Looking at this from another point of view, ceramic magnets can be said to produce increased clarity, better note definition and faster response to picking. I don't think he would post disinformation, and I have not changed it, so maybe it will help you out, and HF equals Heavy Formvar as used on Strat pickups and lots of other Fender pickups as you can see below. Solidbody Electric Lap Steel Guitar with Mahogany Body, Mahogany Neck, Plexiglass Fingerboard, and 1 Humbucking Pickup - Ebony. It is for this reason that many consider ceramic magnets to have a brittle sound, not their gauss strength. Epiphone Electar Inspired by '1939' Century Lap Steel Outfit - Ebony. This has the effect of decreasing the inductance of the pickup and significantly raising the resonant frequency. 1920s/30s Supertone Hawaiian-themed parlor guitar.
Hofner Club bass, Epiphone Masterbilt Century DeLuxe archtop, Ibanez AVN4-VMS Artwood Vintage Series Parlor Acoustic Guitar. The magnets at the lower end of the scale tend to produce a softer attack and a degree of “bloom” to the envelope of the note.Ĭeramic magnets should be considered as an individual case because they do not contain any nickel or iron. 1960-61 Fender Stringmaster, Vox MV-50 amplifier + an 1940's Oahu cab w/ 8' American Vintage speaker. As the gauss strength goes up, so does the output. By 1938 they were making electric lap steel guitars, using pickups manufactured for them by. From there in order of ascending strength you have A2, A4, A5, A6, Ceramic and A8. Harmony introduced the Roy Smeck Hawaiian guitar in 1930. Of the magnets we use, Alnico 3 has the lowest gauss strength. In the case of pickups, the most significant characteristic is the gauss strength, which is a measure of the density of the magnetic field. Magnet – We use several different magnet formulations: Alnico 2, Alnico 3, Alnico 4, Alnico 5, Alnico 6, Alnico 8 and Ceramic 5/8. DCR is often used as a gauge of output because as the turns increase, so does the output, though magnet type and the coil geometry also influence output.
The length of the coil form, the number of turns and the gauge of wire all affect the DCR reading. Just a note too - I said my neodymium magnet HB's have a high output - 10k neck and about 14k bridge - and they do, but with a neodymium magnet you don't get the harshness you would with another type.DCR – Short for DC Resistance, is measured in Ohms and is the total resistance of the copper wire wound around a coil form.
This helps it blend well with other instruments and musicians without getting in the way of what they're playing. Lastly, I think a lipstick type pickup is used for slide players because it jumps out of the mix without having too much high end or bass, there's a focused mid-range. You might see a blues or rockabilly or surf guitarist using lipstick pickups though.I even had some in a guitar.
You won't see a heavy metal player playing a lipstick single coil pickup in their guitar (I'm sure it's been done - but it's not the norm) - because the sound would be less full and heavy and fierce. Quiet when picked softly, louder when picked / played hard.Īs for your last question, non-slide players like this pickup too - depends on the style you're going for. Low output, as the lipstick pickups previously explained usually means a less 'in your face' and less harsh, more 'creamy' type of sound.they go for them because you can "dig in" and play a certain lick or two a lot harder / louder than the rest, they allow more dynamic range control.
Pedal steel guitar pickups are usually a lipstick style pickup, with a very low output, like 4-4.5k DC resistance.their metal housing gives a certain 'twang' and metallic type of sound when played correctly clean into an amp with a bit of reverb, or maybe not quite clean and a little bit of gain/drive/crunch.but not a lot. High Fidelity would mean a very good bass, middle, and high end response, probably a more flat EQ if you plotted it on a graph compared to others.I personally use neodymium magnet (very high fidelity and has a lot of bass and high end response without the mids being too pronounced) humbuckers for slide, mostly a neck humbucker with about 10k DC resistance.the higher the resistance, though it's not ALWAYS true and there is more at play, does give you some indication USUALLY about how 'hot' a pickup is.