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Steel guitar pickups are usually wound with more turns to increase sustain but with the increased turns and higher DC resistance there would be an increased loss of high end the further away from the bridge. The pickup is moved close to the bridge to retain the brightness and with the added turns gives the…

Many times the tip of the toggle switch inside the switch can become dry and needs to be lubricated with a fine lubricant. The little nylon cap at the bottom of the toggle can slide down and make it harder to move back and forth. I would check the switch and make sure the nylon…

I would be the first to say that the finish plays an important role on the tone of the instrument. In the past 30 years I’ve seen so many changes in the various coatings used on instruments and all the regulations that hurt the small builders. The nitrocellulose lacquers have all gone from California and…

When a string is plucked and the amount of energy generated by the pickup that causes the input stage of an amplifier to amplify. This overdrive is often associated with sustain or how long a note will continue to vibrate for the desired duration. Sustain is also associated with the length of time a note…

The wrapping around the inner core (spring steel) of most guitar strings are made from a non-ferrous material such as bronze. Bronze is an alloy of copper, tin and zinc. Bronze is not attracted to the magnetic field in a guitar pickup. You can get sounds out of a acoustic guitar string because the inner…

For years players have customized their guitars by adding different types of pickups to get that all-in-one sound. Albert Collins and Keith Richards put humbuckers in the neck position of their Telecasters and Alvin Lee from “Ten Years After” put a Stratocaster pickup in between the two humbuckers on his Gibson ES-335. Years ago Eddie…

Normally the lower 4 strings of acoustic guitar strings are wound with a non- ferrous alloy (usually bronze). The E-1st, B-2nd and inner core of the 3rd to 6th string are made from a ferrous material called spring steel. When plucked it will move the magnetic field in the pickup and generate an alternating current…

The pickups can be made with a staggered pole piece pattern similar to a Fender Stratocaster. The arrangement of the pole piece give the pickup a string balance but also is important to the tonal character of the pickup. By lowering or raising certain poles the pickup will have it’s own inner phasing due to…

You’re trying to achieve the same pickup angle as Jimi Hendrix. Jimi was left handed and played a right handed guitar. You are right handed and should play a left handed guitar to achieve the same results. If your using a right handed guitar and want the pickup slanted, here are few things you need…

Always keep then protected and wrapped using paper towels and keep in a safe place. Pickups are very delicate and if one turn of magnet wire gets broken, the pickups can quit working. On Fender Stratocaster pickups the older pickups used 42 Formvar and later 42 Plain Enamel. The diameter for 42 Plain Enamel is…