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.
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
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!
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!
@@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.
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 :)
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.
On the wiring inside a guitar-- absolutely agree that it mostly doesn't matter; it certainly doesn't from a tone perspective. I will suggest that some grades of PVC insulation can interact with some guitar finishes. I personally prefer Teflon insulated wire because 1) Teflon has massive dielectric strength, allowing very thin insulation 2) It has a high melting point so you could solder relatively carefree and not worry about melting the wiring. There are silicone-insulated wires out there too that offer similar benefits of chemical inertness and high temperature robustness. I'll let you all in one one of my "wiring secrets" for guitars that seems to work really well. I have some Romex scrap that has 14ga copper in it. Way overkill for guitar wiring. BUT it's stiff enough you can use it like a "bus bar" to tie your pots together on the ground side if you strip off all the insulation. So instead of star grounding to one pot and risking all that heat input to a pot, I solder a length of the stiff 14ga bare wire across the tops of the pots. It ties all the pots together, and then you can solder any ground you want anywhere along that "bus bar" . This keeps a lot of heat out of the pots because you're only soldering to the pot one time AND you're not applying heat to directly the pot with your soldering iron (using the pot to melt the solder). Instead, you're heating the bare copper wire and using that wire to melt the solder and wet out onto the pot. (put some extra flux on the pot). And because you have this 14ga big chunk of bare wire, you can leave your iron on it all day and you won't melt insulation (there is none!). The downside is that because you have this 14ga "bus bar" to heat up, some soldering irons won't have the horsepower to get it hot enough to do the job. Although this generally has more to do with the tip shape than the power of the iron. With a wide chisel and 25w or more ,you should be able to pull this off.
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.
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.
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.
You can also upgrade the parts. Why not change the cover and baseplate to nickel? Also didint mention the pole piece screws. Theres different types of steel the screws are made out of with different carbon content that make subtle differences. Could swap the screws too. Can also swap magnets if you want. Cover+baseplate+screws are ~ $10 upgrade if you shop around.
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....
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
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
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.
@@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 did some research on Epiphone pickups a couple of years back - I was never able to confirm Artec as the maker, but I was told by a couple of suppliers that the ones marked "BHC" are made in China and the ones marked "BHK" are made in Korea. Is one better built or better sounding then the other? Who knows.... my research never went that far.
Had an acquaintance that worked for Gibson/Epiphone USA. He was asked what the difference was between pups, his answer, "These were made over there, these were made here".??? 🤔🤔🤔🤪
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. :)
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.
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.
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”.
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!
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.
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?
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!
Hey Dylan, I have an 84 Jap Strat (system one trem) The System one was only available in 84 and 85 I think. The Bridge was modded with a Lawrence blade humbucker. I have the original middle pickup but lost the neck pickup (having bought a Fender Lace sensor and installed it there) I want to keep the Lawrence and middle pickup but need a Fender neck pickup that is close to the original. I also need a wiring diagram for all of it so it will be like the original except for whatever the Lawrence requires. I have the original pots, caps etc but probably need a push-pull treble pot for the coil tap on the Lawrence. I did not know your email, so hoping you see this.
I would like to learn more about the eddy current issue in brass vs nickel. From what I know, brass is non-magnetic but nickel is. So, to the extent eddy current is an issue at all (which would be nice to explain) I would have expected it to be more of an issue with nickel than brass.
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
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'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.
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.
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!
Brass is more expensive than steel ? I have played a cheap Chinese copy guitar though guitar rig software it sounded amazing, but though my amp it sounded crap.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
I bought a used 97 Les Paul studio ebony and gold trim ebony fretboard with 496/500 Gibson pups. Always liked these pick- ups when guitar searching; L P Classic, J Page 1st sign. So these kinda were what I was looking for. Changed a lot of the crap that Gibson originally installed. Crap pits ,wiring, bridge. Ended up from top to bottom Kluson locking tuners, Tusc XL nut, Tonespro locking bridge, alum tailpiece, CTS 500k pots, 50's wiring w/Garrett cloth wire, Switchcraft switch and jack, Schaller straplocks. Bought in different times as a package I would work a deal on each deal. Saved money each time. All this before Corona came along. Probably put about $350-400 into parts. But guitar is set for a while.
