Changes to one of my 2020 builds

[fender3x]

I was trying to find some info on a pickup I bought and ran across these pages.

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Pi...evaluation.htm

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Al...ickupology.htm

It's interesting to note that while the early Fender pickups used alnico magnets, virtually all of the pickups that Leo Fender designs for G&L used ceramic magnets. I think that most of the aftermarket blade pups deigned by Bill Lawrence also used ceramic magnets.

Another similarity that I have noticed between my G&L "MFD" pickups and my Bill Lawrence pups is that they have relatively low ohms, but very high output.

My BL pickup had low enough ohms readings that it prompted me to find the specs. Sure enough the ohm and inductance specs were dead on and the output was high IRL.

Bill Lawrence the person used a lot of test equipment to measure some pretty esoteric stuff like current eddies (at least that seems esoteric to me). From what I've heard about Leo Fender, he used a lot of trial and error for position of the pickup as well as composition. As far as I know though Leo Fender didn't leave a lot of writing about his his method.

FWIW, I have come to think that, for an ordinary person who is not an EE, the most reliable way of judging output and how will pick up is going to sound is to listen to the pickup in a guitar similar to the one you want to put it in, where the player is using a style that something you might use too. I've had reasonable luck selecting pickups listening to recordings on YouTube. Playing a guitar in a store that has the pickups you like is even better, probably, but harder to find with a lot of the aftermarket brands. The one mistake I've made in buying pickups, probably could have been avoided by listening to a few recordings. I bought a set of DiMarzio J's some years ago mostly because they got good reviews. When I went back to YouTube and really listened to basses that had them installed, I could hear pretty much exactly what I didn't like about them. That's not to say they're bad, it's just to say they were not my cup of tea, and I could hear that in the recordings.

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[McCreed]

It's interesting to note that while the early Fender pickups used alnico magnets, virtually all of the pickups that Leo Fender designs for G&L used ceramic magnets. I think that most of the aftermarket blade pups deigned by Bill Lawrence also used ceramic magnets.

I believe Lace Sensors (and Lace pickup in general) use ceramic magnets as well. There seem to two camps with Lace: love 'em, or hate 'em. I used Sensors for quite a while and and was very happy with them. Then I tried some Fender Vintage Noiseless (designed by BL actually) and preferred those to the LS.

Another similarity that I have noticed between my G&L "MFD" pickups and my Bill Lawrence pups is that they have relatively low ohms, but very high output.

I had a set of G&L MFD's from a S-500 (they actually "vintage" from around '82) the DCR of those were 4.5k Ω and were the loudest pickups I've ever owned. However, as my hearing (and playing) matured, I found them a bit too bright without re-EQ-ing the amp when switching guitars back & forth.

...I have come to think that, for an ordinary person who is not an EE, the most reliable way of judging output and how will pick up is going to sound is to listen to the pickup in a guitar similar to the one you want to put it in, where the player is using a style that something you might use too.

One of my biggest pet peeves with demo videos, is when all you want to hear is what the pickups sound like and the knobhead doing the video is just playing through an amp with death metal-like distortion! Aaaarrrghhhh!!!

[fender3x]

I had a set of G&L MFD's from a S-500 (they actually "vintage" from around '82) the DCR of those were 4.5k Ω and were the loudest pickups I've ever owned. However, as my hearing (and playing) matured, I found them a bit too bright without re-EQ-ing the amp when switching guitars back & forth.

I like my MFD pickups, but they are on a bass. They came stock with PTB tone controls. They are a bit too bright *and* a bit too bottom heavy on their own, but sound best in pretty much every setting with the T and B tone controls backed off a bit. These are the only pickups I have ever had that produce too much boom on the low end, but it's easy to EQ out on the bass. On the other hand, you can dial in a huge range of tone by switching pickups and coils which makes up for it I figure.

The only bass pups I've had that really seemed to have too much top end are Dano lipstick tubes...which are not strictly a bass pup, I know. These have alnico bar magnets, and are not particularly hot, but they have a LOT of top end even with 100K volume pots.

One of my biggest pet peeves with demo videos, is when all you want to hear is what the pickups sound like and the knobhead doing the video is just playing through an amp with death metal-like distortion! Aaaarrrghhhh!!!

Even some OEM vids are like that. That's fine for a bit of the vid, nuts for anything not called "super distortion" at the very least. Some guys even do that with bass pickups. Why?!? I always resent this most when I have to listen to a couple of Youtube ads first.

[dozymuppet]

Mick, are you using 250 or 500k pots with the Firebuckers?

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[McCreed]

500k's dozy.