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Pickup Mounting - Direct To Wood?


Pr3Va1L

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anyways, I prefer the looks of direct mounting.

Also, You can change the tone to a good extent.

You can get a good 1/4 inch closer for the neck without mounting rings.

If you'd already decided, then why ask? Confirmation? :D

1. "I prefer the looks of direct mounting." Perfect! No other reason is necessary, then, this is all the justification you need

2. "You can change the tone to a good extent." Well... this was the point of the whole thread, it seems... you were asking if it changes the tone significantly, and I think it's been pretty clearly demonstrated that "not much." So, saying to a good extent isn't necessarily true.

3. "You can get a good 1/4 closer..." Yes, but that's a separate issue, and you have to be sure you WANT it right up against the neck. Besides, using a 22 fret neck instead of a 24 fret neck will have a more significant impact on tone, if this is an important part of the tone equation for you. B)

Just make it. Enjoy it. Rock on with your bad self. :D

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I just tested this theory with that pickup I just wound. I was checking the phase.

And I connected both terminals of the pickup to the multi-meter. Recalling this thread i tried banging with a screw driver on the pole pieces. Turns out its reverse polarity (in case you were wondering) But next I waved my fingers over the pickup and got nothing. So I went to the 200 milliamp setting and waved my fingers over the pickup. I got .1 mA so I tried a piece of lego (got a bunch hanging around my work area for some reason :D ) and It did nothing so I tried hitting the pickup....Still nothing. Keep in mind this is before wax potting. So then I start hitting it with a piece of wood...still nothing.

My results of this experiment...Voodoo. It's all in your heads.

Edited by GuitarGuy
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My results of this experiment...Voodoo. It's all in your heads.

naw...i have done the experiment with the first guitar i ever built...steel mounting rings vs direct mount.

the sound of the direct mounting under high gain was noticeably muddy...so i routed ears and hung the pickups from the steel rings...much more clarity with the rings.

i think which is best really depends on what you play,what you play through,and what body wood you are screwed into.

the bottom line is that some people can't hear the difference...some people can..but those with the poor tonal perception always think the ones who CAN hear it are some kind of weak-minded fools who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

i guess it is easier to accept that everyone else is stupid rather than admit they may have a shortcoming

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the bottom line is that some people can't hear the difference...some people can..but those with the  poor tonal perception always think the ones who CAN hear it are some kind of weak-minded fools who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

i guess it is easier to accept that everyone else is stupid rather than admit they may have a shortcoming

Well, that's one possibility, though not the one I hold. I think SOME people can hear the things they claim to hear, and some have superior hearing and can hear things that others may not.

I think some other people THINK they can hear things that aren't really there, and aren't aware of just how poor human auditory memory is or how much the mind can influence our hearing.

Yet other people will agree they can hear things that they KNOW they can't, just to avoid looking like a tin-ear.

Which of these a given person is, I have no way of telling unless I know the person well. And the test to *prove* one can really hear something (blind ABX) is a pain in the ass, and even MORE so (maybe even impossible) for something like differences in guitars.

As to this specific subject, I can't hear any difference with MY guitar I've tried it with, through MY rig, with the pickup I've used. That's pretty specific, and may not apply to others' guitars, pickups, rigs, or hearing. But my logical guess is, if there IS difference, it's a very subtle one. I would suggest anyone trying it to record the guitar before & after, and change nothing in the interrim. Maybe still not a perfect test, but a better indicator than trying to remember what it sounded like minutes ago (that sounds funny, but auditory memory is very short - SECONDS for subtle differences).

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My results of this experiment...Voodoo. It's all in your heads.

naw...i have done the experiment with the first guitar i ever built...steel mounting rings vs direct mount.

the sound of the direct mounting under high gain was noticeably muddy...so i routed ears and hung the pickups from the steel rings...much more clarity with the rings.

i think which is best really depends on what you play,what you play through,and what body wood you are screwed into.

the bottom line is that some people can't hear the difference...some people can..but those with the poor tonal perception always think the ones who CAN hear it are some kind of weak-minded fools who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.

i guess it is easier to accept that everyone else is stupid rather than admit they may have a shortcoming

Key word: steel mounting rings....thats going to upset the magnetic field of the pickup and therefore you will hear a difference.

With plastic rings at the same distance from the strings as the direct mount. That would tell a very different story.

Edited by GuitarGuy
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Because he'es thinking,  "oh metal, metal must make things bright"

Am I wrong?  Diddn't think so :D

Any ferrous material will disrurb the magnetic field of a coil and that will cause fluctuations in the current it produces (or simply a different tone) hence why it sounds different in wes's case.

Brighter? Dont know about that but there will be a difference. Pickups only respond to magnetic, metalic objects or a current flowing near the coil.

One might argue that pickups are microphonic at times but most likely that can be attributed to movement within the pickup or slack in mounting springs etc. Take all metal out of the equation and you will find the pickup unresponsive. (but that is really hard to do) The multimeter does not pick it up. Maybe with high gain. Ill hafta try that.

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Two unrelated things. The reason maple makes a guitar sound brighter is that it is very dense, hard, and rigid, and the strings are mounted to it vis-a-vis a bridge and other mounting hardware.

So, it's to do with the way it affects the vibration of the string.

Pickup rings won't impact the resonance of the body of the guitar, and therefore won't make any change in the tone.

They may impact the magnetic field, though-- I don't know if it's in the location for disturbing the field much, but maybe!

Greg

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i do hear a slight difference in plastic rings vs metal rings...can't say as to the cause of it.all i know is i like it better,and that is why the first mod i ever make to a new guitar is to install metal rings if it has plastic ones.yes it is subtle...but sometimes for me it is the difference between liking a tone or not liking it

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