Randolf Arriola (embryo) Guitar Gear 101
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embryo
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Sori what exactly is your question again?
hmmm but vintage strats also had their pickups floating...or is it more "woody" if the pickups are floating?sorry for the question cos i dun really dare to go to shops and try out too many guitars at one go...very ps esp if i'm not gonna get any =/
i know...u answered that part alr lol. sorry if my question was abit hard to understand, ns is making my english worse by the hour
i wanted to know this part: i was wondering what the difference would be if the pickup was floating or not. as in if the pickup is floating, the sound would be more woody??
pickup on body = less woody sound??
i wanted to know this part: i was wondering what the difference would be if the pickup was floating or not. as in if the pickup is floating, the sound would be more woody??
pickup on body = less woody sound??
embryo
New member
Punch and Woody - On Pickups
Hah, firstly for me describing the tone as "woody" means there's some kinda audible resonant quality to the fundamental note. This you can distinctly hear between any solid body guitar against full hollow acoustic or electrics. "Punch" is my description of the immediacy of the note's initial attack.
Every guitar has an inherent tone that's a combination of the fundamental note shaped and accompanied by the initial attack punch and the trailing resonant quality of the sustaining sound.
The choice of pickup type can accentuate or attenuate these tonal characteristics.
Guitars especially with low output pickups mounted on pickguards like strats for example have a somewhat woodier and airy quality to the output sound. Interestingly the same pickups screw mounted direct on the bodies have less of the airy quality but somehow seem to have more punch in the initial attack of each note. The same applies to humbuckers. However, you'll also notice that if you replace those low output pickups with actives like EMGs for instance, you'll lose more of the woody character but start to get more punch and immediacy in each note.
So i guess to look at it in a simple way it's down to the "Punch and Woody" ratio that you'd want to factor in when considering pickups with guitars.
Hah, firstly for me describing the tone as "woody" means there's some kinda audible resonant quality to the fundamental note. This you can distinctly hear between any solid body guitar against full hollow acoustic or electrics. "Punch" is my description of the immediacy of the note's initial attack.
Every guitar has an inherent tone that's a combination of the fundamental note shaped and accompanied by the initial attack punch and the trailing resonant quality of the sustaining sound.
The choice of pickup type can accentuate or attenuate these tonal characteristics.
Guitars especially with low output pickups mounted on pickguards like strats for example have a somewhat woodier and airy quality to the output sound. Interestingly the same pickups screw mounted direct on the bodies have less of the airy quality but somehow seem to have more punch in the initial attack of each note. The same applies to humbuckers. However, you'll also notice that if you replace those low output pickups with actives like EMGs for instance, you'll lose more of the woody character but start to get more punch and immediacy in each note.
So i guess to look at it in a simple way it's down to the "Punch and Woody" ratio that you'd want to factor in when considering pickups with guitars.
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embryo
New member
True Bypass On/Off Switches - Ticks, Pops and Thumps!
Maybe it's just me but I seem to come across more and more stomp pedals fitted with true bypass on/off switches resulting in variations of "Ticks, Pops and Thumps" which all eventually do lead to the dreaded "No Sound!".
These things do work well when they work but when they don't... You just have to replace them. So if you'r experiencing anything like the above descript, just go get these switches replaced.
Maybe it's just me but I seem to come across more and more stomp pedals fitted with true bypass on/off switches resulting in variations of "Ticks, Pops and Thumps" which all eventually do lead to the dreaded "No Sound!".
These things do work well when they work but when they don't... You just have to replace them. So if you'r experiencing anything like the above descript, just go get these switches replaced.
embryo
New member
Ahhh.... nice, nice! Ok next patient!
ohhh ok now i get it!!
thanks for the detailed explanation
embryo
New member
Klein with Xan Leather Strap
Xan came by last night at Harry's Dempsey Hill where I play and presented me with his latest custom leather strap creation...this time for my Klein. What a sweet n lovely combination. Tanx Xan!
The Klein is with the incredible Steinberger Trans Trem Bridge. The pickups are both Seymour Duncan 59's for the neck and bridge. I installed the Roland GK3 Synth Access Pickup that's slotted just between the the bridge and the bridge pickup ring. The GK3's control module is mounted where the tone knob used to be. The tone knob is now near the pickup selector which is perfect placement for me based on how the guitar is positioned against my body in sitting or standing. As the guitar uses a 24fret neck the placement of the neck pickup is closer to the bridge unlike guitars that have 22 fret necks. This makes a critical difference in the overall tone of the pickup. Hence the tone knob/pot has been modded to have a slightly different voice in the high pass roll off action which is now pretty close to what I intend tho I'm constantly tweaking it to hopefully arrive at the tonal zone I'm happy with. The strings of preference with the Klein are 10's Elixirs Nanowebs where I swap the the high E string with the B string.