Wow, everywhere I look, humbuckers have a brass plate! Even The Dimarzio Super Distortion. Difficult to find anything outside of Seymour with nickel backs.
I recently swapped an Ibanez 320 ex for Jackson 7. Stringer and I’m considering some upgrading including popping in something a deathbucker and a Nazgûl. The guitar sounds fine as is, but I’m searching for a crushing vibe from it.
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!
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.
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.
All conducting metals have eddy current 'capability'. The difference between nickel and brass is - nickel is ferromagnetic, and brass is not. The magnetic dipoles inside ferromagnetic materials will flip back and forth as the current alternates with the frequency of the note being played, and the magnetic dipoles will flip back and forth in non-ferromagnetic materials too. The difference is, magnetic materials like nickel, iron and cobalt (or alloys of those) tend to resist being flipped back and forth with the frequency of current induced by the note you play. This is called 'hysteresis' - if you go to the hysteresis wiki page in the section "Electronic circuits" it says this: *_Often, some amount of hysteresis is intentionally added to an electronic circuit to prevent unwanted rapid switching_* Brass on the other hand will more readily respond to flips of its magnetic dipoles as the frequency of the played note induces alternating current in the pickup. Both nickel and brass readily support eddy currents because both are conductors. Personally, I do not want hysteresis (nickel) in my pickups but the difference is impossible to notice. One key thing all guitarists might focus on: The minor affects of electronic components in a guitar are very difficult to isolate. If you hear a two electric guitars play the same tune, it will be difficult to differentiate them. You can certainly differentiate "that guitar is playing through the neck pickup, and the other guitar is playing through its bridge pickup" - really easy to hear the difference. But pickup differences are very hard to differentiate. I'm assuming the comparison of both guitars having humbuckers (far east in one, U.S. in the other). The quickest way to prove this to yourself is to play the same note on the two guitars and have the signal output of the guitar fed to an oscilloscope. When you compare the two signals, you'll say "there's absolutely no way my brain/hearing is equipped to pick out the differences" - they are too tiny. . .
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.
@@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?
I have guitars with Seymour Duncan SH-6s, DiMarzio HS-3s, and couple with cheap $10 Chinese ceramic pickups. Honestly the only real difference I can tell is that the expensive "boutique" pickups are potted better and are not as microphonic as the cheapies. But tone-wise? It's my opinion that unless you KNOW what you're hearing, you can't tell any differences.
I am not a gear snob at all, but I will say that one consistent thing I have noticed about the cheapest pickups I hear is that they lose their clarity easier. More noticeable with different amp settings and through different amps and cabs, but every one of the really cheap ceramic pickup sets I have compared on hand have been slightly muddier, even if the overall tone was awesome or nearly identical to a nicer set. Also, my favorite strat pickups have become those made by Bootstrap Pickups out of Ohio. The first set I bought from them made me a believer. And they are only $50 per set. For the material elitists out there, they use fiber bobbins and cloth covered wire.
Hi. I have some humbucker-sized pickups and want to choose two to put into a small-bodied semi-hollow. One is a Lollar Novel 90 (9.7K); one is a Lollar Imperial Bridge (8.4K) and the other two are Tom Andersons: an H1- and an H1 (I don't know the resistance). I don't think the Novel 90 can be used with the others, because it probably requires a 250K pot instead of a 500, and the guitar has just one volume and one tone pot. If I'm right about that, then either the H1- or H1 should go in the neck spot, and the Imperial in the bridge position. Am I right about the Novel 90? Do you know the Andersons well enough to make a recommendation between them? Thanks.
DiMarzio is known for producing high quality pickups and some of their popular designs are made with brass rather than nickel silver. They're designed to specifically take advantage of the effects of brass on the frequencies of the pickup. It's similar to how you also find high quality pickups (from almost every maker) in ceramic rather than alnicos.
Yeah wondering too. On my 7-string Ibanez it came stock with OEM DiMarzio Fusion Edge pickups that has a PCB type material for a baseplate. When I asked them (DiMarzio) they said it didn’t make one difference. Maybe because of the design?
