I'm planing to make my first all electric CBG. As I'm looking at the selection at C.B. Gitty, there are many to choose from with most going for around $20 and one (black ice) for less than $7.
I know there are single coil and humbuckers, my daughter told me that single coils were better for cleaner sounds and humbuckers were better if you liked to play with more distortion. There are also the P90s and I'm not sure if they fit into either of those categories.
I prefer a clear sound to distortion plus I like the look of some of the single coils. I play primarily blues and early rock and I'm thinking of using a black cohiba box and a painted black neck with a maple neck for contrast. A chrome lipstick case or a black single coil might look nice and a close to neck placement would work out best.
Is my daughter's evaluation correct? Can I just go with what I think looks the best or do different pick-ups and designs sound different enough that I should use some other considerations?
Thanks for any help or advice you can give me.
Replies
I've used both 6 pole/4 pole in my builds made no different to me where the strings are placed.they do how ever sound much better than piezo pickups.at those prices already assembled and ready to fit has got to be a bargain for us builders.those 4 poles pickups if you take the cover off you will find that it has 6 poles with a 4 hole cover.
So this is another question I have. As I'm looking at the pickups, many of them have six poles, some have 4 poles, and a few have three poles. If I'm building a three stringer, can I use a four or six pole or do I need to stick with a three pole pickup?
Or, you go this route like I have and turn the wife's old Singer into a winder. I cut my own flat work and press on the wood top. Parts cost probably less than $8 US and sound great. Alnico 2 magnets, bla bla.
Believe me, winding my own pickup is definitely on my radar. I would also like to build an amp sometime. But one thing at a time, I'm going to keep building guitars for a while.
BTW... That is beautiful!
you can get 10 of these for less $60!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10x-BLACK-PEARL-PER-WIRED-4-STRING-CIGAR-...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Prewired-Guitar-Soundhole-Pickup-Wiring-H...
I was looking at that one. It would go well with the all black motif I'm thinking of. The only problem is it has four poles and I'm thinking of building a three stringer.
Is that not a problem?
I Just bought a five pack of those (6 pole instead of four tho) for less than $30 with shipping. Five different colored pickup rings. I wedged one into the resonator of my diddley bow and it sounded fine. You really can't beat a whole pickup and harness for $6, unless, again, you're looking for a specific pickup sound.
Go with the P90 they sound great. Only draw back is that they look huge in a CBG.
Four string CBG's work fine with standard six pole pickups. On a three string the pole distances aren't far enough apart imo if you spread the strings to .500-.562" apart.
I've bought a chinese bass pickup(you get 2) for about 5 uk pounds.
I've split them and used both on my guitars ,they sound lovely.
as for flat pups I'd only used them on solid guitars but for box type such as cbg's either a piezo or a single coil pickup etc.
I would say that the single coil pickup does sound better than a piezo.
everybody has their own opinion on what sound good to them.
You may also consider a good Telecaster neck pick up..... Not heard one in a CBG, but it is certainly an awesome sounding pickup in my Amercian Vintage '52 Tele. Clean or with moderate distortion it's really underated and is ideal for Blues especially if you're like me and aren't really a pedal user. It's really quite expressive without being really "loud" . Strat pickups IMO can sound very thin in some situations - even in a good Strat ! P90's are a sensible & cool choice, "soapbar" or "dog ear" . If hum cancellation is a must, Gibson also make (or did?) a P100 which is basically a mini humbucker like the old Les Paul Deluxe had but in a P90 casing ... Anyone tried Rickenbacker pickups in a CBG?
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