Strat Pick-up Ideas

[KuruPrionz]

10 minutes ago, Old Music Guy said:

@KuruPrionzThanks for that bit of information. It is truly something I had never considered. I normally set all my pickups are .125" with little intonation troubles, but I may try a different strategy: Lowering the pups way down and do the intonation that way, and then raise the pups. I've not really experienced the intonation issue, but I think I will give it a try. Just to have another rabbit in the hat. TY

If you lower the pickups, intonate the strings and then raise the pickups, be sure to double check the intonation. More difficult to test but also check your sustain. 

Magnets are magnets, no "work around" will change that. 

My standard procedure for adjusting pickups is to set the bridge pickup to sound good and then adjust the other pickups to have more or less equal volume to the bridge pickup - you will have to lower them. The strings are vibrating in a much wider arc near the neck than they are by the bridge, you can easily see that. The wider arc creates more current in the pickup near the neck, making it louder. Getting the pickup volumes to a similar level will improve the combined pickup tones as well, plus nothing will ever "jump out at you". 

 

In general, the lower the magnetic field generated by the pickups, the more in tune your guitar will sound, plus you'll have more sustain. 

And yes, having the pickups lower will increase the noise to signal ratio. Which is why I gravitated towards low impedance, low magnetic field active pickups, they are very quiet and lowering them does not significantly increase the noise since there is barely any to start with. 

[Old Music Guy]

I completely understand what you're saying. In a previous life I was an R&D tech in mostly electronics firms. So, yeah, I'm a screwdriver, soldering iron guy  

What I didn't take into account - until your post - was I was thinking mostly of the current induced by the proximity of the string to the magnet (both bridge and neck, which you addressed). Never once did it occur to me the effect that magnet(s) would have PHYSICALLY on a steel string, i.e. reducing vibration. That was brought up in the thread with regard to active pups. 

Moreover, this explains an issue I had with a set of Seymours. I had a '59 in the neck, and a JB in the bridge (ironically, this was in this Blackie). They were SO imbalanced that I just couldn't stand it. Given what you've said, had I spent more time (or, was armed with better knowledge) I may have been able to compensate for the delta between the two pups. 

Awesome. I love you folks. 

 

[KuruPrionz]

3 hours ago, Old Music Guy said:

I completely understand what you're saying. In a previous life I was an R&D tech in mostly electronics firms. So, yeah, I'm a screwdriver, soldering iron guy  

What I didn't take into account - until your post - was I was thinking mostly of the current induced by the proximity of the string to the magnet (both bridge and neck, which you addressed). Never once did it occur to me the effect that magnet(s) would have PHYSICALLY on a steel string, i.e. reducing vibration. That was brought up in the thread with regard to active pups. 

Moreover, this explains an issue I had with a set of Seymours. I had a '59 in the neck, and a JB in the bridge (ironically, this was in this Blackie). They were SO imbalanced that I just couldn't stand it. Given what you've said, had I spent more time (or, was armed with better knowledge) I may have been able to compensate for the delta between the two pups. 

Awesome. I love you folks. 

 

Long ago and far away, I was a guitar tech and during that time period I installed LOTS of pickups, it was a thing back then. EVERYBODY wanted hotter pickups. With passives, that usually means more wraps on the coils and stronger magnets. One of the smaller stores I was working for was late in getting set up as a brand vendor and missed DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan so they got the EMG line. 

 

I installed a few sets of EMGs for customers. The first thing I noticed was that you did not attach a "string ground" to EMG pickups. Back then, quite a few clubs had hillbilly wiring and getting shocked by your microphone while touching your guitar was not uncommon. That was the primary reason I switched to EMGs, I never got shocked again. 

 

Strat players were wanting hot rod pickups too, the popular choice back the was Schecter, a California company. Their Strat pickups had bigger magnets and more winds and could cause intonation problems. More than once I'd lower the pickups, get the intonation right and a week later the customer would bring the guitar back. They'd raised the pickups up to get more out put and the intonation was off and unfixable. 

 

Meanwhile, EMG pickups had very low levels of magnetic force and when they came out with the SPC for the Strat, I put one in a customer's guitar. That was a fantastic improvement in intonation, clarity, low noise and the ability to get multiple sounds out of a single guitar. I've been using them since the late 80's. The 335 in my avatar has my favorite hum bucker sized combination - EMG HB (Steinberger bass pickup) in the neck and an EMG 81 (their answer to the DiMarzio Super Distortion) in the bridge but lowered down a bit so it sounds like an evil Tele. 

[Old Music Guy]

16 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

Back then, quite a few clubs had hillbilly wiring and getting shocked by your microphone while touching your guitar was not uncommon.

I damn near lost a bass player one night because of that. I've also been bit, but I usually "test" it before I put my mouth near a microphone.

Though, I'm not sure the pickups are the cause. It's usually caused by a potential (electrical) difference between the stage power and the FOH mixer power. That's why they put a "float" switch on amps to eliminate grounding (or lack thereof) problems. 

BTW: LOVE that 335!

[KuruPrionz]

2 hours ago, Old Music Guy said:

I damn near lost a bass player one night because of that. I've also been bit, but I usually "test" it before I put my mouth near a microphone.

Though, I'm not sure the pickups are the cause. It's usually caused by a potential (electrical) difference between the stage power and the FOH mixer power. That's why they put a "float" switch on amps to eliminate grounding (or lack thereof) problems. 

BTW: LOVE that 335!

Passive pickups require a ground wire that is connected to the strings. When you touch the strings, the pickups hum less. Most of the time, there is no problem.

 

There are a few Gibson guitars with hum bucking pickups and EVERYTHING is inside a shielded metal box or uses braided shielded wiring. Exception to the rule, ALL passive single coils use a string ground. 

 

You are correct regarding the wiring problems, it isn't the pickups that cause the problem. It's circuits in the building that are not done consistently to code. 

That said, if you are touching the strings and you contact a mic when the problem is present, you'll get stung. 

With no ground wire, I'd have to touch the metal part of my cord or the jack to get shocked, it truly is the reason I initially switched to the EMG pickups. And it worked, no more shocks. As I kept using them, I realized other value added features and stayed. 

 

Thanks, that's an 86 ES335 Studio model. I bought it slightly used in 1988. I re-fretted it with 6100 wire (super jumbo), replaced all the hardware with gold colored, made a clear plexiglass pickguard that I painted with metallic copper paint on the back side, upgraded to Sperzel locking tuners and a Schecter bridge that has 2 screws per saddle from either side so the saddles are locked in place. I've also got the bridge bolted tightly to the body, more sustain and clarity.

Wide, fat neck (for a Gibson) with an ebony fretboard and no binding. It's been a favorite for 37 years now. 

[Old Music Guy]

Just to wrap this up, I've decided to drop in a pair of SD SH-1 Vintage Blues 59s. Single conductor, no stress. Nothing fancy.   I have a set of Pearly Gates in an SG that I love the tone of. This should be in the same ballpark. 

Thanks you for all your suggestions.