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
I know this is a video about pickups but I just bought a new set of pickups and want to get rid of the push-pull pots that my old pickups used and I tried a guitar that had some pots that you could lock in the highest setting almost like it had a detent to keep it from being knocked out of position and wanted to know if you had any idea what type of pot that would be. Thanks for any help you can offer, and appreciate all the videos
So.. I don't mean for this to come off in a "prickly way" at all. So excuse the tone but I'm inquisitive.. Aren't the old school lap steel tele pickups brass bottomed? I love my carvin m22 and im almost positive it has a brass base as well. I had( and miss ) an early 80's bill lawrence l500 and though a sealed pickup but I'd bet it was also brass because he was a tele guy. Is there some mojo in the brass? Does a thicker brass piece do things a thinner nickel base wouldn't?
Well the original Fender Tele Bridge pickups had a zinc plated steel elevator plate (zinc plating or galvanising was and is commonly used to stop steel from rusting). Fender later changed to copper plating the steel elevator plate because, when steel parts are nickel or chrome plated, they are first copper plated as part of the process. Fender realised they could send all the parts for a guitar for nickel or chrome plating, including elevator plates which did not get the full treatment, only the copper. The copper surface was also easier to solder to than the zinc. The only reason for plating the elevator plate at all was to stop it rusting. The main purpose of the elevator plate is to complete the electrical screening around the bridge pickup - the elevator plate, the bridge plate and the bridge cover (normally not used today) form an almost continuous screen around the pickup. Some budget pickups use a thin brass plate (its cheaper) but most after market Tele bridge pickups made to the old specifications have a relatively thick copper plate steel elevator plate. The steel plate does have a barely measurable effect on pickup inductance and it re-shapes the magnetic field at the bottom of the pickup, but as far as I can tell it does not have a great effect on sound. Fender and other companies have made Tele bridge pickups without the plate.
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.
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.
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.
Infected with the RC bug eh? Yeah, along with bangin' on my Epi Casino, flyin' my RC planes is one of my fave things. Best advice on pickups I've seen yet.
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?
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.
Hey Dylan. Great channel, keep up the great work. Have you ever looked at or played Guitar Fetish guitars, like the Slick? Would love to see your thoughts on one, or even an upgrade recommendation!
Hi Dylan, you mention quality pickup parts are important, can you recommend a seller to get quality alnico pole pieces from. I trust stew mac but find they a re usually over priced and charge a lot for shipping when buying a small order. im looking to experiment with some alnico 2 and 5 pole pieces in my vintera style wide range humbuckers. love the cunife but im a cheap bastard so im waiting for some used to come up on reverb or ebay. anyway thank you for any info you can share.
Can someone recommend which humbucker set can I get for my strat so it sounds as closet as possible to a Les Paul? I know woods and scale are important but what would be the closest?
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.
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 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.
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
On the wiring inside a guitar-- absolutely agree that it mostly doesn't matter; it certainly doesn't from a tone perspective. I will suggest that some grades of PVC insulation can interact with some guitar finishes. I personally prefer Teflon insulated wire because 1) Teflon has massive dielectric strength, allowing very thin insulation 2) It has a high melting point so you could solder relatively carefree and not worry about melting the wiring. There are silicone-insulated wires out there too that offer similar benefits of chemical inertness and high temperature robustness.
I'll let you all in one one of my "wiring secrets" for guitars that seems to work really well. I have some Romex scrap that has 14ga copper in it. Way overkill for guitar wiring. BUT it's stiff enough you can use it like a "bus bar" to tie your pots together on the ground side if you strip off all the insulation. So instead of star grounding to one pot and risking all that heat input to a pot, I solder a length of the stiff 14ga bare wire across the tops of the pots. It ties all the pots together, and then you can solder any ground you want anywhere along that "bus bar" . This keeps a lot of heat out of the pots because you're only soldering to the pot one time AND you're not applying heat to directly the pot with your soldering iron (using the pot to melt the solder). Instead, you're heating the bare copper wire and using that wire to melt the solder and wet out onto the pot. (put some extra flux on the pot). And because you have this 14ga big chunk of bare wire, you can leave your iron on it all day and you won't melt insulation (there is none!). The downside is that because you have this 14ga "bus bar" to heat up, some soldering irons won't have the horsepower to get it hot enough to do the job. Although this generally has more to do with the tip shape than the power of the iron. With a wide chisel and 25w or more ,you should be able to pull this off.
