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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Electric guitar pickup not picking up a specific string
Just string an old guitar with Fender's pure nickel wound 009 gauge. I don't have any prior knowledge whether the pickup is faulty or not. The issue is the B string not picked up by the guitar pickup. ...
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Shadow Nanoflex pickup not working anymore
I have an electroacoustic folk guitar (Lâg 4 seasons) equipped with a Shadow preamp, and a Shadow nanoflex pickup.
During the past few days, I have been experiencing very annoying noises which, ...
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Why is a violin so hard to amplify?
Why are electric violins so expensive compared to an electric guitar, why is a guitar pickup so relatively easy and cheap to produce compared to an electric violin's pickup?
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Would upgrading the pickups on my low end Ibanez make it sound like a high end one?
I have an Ibanez JEM Jr, the cheap version of Steve VAI's signature JEM model (costs around 500$ compared to the 1600$~2700$ regular JEMs run for). There are many differences, among them that it uses ...
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Can a guitar pickup be eq'd to imitate a different wiring from its own?
For example can a parrell humbucker be eq'd to sound like a single coil? Or even can it be eq'd to the other possible wiring's, series etc.
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Humbucker buzzing when playing, but if I point in certain direction it stops?
I have used my Ibanez RG350 for roughly 2-3 years now.
I haven't played for a couple of months, and upon picking the guitar back up, the middle humbucker has a humming / fizzing noise while standing ...
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How to wire 1 humbucker to a 6 position rotary switch without tone and volume pots?
Any help would be useful diagrams?
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Does an acoustic guitar pickup still benefit from overtones provided by wood types?
When I was buying an acoustic guitar, I was told there were different types of wood and construction principles that gave guitars different flavors. You choose this wood for a softer and rounder tone, ...
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Uneven volume of guitar strings when plugged in
Ive been facing some issues when recording with my Ibanez GRG 170DX. I noticed this recently, as I got a Scarlett Solo interface. When I record my guitar, the input volume from the lower E string is ...
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Humbucker troubles
I'm rebuilding a Stratocaster, and I put a new pickguard in that's a a very basic wiring setup for a strat: a single humbucker and a volume knob. I have my ground wire soldered in the back. Soldered ...
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Do active pickups not work correctly with wireless systems?
I am considering buying a wireless guitar setup - transmitter connects to a guitar's output, receiver connects to an amp's input. This is, essentially, the system we see in modern times that allows a ...
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Does an SSS standard Strat. sound the same as an HSS one with the 5-way switch on the 4th position?
I was about to buy a Strat. but I'm not sure about choosing the SSS, or the HSS model, let me explain a little bit more the situation.
I had 2 Strats., both of them SSS, one was a Squier Bullet, the ...
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Why piezo pickup pickups too much noise from left hand sliding up/down the fret?
Why piezo pickup picks up so much noise from, e.g., the left hand sliding up/down the neck? The sound is picked up from balalaika-prima.
I am using the simplest piezo pickup which is placed on the ...
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Is it possible to get a lace sensor tone without the lace sensor pickups on a Fender standard strat?
Just out of curiosity. Without time to experiment it, I wonder if it is possible to make a Fender standard stratocaster sound like a strat with lace sensor pickups on it?
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Is there such thing as a pyroelectric pickup?
Learning about guitar and acoustic pickups and the physics and electronics behind them. I've heard that pyroelectric acoustic guitar pickups are nice? Looking and can't find anything.
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Are single coil pickups better at catching picking dynamics?
I've seen mention of dynamics on the Internet generally associated with single coil pickups, and it seems that people assume that those have more dynamics.
However, there is an interesting forum ...
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Removable sound hole pickup for an acoustic twelve-string
I have a high-end acoustic twelve string built by the Santa Cruz guitar company. I would like to be able to amplify it when I sing with a mike. I am not willing to carve, glue, or screw into this ...
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Replacement Preamp for Yamaha APX 8D
My Yamaha APX 8D's preamplifier is broken.
Does anyone know a good replacement?
The guitar has a piezo pickup and a microphone.
There are potentiometers for volume, treble, bass and a 9V battery ...
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Acoustic guitar with humbucker pickup sounds like an electric guitar, not acoustic
Last week I had played the first time with a PA. My acoustic guitar Epiphone ej160e using mini acoustic humbucker sounds more like a clean electric guitar, not like an acoustic.
But why? Can ...
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pick up placing on electric guitars
Are there specific places where pickups need to be placed on electric guitars? Given that most have two or three, how are the optimum positions calculated? On Teles, the neck pup is exactly under an ...
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Why Does the Volume Change When Using Split Coil
I have a couple of guitars that have split coil capabilities and when I use the split coil feature, I notice that the volume seems to go down drastically. I'm not entirely sure if it's actually the ...
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Are the strings supposed to be directly over the pickups?
I just bought a Squier affinity strat and noticed that the strings do not directly go over the center of the pickups.
This is especially the case for the bridge pickups which are at an angle.
Is ...
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Guitar hums even when only pickup is wired
I have an Ibanez RG220H (IBZ neck pickup, Seymour Duncan bridge pickup) that I've been trying to de-hum, and have run out of ideas/internet searches. The guitar is currently wired with a humbucker ...
