I know that here are many experienced builders and players on this board, so I would like some input on the advantages of Piezo and Magnetic pickups. What is the major difference between the two in terms of playing?
I know my piezo installations make good sound but tend to pick up every sound on the guitar (palm touching the box, slide noise, etc). Would a magnetic pickup be less sensitive to non-string related sounds?
I haven't tried a magnetic pickup on a CBG, so I'm curious about what to expect.
Thanks for your insights and experience.
Tags:
Great response! I feel like I'm being schooled in pickups (a good thing). Like Wayfinder, I would appreciate your suggestion for "quality" mag pickups.
Thanks for a thorough response.
Why not do both? And use a flat pickup so you don't have to cut the lid or neck?
Dan Sleep (Humidor Guitars) makes the Thinbuckers for us in the US. Same design as Elmar's Original Flatpup which is pictured below. I've used a handful of Dan's 5-string thinbuckers and I love them. Easy to install and they sound great. If you want a sample, check my page and have a listen to the Surfy video using a black Camacho box.
I used two volume controls and a LP type 3-way switch. The rod piezo in the bridge is a lot hotter than the humbucker so I crank the mag to 12 and ratchet the bridge piezo back to 8 or 9 or whatever level gives me the tone I want. It is a hot little set up.
Sorry about the scratch in the box.
I'll do a video demo of this guitar sometime today since I want to get it up for sale on my website.
These are a few of the brands that come to mind.
Gibson
Fender
Seymour Duncan
EMG
Lace
Dimarzio
Fralin
Dean Markley
Rio Grand
This is no way a full list. Just the ones that come to mind. Of the ones I’ve used,
EMG. OK but not worth the extra effort of housing a batterie in your guitar. Lacks the warmth I like.
Gibson. All I can say is, Yes. Let’s face it. They’re not 1/2 of THE electric guitar sound for no reason.
Fender. The other 1/2 of THE electric guitar sound.
Seymour Duncan. Warmth. So warm they’ll bake your face off.
Demarzio. Crisp. Even they’re Humbuckers have a bite to them.
Of the brands I’m familiar with Seymour Duncan is my go to brand. Duncan pickups I’m currently using are,
’59 Model SH-1
Pearly Gates SH-PG-1
Little ’59 SL59-1
Quarter Pound for Tele set STL-3 and STR-3
Quarter Pound for P-bass SPB-3
Some I have used in the past.
Custom Custom Sh-11
Duncan Distortion SH-6
Cool Rails SCR-1
Hot Rails SHR-1
Vintage Rails SVR-1
Personal taste only. I’ve used a hand full of Dimarzio pickups. Including they’re ‘PAF’ humbucker. To my ears all Dimarzio pickups have an edge to they’re sound. Not thin or unpleasant. Just not what I like.
Price and places to buy.
Anywhere from $50 to over $100 a single pickup. Best bet is to figure $70 to $90 a pop. Before shipping. Ebay is a great place to find pickups. Sometimes you can find them on sale from places like Guitar Center, Sweetwater, Musicians Friend and a host of other online stores.
Is it worth putting $200+ of electronics into a $5 box? For me yes. Does it make it a better $5 box? Absolutely not. It’s a matter of personal taste. Nothing else. Honestly piezos are great. They have a raw sound that’s second to none. Most of the vids on this site feature piezo loaded guitars. Piezos have a wonderful advantage. If you have 5 CBGs made of different boxes. Different woods. You’ll have 5 different sounding guitars. Unpotted or lightly potted magnetic pickups will give you this same advantage. Along with a warmer, fuller tone.
If your looking for good pickups that aren’t the high price monsters I’ve listed I’d stick with reputable builders and online stores. Buying factory made cheap pickups on Ebay is a crap shoot. Not worth the gamble.