That’s amazing! Thank you!
Dude I really enjoy these tech videos. You do a great job of explaining everything for those of us that are hobbyists . Thanks
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.
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.
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.
You can also upgrade the parts. Why not change the cover and baseplate to nickel? Also didint mention the pole piece screws. Theres different types of steel the screws are made out of with different carbon content that make subtle differences. Could swap the screws too. Can also swap magnets if you want. Cover+baseplate+screws are ~ $10 upgrade if you shop around.
The P90 is such a good design that even the cheap no-name pickups sound good.
was there a follow-up video where we can hear the epiphone lp with the new wiring, pots, caps and pickups?
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....
so IF the magnet was swapped & the cover taken off AND left off then would this compare well to a more expensive humbucker?
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
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 did some research on Epiphone pickups a couple of years back - I was never able to confirm Artec as the maker, but I was told by a couple of suppliers that the ones marked "BHC" are made in China and the ones marked "BHK" are made in Korea. Is one better built or better sounding then the other? Who knows.... my research never went that far.
Had an acquaintance that worked for Gibson/Epiphone USA. He was asked what the difference was between pups, his answer, "These were made over there, these were made here".??? 🤔🤔🤔🤪
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. :)
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.
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.
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”.
Is 44 gauge wire worse than 43 gauge?
Are you going to change out the plastic jack holder? Thanks for sharing all your knowledge.
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!
Excited for the next video
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.
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?
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!
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!
Hey Dylan, I have an 84 Jap Strat (system one trem) The System one was only available in 84 and 85 I think. The Bridge was modded with a Lawrence blade humbucker. I have the original middle pickup but lost the neck pickup (having bought a Fender Lace sensor and installed it there) I want to keep the Lawrence and middle pickup but need a Fender neck pickup that is close to the original. I also need a wiring diagram for all of it so it will be like the original except for whatever the Lawrence requires. I have the original pots, caps etc but probably need a push-pull treble pot for the coil tap on the Lawrence. I did not know your email, so hoping you see this.
Great video as always, so much good information and explanation. Really appreciate your work Dylan. Can't wait for finished build
I would like to learn more about the eddy current issue in brass vs nickel. From what I know, brass is non-magnetic but nickel is. So, to the extent eddy current is an issue at all (which would be nice to explain) I would have expected it to be more of an issue with nickel than brass.
Can you explain how brass makes a difference compared to nickel ? Not very clear to me
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
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'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?
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.
I've learned a lot from you sir... Because me too did a lot of mods on my guitars. Knowledgeable information. Thank you sir! More power!
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!
Brass is more expensive than steel ? I have played a cheap Chinese copy guitar though guitar rig software it sounded amazing, but though my amp it sounded crap.
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.
I watched your vid where you replaced squier Tele PUs with your brand. I could hear the diff and agree it was an upgrade!
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
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.
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.
Keep it up man. Love your videos
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.
Why would brass induce more eddy currents than nickel?
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.
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
I bought a used 97 Les Paul studio ebony and gold trim ebony fretboard with 496/500 Gibson pups. Always liked these pick- ups when guitar searching; L P Classic, J Page 1st sign. So these kinda were what I was looking for. Changed a lot of the crap that Gibson originally installed. Crap pits ,wiring, bridge. Ended up from top to bottom Kluson locking tuners, Tusc XL nut, Tonespro locking bridge, alum tailpiece, CTS 500k pots, 50's wiring w/Garrett cloth wire, Switchcraft switch and jack, Schaller straplocks. Bought in different times as a package I would work a deal on each deal. Saved money each time. All this before Corona came along. Probably put about $350-400 into parts. But guitar is set for a while.
Wow, everywhere I look, humbuckers have a brass plate! Even The Dimarzio Super Distortion. Difficult to find anything outside of Seymour with nickel backs.
I recently swapped an Ibanez 320 ex for Jackson 7. Stringer and I’m considering some upgrading including popping in something a deathbucker and a Nazgûl. The guitar sounds fine as is, but I’m searching for a crushing vibe from it.
You mentioned the baseplate material being brass is bad unless it is a DiMarzio - can you elaborate on that?
Hi! Can you please explore duncan design single coil pickups? Are they really bad?
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!
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.
