Questions tagged [pick-ups]

An electromechanical device for amplifying the vibrations from guitar strings. Pickups can consist of ferromagnetic poles wrapped with copper coils for amplifying the vibrations of steel-based strings or piezoelectric crystals which amplify vibrations of the guitar bridge or body. These are both distinguished from microphones.

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Why is the bridge pickup on a Stratocaster angled?

I've always wondered why the bridge pickup of a Stratocaster was angled. Is it cosmetic, or does it make a difference in the sound?
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1 vote
1 answer
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Can I plug in an electrified acoustic guitar in a line level input?

I am a complete neophyte in recording, so I am very poor in theory. I am thinking of buying some hardware for some home recordings and I am faced with the first choice: the audio interface. Since I ...
Tiberius's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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What is the purpose of skew pickups? [duplicate]

I sometimes see electric guitars where one of the pickups are not in line with the bridge. What is the purpose of this? Seems to be a thing with strat bridge pickups. What purpose does this serve?
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27 votes
4 answers
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In phase, out of phase pickups

What is the purpose of having guitar pickups out of phase with each other?
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16 votes
8 answers
62k views

H-S-H vs H-H what can do one and can't another?

I'm seeking a guitar to elicit the rich fat heavy sound. So as I understand a guitar with the H humbucker (double coil) pickup is what I need for that. But there is a wide range of layouts for the ...
rook's user avatar
  • 283
9 votes
1 answer
873 views

Passive and active pickups for bass guitar

What is the difference in sound quality of active and passive pickups? At first it comes to me that active is best, always, but is that really true? Also, can anyone point me if THIS specific bass ...
HericDenis's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
9k views

What are the most popular types or styles of pickups, and what is the genre of music most associated with them?

I see humbuckers, single coil, active pickups, etc. I see P90's, PAFS, etc. Which are basically for jazz, blues, metal?
todd's user avatar
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8 votes
5 answers
10k views

What are the benefits and drawbacks of active pickups?

I have two guitars, one with "passive" pickups and one with "active" pickups. Although I looked on the web, I'm not really sure to understand what is the difference in terms of ...
Julien N's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
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Why are humbuckers not skew?

I'm curious why single coil pickups on strats are skew but humbukers seem to be level with the bridge? VS
Neil Meyer's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
186 views

Are there guitar/pickup/effect setups for "ganged" distortion?

One of the audio engineering wisdoms of guitar playing is that only comparatively skimpy voicings like power chords go well with heavy distortion because of cross-distortion. Now one obvious solution ...
user15350's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

How the body vibration on a semi-hollowbody guitar affect the sound through the pickups?

Are this kind of pickups precisely "magnetic pickups"? If so, the pickups are supposed to be producing sound from the (metallic) string vibration, then how does the body vibration on a semi-...
sylbru's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
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Active Pickup Height

There are a lot of guides about the pickup height for singlecoil and humbucker pickups but there is very little guideline on active pickups. I have had my pickups in the default position since I ...
Tim Hargreaves's user avatar
3 votes
6 answers
3k views

Do disconnected pickups alter sound in noticeable way?

There are many artists performing with single pickup guitars, playing various genres. Some even remove two pickups from HSS guitar and leave only bridge one. When it beneficial to do this? Update: ...
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2 votes
4 answers
6k views

High pitched ringing noise on single coil pickups

My guitar has split coil pickups, and I've started to have more problems with noise on the single coil setting since I changed my recording setup. I used to use a laptop to record into and if I had ...
teddy's user avatar
  • 21
2 votes
1 answer
178 views

Help for electro-acoustic pickup? (Element Active System)

A couple of years back I bought a classical guitar (Admira Avila), and had an acoustic pickup called the Element Active System put in. I was wondering what amps people would recommend for this ...
Joseph Ruff's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
1k views

Can guitar hum possibly be due to a bad pickup

I am struggling with hum on my archtop that has a Kent Armstrong HJGS-1 floating pickup. If we touch the outside plastic covering of the pickup or to the ground lug on the pickup, the hum reduces ...
Gray's user avatar
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2 votes
4 answers
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Sudden death of Fishman preamp on acoustic guitar

From previous experience I know you are a source for good advices. Here is the thing. I have a cheap Fender guitar that use to play at Church. Since they changed the cable "asigned" for guitars it ...
Earendil's user avatar