Xan came by last night at Harry's Dempsey Hill where I play and presented me with his latest custom leather strap creation...this time for my Klein. What a sweet n lovely combination.
Tanx Xan!
The Klein is with the incredible Steinberger Trans Trem Bridge. The pickups are both Seymour Duncan 59's for the neck and bridge. I installed the Roland GK3 Synth Access Pickup that's slotted just between the the bridge and the bridge pickup ring. The GK3's control module is mounted where the tone knob used to be. The tone knob is now near the pickup selector which is perfect placement for me based on how the guitar is positioned against my body in sitting or standing. As the guitar uses a 24fret neck the placement of the neck pickup is closer to the bridge unlike guitars that have 22 fret necks. This makes a critical difference in the overall tone of the pickup. Hence the tone knob/pot has been modded to have a slightly different voice in the high pass roll off action which is now pretty close to what I intend tho I'm constantly tweaking it to hopefully arrive at the tonal zone I'm happy with. The strings of preference with the Klein are 10's Elixirs Nanowebs where I swap the the high E string with the B string.
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hey! say if i wanted to use the pedal and amp's power to get my sound for heavier styled music and still want to have that nice jazzy sound for my cleans and that thick tone for my blues and still not sound too funny when i play classic rock. is it ok if i use the same pickup combi as ur klein?? btw my guitar has a basswood body with maple top and maple neck rosewood fretboard.
embryo
New member
The Seymour Duncan 59's are imho very close replicas of the original Gibson PAFs. The significant difference is that unlike the PAFs the SD 59's are wax potted to prevent the squealing that usually happens with the original PAFs . Because the 59's are not so heavily over wound the output is lower than modern mid to heavy output humbuckers. the resulting tone is clear yet warm. The SD59s are very interesting in that adjusting the height of the pickup and it's individual exposed pole pieces closer or further from the strings can give u a very wide difference in output and tonal balance of the lows, mids and highs.
For the Klein and my Goldtop I have a preference for the pickups and pole pieces to be as far away from the strings to the point where any further results in too much loss of the lows.
So addressing your question about the versatility of the 59s to play jazz or heavy I'll say yes from clear cleans to warm jazz to heavy distortion with chockful of harmonics the 59's do deliver! With the use of drive pedals and amp switching especially with the Hughes and Kettner Triamps
The tonal and drive variation is very wide with the 59's.
If you do find yourself in a situation where you don't have such a versatile amp I'd recommend another very good pickup set from Seymour Duncan which is the combination of the JB SH4 for the bridge and either a Jazz or 59 for the neck. This combination works great with single channel amps.
For the Klein and my Goldtop I have a preference for the pickups and pole pieces to be as far away from the strings to the point where any further results in too much loss of the lows.
So addressing your question about the versatility of the 59s to play jazz or heavy I'll say yes from clear cleans to warm jazz to heavy distortion with chockful of harmonics the 59's do deliver! With the use of drive pedals and amp switching especially with the Hughes and Kettner Triamps
The tonal and drive variation is very wide with the 59's.
If you do find yourself in a situation where you don't have such a versatile amp I'd recommend another very good pickup set from Seymour Duncan which is the combination of the JB SH4 for the bridge and either a Jazz or 59 for the neck. This combination works great with single channel amps.
embryo
New member
Pickups - Passive vs Active
Tot I'd share my observation n opinions of this time and again recurring topic of comparing the pros and cons of passive against active pickups. Do feel free to share your observations and opinions of your favourite pickups.
EMGs are Toneless? Not to me.
Different from Passives? Yes!
Good or Bad? It really depends on the intended musical context and players approach on the instrument.
Trendy hear says tend to propogate general opinions without much understanding The biggest difference between Actives and Passives to me really is the way the guitar sounds when you roll off the volume knob. Some people hate the way passives sound when u roll off the volume knob even slightly especially with solid state amps and modelling technology gear so they'll prefer the consistency of overall tone maintained with actives as u play the volume knob.
In passives especially with saturated drive solely from the tube amps the volume knob also behaves like a tone knob. Some love this and use this characteristics of paasives to their dynamic musical style. Some players who do not need so much dynamic variation do not like that tonal change from the volume knob.
