Guitar Pickups

A Word about pickups...

"An Electric Guitar is a bit of wood and wires. I can make a chinese no-name strat clone sound like Jimi Hendrix's and I can make my unbranded 10W practice amp with one dial sound like his Marshall stack in all it's glory."

Obviously complete nonsence, and it's very rare these days to meet someone who still holds this opinion. There are many factors that contribute towards a guitar's overall sound. Some of the most important include: The wood the guitar is constructed of, the design of an Amplifier's preamp and power amp sections and lastly, the speakers that are used. Often it's quite difficult and/or expensive to alter any of these factors, impossible in the case of the guitar's wood!

The Guitar's pickups however, can be changed, and at relatively low cost. Often a guitarist will choose a model of guitar based around a certain few factors, largely the "feel" of it and how comfortable the neck is. They take the guitar home and often find that after a few days of use the guitar seems to lose it's "oomph" and the buyer can feel a little dissapointed. One way of getting around this is to spend time looking for an amplifier/speaker setup that perfectly matches your needs/desires. This can become an extremely expensive method of fixing the situation and in anycase, if you're able to tell that the guitar doesn't quite sound the way you like it's likely you'll already have an amplifier you like.

Let's have a look at pickups, Guitar pickups come in a few different varieties and to the uninitiated it can often be quite difficult to understand these differences and base your descisions accordingly. There are three main types of guitar pickup: the Single Coil, the Soap Bar and the Humbucker. The single coil is the smallest and simplest of the three designs. A single magnet, wrapped hundreds of times in copper wire is encased in a plastic shell. These pickups are typical of Stratocaster and Telecaster style guitars and are famed for their extremely clean, "bell" tones. Just because these pickups are the smallest doesn't mean they are the worst, originals are highly sought-after and fetch a high price. The one draw back of the single coil pickup is the noise or "hum" produced at high volumes.

The Soapbar pickup or the more correctly named P-90 is essentially the same as a Single coil, but it has a larger, flatter magnet and has adjustable poll pieces. Larger still is the Humbucker, designed to "buck the hum" of the single coil pickup. Essentially two single coil magnets stuck together facing in opposite directions the humbucker pickup has much higher output, giving a louder, fatter tone than a single coil and cuts the electronic interferance or hum.

Other styles of pickups include Danelectro Lipstick pickups, Kinman noiseless pickups and Lace Sensors, these pickups take the standard pickup designs and modify them for more contemporary use. Added to the guitarist's choice are Active pickups. Active pickups use electronic circuitry to modify and boost the guitar's sound still further. Why not pop in and see us at A&C Hamilton Preston and we'll help you find the pickups that you're after!