Cheap Guitar Pickups VS Expensive Guitar Pickups - What's the Difference
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Cheap Pickups VS Expensive Pickups - What's the Difference
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Rule 1 - If it sounds good, it is good!
If it feels good looks good sounds good it indeed is. Hahahah.
I've said this in different forms over the years. If your rifle is "wrong" but it's accurate and reliable, it's not wrong! If your golf swing is wrong but the ball goes straight and far, it's not wrong.
Music is a hearing art. If it sounds right, it is right. Just like other arts are visual. If they look right, they are right.
The cheap stock pickup on the Squire P bass is legitimately great. It has the perfect clarity to it and can get dark too with the tone knob. It sounds like the bass you hear on the recordings of the 60s and 70s.
Best Advice ever..
not unless you dont know how better it can be, thought my pickups on my squier sounded really good, till i bought new pickup and tried it out and found out how much better it could sound, same with guitars, i dont know how an expensive guitar plays, so in my oppinion my squier strat plays amazing, but i wouldnt know
"If it sounds good, it IS good".....words to live by.
I live in Scotland, you have NO idea what windy is :)
I like the fact you said "will it be better? That's entirely subjective. It will be different" . That has the smell of honesty about it :)
Yeah exactly like the Oregon coast scotty
Like tuning if it sounds in tune it is ! Never mind the digital tuner ! A guitar has to be tuned to your lower A string and then to your hands. etc !
I love that you have an engineering degree and background and can speak to the science, not just bullshit it. You also speak the truth, if a cheap pup sounds good, it’s a good pup. It doesn’t have to be a specific brand, good is just that...good.
Yes. This is why I watch this channel above anything else. He doesn't just explain how things work, but why they work - because: science.
I know right. I love this shit lol. Call me a nerd
The biggest difference that I (as a luthier (and pickup manufacturer)) know: Noname Cheapo pickups vary vastly, even if it's "the same model". If I buy 5 PUs of the same model from Seymour Duncan for Example, they all will be the same regarding windings, wire gauge, magnet material and strength and so on. If I have to replace a pickup in a guitar that I made for a customer, there will be no surprises, if I wound them myself or if I used some from a serious manufacturer.
are cheap pickups machine wound?? that might be a big reason why they arent as good. i do know that human wound PUs are less perfect which is actually preferred.
I believe you're attempting to confuse apples & oranges. So tell me, how did musicians get great tone from cheap guitars, & pups, from the 50s thru today??? Tone is as much from the individual as it is from the so called "righteous, way overpriced" gear producers, hype is king! Not saying you are completely wrong, I understand your logic, but there are times when a "cheap, no name brand" as it's been referred to, meets a "great, avante guarde musician" & the result is truly dynamic! Just like mics, I heard folks get a great sound out of a $99 mic & another absolutely destroy a vocal with a $3000 mic! It's said Brian Wilson loved the Shure SM57, even in the studio at times. It was my preferred stage mic until it was surpassed by new designs. The hype over "brand names" is dead to anyone with any common sense & knowledge. I'm not referring to "resale value". I used to have a customer who always came into the store looking for "Fenders or Gibsons". I asked him, what kind of music do you enjoy playing? He said " Oh, I don't play, I'm just looking to invest". Well, so much for our beloved " MUSIC", huh!!! Seems many have reduced the emotional art of music to dollar signs!!! And, it seems modern music has been reduced to that, with NO regard to the sacred heartstrings which reside in any working musician!
Seymour Duncan are almost all machine wound so no ‘human’ imperfections going on there.
@@chrisparker5278 This! Cheapo pickups can be awesome but try to replace one without surprise - good luck! Try several Seymour Duncans of the same model, they'll all sound the same. That's why I use selfwound or Seymour Duncan (or similar quality brand) pickups for guitars that I intend to sell, only.
@@sirspongadoodle Machine wound pickups are not necessarily inferior to scatter-wound. However, all other considerations being equal, machine-wound are much more consistent. Scatter-wound pickups are not preferred; good sounding pickups are. Both methods can result in terrible pickups.
Haha, a little Freudian slip near the beginning... “We’re going to talk about the difference between cheap pickups and good pickups.” Love the content. Keep it up.
