Just from a few days of reading - nothing seems hard to get.
One can buy pickup kits and all the tools to build pups easy-if they have
the money.
What seems to be hard for me is the "science" of the game and the
reason being is that everybody has their opinions and on the very technical
end it is "meaningless" unless one is a brainiac....which I'm not.
And the "kick" is that the high-end technical info of guitar coils seems to be
of no matter. Now that statement leads to a mess...a real big mess. I'll give
an example, or try to.
Seymour Duncan builds pups with the main goal of being exactly like vintage
Gibson. They do this by doing stuff that most could care less about except those
wanting the pups to be exactly like vintage (whether or not they even know what
the sound was or is) and to the extreme that the spacers (wood) and coating on
the copper wire has the same color.
Now maybe the ones that pay for that know they are...maybe they don't. Maybe
they think it makes a difference that the maple spacers are there and that the
copper needs that color of coating.
I'll ask a what I believe is a simple question....
Watch a youtube of the people winding pups and when you look at those ladies
on the assembly line winding and dipping those pups ask yourself- do you think
they know all the high-end technical info about guitar pickups and all the materials
that they are made of?
Now if you think - No...but the ones that supply the materials and design the process
do....well then ask yourself- Do you think there is difference in the material that they
have and the material that you can buy?
Do you think that X number of wraps that they do is different than X number of wraps
that another can do?
Do you think that their magnets are different than the one another can buy?
Do you think that their gauss meter reading ( to read the strength of a magnet) is different
that what another can measure.
When one considers that skill, material, and tools are the main factors then the rest is
what people believe.
The BIG pup manufacturers are successful NOT because they make a pickup that nobody
else can make....they are successful because people believe they do.
I honestly believe that guitarist will buy a set of pups before they have any knowledge
at all about the rest of the "circuit". And will do so based on just a couple of reasons.
One being that because somebody told them to get _____because they really like...followed by how they sound IN THERE guitar and setup. (did ya ever consider
that magnet type may be related to the type of wood the guitars neck is made of? ..probably not.)
One being that the marketing of the pickup has them by the pups.
You see that I could go on listing many BS reasons...even looks or colors but in reality
those same pup owners will probably not even know or check the polarity of the pups
before they install them and connect them to the exact same curcuit. Most may not
even check the inductance or capacitance....or even care.
I know this is long winded so let me sum it up....
If you think you need new pups you may want to learn how to do a few simple things
first...it may save you a lot of money.
1. Check and know the setting of the pups. Adjust them and listen...measurements are
to get you on the field - it's up to you to call the plays.
2. Check the polarity of the pups. You may have the N and S in the wrong places...do you
know where the N and S pups go ? If not, find out.
3. Know what your controls are doing and how they are doing it. After all they are changing
the tones of those pups. Most guitars have highs being dumped to ground and if you're buying new pups because the ones you have are to low frequency...well it's you money.
I'd personally rather change a dollar or two part than a high dollare set of pups.
I'll stop there for now...I'm at work.