is a pickup I've tried in more than 20 guitars, and it's never sounded like that in the bridge until that one guitar. I'd also figured--if anything--it'd sound too bright and weak based on how the guitar had previously sounded with other pickups I knew. That's the most extreme example of that phenomenon I have witnessed, but have also had similar experiences with other guitars.

But if you're using a passive pickup mounted with plastic rings and that ring is screwed into the wood, how much of the tone is transferred from the wood and not the plastic?

You should try changing pickup rings from plastic to metal. The wood still factors into it more than you realize, irrespective of what pickup rings you use.

Bareknuckle all the way. Anyone ever had a bad experience with one?!!!

Yes, in about half the guitars I used them in. In the other half, they sounded great. Even the mighty Painkiller, with its proclaimed "tight bass", I found it could sound very dull and muddy depending on the guitar it was in. Fact is, a pickup doesn't generate the sound on its own; it's still reliant on what the guitar does. There is no pickup which can promise "tight bass" and actually deliver, in every guitar.

As for pickup heights: it's very important--usually critical--to try adjusting the pickup height. Never presume a certain height works best for a pickup or a guitar. Have a mini screwdriver handy, and adjust the pickup up or down, stopping to play the guitar and then adjusting again, until you get an idea what sounds best and zero in on the right height. The pickup could end up close to the strings, it could also end up 3/8" away from the strings.

 

[chunktone]

Has anyone had any experience with Rio Grande pups? I've always been curious.

I have a single soil set in my Carvin and BBQ buckers in two other guitars, and I really like them!

 

[BeZo]

I put Bartolini pickups in all the hunks of maple I string bass strings on. Bartolini bass pickups rule!

And, it is all about the tone of the wood. I used to smack the kids that came to me with a $200 guitar and a set of EMGs expecting some kind of magic. And, being a big viking looking dude, who is self-employed, I'd get away with it. Now I just charge them more. I tax the ignorance, and then enlighten them when they are unhappy. Kids gotta learn somehow! Tone Woods!!

 

[::fred::]

Bareknuckle all the way. Anyone ever had a bad experience with one?!!!

yes

I agree with The Don. Ice pick city

I'm calling the BS police

 

[Mr. Willy]

But if you're using a passive pickup mounted with plastic rings and that ring is screwed into the wood, how much of the tone is transferred from the wood and not the plastic?

You should try changing pickup rings from plastic to metal. The wood still factors into it more than you realize, irrespective of what pickup rings you use.


As for pickup heights: it's very important--usually critical--to try adjusting the pickup height. Never presume a certain height works best for a pickup or a guitar. Have a mini screwdriver handy, and adjust the pickup up or down, stopping to play the guitar and then adjusting again, until you get an idea what sounds best and zero in on the right height. The pickup could end up close to the strings, it could also end up 3/8" away from the strings.

Oh, I absolutely agree that woods affects the tone and that all aren't equal in quality. I can hear the tonal differences in maple, alder, rosewood, etc. The tonal properties of wood are even more apparent in acoustic guitars, as is the method of construction. All things add up in the equation when it comes to the tone of a guitar.

I adjust my pickup heights just like you mentioned. I usually have a small phillips head screwdriver in my hand or on the amp, and I play through the rig stopping every now and then to raise or lower the pickup until it sounds best to my ears. One general rule I've found is that I always lower high output pups much more than medium output. Actually, I don't use high-output pups much anymore. Don't care for the sound.