Dude I really enjoy these tech videos. You do a great job of explaining everything for those of us that are hobbyists . Thanks
To remove knobs- I place a thin cloth over the knob, and two spoons at opposing ends of the knob placed under it, and use leverage to gently lift them off. Works like a charm, never scratched or dinged a guitar. And it's free!
I use a shoe lace ✌️
oh yea its free? where r u livin that you got a cloth and TWO spoons mr rich guy
Yeah wrap a strip of microfiber cloth around and underneath the know and pull up gently.
Works.
Why not purchase a $6:00 4:28 tool specifically for that? How dumb are people
The P90 is such a good design that even the cheap no-name pickups sound good.
Fun fact -- "nickel" and brass covers and baseplate made on 80-90% from copper.
Also nickel in nickelsilver parts has magnetic properties which can spoil overall performance the pup.
i honestly like the Epiphone classic alnico II pickups that are in the les Paul i have. the fit and finish on the guitar isn't great, but it has some of the clearest sounding humbuckers I've played. i usually don't like neck humbuckers, but i like that neck humbucker. the bridge is pretty crunchy, but not muddy. As long as a pickup doesn't sound too thin, our muddy i can probably eq it to my liking.
After 60 years in the music business, I've learned that sound & tone are SO subjective & the business is so full of bullshit it's incredible! These pups, those pups, this guitar, that guitar, this amp, that amp! A decent player with whatever axe & amp he entertains the audience with & is successful is what works! The arrogance of musicians & builders is nuts, & yes, I've owned some of the finest axes made. A good musician with a good ear is not always subject to ridiculously overpriced gear & brand names! I worked in a large music store for a decade, & saw plenty of name brand & custom crap go out the door, just due to a brand. Become skillful, & think about it, it's not musicians who make you a living, unless you're in the instrument business. Musicians who do well are producing music to the masses, NOT to musicians & their gear brands. I've heard musicians get humongous tone from unheard of sources!
I grew up in the art world, and it's not much different to how you've described the musicians and builders. the snobbery might be a little higher though. I walked away from all the bullshit 20 years ago and I haven't looked back. Having grown up in that environment, it's made me more aware of the crap people talk within other artforms, and when I hear them go on and on about this and that, it just turns me off talking to them. I couldn't agree with you more - a brand might sell a product, but quality trumps a name any day, and if an unknown brand sells a better quality product than the known one, I'll be reaching for the quality one every time.
Just wanted to let you know how much i enjoy your shows and I’ve sure have learned so much. Thanks and keep up the great job. I’m not a guitar player yet just learning but i do love working on guitars. I’ll be joining your patron site soon.
Love your videos. You actually inspired me to start building pickups on a larger scale and not just for myself. Learned alot from hours of watching your videos
I've spent about 4 hours going down the rabbit hole with your content. Very cool and interesting stuff. I am now a subscriber. Keep it up!
My Little Sister CR pickups have solid brass covers as well as B&G's private builds ... but I guess they want that to shape the tone to where they want it to be.
So not every material choice might be driven by cost, even if it seems to be the lower cost option. :)
Dude, you just did what I always wanted to do when I was a kid with my own guitar. Something always stopped my from dismembering my 1971 Tele bass w its big ole honkin' humbucker. But seriously, this video was very informative and entertaining at the same time, thank you!
so IF the magnet was swapped & the cover taken off AND left off then would this compare well to a more expensive humbucker?
Hi BWM - The low cost cased humbuckers you find on low cost guitars usually have machine wound coils that are heavily wax potted. There is no attempt to produce a coil with low self capacitance. And the coils are often quite heavily wound. So even with replacement of the ceramic magnet with an alnico and removal of the cover, such pickups usually lack articulation and 'air'.
@@ResoBridge
Thanks for your reply
I wonder if doing the “air coil model” with better Magnets slightly apart from the poles would help?
You left out one part they used 43 gauge wire instead of 42 gauge. Not to be critical but that makes a difference also. The magnet might be Alnico 5 but rough cast. Rouch cast is not a bad thing but supposedly can effect tone/how long the charge stays with the magnet. (if I remember correctly). A weaker A5 is not a bad thing though, again its subjective. Some older guitars with A2 and A3 magnets (which are known to loose strength over time) are highly sought after and pricey.
