Page 2 of 2

#16 Re: 'Fender' Strat Pickups - interest?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 7:58 am
by andrew Ivimey
Nope loudness is one criterion only. But when it's your turn to get up and solo you need the oomph. If it comes initially from the guitar itself there's always more in reserve.

Then SPL adds to the tonal possibilities and ?to sustain...possibly.

I'm glad you said what you said about the 50s. Two lone voices in the wilderness can be better than one. And why else pay the extra shekels! They do the job!

#17 Re: 'Fender' Strat Pickups - interest?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 8:41 am
by Nick
Not sure about the sustain being better with volume. The signal from the pup has to come from somewhere, and the only place is the vibrating string, so the louder pup may reduce sustain. TBH, I find what works for cutting through is better tone, as long as the amp can go loud enough, which if it cant, a bigger amp is the solution (I could be talking about SET's and hifi here :-)).

#18 Re: 'Fender' Strat Pickups - interest?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:05 am
by andrew Ivimey
There are obvious parallels...

But with an electric guitar there is a region where feedback is ...I know, think of riding the crest of the wave on a surfboard, generating sound and all sorts of interesting harmonics are possible. The 'feedback' keeps the strings vibrating and a circle perpetuates the note,energises the riff.

I was avoiding the amplifier/ cabinets part of the equation by not touching volume, treble,bass,gain etc etc etc settings... the variables increase if not exponentially there are many more to be dealt with here and now.

#19 Re: 'Fender' Strat Pickups - interest?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:17 am
by Nick
Ok, but IMHO, thats not sustain as such, I would regard sustain as the duration a note could be maintained without feedback. Again, I would say more complexity is still good, it gives the fingers a bigger choice of harmonics of he original note to select to feedback, makes for more tonal possibilities.

You can always reduce harmonics by use of the tone control, but there is no "more harmonics" control. For me, what makes the strat/single coil combination so special is the way the note harmonics can be varied by the way the string is fingered and picked, and how those harmonics vary with time. I find I can spend 20 minutes practising just a single note to get the most "juice" from it.

#20 Re: 'Fender' Strat Pickups - interest?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:37 am
by andrew Ivimey
It's sustain on an electric guitar!

I've never spent twenty minutes on one note but I agree wholeheartedly here. It's using fingers and pick that extends the sheer amazing range on tones we can get out of an instrument and ,I conclude, the better the pup the better the tonal range.

Squires don't do it for me. Fender Mex surprised me. 50s are excellent. But I've yet to do a side by side comparison with the Lace Sensors and the late 80s US Strat pups.

Or,I could pop into town for a coffee and freshly baked pannetoni. .. Or I could do both. Coffee first!

Oh and p.s. A while back I was trawling uTube for how to play chopsticks on electric guitar and came across two comedians who run a large guitar shop somewhere in south London. Should have just watched the video....hope hum, But one was demo-ing a Chibson Les Paul and a US Gibson . He actually got the pickups on the Chinese guiter to work as a microphone for his voice - really. How I larffed but then a pickup is closely related to a mic,or indeed a headphone earpiece so,why not.

The guitar sounded sh1te is one reason but oh those Chibsons are looking better n better. My real gigging guitarist friend worries about this sort of thing and won't let me buy a mint '61 es335 for $500 from this friendly geezer down the local.

#21 Re: 'Fender' Strat Pickups - interest?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:53 am
by Nick
Or,I could pop into town for a coffee and freshly baked pannetoni. .. Or I could do both. Coffee first!
Ahh, that shows the advantage to living up here. My local friendly guitar shop is also a cafe

http://www.cafezone.co.uk/

#22 Re: 'Fender' Strat Pickups - interest?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 1:57 pm
by andrew Ivimey
Oh oh oh I hate that...green jealousy envy waits behind...

Bedford does have a guitar shop for which I am grateful but they really don't do coffee....

Otoh....light bulb moment....!!! I'll suggest it.

I bought a digitech Trio from them a couple of weeks back.

- essential for those who play with themselves -

The lack of guitar shops in the world is a sad state of affairs. Still, could be worse.

I'm in Cafe Crema atm. I'm speeding away after having gulped a choc covered cappacino(viennese) and manfully munched my way through 1000000.00 calories of caramel cheesecake. Anna is having a feta salad...

#23 Re: 'Fender' Strat Pickups - interest?

Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 2:14 pm
by pre65
andrew Ivimey wrote:
- essential for those who play with themselves -
Well, what can one say ? :shock: :lol: