Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

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Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by Philip_J_Fry »

This is most useful for pickup sound comparisons.
If you haven't seen it, it's well worth a listen, or if you have a sound in your head and aren't sure which guitar makes it.
Shame it's not interactive as the graphics seem to imply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... e=emb_logo

Hope it's of some use to someone.

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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by willow13 »

First thing that jumps out is they are all in different guitars so while this might "help" decide what guitar you might get it really does nothing to "compare" pickups
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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by Philip_J_Fry »

Sorry it wasn't useful to you.
There is no actual way I can see to compare different size and types of pickups with each other as they all mount to their respective guitars differently and to get some to fit onto other guitars will take a certain amount of carpentry thus altering the structure of the guitar, some mount to the pick guard and not the actual wood of the guitar so the comparison would be null and void if you believe the structure of a guitar plays any part in the resulting tone of a pickup.
And the big difference the guitars are all made of different woods if you subscribe to the 'Tone Wood' theory of guitar building and that resultant pickup sounds and tones are affected by the wood used to build each guitar.
I agree it's not perfect but it is a valid comparison, I can't think of how else you would compare the sounds of different pickups against each other as HB's will not fit into a standard routed Strat with out removing some wood and Rick Toasters are mounted to the actual top of the guitar body with just holes for the magnets drilled into the body.
I thought it was a useful comparison anyway.
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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by MrDINO »

The only way I’ve really found useful is by eventually buying and trying. Honing it down with due diligence yes but with your set up is the clincher imho

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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by Philip_J_Fry »

MrDINO wrote:The only way I’ve really found useful is by eventually buying and trying. Honing it down with due diligence yes but with your set up is the clincher imho
Totally agree.
This should be used give you a decent sound point to start from.

Jazzmaster pickups are often wrongly referred to as P90's and they are totally different in size, construction and output to P90's, they just look similar and this comparison shows that quite dramatically.

Also for those who didn't spot the error in the title...... The Rick and the Tele Delux are both semis... dunno why I typed solid.... Sorry 'bout that.
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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by NippleWrestler »

Pretty useless as a pickup comparison given that all the instruments are different.

If you want to see an actual shootout check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbRlcdNHYDM

It's a metal-ish sound but same guitar, same song, same everything except the pickups. That gives you much more of an idea about the actual sound as you're only changing one variable. You'd think reverb would know better.

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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by Philip_J_Fry »

Under distortion and heavy signal processing one pickup makes a similar noise to another one, the only thing that affects the sound of each pickup is how many winds are on the coils (output), types of magnets used and how close the pickup is to the strings. possibly the gauge of wire used.

That demo was for a very narrow audience with its mind already made up on what it wants, demoing the the differences between very similar type of the same pickups, i.e. same dog more hair.

Didn't see any P90's, Filtertrons, single coil Fender pickups or Toasters in there.
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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by NippleWrestler »

Well no... It says that right in the title. Metal. Bridge rhythm. And it's Keith Marrow, who's well known in the metal scene.

Anyway.

My point wasn't to highlight the differences in the pickups, my point is that that video is much more useful as a resource for choosing a pickup since they're only changing a single variable across 15 examples.

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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by sizzlingbadger »

You only need P90's the others are just a distraction :moresarc:
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...

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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by Terexgeek »

Philip_J_Fry wrote:Under distortion and heavy signal processing one pickup makes a similar noise to another one, the only thing that affects the sound of each pickup is how many winds are on the coils (output), types of magnets used and how close the pickup is to the strings. possibly the gauge of wire used.
Big call.
Philip_J_Fry wrote:That demo was for a very narrow audience with its mind already made up on what it wants, demoing the the differences between very similar type of the same pickups, i.e. same dog more hair.
Also quite the assessment.
Tin arse!!

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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by Philip_J_Fry »

NippleWrestler wrote:Well no... It says that right in the title. Metal. Bridge rhythm. And it's Keith Marrow, who's well known in the metal scene.

Anyway.

My point wasn't to highlight the differences in the pickups, my point is that that video is much more useful as a resource for choosing a pickup since they're only changing a single variable across 15 examples.
Yes, understood, but you did say 'useless as a pickup comparison' which it isn't if you want to know what a P90 vs a Jazzmaster sounds like or a Filtretron vs a Toaster or the difference in the Fender single coils fitted to various guitars.
As I said, it's a good starting point to get you in the right area for the sound in your head, you can experiment with different pickups of the same type of build when you have decided that a Filtertron/Toaster/Strat etc is the sound for you.
So although it doesn't cycle through every type of pickup ever made nailed to the same guitar it never the less is a totally valid comparison of different pickup types.

I'm not going to get into Tonewoods, Poly vs Nitro finishes and all the other apparently "tone altering magic items" that make guitars sound better/worse.
Nope, I've no intentions of
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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by sizzlingbadger »

P90 comparison :winky:

Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...

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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by Philip_J_Fry »

P90, my Favorite pickup it's got more raw balls than any other pickup.
Got 3 guitars with 'em on and they all scream with no signal processing at all.
Modded Epi SG with 1 Artec Dogear and 1 Gibson soapbar.
Epi Casino 2 stock P90's
and a Gordon Smith that John Smith made for me to stick 2 old clear bobbin Gibson P90 in.
He wasn't using P90 at the time and I asked if he could make me a Mahogany plank to stick the P90's in and he had to go out to the local DIY shop to buy the correct Router Bit to do the corners of the pickup cavities.
So it's the first Gordon Smith GS with P90's fitted.