@@johnhowe4079 Although it is accepted as fact that Alnico pickup magnets lose strength over time I have never seen any evidence to support this 'fact'. The old cobalt steel Rickenbacher horseshoe magnets certainly did. The whole thrust of magnet research was to make smaller stronger 'permanent' magnets. Alnico was a revolution and the development of the various alloys - 2,4 5 and so (3 was a blip caused by war materials shortage) on was to make a stronger permanent magnet. I have some pickups that are now 50 years old with Alnico 5 magnets. Their measured strength is entirely comparable with some brand new pickups. I have seen literature from magnet manufacturers which says that if new magnets are not correctly fully charged then they are not stable and will loose charge over time. Some of the methods used in the old days (and today by small builders) to charge and measure charged magnets were/are pretty sketchy. I'm not convinced that degaussing may not also result in instability. Smooth ground magnets are simply rough cast magnets ground smooth. I'm not sure it makes much difference. It's the exact composition of the magnet alloy and the precise method of manufacture that does. Chinese made rough magnets won't be quite the same as USA made smooth magnets. As far as I can tell the factor that makes the overwhelming difference to the sound of a finished pickup is magnet strength.
was there a follow-up video where we can hear the epiphone lp with the new wiring, pots, caps and pickups?
I've had some pretty amazing results with "cheap" pickups. But the first thing I do, if I can, is de-pot the pickups. I took apart a Yamaha pickup that had the wax dripping out of the cover.
...don't get me started on epoxy potted pickups.
Why de-pot them?
@@philosorapper5454 I like to de-pot (as much as possible) cheap pickups as a way to reintroduce harmonics back into the coil. This really only works on wax dipped pickups. I also like to "tune" pickups, especially humbuckers, if I feel the need.
I built a tele a while back and this is what my finding about some pickups. I tried a GFS hotrail pickups squealed like a pig. I then went expensive with Seymour Duncan Hot rail sounded the same it squealed like a pig. I bought an Artec hot rail and is quiet and played really well and was hotter then both the others yet quiet.
I've got a Korean made Epi Custom, and the bridge did in fact measure 14k. Was really surprised, but now I'm not!
Shelved the guitar a number of years ago with neck issues I didn't want to deal with, and now I think it's time to get this back up and running.
Have fret leveling/dressing tools, and have to get in some good pickups/pots and hopefully make it sound great.
Cool interesting vid.
How did your fretwork go?
Love these pick up vids. Can't wait until you do something like this for bass humbuckers.
Excited for the next video
so IF the magnet was swapped & the cover taken off AND left off then would this compare well to a more expensive humbucker?
If so there could be a mod video in the making!
No,
Because expensive pickups can have the same magnet type and be covered or un covered....
It's a worth while test just to see what happens but will it sound more "expensive"..... I'd say objectively.... no, subjectively I'd also say no because to me "expensive" isn't a sound....
According how pickup build, the cheap one won’t be very different then expensive one, I tried cheap China Stringray copy, then I switched the PU to EMG....is sounds .....different but hard to say “better”.
Gibson 498T is also 14 k and alnico 5, 43 AWG, but plain enamel instead of poly. Likely the pickup is modeled after that one and sounds about the same.
Plot twist: Dylan actually takes pickups apart to harvest those little plastic spacer things cause it will save him approximately 4 cents per pickup he makes
I have only one guitar, epiphone LP standard I have no problem with pots and pick up after 3 years of playing I only replaced the 3 way switch recently.
Bought a FF-338, and immediately swapped out the pickups. No brand, plastic covered humbuckers. Couldn't tap the coils because the whole assembly was cast in epoxy with only a braided shield 2 conductor lead. They sound ceramic, but other than that, no idea what the things are, but definitely not microphonic. Think the pair was $30. Totally worth the cost, though
Rule 1 exactly. Also, buying alnico magnets of various types from eBay and switching them out until you find the right tone for that guitar and application. Assuming the pickup output is around what you need and it's not inherently (broken) noisey.
