开云体育

Does a good pickup really change the sound? I mean, I have always
thought that the sound is in your fingers, and nothing else matters.
Last year I bought chinesse Epi Dot with serial Epiphone pups, and to
my vast surprise they sound good. Will any Gibson 57 or Seymour make
me sound better?

Does a good pickup really change the sound?

Hell, yes...

JV

Juan Vega

Hey Huey,

I agree that we guitarists (like golfers) can get hung up on gear, but
pickups do indeed make a difference, especially on some 'borderline' guitars,
where the wood and workmanship might be good, but money is saved on the pickups.
Especially on a primarily electric guitar, the pickups are the 'voice' of
the instrument, and good ones are crucial. Think about it, a Les Paul can get
a decent jazz sound, a 335 of course, and I've even played a Strat on jazz
gigs, but as I've posted here before, my Epi Howard Roberts (primarily a jazz
box) sounded barky and strident out of the box. I replaced the stock p/u with
a Kent Armstrong, and now the guitar is a completely different animal. It
sounds warm, round, and mellow, but still has nice crispness for solo lines
and no mud, especially on chords with close intervals (m2's, etc). I think
it's a terrific strategy to buy a solidly made reasonably-priced guitar, and
then make a few key tweaks to enhance sound. I have a MIM Tele that I bought
for a bit over $300, and then installed a Jason Lollar Charlie Christian p/u
($150) in it, and now I have a guitar that not only plays nicely & sounds
great, it's also kind of unique, another thing I really enjoy...

Cheers,
JV

Juan Vega

On Sep 30, 2005, at 4:28 PM, bebmen wrote:

Does a good pickup really change the sound?

Yes.

Jeff

I would recommend replacing your humbucker with a TV Jones TV'Tron

www.tvjones.com

It makes a HUGE difference in sound (not playability).

-Brian

--- In jazz_guitar@..., "bebmen" <bebmen@y...> wrote:

Does a good pickup really change the sound? I mean, I have always
thought that the sound is in your fingers, and nothing else matters.
Last year I bought chinesse Epi Dot with serial Epiphone pups, and

to

my vast surprise they sound good. Will any Gibson 57 or Seymour make
me sound better?

I took the stock superhumbucker out of my L5S because it sounded
harsh.

I put in a PAF reissue that had a sweeter sound. Now I'm satisfied.

I wouldn't necessarily assume that because it's an Epi pickup that
some more expensive pickup will be more to your liking. But, it is
true, IMO, that different pickups do not sound the same.

Rick

different pickup manufacturing methods and designs sound different.
the same design and manufacturer's pickup will sound different on the
same guitar too if mounted in a different orientation relative to the
top, nut and bridge.

in general, i believe buying equipment to enhance ones sound is
counterproductive. it tends to lose the focus on ones personal
improvement that is so necessary to reaching goals. i liken it to
golfers who are members in good standing to the 'driver of the month'
club, who will insist that the lastest $500 toy is finally the answer
to their problem. yes, it may help for a while, but it is only for a
while, because the real problem lies elsewhere. eventually they manage
to groove their poor swing skills on the new club, and are back where
they started.

i think your instincts are correct regarding "the sound is in your
fingers, and nothing else matters" statement, but it is perhaps a
little too extreme to agree with completely.

regards,
huey

Hi YJJG,

I agree with JV on this...pickups are important to electric guitar.
I have a epi dot deluxe, the pickups weren't bad, however, when I
compared the epi's stock pickup to the Gibson 490R in my les paul,
there was a big difference, not only in output, but a more balanced
and "tighter" tone, also more dynamic, and not as "transparent" the
epi stock pickup. I just purchased a Epi SG custom with the 3
humbucker pickups, I probably will leave them , unless they are
really flat in repsonse; however, I don't know if I will spend the
money on gibson pickups, they get kinda of pricey; but I do like
gibson's pickups currently, really nice ...the 490R is nice all
around pickup, and alot of folks really like the 57 classics, and
the 57 classic plus...

there's tons of pickups on the mkt. a good basic PAF copy is the
kent armstrong vintage C ...it's about 50 - 60 bucks a piece...ken
is making a good pickup for the money!

Donnie Loeffler



--- In jazz_guitar@..., "brianmayeux" <brianmayeux@y...>
wrote:

I would recommend replacing your humbucker with a TV Jones TV'Tron

www.tvjones.com

It makes a HUGE difference in sound (not playability).

-Brian

--- In jazz_guitar@..., "bebmen" <bebmen@y...> wrote:

Does a good pickup really change the sound? I mean, I have

always

thought that the sound is in your fingers, and nothing else

matters.

