Summary
of Topics
Advertising
I am accused by many in the music industry of being a poor marketer.
Maybe they're right because I refuse to advertise my products
with meaningless jargon.
My philosophy is:
If the product is right, the price is right and you treat your
customers the way you want to be treated, the word-of-mouth is
faster than the speed of sound.
Our product is our advertisement!
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Magnets
Ceramics vs Alnico
When I read that ceramic magnets sound harsh and
alnico magnets sound sweet, I ask myself, " Who the hell preaches
such nonsense?" There are harsh-sounding pickups with alnico magnets
and sweet-sounding pickups with ceramic magnets and vice-versa!
A magnet by itself has no sound, and as a part of a pickup,
the magnet is simply the source to provide the magnetic field
for the strings. The important factor is the design of a magnetic
circuit which establishes what magnet to use.
Though ceramic magnets cost less than alnico magnets of equal
size, a well-designed magnetic circuit using ceramic magnets costs
much more than the six Alnico 5 magnets of a traditional single
coil pickup!
Aging
Before the introduction of alnico magnets in 1935, permanent magnets
were not quite that permanent. During a certain time, they lost
a good amount of magnetism till they finally reached a stable
condition. The process to accelerate this decay was called in
the industry, "magnetic aging." In modern science, it is called
"stabilizing." Since the ‘50's, we use Alnico 5 magnets which
lose, under normal conditions, less then half a percent per 100
years.
How do we achieve normal conditions?
Alnico magnets are shipped by the manufacturer in a non-magnetized
condition and will not be magnetized until a pickup is completed.
How to maintain normal conditions?
After magnetization, avoid any close contact with
other pickups or magnets facing either north to north or south
to south with their magnetic poles. Don't ever throw pickups random
in a drawer; you may either use a keeper on each side of the magnetic
poles or carefully place them with the north facing the south
pole of the other magnet. ( For tele players, remember that the
iron backplate of a traditional tele pickup functions as a keeper
which increases the stability of the magnets.)
Once pickups are in a guitar, there is very little to worry about.
That your pickups lose some of their magnetism when you lean your
guitar against an amp is nothing but a fairy tale. Or, that pickups
lose some of their magnetism when you drop them on a concrete
floor is just another fairy tale -- alnicos and ferrites will
break before they have any measurable losses. Magnets are sensitive
to heat, but so is your guitar. However, heat can be a severe
problem when an Alnico 5 magnet is exposed to temperatures above
1000 F, approaching its Curie temperature of 1634 F. At these
temperatures, Alnico 5 undergoes structural changes and cannot
be re-magnetized. Why do I mention this? Because it happens quite
often, when someone doesn't like the unbalance in output of a
pickup with staggered magnets and goes to a bench grinder or a
belt sander to grind a magnet down. You take a chance that a magnet
gets too hot and becomes damaged.
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Windings
Scattered vs Layered
"Scatter-wound" is just another sales slogan like "aged magnets".
A more accurate term would be "random-wound," and any multi-layer
winding of wire, finer than 38 AWG, is more or less random-wound.
Electricity doesn't distinguish between layered and random-wound
coils -- what matters is the count of turns-per-square and the
relation between the length and cross-section of a coil.
Tensioning
Even the most advanced coil winders need modification to wind
elongated pickup bobbins. Oblong bobbins pull different lengths
of wire during the phases of each rotation. This requires synchronized
changes in tension during each rotation to avoid pressure points
at the narrow ends of the bobbin. These pressure points can cause
shorts in the coil which create eddy currents.
Hand vs Machine
Do you really believe someone hand-guides 8000 turns of copper
wire that is as thin as a human hair on a bobbin to complete,
maybe, 30 coils per day and can guaranty any consistency? A well-wound
coil is a well-wound coil regardless if it's wound with professional
equipment, or if somebody's great-grandmother winds it to an old
French recipe with Napoleon's modified coffee grinder and chops
off the wire after a mile with an antique guillotine!
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Eddy
Currents
Eddy currents alter sound and output of a pickup
and play an important role in pickup design.
Eddy currents are induced in metals in the vicinity of an AC magnetic
field, creating a secondary magnetic field which opposes the inducing
magnetic field of the coil. The dimensions, conductivity and permeability
of the metal, along with the frequency of the current in the coil,
determine the magnitude and phase relation of the eddy currents.
An internal short in a pickup coil forms a conductive loop which,
also, becomes the source for internal eddy current interference.
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Output
and Sonic Evaluation
I'm asked by players, over and over, " How much output do your
pickups have?" This is a very disturbing question because one
should consider, no matter how much output your pickup has, you'll
never get more than 50 watts out of a 50 watt amplifier!
Rating
Pickups with DC Resistance
DC resistance is NOT a power rating; it is the resistance
of the wire in a pickup's coil at zero hertz, something that only
occurs when the guitar isn't played. If some marketers use
DC resistance as a power rating for an AC device, like a pickup,
then they only show their ignorance. If we use DC resistance
as a parameter, we disregard the fact that, due to Pe and other
conditions that result in eddy currents, the effective resistance
(Rac) is frequency dependant.
DC resistance (Rdc) tells you as much about a
pickup's tone and output as the shoe size tells you about a person's
intelligence!
Millivolts
The output rating of pickups is generally given in
millivolts (mV). Millivolts could be a helpful parameter if all
manufacturers would agree on a standard measuring method that
provides such data over a wide frequency range. Now, let's say
with this information, we plot an impressive-looking graph showing
the different output levels at various frequencies -- does this
give you a good idea of the sonic character of a pickup? Yes and
no. Don't forget that not every guitar is created equal, and
neither are the players. We use different kinds of strings,
cables, amps and speakers, and a pickup is only one link in a
chain that finally determines tone and output.