I’m thinking of putting mini humbuckers in my Yamaha revstar 502t with p90s . I’d appreciate a good recommendation ! Love your videos!
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.
great information and interesting to see the insides of an Epiphone..Thanks and I hope to see more as a subscriber....
All conducting metals have eddy current 'capability'. The difference between nickel and brass is - nickel is ferromagnetic, and brass is not. The magnetic dipoles inside ferromagnetic materials will flip back and forth as the current alternates with the frequency of the note being played, and the magnetic dipoles will flip back and forth in non-ferromagnetic materials too.
The difference is, magnetic materials like nickel, iron and cobalt (or alloys of those) tend to resist being flipped back and forth with the frequency of current induced by the note you play.
This is called 'hysteresis' - if you go to the hysteresis wiki page in the section "Electronic circuits" it says this:
*_Often, some amount of hysteresis is intentionally added to an electronic circuit to prevent unwanted rapid switching_*
Brass on the other hand will more readily respond to flips of its magnetic dipoles as the frequency of the played note induces alternating current in the pickup.
Both nickel and brass readily support eddy currents because both are conductors. Personally, I do not want hysteresis (nickel) in my pickups but the difference is impossible to notice.
One key thing all guitarists might focus on: The minor affects of electronic components in a guitar are very difficult to isolate. If you hear a two electric guitars play the same tune, it will be difficult to differentiate them.
You can certainly differentiate "that guitar is playing through the neck pickup, and the other guitar is playing through its bridge pickup" - really easy to hear the difference.
But pickup differences are very hard to differentiate. I'm assuming the comparison of both guitars having humbuckers (far east in one, U.S. in the other).
The quickest way to prove this to yourself is to play the same note on the two guitars and have the signal output of the guitar fed to an oscilloscope. When you compare the two signals, you'll say "there's absolutely no way my brain/hearing is equipped to pick out the differences" - they are too tiny.
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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?
Was there a follow up video to this one?
I have guitars with Seymour Duncan SH-6s, DiMarzio HS-3s, and couple with cheap $10 Chinese ceramic pickups. Honestly the only real difference I can tell is that the expensive "boutique" pickups are potted better and are not as microphonic as the cheapies. But tone-wise? It's my opinion that unless you KNOW what you're hearing, you can't tell any differences.
I am not a gear snob at all, but I will say that one consistent thing I have noticed about the cheapest pickups I hear is that they lose their clarity easier. More noticeable with different amp settings and through different amps and cabs, but every one of the really cheap ceramic pickup sets I have compared on hand have been slightly muddier, even if the overall tone was awesome or nearly identical to a nicer set. Also, my favorite strat pickups have become those made by Bootstrap Pickups out of Ohio. The first set I bought from them made me a believer. And they are only $50 per set. For the material elitists out there, they use fiber bobbins and cloth covered wire.
Hi. I have some humbucker-sized pickups and want to choose two to put into a small-bodied semi-hollow. One is a Lollar Novel 90 (9.7K); one is a Lollar Imperial Bridge (8.4K) and the other two are Tom Andersons: an H1- and an H1 (I don't know the resistance). I don't think the Novel 90 can be used with the others, because it probably requires a 250K pot instead of a 500, and the guitar has just one volume and one tone pot. If I'm right about that, then either the H1- or H1 should go in the neck spot, and the Imperial in the bridge position. Am I right about the Novel 90? Do you know the Andersons well enough to make a recommendation between them? Thanks.
Hi, from Puerto Rico. My second guitar coming soon left handed Squier telecaster Affinity, for church.
Do you have videos talking about bass guitars, control pots, pickups etc ?
Am I the only one cliffhanging on the DiMarzio thing?
DiMarzio is known for producing high quality pickups and some of their popular designs are made with brass rather than nickel silver. They're designed to specifically take advantage of the effects of brass on the frequencies of the pickup. It's similar to how you also find high quality pickups (from almost every maker) in ceramic rather than alnicos.
Yeah wondering too. On my 7-string Ibanez it came stock with OEM DiMarzio Fusion Edge pickups that has a PCB type material for a baseplate. When I asked them (DiMarzio) they said it didn’t make one difference. Maybe because of the design?
