Frequently Asked Questions

Over-wound Pickups

I believe a pickup should NOT be thought of in terms of output, but rather of input. The function of a pickup is to sense the string and send as wide of a tone band as possible to your rig.

The problem with an over-wound pickup is that the high and low tones fall off while the middle tones become over-emphasized—resulting in a narrower tone band and a "one trick pony" guitar. This drastically limits your tone possibilities.

If it is overdrive and heavy mids that you want, you can easily get that from a peddle, when you NEED that tone leaving you free to explore other tones with your guitar. #001

Leo Fender and Hand Winding

Personal attention to quality and hand winding is what makes a pickup sound great.

One of my favorite quotes from Leo Fender is, "No machine can wind a better sounding or tighter wind than a well trained person," and I agree.

I built my coil winder like the one that Leo designed and built for both Fender and G&L, and I wind my pickup the way he did...by hand. #002

Do "aged magnets" really give that vintage tone?

I get this questions a lot my response is Buddy Holly's guitar sounded great brand new, Blackie, and Brownie sounded awesome when they were only 10 years old. If it is true that an "aged magnet" has any real effect on tone, then these same models from the 80's should be sounding pretty good by now. #003

Why do you feel a hand scatter "slop" wound pickup sounds better than a precision machine wound modern pickup?

I am no Dr. Science so I can't say for sure. Besides I think that winding pickups is actually more of an art than science (or business), so my production theories are based from that. I remember as a kid helping my Dad run a TV antenna wire, way before cable. You were told to never run the antenna wire parallel to other wires because it will cause signal interference. With a cam driven machine wound pickup each wrap lays next to the previous wrap, causing what I believe a lot of signal bleed. With a hand scattered winding pattern you get a more random pattern. #004

Flat vrs Staggered magnets: Do staggered magnets help give that "Vintage Tone"?

In a simple word no.

Staggered magnets came from a time when string technology was not that advanced, and there was not good string to string balance so they compensated for this by staggering the height of the magnets to the strings. That was their sole purpose.

I get a lot of vintage pickups in for repair because someone broke the coil trying to push a high magnet down. If you use a staggered magnet nowadays you are only making the strings unbalanced again. #005

How to determine optimum pickup height

Each pickup and each guitar is unique and I do not feel there is a one- size-fits-all for determining pickup height. The best method I have found is to get yourself a small cheap amp that overdrives easy—the Smokey Amps are best.

Lay your guitar down on a flat surface, Plug in your guitar, select a single pickup, and fret your low E at the 12th fret and play the note. Just like with an out of tune string, you will hear an oscillation/wave rather than a clear solid note note. Now adjust the Low E side of the pickup up or down until that oscillation stops. At that point adjust the high E side of the pickup to match.

This will give you a clearer note without the oscillation so your notes and especially chords will ring clear.#006