Lol I actually have always just used a guitar pick as a shim to take off knobs. I just flex it under the nob and turn the nob as I do so. Pops them right off with no damage left behind.
The Dylan's must be in central time zone right now, I'll be back in an hour or so
5pm est as always
Is 44 gauge wire worse than 43 gauge?
Keep it up man. Love your videos
There IS a big difference in interference (not tone) between braided & cloth wire ESPECIALLY in a ‘Paul with it’s difficult to screen interiors & the longer than average cable lengths
That’s BS but if you have data feel free to shoot a video and post it. I’d love to see it. (The physics doesn’t support it)
DylanTalksTone
Goodness Me!
Look, Just get out and ruler or a tape measure and measure the length of cable you took out of that Les Paul, all the back-and-forth between the selector switch and the control cavity, through a long unshielded diagonal tunnel, past the pickups and then do the same with a strat or tele
Your Physics might not prove it but my inches will😉! Long Runs are better avoided -specially if they’re unshielded (or do you like to use 100 feet of MAINS cable between your Guitar and your amp that is within arms reach?)
QED
Fascinating vid here. I know the ceramic magnet humbuckers in my Lotus L520 Les Paul copy are cheap, but they sound good. I wonder if they're Artec, the South Korean company you mentioned. I totally agree with the mantra "If you like how they sound, they're good pickups". With my Lotus, I spent about $85 or so on a P94 (Gibson P-90 in a humbucking enclosure), and I could never get it set up to sound good. It would either sound way too tinny, or the pickup would give the guitar 'strat-itis'. I ended up destroying it by accident so the stock, ceramic magnet humbucker went back in the guitar and for the life of me that's when I realised that it actually sounded pretty good. Ya live and learn. I also have learned to enjoy the tone of the Powersound humbucker in my Ibby Gio but that's a whole 'nother story. Peace.
Curious about one thing. You comment that the base plat and the cover are the two most expensive parts. So how is it that pickups without covers aren’t generally any cheaper than those with covers? Even checked your website selling pickups and taking the nickel cover option appears the same price as ones with no covers.
Not having a go, genuinely want to know.
Hey dylan i was wondering, i love jaguars and i asked myself how would a p90 jaguar would look and sound like, and googling i found a guy that sells "jaguar sized p90s", is that possible? Is it even worth? What would a jaguar pickup sized p90 sound and be like?
Wow, everywhere I look, humbuckers have a brass plate! Even The Dimarzio Super Distortion. Difficult to find anything outside of Seymour with nickel backs.
Ohms does mean high output. Many other factors. But I don't like brass colored base plates. Changes the magnetic field. I prefer nickle base plates for buckets.
Thanks for breaking down the pick up!
Ive found that if you take a cheap single coil and take out the pole pieces and remove the ceramic magnet and install Alnico pole pieces into the pickups will take a shit sounding pickup and make it sound much much better. Has been a lot of fun experimenting with this.
I replaced stock Epiphone pro buckers. Pro buckers coil split to single coils and that reduced output 50%. I purchased Seymour Duncan P rails, which is two separate pickups. A P-90 and a hot rail. Together, they are a humbucker. No output drop when I coil split. In my case, I believe the more expensive pickups are better than the original pro buckers. The pro buckers were lower output overall and didn’t handle high gain as well. I do believe there is a point of diminishing return on things, but I don’t think you’re hitting the point of diminishing return replacing stock pickups in a $600 guitar with a set of good quality $250 pickups from a major manufacturer like Seymour Duncan.
Thx Dylan, it was interesting as usual. Good job man.
You never mentioned why dimarzio uses brass.
I don't understand why you didn't met the solder to take the cover off the pickup. I don't believe in damaging components unnecessarily? Someone else may like that pickup and could reuse it if it was not damaged? Good points about the Brass versus Nickel components!
Thank you for the deep explanation and dedication for Quality products 👌❤
Are you going to change out the plastic jack holder? Thanks for sharing all your knowledge.
I will say the nickel vs brass have different magnetic properties, but if the magnet does not touch the brass/nickel there will not be much effect, for the magnetic path is not complete
Thank you Dylan for the video. You talked about the differnet quality of magnets despite they are the same "type" A5, and so on. So, there are some way to recognize a "good" magnet before to buy it ( I like to make pick ups by myself) ? What characteristic should I looking for to get a really good magnet? Thank you and sorry for my bad english.
