Pickup (2024)

FAQs

What does having more pickups do? ›

With more than one pickup handy, you can radically alter your guitar's tone right at the source where tone matters most and have tracks that sit better in a mix, fulfilling their intended purposes faithfully.

Cheaper pickups don't have the warmth and sweet tones of better pickups. They often sound 'tinny' or metallic, and just lack the depth and full frequency sweetness with overtones that better premium guitar pickups are bound to have (or wound to have, haha). It's really noticeable with overdrive and distortion!

You should check all wiring and solder joints. It's useful to have the guitar plugged in and playing while you wiggle (gently) each wire as that may instantly indicate where the problem is.

All in all, getting an expensive set of pickups and putting it on a cheap guitar is NOT an optimum solution. You are much better off waiting a few months, saving some extra money on the side, and then buying a decent electric guitar.

If pickups are set too low, the magnetic field from the pickups won't pick up the vibrations from the string and your resulting tone will sound quiet or thin.

If your pickups are set too low your tone may sound thinner/ have a lower output than desired. If your pickups are too high, they may not be picking up the sound to the best of their ability. Having your pickups set too high can cause intonation/tuning issues.

What makes the Les Paul somewhat unique is that the neck pickup and bridge pickup each have their own volume and tone knobs. By adjusting which pickup(s) are selected, how loud each pickup is, and the tone of each pickup, you are enabled to fiddle around with a nearly endless combination of sounds.

This material can also degrade and fall apart. Fender pickups that were not wax potted can eventually come apart. In fact, many vintage pickups were not potted with wax or shellac. This guitar pickup coil was not protected with wax or shellac.

If pickups are weak and you turn the tone control to zero and the volume goes away then there is a break in the coil or connection. You register no DC ohm reading from a meter, the coil may be damaged or shorted.

Loose or vibrating springs and screws can resonate and cause unwanted feedback. Pickups that are loose and lower in the mounting can also lose tone and output.

What do higher pickups do? ›

Raising pickups does three things: increases output. increases harshness of the tone, particularly in treble frequencies. if you get close enough to the strings, you can start to get tuning issues, a warbling sound, or weird overtones from the pickup's magnetic field interfering with the strings' vibration.

I find that raising and lowering a pickup does several things. When I move my pickup closer to the strings I get more output and more attack. When lowering a pickup you get less output and a smoother sound. As the pickup is moved further away from the bridge the louder and fuller it sounds.

The three pickup configuration gives more versatility. Other than that, it's a matter of preference.