That's not a pedal on the Rivera, it's a Z-Vex nano head, and the Cat is called Neo.
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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by willow13 »

Philip_J_Fry wrote:Sorry it wasn't useful to you.
There is no actual way I can see to compare different size and types of pickups with each other as they all mount to their respective guitars differently and to get some to fit onto other guitars will take a certain amount of carpentry thus altering the structure of the guitar, some mount to the pick guard and not the actual wood of the guitar so the comparison would be null and void if you believe the structure of a guitar plays any part in the resulting tone of a pickup.
And the big difference the guitars are all made of different woods if you subscribe to the 'Tone Wood' theory of guitar building and that resultant pickup sounds and tones are affected by the wood used to build each guitar.
I agree it's not perfect but it is a valid comparison, I can't think of how else you would compare the sounds of different pickups against each other as HB's will not fit into a standard routed Strat with out removing some wood and Rick Toasters are mounted to the actual top of the guitar body with just holes for the magnets drilled into the body.
I thought it was a useful comparison anyway.
well the easiest way to compare pickups is to eliminate the wood all together by using the same guitar (i.e a strat) and just change the pickups by changing the pickguard. It has been done and it is pretty simple really.

this video is next to worthless unless you are buying the exact guitars in the video to achieve "that" specific tone ... and even then it comes down to the amp as well. Another thing to take into account is the "order" that the tones are shown, because a bright tone will make the next tone sound "dull" in some ways and vice versa. Having said that these type of videos can be ok if you basically know nothing about pickups or tone wood (yes wood does make a difference..coming from someone who builds guitars.....but a lot of that is negated when you plug into an amp depending on gain etc)
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Re: Classic electric solid body guitar pickup comparison.

Post by Philip_J_Fry »

willow13 wrote:
Philip_J_Fry wrote:Sorry it wasn't useful to you.
There is no actual way I can see to compare different size and types of pickups with each other as they all mount to their respective guitars differently and to get some to fit onto other guitars will take a certain amount of carpentry thus altering the structure of the guitar, some mount to the pick guard and not the actual wood of the guitar so the comparison would be null and void if you believe the structure of a guitar plays any part in the resulting tone of a pickup.
And the big difference the guitars are all made of different woods if you subscribe to the 'Tone Wood' theory of guitar building and that resultant pickup sounds and tones are affected by the wood used to build each guitar.
I agree it's not perfect but it is a valid comparison, I can't think of how else you would compare the sounds of different pickups against each other as HB's will not fit into a standard routed Strat with out removing some wood and Rick Toasters are mounted to the actual top of the guitar body with just holes for the magnets drilled into the body.
I thought it was a useful comparison anyway.
well the easiest way to compare pickups is to eliminate the wood all together by using the same guitar (i.e a strat) and just change the pickups by changing the pickguard. It has been done and it is pretty simple really.

this video is next to worthless unless you are buying the exact guitars in the video to achieve "that" specific tone ... and even then it comes down to the amp as well. Another thing to take into account is the "order" that the tones are shown, because a bright tone will make the next tone sound "dull" in some ways and vice versa. Having said that these type of videos can be ok if you basically know nothing about pickups or tone wood (yes wood does make a difference..coming from someone who builds guitars.....but a lot of that is negated when you plug into an amp depending on gain etc)
OK, have it your way but don't give me the Smoke and Mirrors of the "tonewood" argument when it comes to electric guitars.....
Some musicians swear that one "tonewood" is far better than another with out a shred of empirical evidence only their own biased views on the subject. It's a bit like the 'Audiophile' who swears black is white that the speaker cable he has just bought for $100 a foot makes his HiFi sound better as does the mains lead costing 1000's of $ https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articl ... ntroduced/

While the woods and materials involved do affect the sound, its so slight that most people could never tell the difference.
You may notice different wood sustains for longer, but that's all.
The pickups and strings are what really control your sound on the electrics, as does other factors such as pickup height, string gauge/type, etc not to mention the type of amp used and how you play the guitar, do you use a pick or not, etc.

If someone claims that pickups pick any of guitar's body vibrations, try using nylon strings on your electric guitar and you will hear nothing from your amp, unless it's a piezo pickup.

In an electric guitar, the signal is generated in pickups by disturbing its magnetic field with metal strings.

Another test is to turn the volume down to zero and touch something that resonates and is made of wood preferably, cupboard, wardrobe or similar with your guitar's head-stock while playing. You will easily hear that while touching the cupboard, vibrations are transferred to it so thus the guitar becomes more audible acoustic-wise. By touching the cupboard, your guitar becomes one with the cupboard and resonates as one big acoustic instrument. Now, turn the guitar and amp on and do the same thing: play a chord, listen how it sounds and while it is still ringing out, touch the cupboard with the herad-stock again, you will hear NO difference from the amp, no matter how the guitar sounds acoustically because the sound is coming from the pickups and strings only, nothing to do with the wood!

Does changing the material a microphone stand is made of change the 'tone' of the microphone output when it picks up a sound of any type or when a vocalist takes the microphone out of the stand and holds it manually, does he/she sound any differently?

Acrylic, Lucite, & Plexiglass guitars, they all work fine, no wood in them bodies.
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