There is another difference between brass vs nickel baseplates or covers. Brass is easier to bend and form, so it is much cheaper to tool up production for brass.
How the hell did you learn all this knowledge? I dont know anything about any of this but I really want to learn and I'm wondering if you had training as an electrician or guitar builder or something that makes you so knowledgeable about every little detail and how you recommend I could learn as much? Im really blown away by how much you seem to know
I try to pay close attention to all of your tech videos; that pup you disassembled appeared to have been wax potted. Did uou mention that and I missed it? Thanks, Dylan!
A heat gun to de-pot those pickups can be useful. Mine will not only de-pot, but it will melt the solder if I'm not careful.
AFAIK the set in that Epiphone is based on Gibsons 490R and 498T set
I watched your vid where you replaced squier Tele PUs with your brand. I could hear the diff and agree it was an upgrade!
You said the wire in the guitar doesn't matter, I once used a bread twisty tie wire for a ground wire
Are you going to tell us why Dimarzio and BRASS PLATES are different than cheap pickups with Brass?
I figured out that because the actual voltage in the guitar electronice is so low that the wire traditionally used is really way to thick for the minimal currant that the pick ups produce so I used much thinner wire tht I salvaged from a Used computer VGA cable of which I pulled out of my collection of used computer and stereo wihes and cables.. yup pack rat for stereo and computer crap that may come in handy for something in the future... I used the thin stranded wire for the wiring in the control cavity of my "Stellarcaster" Strat buils the Quad rail/coil Pick ups measured at 18,5K ohs average full and split at about 9.5 K each side coil pair... even split they are still Hummbuckers. but with a more single coil sound. they were only $15.9 each 9 on Amazon. the rest of the electronics were also from there and low cost as I could reasonably get and still be good quality.. like the Titanium nut and licking tuners as well as the solid brass full size trem brlck for the bridge and the roller saddles I put in the bridge too.. roller string trees and tumiong the guitar to E-Flat standard likt any good Strat should be tuned helps too... all put together the componants I used do the job quite nicely thank you.. at least I like the way my new self madt toy sounds through my tiny Blackstar ID Core stereo 40 amp... more builds to come in the future for me to play with and learn even more allong the way in my guitar journey. building my collection by hand as I go. make them like I want them to be. as cheaply as I can get away with....just like the big guitar Co.'s do but my way and to my liking from the start.
Why would brass induce more eddy currents than nickel?
A pickup is such a simple electronic device, pole pieces, magnetic or otherwise, coils of wire, and a bobbin. How can those components vary in price from $30 to $300+ what is in the $300 pickup that makes it an order of magnitude better? Serious question.
Agreed... I guess it’s all in the marketing!!!
@@eddiejr540 I really don't know. I mean, copper is far more costly now... I defend woo all the time, as I experience, and know others experience woo. Often the engineer/skeptic types are WAY too reductive in their thinking, catastrophically so. But, with SUCH a simple electronic device... claiming the particular mineral signature of the copper's vintage?
fascinating , I have 3 Wilkinson P90 Stacked pickups on my guitar, and like Artec they are made in Korea, there is a whole slew of pups made in Korea under different name, the thing that stood out for me is how hot those artec pickups are, now my bridge Stacked P90 is hot it's around 15 k and the middle and neck in the 9's but this really opens up things when someone states these pickups are too bright, I don't mind these P90's but I am thinking of replacing them with a higher quality name brand, great video Dylan !!
an excellent and informative video. Thanks, I learned a lot of useful stuff :)
Great Channel …. Does anyone know where the Part Two to this video is? I searched the video page but couldn’t find it? 🎊 🎊 🎉🎉
sir, can you make a video about cheap but great pickups??
1:09 I always feel bad everytime good condition strings get cut up when guitar techs have to go in and change something. But then all that goes away after I watch them tinkering since that is just hella interesting!