@@jaxonvictoria4345 I honestly don’t remember the context of my comment lmao
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
Thx Dylan, it was interesting as usual. Good job man.
I know this is a video about pickups but I just bought a new set of pickups and want to get rid of the push-pull pots that my old pickups used and I tried a guitar that had some pots that you could lock in the highest setting almost like it had a detent to keep it from being knocked out of position and wanted to know if you had any idea what type of pot that would be. Thanks for any help you can offer, and appreciate all the videos
simply replace them by push-push pots. that way you mostly never change the positioning of the pot
You never mentioned why dimarzio uses brass.
So.. I don't mean for this to come off in a "prickly way" at all. So excuse the tone but I'm inquisitive.. Aren't the old school lap steel tele pickups brass bottomed? I love my carvin m22 and im almost positive it has a brass base as well. I had( and miss ) an early 80's bill lawrence l500 and though a sealed pickup but I'd bet it was also brass because he was a tele guy. Is there some mojo in the brass? Does a thicker brass piece do things a thinner nickel base wouldn't?
Well the original Fender Tele Bridge pickups had a zinc plated steel elevator plate (zinc plating or galvanising was and is commonly used to stop steel from rusting). Fender later changed to copper plating the steel elevator plate because, when steel parts are nickel or chrome plated, they are first copper plated as part of the process. Fender realised they could send all the parts for a guitar for nickel or chrome plating, including elevator plates which did not get the full treatment, only the copper. The copper surface was also easier to solder to than the zinc. The only reason for plating the elevator plate at all was to stop it rusting.
The main purpose of the elevator plate is to complete the electrical screening around the bridge pickup - the elevator plate, the bridge plate and the bridge cover (normally not used today) form an almost continuous screen around the pickup.
Some budget pickups use a thin brass plate (its cheaper) but most after market Tele bridge pickups made to the old specifications have a relatively thick copper plate steel elevator plate. The steel plate does have a barely measurable effect on pickup inductance and it re-shapes the magnetic field at the bottom of the pickup, but as far as I can tell it does not have a great effect on sound. Fender and other companies have made Tele bridge pickups without the plate.
What is your opinion, if you have one, on Dragonfire pickups?
Are you going to tell us why Dimarzio and BRASS PLATES are different than cheap pickups with Brass?
Do the Eddy currents (from the brass) affect/reduce the high frequency output and clarity?
Love these pick up vids. Can't wait until you do something like this for bass humbuckers.
This was helpful. I learned a few useful things. Thanks.
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.
sir, can you make a video about cheap but great pickups??
How much would you say that cheap pickup cost to make?
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.
I learn so much from your videos about pickups, a big help on the remodeling of my old guitars, You didn't go into the Dimarzo thing you mentioned
Whats the difference? Jump to the question: 6:25
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.
Infected with the RC bug eh? Yeah, along with bangin' on my Epi Casino, flyin' my RC planes is one of my fave things. Best advice on pickups I've seen yet.
Is Canada included this time on the giveaway? Why don't you wire the volume parts as independent and put push pulls on them
an excellent and informative video. Thanks, I learned a lot of useful stuff :)
What kind of tonal diverences would it make if you change let say the backplate and cover? Or the magnets?
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?
What about single coil pickups for a strat? Maybe a video on that. Thanks. Good stuff.
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.
Great Channel …. Does anyone know where the Part Two to this video is? I searched the video page but couldn’t find it? 🎊 🎊 🎉🎉
Love your "mobile studio". Does TH-cam proceeds make the payment ?
Lol. We are not that kind of TH-camr.
Hey Dylan. Great channel, keep up the great work. Have you ever looked at or played Guitar Fetish guitars, like the Slick? Would love to see your thoughts on one, or even an upgrade recommendation!
Hi Dylan, you mention quality pickup parts are important, can you recommend a seller to get quality alnico pole pieces from. I trust stew mac but find they a re usually over priced and charge a lot for shipping when buying a small order. im looking to experiment with some alnico 2 and 5 pole pieces in my vintera style wide range humbuckers. love the cunife but im a cheap bastard so im waiting for some used to come up on reverb or ebay. anyway thank you for any info you can share.
Can someone recommend which humbucker set can I get for my strat so it sounds as closet as possible to a Les Paul? I know woods and scale are important but what would be the closest?