Last year I bought chinesse Epi Dot with serial Epiphone pups,

and

to

my vast surprise they sound good. Will any Gibson 57 or Seymour

make

me sound better?

It sure does. My Ibanezes sounded nice with super 58's because they're nice instruments but after the duncan switchout, I get really delicious sound with all things being equal. I feel better about my playing, I'm excited to play, I play more, I listen more and I become a better player. A good pickup is an inspiration to me. I do however have to say a hefty .012 string and wood bridge and tailpiece has a profound effect on the sound and the way I relate to the instrument too. While it's true that the sound comes out of the hand, removing the rough obstacles in the instrument and amp does allow you to get the most out of what your hands can do.
David

I think I'm pretty much on the other end of the spectrum from
gearheads, but I see this differently.

I agree that your touch is the most important thing. But, being a
great electric guitar player means that you're playing an instrument
which begins with body and ends with the dispersion of sound to your
audience. Every link in that chain is important. Sure, some may make
more difference than others, but they all count. Playing great is the
sum of a seemingly endless series of details. And, in the end, you'll
have to pay attention to every one.

The fact is that some setups sound better than others and getting
great sound is important. I wouldn't wait until some arbitrary time
in the future to think about it. The sound of the instrument will
change the way you play. It's a feedback loop, not a one way system.

Having said that, I think it's important to be focused in the effort
to improve your sound. I don't think it's enough to say, will a new
pickup sound better? I think it would be better to be able to
identify what characteristics you're looking for and then figure out
what you need to do to get them.

You'll hear all kinds of stories. Some guys (me included) have
changed pickups to advantage. Other guys talk about preamps making
all the difference. For others is pedals. For others it's
amplification. For others it's amp placement for proper dispersion.
And, in the cracks you'll find guys talking about pots, capacitors,
cables, tube types etc.

All of those things can change the sound -- and there are so many
you'd be hard pressed to try every combination. So, I like a problem
solving approach. What is it you want to sound like? What do you need
to do to get it?

Rick




--- In jazz_guitar@..., "hueyhoolihan"
<hueyhoolihan@y...> wrote:

different pickup manufacturing methods and designs sound different.
the same design and manufacturer's pickup will sound different on

the

same guitar too if mounted in a different orientation relative to

the

top, nut and bridge.

in general, i believe buying equipment to enhance ones sound is
counterproductive. it tends to lose the focus on ones personal
improvement that is so necessary to reaching goals. i liken it to
golfers who are members in good standing to the 'driver of the

month'

club, who will insist that the lastest $500 toy is finally the

answer

to their problem. yes, it may help for a while, but it is only for a
while, because the real problem lies elsewhere. eventually they

manage

to groove their poor swing skills on the new club, and are back

where

they started.

i think your instincts are correct regarding "the sound is in your
fingers, and nothing else matters" statement, but it is perhaps a
little too extreme to agree with completely.

regards,
huey

--- In jazz_guitar@..., "bebmen" <bebmen@y...> wrote:

Does a good pickup really change the sound? I mean, I have

always

thought that the sound is in your fingers, and nothing else

matters.

Last year I bought chinesse Epi Dot with serial Epiphone pups,

and to

my vast surprise they sound good. Will any Gibson 57 or Seymour

make

me sound better?

What does P.A.F means?

Old Gibson designation for an early model alnico pickup that was waiting for a Patent to be processed.
The pickup had a nice sound and gained a reputation even before the Patent designation went through so the name at the time "Patent Applied For" stuck.
David

Ok, so what makes a good jazz pickup. How does D.C resistance have to
do with it? What difference does the height of the pickup make?
Basically what do I have to know to choose a good jazz pickup? What do
you think of Seymour Duncan's SH1 59' model?

--- In jazz_guitar@..., "bebmen" <bebmen@y...> wrote:

Ok, so what makes a good jazz pickup. How does D.C resistance

have to

do with it? What difference does the height of the pickup make?
Basically what do I have to know to choose a good jazz pickup?

What do

you think of Seymour Duncan's SH1 59' model?

Howdy,

I'm not sure about the DC resistance, if it is the same as the
output olm's (which is resistance?). I think it has to do with the
output "power" the pickup has inheritantly. Most humbuckers are
around 7.5K to 8.9K, however, some are higher output 15.5K , etc.
the higher the K, the louder the pickup is. Alot of the metal
players prefer a very high output so it is easier to achieve a very
distorted or overdrivin sound. I don't think anyone would want that
for jazz?

