Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom T on January 16, 2015 at 2:01am

Great response! I feel like I'm being schooled in pickups (a good thing). Like Wayfinder, I would appreciate your suggestion for "quality" mag pickups.

Thanks for a thorough response.

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Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on January 16, 2015 at 2:11am

Why not do both?  And use a flat pickup so you don't have to cut the lid or neck?

Dan Sleep (Humidor Guitars) makes the Thinbuckers for us in the US.  Same design as Elmar's Original Flatpup which is pictured below.  I've used a handful of Dan's 5-string thinbuckers and I love them.  Easy to install and they sound great.  If you want a sample, check my page and have a listen to the Surfy video using a black Camacho box.

I used two volume controls and a LP type 3-way switch.  The rod piezo in the bridge is a lot hotter than the humbucker so I crank the mag to 12 and ratchet the bridge piezo back to 8 or 9 or whatever level gives me the tone I want.  It is a hot little set up.

Sorry about the scratch in the box.

I'll do a video demo of this guitar sometime today since I want to get it up for sale on my website.

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Permalink Reply by Tom T on January 16, 2015 at 9:23am

I look forward to the video. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on January 16, 2015 at 3:02pm

These are a few of the brands that come to mind.

Gibson
Fender
Seymour Duncan
EMG
Lace
Dimarzio
Fralin
Dean Markley
Rio Grand

This is no way a full list. Just the ones that come to mind. Of the ones I’ve used,

EMG. OK but not worth the extra effort of housing a batterie in your guitar. Lacks the warmth I like.
Gibson. All I can say is, Yes. Let’s face it. They’re not 1/2 of THE electric guitar sound for no reason.
Fender. The other 1/2 of THE electric guitar sound.
Seymour Duncan. Warmth. So warm they’ll bake your face off.
Demarzio. Crisp. Even they’re Humbuckers have a bite to them.

Of the brands I’m familiar with Seymour Duncan is my go to brand. Duncan pickups I’m currently using are,
’59 Model SH-1
Pearly Gates SH-PG-1
Little ’59 SL59-1
Quarter Pound for Tele set STL-3 and STR-3
Quarter Pound for P-bass SPB-3

Some I have used in the past.

Custom Custom Sh-11
Duncan Distortion SH-6
Cool Rails SCR-1
Hot Rails SHR-1
Vintage Rails SVR-1

Personal taste only. I’ve used a hand full of Dimarzio pickups. Including they’re ‘PAF’ humbucker. To my ears all Dimarzio pickups have an edge to they’re sound. Not thin or unpleasant. Just not what I like.

Price and places to buy.
Anywhere from $50 to over $100 a single pickup. Best bet is to figure $70 to $90 a pop. Before shipping. Ebay is a great place to find pickups. Sometimes you can find them on sale from places like Guitar Center, Sweetwater, Musicians Friend and a host of other online stores.

Is it worth putting $200+ of electronics into a $5 box? For me yes. Does it make it a better $5 box? Absolutely not. It’s a matter of personal taste. Nothing else. Honestly piezos are great. They have a raw sound that’s second to none. Most of the vids on this site feature piezo loaded guitars. Piezos have a wonderful advantage. If you have 5 CBGs made of different boxes. Different woods. You’ll have 5 different sounding guitars. Unpotted or lightly potted magnetic pickups will give you this same advantage. Along with a warmer, fuller tone.

If your looking for good pickups that aren’t the high price monsters I’ve listed I’d stick with reputable builders and online stores. Buying factory made cheap pickups on Ebay is a crap shoot. Not worth the gamble.

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on January 16, 2015 at 6:32pm

If you don't 'pot',or lightly 'pot',mags with some sealing binding agent,ie,wax,laquer,superglue etd,the are much more likely to become 'microphonic',bit like a piezo,but not as drastic usually

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Permalink Reply by darryl kernaghan on January 16, 2015 at 7:11pm

http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Pickups_and_Electron...

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Permalink Reply by Roosterman on January 18, 2015 at 8:03am

Piezos are for door buzzers, magnetic pickups are for guitars.....

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Permalink Reply by Diglydog on January 18, 2015 at 9:07am

I've had pretty good results with cheap rail pickups, which are $5.99 on eBay.  They sound good enough for me and, being rails, there's no problem with pole alignment.  I've also used cheap single coils, which cost even less.  Again, with a chrome cover, there's no aesthetic alignment issues.

It's all down to individual choice and trial and error - just build what you like.  Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by David L. on January 18, 2015 at 12:29pm

I have used several of the rail type mini humbucker (single coil size). They sound good (for the money) and they are Hum canceling (unless coil tapped and only using one coil). The wiring colours seem to change by the batch but can normally be worked out by looking at the back of the pickup. It is pot luck whether you get the mounting springs and screws included but these cost very little off eBay.
They do give 3 distinct sounds when wired series/single coil/parallel. Compared to a pole pick up I prefer them because of the coil tapping ability. Another good thing is there is no problems trying to match string positions to pole pieces.

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Permalink Reply by Diglydog on January 18, 2015 at 10:16pm

If you wire them up straight out of the box, they don't hum because the double coil of a humbucker is hum cancelling. As delivered, they are as simple as a single coil to wire up.

A humbucker is actually 2 single coil pickups joined together.  They have 5 wires: positive and negative for each coil and a braided ground sleeve.  Usually, they are delivered with 2 of these wires joined together, so you just have positive, negative and ground sleeve.  If you choose to use all 5 wires in different ways, you can either wire the coils in series (in phase or out of phase), in parallel or select either of the single coils.  So, 5 possible sounds with lots of tricky wiring if care to go that route.

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD1H5L11_01/Guitar-Wiring-...

If you want to hear what one sounds like out of the box, there's one in BUG(c)'s Black Cohiba - there's plenty of vids of that.

ETA: most humbuckers give you the option to split the coils, some don't and are wired internally as humbucker only.  Look for one that offers 5 wires or coil tapping if you need that.

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Permalink Reply by OBSIDIAN on January 23, 2015 at 5:39am

I used a 4 pole flat pup on my 3 string license plate resonator.  It works great.  It might not be as hot as a 3 pole pickup but it is better than a piezo.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on January 18, 2015 at 1:43pm

I have a set of P-bass pickups that only have coiling on 1/2 the polls. So each half pickup has two live polls and two dead ones. Can't get any more poorly made than that.
To be honest I've never bought low price humbuckers or single coil pickups. Because of my bad experience I'll stay cautious.
I like the idea of using both mags and piezos. Have a push pull volume pot that both turns this option on and controls the volume. Getting a good mix of the best of both.

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