sometimes I turn the switch the tone goes heavier(dull) and sometimes clear(sharp)~
jimi
what does pick up do?
what should I do with the switch of pick ups?
sometimes I turn the switch the tone goes heavier(dull) and sometimes clear(sharp)~
sometimes I turn the switch the tone goes heavier(dull) and sometimes clear(sharp)~
# 1
thats the idea of the pick up, I play fantastic fenfer strat, for blues and mellow I play with the neck pick-up (switch pushed all the way towards the neck )
Find which tone or sound you like and then play with it
Find which tone or sound you like and then play with it
While I'm sat here, Playin', I'm tryin' to free my mind!
# 2
The original idea of the pick up switch was a rythm/lead switch. Playing with the neck pickup gives a sound more suitabe for rythm playing, and the bridge pickup gave a sharper, piercing tone for playing lead. You can use the neck pickup when playing rhytm and in the middle of a song, just switch to bridge pickup for a solo. Then with the fender 5-way switching, you could get a great many more sounds than just neck or bridge...
# 3
Each of the pickups on a Strat is a single coil of wire wound on a plastic bobbin with six small magnets. The magnets are all positioned with the same pole at the top. This is the most basic type of pickup, and has been in existance since sometime in the 1930's.
Any time you get a wire moving in a magnetic field, or in this case, a magnetic field moving near a wire, there is a current induced in that wire. Making the magnetic field stronger, or using lotsa wires (like in a coil), increases this effect.
The pickup magnets create a field; the vibrating strings cause movement in the field; the fluctuating magnetic field induces current in the coil wires; the amplifier boosts that small signal to make it strong enough to drive the speakers. Still with me?
Now, adding another pickup makes things interesting. As the string vibrates, it moves in one direction, then comes back in the opposite direction. The current being induced in the coil does the same thing. If both pickups are identical, the induced current will be flowing in the same direction in both pickups, and they are in-phase. If any single characteristic of one of the pickups is reversed, the current in that pickup coil will be opposite to the other one, and the pickups are out-of-phase.
If these out-of-phase pickups were getting exactly the same stimulus from the string, the signals they produced would be equal and opposite. They would cancel each other out, and there would be no signal left for the amplifier to work with.
This doesn't happen on a Strat, for two reasons.
One, because the middle pickup is both reverse-wound, and the magnets are reverse-polarized. Having the coils of two pickups wound in opposite directions makes them hum-cancelling. Having the magnets of these two pickups reversed relative to each other effectively brings the output phase of the pickups back into agreement.
Two, because the pickups are sensing the vibration at different parts of the strings. The size of the vibration, and the harmonic frequency content at these different locations is just different enough that there is only partial cancellation. The result is that slightly 'hollow' sound you get with switch positions 2 and 4.
Companies that specialize in such things have developed expertise in 'tweaking' the pickup characteristics to produce different results. 'Hot' pickups usually have more turns of wire on their coils, and/or stronger magnets. Choice of materials gives a lot of options to work with, and everybody has their own personal idea of what the 'ultimate' pickup should be.
Humbuckers use out-of-phase cancellation to get rid of the hum induced by the power-line magnetic fields produced by the transformers in big amplifiers. Since this requires having two coils in each pickup, we have the 'lotsa wire' condition which produces a high-output signal 'chunky' sound.
The idea behind the covers on humbuckers is to keep grit from getting into the coils and causing damage. The old PAF Gibson pickups, (and a lot of new ones), used beeswax to fill any gaps in the windings and keep the wires from vibrating.
Plastic covers would serve this purpose, but while you're at it, why not use metal to improve the shielding? This is why the chrome and 'gold' covers are made of metal. You get good attenuation of EMI from outside sources, but since the material used is non-magnetic, there is NO reduction of the magnetic coupling between the strings and the pickup.
If you prefer the look of the uncovered pickups, go with 'em. Some claim they mute the treble a bit. There is a slight increase in the capacitance of the pup with metal covers, so that may be true.
The type of magnet material, the size and shape of the magnet(s), the size of the wire in the windings, the number of turns in the coil(s), and the way the coils are positioned relative to each other.... there's a whole LOT of factors that are important to the way a pickup works.
There are thick books available which are devoted to this subject. I'm going to knock off now, rather than write another one here. Hit the library. Do some reading. You'll be amazed at how much is going on inside the gizmos we take for granted.
Keep asking about things. There aren't any stupid questions, although sometimes you can get stupid answers.
Peace,
L
Any time you get a wire moving in a magnetic field, or in this case, a magnetic field moving near a wire, there is a current induced in that wire. Making the magnetic field stronger, or using lotsa wires (like in a coil), increases this effect.
The pickup magnets create a field; the vibrating strings cause movement in the field; the fluctuating magnetic field induces current in the coil wires; the amplifier boosts that small signal to make it strong enough to drive the speakers. Still with me?
Now, adding another pickup makes things interesting. As the string vibrates, it moves in one direction, then comes back in the opposite direction. The current being induced in the coil does the same thing. If both pickups are identical, the induced current will be flowing in the same direction in both pickups, and they are in-phase. If any single characteristic of one of the pickups is reversed, the current in that pickup coil will be opposite to the other one, and the pickups are out-of-phase.
If these out-of-phase pickups were getting exactly the same stimulus from the string, the signals they produced would be equal and opposite. They would cancel each other out, and there would be no signal left for the amplifier to work with.
This doesn't happen on a Strat, for two reasons.
One, because the middle pickup is both reverse-wound, and the magnets are reverse-polarized. Having the coils of two pickups wound in opposite directions makes them hum-cancelling. Having the magnets of these two pickups reversed relative to each other effectively brings the output phase of the pickups back into agreement.
Two, because the pickups are sensing the vibration at different parts of the strings. The size of the vibration, and the harmonic frequency content at these different locations is just different enough that there is only partial cancellation. The result is that slightly 'hollow' sound you get with switch positions 2 and 4.
Companies that specialize in such things have developed expertise in 'tweaking' the pickup characteristics to produce different results. 'Hot' pickups usually have more turns of wire on their coils, and/or stronger magnets. Choice of materials gives a lot of options to work with, and everybody has their own personal idea of what the 'ultimate' pickup should be.
Humbuckers use out-of-phase cancellation to get rid of the hum induced by the power-line magnetic fields produced by the transformers in big amplifiers. Since this requires having two coils in each pickup, we have the 'lotsa wire' condition which produces a high-output signal 'chunky' sound.
The idea behind the covers on humbuckers is to keep grit from getting into the coils and causing damage. The old PAF Gibson pickups, (and a lot of new ones), used beeswax to fill any gaps in the windings and keep the wires from vibrating.
Plastic covers would serve this purpose, but while you're at it, why not use metal to improve the shielding? This is why the chrome and 'gold' covers are made of metal. You get good attenuation of EMI from outside sources, but since the material used is non-magnetic, there is NO reduction of the magnetic coupling between the strings and the pickup.
If you prefer the look of the uncovered pickups, go with 'em. Some claim they mute the treble a bit. There is a slight increase in the capacitance of the pup with metal covers, so that may be true.
The type of magnet material, the size and shape of the magnet(s), the size of the wire in the windings, the number of turns in the coil(s), and the way the coils are positioned relative to each other.... there's a whole LOT of factors that are important to the way a pickup works.
There are thick books available which are devoted to this subject. I'm going to knock off now, rather than write another one here. Hit the library. Do some reading. You'll be amazed at how much is going on inside the gizmos we take for granted.
Keep asking about things. There aren't any stupid questions, although sometimes you can get stupid answers.
Peace,
L
# 4
