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Topic: Pickup tone vs. String distance questiom |
George Kimery
From:
Limestone, TN, USA
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Posted 8 Sep 2020 12:54 pm |
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| My Emmons pp that I got a week ago has a George L E-66 pickup on it. It is the thickness of a nickle from the strings. It is awfully bright. I have always had my pickups the thickness of 3 quarters, approx. 3/16". I turned the 3 screws on the guitar and was only able to lower the pickup maybe 1/16". Is the pickup just too bright or would it be less bright if I could figure out how to lower it more to what I'm used to. Or....is the pickup just just too thick for the pp. |
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Nicholas Cox
From:
CA
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Posted 8 Sep 2020 12:59 pm
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| Take an ohm reading if you have a multimeter. I believe those pickups are pretty bright but if you check the impedance it should give you a ballpark idea of how bright the pickup is going to be. Moving it further from the strings will make it quieter but not necessarily less bright. You may have to switch pickups if you’re not happy with the sound. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 8 Sep 2020 1:25 pm
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I've had a few and have personally found George L's E66 a bit bright and lacking in body for my tastes. And I don't like overwound and/or muddy pickups at all. My standard go-to is an Emmons/Zum/Truetone style single-coil wound to 17.5K like these are supposed to sound like. The EON is also wound to 17.5K but supposedly have a different blade to give more body, maybe I'd like that better. Differences in their pickups explained here - https://georgelsstore.com/23.html?viewfullsite=1
A single nickel's distance from the string is very close, again to my tastes. And my experience with most pickups is that I lose a bit of body/midrange as I lower them, so I think that's worth trying but I'll be surprised if that helps. But again, I'm not sure about E66's because I've never left 'em on long enough to find out. In fact, I have a guitar or two with them that I'm about to set up after long last, and I guess I need to do a more careful evaluation of them.
And hey - I know a lot of people like them. That's fine. I guess I'm willing to give the ones I now have another whirl before trading them for something else. My experience is that sometimes a pickup that sounds bad (to me) on one guitar will sound just great on another. The interaction between pickup and guitar can be important. |
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George Kimery
From:
Limestone, TN, USA
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Posted 8 Sep 2020 1:29 pm Pickup tone vs. String distance questiom
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According to the George L chart, the E-66 is 17.5. I want to replace it with an original 1975 single coil Emmons. I think they are also 17.5.
My two previous PP's had the stock
pickups in them, but I did swap one out for a Jerry Wallace.
Dave, I'm with you on the Zums. I have a 1982 D-10 and have always liked the stock single coils in it. I don't want to rob a pickup off of it because I'm going to be selling it in the not too distant future. |
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Marco Schouten
From:
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Posted 8 Sep 2020 1:51 pm
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GeorgeL pickups are supposed to be a bit closer to the strings than other pickups. Because the top is covered with plastic, the magnets are further away from the strings.
I don't think that the E-66 is perfect for a PP. I believe it was designed to give another brand of steel guitar a sort of a PP sound.
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JCH SD-10 with BL XR-16 pickup, Sho-Bud Volume Pedal, Evidence Audio Lyric HG cables, Quilter Steelaire combo |
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George Kimery
From:
Limestone, TN, USA
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Posted 8 Sep 2020 2:37 pm Pickup tone vs. String distance questiom
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| Marco, everything you say makes sense. The George L chart says the E-66 was an attempt to replicate the 1966 sound of Buddy Emmons. (Lots of luck with that) |
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David Zornes
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2020 12:55 pm E-66 p/ups
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| George, I never cared for the tone of the e-66’s; I always thought they were too bright no matter the amp settings-but that’s me. Other Steelers can do very well with them. Ever since I played through the Wallace TrueTones-I became a fan. |
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George Kimery
From:
Limestone, TN, USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2020 1:57 pm Pickup tone vs. String distance questiom
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| David, I concur with everything you said. This is my 3rd pp. The other two had stock Emmons single coils. I swapped one out for a Wallace True Tone and thought it had better string separation. I've never cared for humbuckers. I can see the E-66 being on the for sale section in the future. |
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Dennis Detweiler
From:
Solon, Iowa, US
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Posted 10 Sep 2020 2:12 pm
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Try the Telonics X-10. It's a humbucker, but single coil tone. JD is using them. He would be a good contact for a review. I have the X-12 on my U-12 and is the best tone I've ever had. Plus, the double row pole adjustments allows you to fine tune the tone to your preference. A little pricey, but worth the extra cost.
If interested in a sound sample, email me and I can send one to your personal email address.
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1976 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics 427 pickup, 1975 Birdseye U-12 MSA with Telonics X-12 pickup, Revelation preamp, Carbon Copy Delay and Hall Of Fame Reverb, Crown XLS 1002, 2- 15" Eminence Wheelhouse speakers, ShoBud Pedal, Effects Pedals. 1949 Epiphone D-8. |
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George Kimery
From:
Limestone, TN, USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2020 3:15 pm Pickup tone vs. String distance questiom
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| Dennis, a couple of years ago, i tried a Telonics. I think it was a model 509, or something like that. I didn't care for it and sold it. Having started on a PP in 1968 and now have a 3rd one, I want to stick with the single coil tone I've got used to. If it doesn't work, I can try your suggestion later. |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 11 Sep 2020 2:12 am
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| I traded for a D-10 GFI Ultra a while back and it had an E66 in the E9th neck. Didn't care for the sound and replaced it (and the GFI II in the C6th neck) with Lawrence 710's. |
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