If you find urself playing the gtr with the volume at 10 all the time the difference between actives and passives isn't so distinct. Hope this helps somewhat ya.
Tot I'd share my observation n opinions of this time and again recurring topic of comparing the pros and cons of passive against active pickups. Do feel free to share your observations and opinions of your favourite pickups.
EMGs are Toneless? Not to me.
Different from Passives? Yes!
Good or Bad? It really depends on the intended musical context and players approach on the instrument.
Trendy hear says tend to propogate general opinions without much understanding The biggest difference between Actives and Passives to me really is the way the guitar sounds when you roll off the volume knob. Some people hate the way passives sound when u roll off the volume knob even slightly especially with solid state amps and modelling technology gear so they'll prefer the consistency of overall tone maintained with actives as u play the volume knob.
In passives especially with saturated drive solely from the tube amps the volume knob also behaves like a tone knob. Some love this and use this characteristics of paasives to their dynamic musical style. Some players who do not need so much dynamic variation do not like that tonal change from the volume knob.
If you find urself playing the gtr with the volume at 10 all the time the difference between actives and passives isn't so distinct. Hope this helps somewhat ya.
embryo
New member
Introducing.... Xan Loh
The maker of the finest leather straps I've ever seen, own and use. Where previously I never put much tot about it I'm now a convert with Xan's passionate hand craft work on leather straps.
Xan the leather strap maker with his latest work strapping on with my beloved Klein. Photography by urs truly.
The maker of the finest leather straps I've ever seen, own and use. Where previously I never put much tot about it I'm now a convert with Xan's passionate hand craft work on leather straps.
Xan the leather strap maker with his latest work strapping on with my beloved Klein. Photography by urs truly.
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embryo
New member
What affects Pick Attack...
Almost a simple question but the answer is really more complex if you'd want to understand the whys and hows....anyway I'll try ya.
The difference in Pick Attack from pickup to pickup has less to do with active or passive and more to do with the combination of the coil magnet (alnico or ceramic), the coil wire type and it's inherent inductance, capacitance, impedance and even the number of coil turns and the polepieces material type.
To get more distortion you'd want more output either from or a combination of hotter pickup, drive pedal and a overdriven amp. The drive ratio of any of the above listed 3 will give you endless variations of drive tone. To get the desired pick attack is always a push pull between clarity between clarity and distortion which is more challenging as it involves a kinda balancing act incolving all components that contribute to the gain structure of the.
The ongoing push/pull struggle in achieving guitar tones is this; To get singing sustain you need compression or in most cases distortion. To get clarity and articulation you need less distortion. It's tug of war isn't it?
To go totally extreme ie. maximum hottest output from pickup, drive pedal and pre and power tube drive from the amp will result in distortion levels so way past the headroom it starts to collapse resulting in what sounds like audio mush which leaves no headroom for volume, tonal dynamics or pick articulation. So if you want to create that wall of sound this is how you go about it but if pick articulation is what you're going for the balancing act of pickup type and output with drive pedal type and settings with the amp's pre and power tube saturation are the 1st main 3 you want to pay attention to.
Hope this helps.
Almost a simple question but the answer is really more complex if you'd want to understand the whys and hows....anyway I'll try ya.
The difference in Pick Attack from pickup to pickup has less to do with active or passive and more to do with the combination of the coil magnet (alnico or ceramic), the coil wire type and it's inherent inductance, capacitance, impedance and even the number of coil turns and the polepieces material type.
To get more distortion you'd want more output either from or a combination of hotter pickup, drive pedal and a overdriven amp. The drive ratio of any of the above listed 3 will give you endless variations of drive tone. To get the desired pick attack is always a push pull between clarity between clarity and distortion which is more challenging as it involves a kinda balancing act incolving all components that contribute to the gain structure of the.
The ongoing push/pull struggle in achieving guitar tones is this; To get singing sustain you need compression or in most cases distortion. To get clarity and articulation you need less distortion. It's tug of war isn't it?
To go totally extreme ie. maximum hottest output from pickup, drive pedal and pre and power tube drive from the amp will result in distortion levels so way past the headroom it starts to collapse resulting in what sounds like audio mush which leaves no headroom for volume, tonal dynamics or pick articulation. So if you want to create that wall of sound this is how you go about it but if pick articulation is what you're going for the balancing act of pickup type and output with drive pedal type and settings with the amp's pre and power tube saturation are the 1st main 3 you want to pay attention to.
Hope this helps.
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