You committed the big sin! Wire doesn't matter. Been trying to tell people that for years. Pots don't affect tone other than it's value. Better pots may work and last better, that's it. Takes resistance AND either capacitance or inductance to affect tone, pots have resistance but I defy someone to measure any cap or induc in a pot. So it's resistance interacting with the pickup. I got a set of GFS humbucker size p-90's, like 35 bucks each and they are one of the best sounding and closest to a p-90 I've heard. What you said about the PU parts is true, but since tone is so subjective a brass base plate and cover might yield a tone that someone loves. AND those knob pullers are great. In case you can't say it, Stew Mac sells them. By the way, plastic that smells like vomit doesn't effect a pickups tone, electrons can't smell.
Another difference with pots is the relationship between the knob position and the setting. On a linear pot, both sides of the wiper will have equal resistance when the knob is at the midpoint of its rotation, but pots are available where the equal-resistance point is closer to 25% or 75%. If one has a pickup which is so bright that the best tone setting is near the bottom, use of a suitable taper pot may expand the range of motion in which good sounds are available.
@@flatfingertuning727 , True, thats a audio taper and different brands have different ratios. But it's always an even split. If it's 25% on one side it's 75% on the other or 60/40, 40/60, and so on, so the different tapers don't change the tone just where the knob position is. I like it where from 10 to 9 I get a noticable drop then it gets more gradual. With linear it's more even all the way down. I also never run my guitar on 10 cause I like the slight top end roll off just going to 9 gives.Only if I'm grabbing for that little extra on a solo will I turn to 10.
@@bradt.3555 If there exists a knob position on an audio taper pot that would yield a certain tone, there would exist some position on a linear pot that would do likewise, but depending upon what one is using a pot for (tone, blending, volume, or other exotic uses) using one type of pot may yield a rather narrow "sweet spot" that might be hard to find while playing, while using another may yield a larger sweet spot that is eiasier to find quickly.
@@flatfingertuning727, I agree
Was there a follow up video to this one?
Dylan, I really enjoy your content on guitars. Do you have a channel for RC cars as well?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge in such an easy to follow and pleasant way!
"The cap, probably doesn't make any difference whatsoever" THANK YOU!! I see it all the time. People doing upgrades on their guitar want orange drops or paper in oil or whatever. Dude, it's a cap. The value of it is the only thing that's going to change what it does. And even then, you're not going to notice it.
Hey I've just seen 'spectrum' guitar pickups- they look awesome, they sound awesome..
Just wondered if you might do a spectrum pickup autopsy.
The other pickups that really catch my attention are 'sims' quad pickups for bass guitar- those are not only versatile to my ear they are 10/10 for every function they serve.
Did I miss it? The difference between expensive and cheap guitar pups?What I saw/heard was disassembly of an epiphone pup.
Leaned a really rare guitar against an amp with 4 subs,one of the giant magnets i think attracting side ,was an inch away from the pickups,now the guitar doesn’t sound as good.
Any fixing or checking them at a GCenter,or a Sam Ash?
What should i do? It’s from the 80’s and all original. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks! Crisis
Too funny, broke a bridge pickup and then discovered it had an Alnico magnet & not a ceramic one inside. Giving away things is one thing, but the Epiphone sounded good, don't destroy a pickup to demonstrate/make a point, when the Artec pickup is a decent part. The nickel plated brass didn't seem to affect the pickup one bit. I'll use your own words, "if it sounds good, it is good." I do get it though, it's not a Dylan bridge pickup, so who cares either way ? But if giving away the guitar, just give it away as it was originally made as a complete. Easier to just desolder/resolder OEM & gently dismantle the pickup so it can go back together. And an Alnico V is a matter of strengthening the magnetic pull by using the magnets to magnetize the steel. I guess since this was destined to be a custom mod from OEM, the OEM pickups are expendables.
I’m thinking of putting mini humbuckers in my Yamaha revstar 502t with p90s . I’d appreciate a good recommendation ! Love your videos!
The classic vibe 60's strat I have the pickups sound amazing, over all its great actually, I just don't prefer how thin the neck is..
Ah snap, just what I’m looking for!
I have a set of humbuckers on my les Paul style guitar they are yibuy from Amazon that are fairly cheap is that why when I put any sort of gain on them they distort really bad and sound awful
Do you have videos talking about bass guitars, control pots, pickups etc ?