Inductance
Inductance ( henry) is another valuable parameter for the sonic
evaluation of a pickup but requires some basic understanding of
electrodynamics. As a general rule, the higher the inductance,
the lesser the highs. For example, a traditional strat pickup
has an inductance around 2.3 henry while a Gibson PAF has an inductance
around 4.4 henry and some of the so-called "distortion" pickups
have an inductance above 8.0 henry. With these comparisons, you
get a basic idea. Besides inductance, there are other factors
that also need to be considered in projecting tone and output
of a pickup.
Tone and output mainly depend on the relation between inductance,
magnetic strength and the efficiency of the pickup, as well as
the relation between the inductance of the pickup and the capacitance
of the cable.
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Once
Upon a Time...
In the early days of the electric guitar, a pickup had
only one function -- to convert the mechanical energy of a vibrating
string into an electrical signal. The output of these pickups
was matched to the input sensitivity of the amplifiers, to achieve
their maximum performance. By 1950, the recording industry introduced
extended range recording and called it High Fidelity. We entered
the Paradise of Sound.
However, this all changed in the ‘60s. A new era had arrived,
and the electric guitar became the symbol of that era. Sometimes,
I had the impression that all the baby boomers had united to buy
every guitar in the country to follow the pied pipers from Liverpool!
The places got larger, the cables got longer, the amps got bigger
and the volume levels were dramatically increased. Pickups were
no longer used to reproduce the traditional sounds of the electric
guitar but to overdrive the amp and to generate a sound of their
own.
By 1974, a new class of highly specialized power pickups took
over the mass market. Now, we had two basic classes of pickups
on the market - Class A, the traditionals and Class
B, the special power pickups.
Class A Pickups "The
Traditionals" provide the amplifier with
a wideband signal of a moderate output level. They convert each
minute vibration of the strings into an electrical impulse and
allow the player the widest possible tonal variety -- from
sweet to bright, from clean to distorted, you name it! With
these pickups, the player is fully in control.
Class B Pickups "The Specialists" are designed
with a specific sound in mind --pickups that severely exaggerate
certain frequency bands. Each Class B pickup has a distinctive
sound, limited within its own pre-determined range. These pickups
overdrive the amp at relatively low volume settings and produce,
even below distortion level, a compressed tone. Most of the Class
B pickups have a much higher inductance than Class A pickups which
causes, combined with cable capacitance, a reduced frequency response.
The biggest disadvantage of Class B pickups is that they may sound
awesome in one guitar but just awful in another, making them a
risky purchase.
Mixing Class A and Class B Pickups in
the same guitar can be quite problematic. Besides the difference
in sound, we are also faced with different output levels. For
example, a Class B pickup may reach its maximum output level with
the amp set on 3 while its Class A companion won't reach that
point until the amplifier volume control is set on 5 or 6. Of
course, the actual volume limit for either one is determined by
the wattage of the amp and the efficiency of its speakers.
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Tone
Players often ask me the same questions, like:
"Can I get a good quack with your L-280's?"
"The tone of my pickups is very shrill, but in Position 2 & 4,
I get the most beautiful quack. Why?"
"Can you give me a tonal evaluation of the L-280's?"
"How can I get the Mark Knopfler sound?"
All these questions can be combined into one:
"How can I get the best overall tone?"
Some
History
In 1964
I played a Strat through a Vibrosonic amp with a 15" JBL D130
F speaker. I used like everybody else at that time a simple 8'
cable. I wired Pickup One & Three to the 3 position switch, like
a standard two pickup guitar, and the Middle Pickup was wired
to the second tone control so I could slowly blend it into the
circuit. My sound was great — out of this world! However, this
all changed overnight when the clubs got bigger, and we started
to move all over the stage and needed longer cables.
I'll never forget the first and last time I used a 26' heavy-duty
cable. My sound was horrible, no highs and no definition. When
I turned the volume up, it got distorted. I ran back and forth
to re-adjust my amp, but nothing helped. The next day, I measured
the capacitance of that cable and could not believe that a reputable
company was marketing a so-called high performance cable which
had a capacitance of 1400 picofarad! I immediately called a nearby
cable factory, and they had some inexpensive low-capacitance TV
communication coax. It was
not as stable and flexible as that beautiful, super
cable, but my sound was restored.
Cable
Today, cables are sold by look, flexibility, physical strength,
and the most meaningless sales hype- conductivity. The few ohms
resistance of a cable in a high impedance system have no measurable
effect on sound and output. They can write all about gold-plated
connectors, but gold will not improve your sound.
The fact is that thicker conductors and the more flexible insulation
materials are causing an increase in capacitance -- the
most important specification of your cable. The higher
the capacitance of a cable and the higher the inductance of a
pickup, the lesser highs you'll get.
Click here to check the LCF table.
By the end of the 60's, the power circus began with heavy
duty speakers and over wound pickups; but today, there are more
players than ever searching for a good, traditional guitar sound.
A
Good Tone Depends On Seven Major Factors:
1. The height adjustment of the pickups.
2. The inductance of the pickups.
3. The capacitance of the cable.
4. The sound characteristics of the guitar.
5. The amplifier and its set-up.
6. The frequency response of the speaker.
7. The right hand technique of the player.
Quack,
Quack and Quack
Bright-sounding pickups and guitars can give you
a much sweeter tone in Positions 2 & 4 than in Positions 1, 3
& 5. Most 10" speakers have a better high end than larger speakers,
resulting in a more distinctive quack. So, if you want the Mark
Knopfler sound, try using unhyped Class A pickups, a low capacitance
cable and speakers that have a good top end - the rest is in your
right hand. With a good right hand technique, you can get all
the quack, twang, or whatever you want to call it in all five
positions!
Good-sounding
gear won't make you a better player, but it might motivate you
to become one!
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More to come...
