I’ve used MGB pickups on a bunch of builds. I have been putting the metal pick up covers on them that they sell like in the picture. One thing I notice is that when you play them you can get a tinging or clicking noise as you’re jamming and hitting the metal cover. At first I thought this was a cool, novel addition but as time goes by, not so much.
Has anyone else had that experience or worked around it? The thing I really want to know is has anyone put an MGB pick up, like a mini box bucker, under the lid of the cigar box, completely out of sight/reach, thus completely eliminating the tinging problem I describe above? I’m wondering if it will get enough volume, good tone, etc. I’m planning on ttying it as an experiment But thought I’d see if anyone already has any experience doing it.
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Distance between pickups and strings make a lot difference.
If the pickups are close you get more volume, but you can also get too much treble or get unwanted boomy effects.
Far away can get muddy and dark.
I always start with my pickups far away and adjust upwards til I get the right mix of good tone with good volume response without the negatives. It's that way on every guitar with a pickup.
Just have to learn to pick around the pickups or the right position for them. Moving the pickup's position can also alter the tone. You get more bass tones towards the neck and more treble tones towards the bridge. A pickup placed in the middle can get all the tones(bass/midrange/treble) with manipulating the controls(volume/tone), so if you dont pick in the middle a pickup placed there can be great for you. One of Paul Simon's favorite guitars is a Strat with one pickup in the middle and then there's Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac that has a one pickup in the middle guitar(his Turner One).
Jon, did you find out what the problem was and did you get it fixed?
Hey Paul, or the long and the short of it is one option is for me to resess the box a little more that’s creating a little more room between the pick up cover and the strings. That reduces/eliminates the tinging issue I described, but it also creates a little more distance from the pick up to the string so the volume goes down slightly. As far as putting their pick ups underneath the box Lid I’ve concluded that’s a possibility and people do that. It can also reduce the volume however depending on the pick up you use and thickness of the lid et Cetera. Some people route the underside of the box lid and Mike from MG B suggested using their six string pick up because it’s all strongerAnd handles that situation better. That’s most of what I learned about the situation.
Hi Jon, I think Brian nailed it earlier. You have three options, well if it was me anyway.
Locate the pickup where you don't strum
Strum in a different location from the pickup
Lower the pickup and forget about the suggestions above.
I'm thinking that changing the pickup cover may just give you a different sound, a deeper more mellow clicking sound, cos you are still going to hit it.
Just my thoughts. Taff
If it’s rattling around inside the cover, you can hot glue it down & easily remove it with a heat gun or hair dryer, I have also used 2 sided tape to secure them to the box?
Thanks. It's more an issue of the pick hitting the metal cover as the guitar is strummed. I'm still not sure I have the final answer, but At this point I'm thinking the 3 best options are using non-metal pickup covers, ghosting the pickup, or creating wore distance between the strings and the cover when I build.
How are you holding your pick?
Are you holding it close to the bottom?(Jazz players use this to make their picking quiet.) I use this method.
Holding in the middle? Or close to the top?(These 2 methods usually have issues dragging the top of the guitar and hitting pickup and have that pick clack sound when picking.) This also has problems with pickups being in the way of you strumming. A lot of people have that problem playing Strats cause of the middle pickup when the pickups are raised high.
I use a thin piece of packing foam with boxbuckers to prevent the pickup from bouncing around inside the cover.
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