Re: A general question about pickups
- From: Bruce Morgen <editor@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:09:22 -0400
Jim <askme@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
EF in FLA wrote:
Just what is it that makes some pickups so much better (and costlier)
than others? Aren't they all just magnets and wires? Is there really
a difference in the materials used that affects the sound?
Pickups "seem" to be so simple that it would be a piece of cake to
reverse-engineer a popular design and end up with something very close
in performance. How is it you can buy a GFS clearance humbucker for
$15 but spend ten times that for a high-end model? Can someone shed
some light?
ef
I hit send without mentioning that wire gauge, bobbin shape, magnet
shape (as well as material) and winding techniques all come into play.
Some people believe that there is a special art to "scatter winding" a
pickup to bring out certain characteristics. I don't know how this
comes into play in mass marketing, but is seems like you should be able
to automate some approximation of this.
All common guitar pickups
are essentially scatter
wound -- there's no way
to keep magnet wire that
fine aligned in layers --
turns from one layer will
always fall between turns
in the layers beneath.
The rest is mostly hype
to justify high prices.
_____
Disclaimer: I have
consulted as a technical
editor for William
Lawrence Designs (Wilde),
and "Bill Lawrence Guitars"
.
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