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Recording an acoustic guitar with passive under-saddle pickup-system and having much noise
I tried to recorde myself with my new guitar through the internal passive pickup, and got some serious noise issues. First, when I am recording plainly, the signal is very silent, and when I am ...
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Pickups with Acoustic Instruments
I've been told when playing live not to mic an acoustic instrument because of the feedback you can get, and that using pickups would be a better way to amplify the sound of an acoustic instrument. So ...
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Would a tiny pulse of electricity sent through electric guitar strings affect the pickups enough to be heard?
For the sake of the rhythmic analysis I'm doing, I had the idea to solder a wire to a metal pick, ground the strings and rig something up that sends data to a computer every time the pick touches a ...
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Is spacing between strings and fret board rounding important for humbucker pickups?
Is spacing between strings at the bridge and fret board radius important for humbucker pickups proper sound?
I made a simple guitar with narrow (10 mm between strings) and flat fretboard. (I ...
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What do coil taps actually do?
I recently noticed I have heard guitar players talk a fair bit about coil taps but don't actually know what it means for a guitar to have coil taps?
What is the science behind it and why would a ...
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Can you play metal on single coil pickups?
People keep telling me you need humbuckers to play metal but I want to play some heavy stuff on my strat. How does high gain work on single coils and what are some of the pitfalls?
People keep ...
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Electric bass scale length and pickup angle
While shopping for my first bass, I came across a combination I've never seen before: a used medium scale bass (32") with slanted pickups. A medium scale bass might be an easier transition for me ...
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Guitar pickups Gibson 496r 500t difference
I changed the pickups in my Gibson Flying V from the stock 496r in the neck and 500t from the bridge to signature Zakk Wylde. Now I want to change them back but I got them mixed and I dont have any ...
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Ways of reducing noise with single coil sound hole pickups
I currently use an sound hole single-coil magnetic pickup on my acoustic guitar so that I can get both a good "acoustic" guitar sound and so that I can drive electric guitar effects pedals.
In some ...
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Experimenting with the pickups magnetic field to create new music /effects
I stumbled upon a vey interesting post on JustinGuitarCommunity.com :
Experimenting with the pickups magnetic field to create new music
I want the opnion/experience of StkEX's Musicians Community ...
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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 ...
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How to record through a preamp
Just recently I purchased a Realist pickup to put on my acoustic bass so I can record sound. I run the pickup through a cheap, $30 amp (an early model Crate GX-65) and then into Audacity for a final ...
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what are the benefits of sound hole pickups?
1-What are the benefits of sound hole pickups? and how to choose one ?
2- Does it sound like electric guitar ?! .
I'm not sure if i really have to try it .
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What are harmonics in electric gutiar pickup tone characteristics
An online guitar pickup chooser provided me such a list of options:
More Output
More Harmonics
More Versatility
Cleaner/Brighter Tone
Warmer/Fatter Tone
More Sustain
I understand another options but ...
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Why do guitar transducers howl when run through guitar pedals?
I play both acoustic and rock music on an acoustic guitar fitted with K&K piezoelectric transducers. When I plug the acoustic guitar into my electric guitar rig the amp starts howling almost ...
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Front coil vs rear coil in humbucker
This question is inspired by Avril Lavigne's signature Telecaster (one humbacker only and it is not P-Rails one).
It has one humbucker with three selection switch front, both, rear.
Does this ...
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Guitar pup problems
I was practicing with my Epi Les Paul traditional pro and my strap slipped off. The guitar fell on the floor without any cosmetic damages but after strumming all the strings, it sounded differently, ...
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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
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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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Use different pickup for different group of strings
I use a Fender Stratocaster guitar and, especially with clean sounds, I often find that the neck pickup sound very pleasant with the first three strings, but a bit too boomy for the 3 lower strings. ...
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Differences between Covered vs. Open Coil Humbuckers?
As far as I know, there're two kinds of humbucker:
The left one (called open coil), and the right one (called covered), are both humbuckers. What makes them different?
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Does the pickup really have any effect on the guitar's distortion sound?
Does the pickup really have any effect on the guitar's distortion sound? Mine is a rockwell factory pickup and Iwant to change it. But, does it really have any effect?
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Shaky electric guitar sound
Recently, I started getting very unnerved with a shaky/wobbling sound I get out of my ESP LTD Snakebyte with EMG JH pick-ups. Especially noticeable starting from 7th-8th fret, but an open E5 (D#5) ...
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Electric guitar problem, bad resonance?
I've been facing this problem for quite some time now: some notes sounding bad with an overdriven amp. It's a 19 years old solid body Kaman GTX-33 (the maker of the Ovation acoustic guitar), made in ...
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What should be the tone effect of lowering (neck) pickup?
Exactly what should be effect of lowering the neck pickup on a semihollow jazz guitar? (besides of it lowers the volume)
I am using clean jazz tone with a very little reverb, and no other effect. I ...
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Are all Stratocaster Standard guitar single pickups compatible?
Are all Stratocaster Standard guitar pickups compatible? Want to remove my Squire Strat pickups and install Rails Seymour Duncan in the bridge, HS-4 DiMarzio in the middle and SD Jr.59 (PAF) in the ...
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Electric guitars that can fit Firebird humbuckers with minimal effort
I love the sound of the Seymour Duncan Firebird pickups, but I can't work out what type of guitar I could fit them in without having a massive headache. I'd love to get these into an SG body, but I ...
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