pickups

For those of you who are joining us from yesterday’s article, we will be continuing our in depth look at the factors that determine the tone of a pickup. For those of you who have yet to check out part one of our two parter, you can do so here. We all know that pickups are very important in a...

Not too many parts to it but each can affect tone How’s it been music fans?! Well, hopefully everyone out there had a great weekend enjoying the last few days of summer and if it was anything like it was over here in sunny Southern California, it was a hot one! Now, how about we talk some pro audio? Guitar...

Let Scott here tell you a little something about coil tapping Few modifications can alter a guitar’s primary tone as much as switching those all-important pickups. Responsible for turning string vibrations into a decipherable electrical signal, there are seemingly hundreds, even thousands of variations out there of the electric guitar pickup. And even as you cipher through all of the different makes and models, there are still plenty of other modifications and design variations that each have their own signature tone characteristics – and we’re not just talking about humbuckers versus single coils here! With the exception of those fancy new optical pickups or the acoustic-centric variety, all electric guitar and bass pickups pretty much work the same way – a thin copper coil wrapped around magnets that create a magnetic field which produces an electrical signal that can be sent and made into sound by an amplifier – but what many newer players don’t realize that everything from the direction of the coil winding to the magnets used in their construction can alter its tone. And while plenty of players out there are happy with their stock set and choose to customize that tone trough effects, preamps and the like, more knowledgeable guitarist’s are exploiting plenty of these altered or slightly modified non-standard pickups in order to meticulously carve out their own custom tone. Ever heard of a “hot” pickup? Coil tapping? Humbucker? Okay, you probably all got that last one but in case you might have missed either of the first two, how about we check out some of these less common pickup mods? Continue reading →

The essential components of a single coil pickup Here at PAL, we like to give our customers the most accurate and helpful information in their quest for finding that perfect setup. Whether it’s through our series of reviews or tech articles, we believe that the more you know about your gear the more you will ultimately get out of it...

EMG 81: A poplular active pickup One of the most important aspects of a guitar’s overall sound is by far the pickups. When these things were invented in the earlier part of the last century, it not only gave birth to the electric guitar but also immeasurably changed the history of popular music. Over the years, pickups have evolved as...