If you don't 'pot',or lightly 'pot',mags with some sealing binding agent,ie,wax,laquer,superglue etd,the are much more likely to become 'microphonic',bit like a piezo,but not as drastic usually
Piezos are for door buzzers, magnetic pickups are for guitars.....
I've had pretty good results with cheap rail pickups, which are $5.99 on eBay. They sound good enough for me and, being rails, there's no problem with pole alignment. I've also used cheap single coils, which cost even less. Again, with a chrome cover, there's no aesthetic alignment issues.
It's all down to individual choice and trial and error - just build what you like. Good luck.
If you wire them up straight out of the box, they don't hum because the double coil of a humbucker is hum cancelling. As delivered, they are as simple as a single coil to wire up.
A humbucker is actually 2 single coil pickups joined together. They have 5 wires: positive and negative for each coil and a braided ground sleeve. Usually, they are delivered with 2 of these wires joined together, so you just have positive, negative and ground sleeve. If you choose to use all 5 wires in different ways, you can either wire the coils in series (in phase or out of phase), in parallel or select either of the single coils. So, 5 possible sounds with lots of tricky wiring if care to go that route.
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD1H5L11_01/Guitar-Wiring-...
If you want to hear what one sounds like out of the box, there's one in BUG(c)'s Black Cohiba - there's plenty of vids of that.
ETA: most humbuckers give you the option to split the coils, some don't and are wired internally as humbucker only. Look for one that offers 5 wires or coil tapping if you need that.
I used a 4 pole flat pup on my 3 string license plate resonator. It works great. It might not be as hot as a 3 pole pickup but it is better than a piezo.
I have a set of P-bass pickups that only have coiling on 1/2 the polls. So each half pickup has two live polls and two dead ones. Can't get any more poorly made than that.
To be honest I've never bought low price humbuckers or single coil pickups. Because of my bad experience I'll stay cautious.
I like the idea of using both mags and piezos. Have a push pull volume pot that both turns this option on and controls the volume. Getting a good mix of the best of both.
Started by Bill Andy in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Southern Ray May 7. 11 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Bill Andy in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Taffy Evans May 5. 6 Replies 0 Likes
Started by J. D. Woods in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Southern Ray Apr 26. 8 Replies 1 Like
Started by Southern Ray in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Southern Ray Apr 26. 6 Replies 0 Likes
Started by J. D. Woods in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by BrianQ. Apr 25. 4 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Rich Butters in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Crazed Fandango Apr 22. 4 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Nomad Jack in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by J. D. Woods Apr 17. 7 Replies 2 Likes
Started by Moritz Voegeli in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Apr 14. 6 Replies 2 Likes
Started by Timothy Hunter in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Apr 10. 14 Replies 3 Likes
Started by Tom T in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Apr 9. 9 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Southern Ray in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Apr 4. 7 Replies 1 Like
Started by Timothy Hunter in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 27. 1 Reply 2 Likes
Started by Taffy Evans in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 10. 1 Reply 3 Likes
Started by Cigar Box Nation in Feature Articles. Last reply by BrianQ. Mar 9. 4 Replies 3 Likes
Started by Ghostbuttons in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Mar 9. 5 Replies 1 Like
Started by Justin Stanchfield in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Taffy Evans Mar 8. 6 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Ken I in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Brian partington Mar 8. 8 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Southern Ray in Cool gear discussion - that's not cigar box related. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 6. 5 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Taffy Evans in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Taffy Evans Mar 5. 4 Replies 2 Likes
Posted by Vlad on March 31, 2024 at 11:48pm 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by Vlad on March 6, 2024 at 2:32am 5 Comments 2 Likes
Posted by billy jones bluez on February 28, 2024 at 2:09pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by billy jones bluez on February 17, 2024 at 11:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by Vlad on February 11, 2024 at 1:06am 1 Comment 1 Like
© 2024 Created by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker. Powered by
Cigar Box Nation is presented by C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply, your one-stop-shop for Cigar Box Guitar parts and accessories!