Hi, not sure if you answered this or if you could point me to your video where you discuss it but I am interested to understand how DiMarzio avoid brass being a questionable material for their base plates. You seemed to suggest that DiMarzio were the exception to the rule. I'm not being sarcastic or ironic, I really would like to know, since I use and love DiMarzio and I can confirm that they all have brass base plates. Thank you for the channel and for the content.
Where is part 2?
Just subscribed!
Dylan, I really appreciate your videos, and now I finally know what the difference is between cheap vs. good pickups. * I recently bought a Player Fender Tele HH - generally like the sound of the PuP - but I want a very Jazz oriented sound, at least from the neck pickup. What would you recommend? Tim Lerch, and the Jazz Guitar Channel guy frequently recommend pickup upgrades on guitars < $1,000. ** Oh, the volume pot on my NEW Telecaster has a 60 cycle hum until I turn it between 8-10.
Buy a Dylan pick up set
Hi! Can you please explore duncan design single coil pickups? Are they really bad?
Awesome videos Dylan I have learned so much. Fender has the V-Mod 2 that use 2 different magnets on each pickup. Have you ever used 2 magnets on a PAF? Just curious, thanks.
What is your opinion, if you have one, on Dragonfire pickups?
Thanks for the explanation
Is Canada included this time on the giveaway? Why don't you wire the volume parts as independent and put push pulls on them
Speaking of cheap pickups, I recently picked up a set of 3 "affordable" single coils and ran into something I've never heard of before. I wired them up and went to test them, but whenever I touch the magnets on any of the pickups, the neck and bridge are the worst, it creates a very loud buzzing exactly like if you were to touch the tip of the jack that's plugged straight into an amp without the guitar. Everything else is fine but it's still weird. A few people say that it's "normal" but I've never encountered such a thing and it definitely does not seem desirable. Some say it's bad grounding or the leads are switched on the pickup, but I don't know how likely it is that it's a defect considering it's affecting all of the pickups. What are the chances that all three were wound incorrectly, right? Another thing people talk about is how the magnets aren't grounded, but messing with that sounds like a bad idea. I tried searching your channel for some info on the problem, but it's hard to find anything of substance about it on the internet and I figured who better to ask than someone who builds pickups and knows the ins and outs of them. Have you ever encountered that before and do you have any idea what could be causing it, or if it actually is "normal" so some single coils?
Most likely the coils are wired with the outside of the coil to ground and the inside as signal. If there is a connection between the magnets and the inner windings you would hear the loud hum you get when you touch them. The six magnets in a single coil are normally left floating - not electrically connected to anything. You could perhaps use a multimeter set to a resistance range to check if the magnets are shorted to the coil. However you can get hum from touching the magnets even on a properly constructed single coil pickup. This is through electrostatic coupling - your body and the magnets act as one plate of a capacitor and the coil acts as the other plate.
Maybe all single coils I own have the same problem. I couldn't tell because I don't remember touching the magnets or even the pole pieces.
Why do you touch the magnets?
great vid thanks
You should get a few popular GFS pickups and take them apart
I think GFS are Wilkinson ? which are made in Korea
Then again, they sell copper covers. I could see it reducing some of the highs if you want to do that. It's hard to say that there's such thing as a bad pickup in one that you prefer. But if covers are so expensive one I just have no covers at all?
How much do you usually get for a set of humbuckers?
Dylantalkstone.com
Nice shirt!
I own a Fender Squire which a guitar tech insisted that he change the pick ups to Old Glory ones which he said are better quality - my guitar does have a good sound but can anyone make a comment regarding these pick ups which are supposedly Fender pick ups which have been hand wound by the now deceased guy who used to do this?
2 pics will do the job on the knobs. 😁
Do you have a recommendation for a gauss meter that’s appropriate for pickup building? They seem all over the place price wise, and I’m just starting but I want to get something that’s worthwhile
I've seen some pickups made by companies like "tonespecific" and the several models they have sound extremely different from each other... how they manage to do that? what does influence so much the sound?
Do the Eddy currents (from the brass) affect/reduce the high frequency output and clarity?