What is a lap or pedal steel guitar pickup?

You will notice that steel guitar pickups are generally wound with more turns and higher DC resistance and the bobbins are moved closer to the bridge to retain the treble associated with more turns. Some steel guitar pickups are wound over 10 k Ohms and with the increased turns, you loose the high-end and it…

What are bass pickups and how are they constructed?

Bass pickups are wound to respond to the lower notes of a bass instrument. Leo Fender first made a single coil bass that looked similar to a Telecaster bridge pickup for his Precision Bass that was also nicknamed The Telecaster Bass most likely because it had a headstock like a traditional Telecaster. It had 4…

What is a split pickup?

A split pickup is when using a two coil humbucking pickup and one of the coils is shorted out to produce a single coil sound. Splitting out one coil of a humbucker will also make the pickup noisy, less output, brighter and thinner sounding.

Can epoxied pickups be rewound?

Probably 95% can’t. As the epoxy solution is drying, there can be a chemical reaction with plastic parts within the pickup and the epoxy can actually bond with the plastics. The epoxy has a thick viscosity than a hot wax and cannot always fill the fine voids and cavities within the pickup. The epoxy can…

How can I measure the dc resistance of a pickup?

When checking a pickup for performance it is best to use an analog or digital multimeter. I prefer a digital as you can get the exact DC resistance of a pickup you are testing. The DC of a pickup can change depending on the temperature you are testing the pickups. Higher temperatures will give you…

How can I keep from breaking the wires around the eyelet?

Again this is another reason to remove the strings from your instrument. It keep less pressure off the pickguard and trying to clear it from under the strings that are usually not loose enough to begin with. If you need to remove Stratocaster pickguards often, I would suggest putting a fine piece of masking tape…

How do you test your pickups?

Check the DC Ohm resistance of a pickup to make sure the wound coil is working properly and it’s in the proper range. Visual inspection of the pickup to see if it’s been rewound or wound in the proper direction. Make sure if the pickups been rewound, it is professionally done with the proper gauge…

Can temperature change the sound of a pickup?

I’d be the first one to say that it does – the cold temperatures I’ve played in certainly changed the tone of my Telecaster pickups. I was playing along the New Jersey shore during the winter months and I’ll never forget how cold it used to get. My guitar and amp were in the trunk…

What causes loss of high frequency in a hot or over-wound pickup?

It is basically due to the increased capacitance and DC resistance when a coil is wound hotter. The increased turns can increase the output but also diminish the brightness in a pickup. Some pickup builders try to increase the treble by using stronger magnets but they only change the tone and character of a pickup.

Why do the g-b-e non-wound strings have higher output than the wound e-a-d strings?

Most likely the player is using some type of non-ferrous wrapped string on the e-a-d and the plain g-b-e may be of a larger diameter spring steel. The non-ferrous strings have a much lower attraction to the magnetic field within the pickup and generate less output. Other factors that cause less output can be the…

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