Electric guitar pick ups
Re: Electric guitar pick ups
If your pickups are microphonic and feeding back like crazy they probably weren't potted (i.e. dipped in wax). My 1990 LP Standard was like that. Get some candle wax- there is probably a particular type but I used white- heat it up in a pan just hot enough to melt and dip your pups in there.
my band: Mission 5
Re: Electric guitar pick ups
Depending on the style of music you're playing (I'm assuming from your post's references to the pickups squealing and the gain on the amp that you're working in a fairly high-gain/distorted type tone), you've got a couple of options as far as pickups for your Les Paul.
First up is going with Gibson pickups. Not a bad choice at all, but your tone *may* change a little depending on what year your guitar is. Gibson has changed their stock pickups a few times over the last 15 years or so. The downside is that the stock pickups sound...well, stock.
Personally, I've been really happy with Seymour Duncan's stuff. I use a JB in the bridge and a '59 in the neck of both my Les Pauls. The JB adds a little upper midrange boost which helps to cut through, especially when using an overdriven amp. The '59 is Duncan's version of a *slightly* overwound PAF...works really well in the neck position.
I've never heard a Fralin humbucker, but I've heard his stuff in Strats, Teles, and a Jazzmaster...and it all sounds great.
THAT REMINDS ME...Fralin does rewinds as well. I think he charges $50 per coil (i.e. your humbucker would be $100), but he will rewind them from the bobbin up to get the sound you're looking for. I wound up having him rewind the pickups from a japanese Jazzmaster...he overwound the pickups to make them darker and beefier, used cloth wire the whole way...it takes him about a month to do it, but the results are great.
Hope this helps.
First up is going with Gibson pickups. Not a bad choice at all, but your tone *may* change a little depending on what year your guitar is. Gibson has changed their stock pickups a few times over the last 15 years or so. The downside is that the stock pickups sound...well, stock.
Personally, I've been really happy with Seymour Duncan's stuff. I use a JB in the bridge and a '59 in the neck of both my Les Pauls. The JB adds a little upper midrange boost which helps to cut through, especially when using an overdriven amp. The '59 is Duncan's version of a *slightly* overwound PAF...works really well in the neck position.
I've never heard a Fralin humbucker, but I've heard his stuff in Strats, Teles, and a Jazzmaster...and it all sounds great.
THAT REMINDS ME...Fralin does rewinds as well. I think he charges $50 per coil (i.e. your humbucker would be $100), but he will rewind them from the bobbin up to get the sound you're looking for. I wound up having him rewind the pickups from a japanese Jazzmaster...he overwound the pickups to make them darker and beefier, used cloth wire the whole way...it takes him about a month to do it, but the results are great.
Hope this helps.
Re: Electric guitar pick ups
If microphonic feedback is your only complaint... wax potting pickups is cheep and easy... and it works... here is a site that tells you how to do it: http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/ele ... /index.php
I bought a Seymor Duncan Seth Lover pickup which is intentionaly left un potted for the vintage sound... I was hopping it wouldn't go microphonic at the levels I play at, but it did and the procedure described in the link above fixed it.
I bought a Seymor Duncan Seth Lover pickup which is intentionaly left un potted for the vintage sound... I was hopping it wouldn't go microphonic at the levels I play at, but it did and the procedure described in the link above fixed it.
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