The height of the pickup is important for output as well as getting
a balance in conjunction with the other pickups on the guitar.

There are tons of pickups on the mkt. Most jazz pickups are marketed
by how the are installed. Most archtops feature a "floating pickup"
which isn't hard wired into the top of the guitar, they are mounted
on the pickguard or the around the guitar's neck , so the top will
vibrate fully.

My favorite pickup is the Gibson 490R. When I purchased a used les
pual, it had seymour duncan pearly gates in the neck and a JB in the
tail . I switched those out to the gibson 490R and 490T becuase I
didn't care for the SD's tone, I found them to be muddy. I only got
a decent sound WITH distortion with the SD's. I really think gibson
is making a good pickup currently. I also put a gibson 490R in my
epi dot deluxe in the neck position. I really think a good pickup
for less money is made by kent armstrong. try visting the bill
lawrence website on general pickup info, there is a good interview
with bill about gibson's attempt to replicate the famous old PAF
style pickups.

A good tip for jazz players is to roll off the treble about half way
to get a jazz tone from a humbucker. Also , some "boutique" or
custom pickups company's claim that hand wound pickups are always
superior to machine wound pickups; I don't think that's true all the
time. You can spend anywhere from 30 bucks to 200 dollars on a
pickup. There are alot of factors , but what is nice, you can always
change them and experiement if you want.

Also, I don't recommend doing any routing of wood for installation ,
unless you're absolutely satisfied with the choice. Also, changing
pickups can effect the value of the guitar for resale, keep the old
stock pickups , but be wary if you had to route wood. My point is:
don't change the pickups on a classic vintage instrument if you plan
to resale the guitar. Nobody is going to want a 59 les paul with
seymour duncans, unless you've got the original pickups!

sorry for the long post...

Donnie Loeffler

It stands for Patent Applied For.

It refers to a label that was placed on the earlier Gibson humbuckers.
These pickups are considered to be particularly good sounding. Gibson
later reissued the pickup because it was getting so much good press in
the guitar magazines.

Wow... didn't know that...

--- In jazz_guitar@..., "Rick_Poll" <richardipollack@y...>
wrote:

It stands for Patent Applied For.

It refers to a label that was placed on the earlier Gibson

humbuckers.

These pickups are considered to be particularly good sounding.

Gibson

later reissued the pickup because it was getting so much good press

in

the guitar magazines.


--- In jazz_guitar@..., "bebmen" <bebmen@y...> wrote:

What does P.A.F means?

According to what Tom Jones (TV Jones) told me... That the lower DC
resistance produces more clarity... Which is what I really love and I
think is what you want for jazz and for that matter blues also...

The higher resistance adds some bite...

--- In jazz_guitar@..., "bebmen" <bebmen@y...> wrote:

Ok, so what makes a good jazz pickup. How does D.C resistance have

to

do with it? What difference does the height of the pickup make?
Basically what do I have to know to choose a good jazz pickup? What

do

you think of Seymour Duncan's SH1 59' model?

patant applied for.

I could have sold my old 1962 Hofner Verithin a dozen times at gigs, the pickups are actually not that good but the sound is the most woody, jazzy tone of any of my instruments. I have analyzed this and have posted previously about it.

However, at last night`s gig (Saturday,) I was using a new cheapo Ibanez jazz box and everybody said how much they liked our sound. My partner was using his new Matheney Ibanez but nobody commented on any difference in the sound of the two guitars. (We were both plugged into the same Vox AC30.)

When I saw John Etheridge recently his SG was missing a pickup with holes where it should have been and holes where he had ripped out some of the controls. I didn't go to look at the guitar.

So, if anybody wants to spend a fortune on replacement pickups that aren't much different to what they already have - go right ahead we can all use the business.

Will

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 2 Date: Sun, 02 Oct 2005 13:34:21 +0100
From: Will <will@...>
Subject: Re: Pick-up difference
I could have sold my old 1962 Hofner Verithin a dozen times at gigs, the pickups are actually not that good but the sound is the most woody, jazzy tone of any of my instruments. I have analyzed this and have posted previously about it.
However, at last night`s gig (Saturday,) I was using a new cheapo Ibanez jazz box and everybody said how much they liked our sound. My partner was using his new Matheney Ibanez but nobody commented on any difference in the sound of the two guitars. (We were both plugged into the same Vox AC30.)

Which cheapo Ibanez box do you have? They've got about 15 different models of cheapo jazz boxes.

Jazz through an AC-30 :-)