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Topic: Lap Steel Pickup Question |
Kenn Geiger
From:
Salem, Oregon, USA
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Posted 22 May 2006 7:31 pm |
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I bought a home made 8 string that sounds like tinny c*&p  . The only used pickups I've seen for sale in my price range are for 10 String Instruments. Can I use one successfully  ? I have wasted enough money on this project  , so any advice I receive will be appreciated.
Kenn  |
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Greg Pettit
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 22 May 2006 7:50 pm
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Never a waste! You've learned all kinds of things en route to where you are now. 
A 10-string pickup will work fine if it fits where you want to put it. You'll just have extra polepieces. Some people are sticklers about aligning the strings over the polepieces, imagining that there are these wee and precise magnetic fields around each one, but that's not the case. So even if it doesn't "line up" perfectly, it'll work.
I'm pretty sure Jason Lollar has 8-string pickups, though, so that's worth looking into!
If your string spacing is a tad on the narrow side, you could probably even get away with something like a 7-string humbucker from Carvin.
Greg |
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Richard Sevigny
From:
Salmon Arm, BC, Canada
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Posted 22 May 2006 7:53 pm
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What's your budget?
Bill Lawrence makes an 8 string pickup that retails for about $90 plus shipping.
For $50 more Jason Lollar makes Stringmaster and National style replicas.
This guy here makes Stringmaster replicas as well. I haven't tried them but I've bought some of his P-90s and Charlie Christian style p'ups and they sound good to me.[This message was edited by Richard Sevigny on 23 May 2006 at 07:40 AM.] |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 22 May 2006 8:58 pm
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Getting a custom 8-string pickup, as mentioned in the posts prior to mine, is no big deal.
George L makes 8 string pickups as well.
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Mark
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 22 May 2006 9:06 pm
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| Make sure it is wired up properly. Sometimes a miswired pot or pots can cause a guitar to sound bad. |
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Al Szwarc
From:
Metuchen, New Jersey, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 22 May 2006 11:10 pm
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| An easy to see what your pickup is capable of is to just tack solder the pickup leads to the end of a guitar wire and plug it into your amp. If this is a better sound something else might be giving you the tone you don't like. |
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Randy Reeves
From:
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 23 May 2006 4:49 am
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definately go with a eight pole pup from Lollar.
who knows , you little beast may be an incredible sounding prince.
then it would be worth being a pauper. |
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Mark Vinbury
From:
N. Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA
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Posted 23 May 2006 6:17 am
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TrueTone TT-8 pickups by Jerry Wallace are reasonably priced,available in 3/8" or 11/32" string spacing, mount easily and sound good.
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Gerald Cook
From:
Lexington, OK USA
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Posted 23 May 2006 9:23 am
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| Kenn, I have purchased 3 of the Bill Lawrence 708's for my 8 stringers and you won't believe the sound that these dudes punch out. Worth the money |
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Chuck Fisher
From:
Santa Cruz, California, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 23 May 2006 2:26 pm
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GeorgeL rocks, ditto the Wallace TruTone.
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Kenn Geiger
From:
Salem, Oregon, USA
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Posted 23 May 2006 6:46 pm
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Thanks for all the replies - Al, did you mean tack soldier a guitar cable to the leads bypassing the pots? If that is what you mean I will try that ASAP in case it isn't the pickup that is faulty. The pots are much cheaper to replace I bet.
Kenn |
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