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"Stealthing" a pup under the pickguard: NOOB to this idea

B3Guy

B3Guy

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I really know nothing about this concept, and have been able to find little info about it out on the interweb, so I figured I'd ask my forum buddies what they know. I really know nothing.

What are the effects of having a pup under the guard rather than routed thru the guard?

Are there certain pups that work for this, and certain ones that do not?

What guitar body/pup combos will and will not work (due to the need for deeper pup routing)?
 
not only am i planning this, but it's definitely happening. if i love it i'll tell you, if it's just ok i'll let you know, and i'll definitely complain if it was a bad idea haha but my idea is to use lower output pickups above the guard (on a telecaster) and hide a higher output pickup underneath to keep it looking like a classic stock telecaster. i'm interested to hear from other responses. if you're a member of TDPRI you might want to post this question there too. if not let me know and i might. seems like this sort of thing is somewhat popular with tele purists who want it to look stock from the outside.
 
Fender made a guitar in the mid 60s called the Marauder that had hidden pickups. Contrary to some literature it had 4 pickups. I have been working with a local builder to recreate this guitar. I have made some pickups for it based on the originals and they are a large pickup.

I have seen it done with other pickups too. Singles , P90's...

Video of the Maruader: http://gestalta.net/view.php?video=ot_Y4K-ZDSo&feature=youtube_gdata_player&title=Tempera+ispod+moga+pramca


Search "Stealth Esquire", images too.

1966FenderCatalog_03.jpg
 
TroubledTreble said:
Search "Stealth Esquire", images too.
Click to expand...

thanks for reminding me! saw this great demo of a fender custom shop stealth esquire. seems like the pickups are balanced extremely well. don't know what the outputs are on the different pickups though. i don't think texas specials are supposed to be especially hot really, so it should all work fine for my project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAR_yW2XCqw
 
what about sticking a bucker or two under a strat guard?  :icon_jokercolor:
 
I think it is a great idea. :sign13:  The more hidden arsenal, the better.  Seems like you could also hide a combination of pups or whatever that would cause a ruckus, like a panic switch.
 
Yeah it's one of the offset guys that is going to put together another one. After I saw that video I was tempted to do one myself. I have some bodies I could do that to. Hmmmm.

The original pickups are HUGE! With four under there it's pretty much all pickup under the guard.
 
I'm still a bit confused, this idea really interests me for my next build. I'm thinking about a P90 in the bridge and either a single coil tele or humbucker in the neck. I really like the look of a single P90 but a humbucker might look a bit weird with the P90 in the bridge. How would this be set up and would it change the sound at all?
 
I really want to learn more of the Pro's and Cons to this.

I would kill to be able to do a full Graphic Pickguard on a Tele... but keep it HSH
 
i would think the key would be all about balance. between the pickups that are above the pickguard and the ones underneath. even if the entire guitar has to be a little quieter because of it i would prefer that over a big volume drop. of course i also wouldn't want a lack of tone because one of the pickups would be much farther away than the others, so i think the key there would be to have a higher output pickup underneath and moderate or low output pickups above. as long as the pickup underneath sounds good the other two can be adjusted height-wise.
 
To the OP, the pickup's picking up abilities are not hindered one bit by the pickguard if mounted underneath.  If using an aluminum anodized guard, the same rules apply as pickups with metal covers.  Some highs are lost.  The issue isn't being under the guard as much as being further away from the strings.  Besides being a balance issue when in use with other pickups, most have a sweet spot.  Too close or too far, and they just don't sound the same.  If you have any guitars with rings or guards, lower the pickup where the top is flush with the body and see how they balance and sound.  FWIW, I was considering that 2 builds ago.  I even considered having just the mounting holes drilled in the pickguard so it would still be mounted firmly to it.  As far as space, with Warmoth's standard hum route, there was room for them to fit flush in the cavity and have a pickguard over it.
 
if you can get the right pickup to sound fine that far from the strings, I'd like to take it to the next level and install the pups from the rear and leave all that nice wood, I like this idea and am also interested in what anybody experiments with
 
so could a good custom pup builder build me pups designed to have the strings in the "sweet spot" when they are installed under the guard? (I know this means we are talking some semi serious $$$, but hey . . .its a custom guitar, so do it right.)
 
That blue Tele above is super stealth. Even the controls are going to be under the wood  :laughing7:
 
B3Guy said:
so could a good custom pup builder build me pups designed to have the strings in the "sweet spot" when they are installed under the guard? (I know this means we are talking some semi serious $$$, but hey . . .its a custom guitar, so do it right.)
Click to expand...
from my research, this would mean a less "powerful" (magnetic), but larger (size) magnet, correct??

http://www.aqdi.com/pickups.htm

(see the bottom section about magnet types)  :icon_scratch:
 
i did a little test and decided based off of it that this is NOT for me. unfortunately, because i love the idea. basically my idea was to have regular looking telecaster with a p-90 hidden under the guard. or a p-90 sized humbucker, really. the dimarzio super distortion.

SO i lowered the super distortion thats in my telecaster deluxe to about flush with the pickguard and tried it. awful. thin and weak. i know p-90s are generally louder than regular humbuckers (at least thats been my experience) but as bad as this worked i just can't see the slightly less powerful p-90 super distortion working well at all. a little disappointed, but this solves some questions i had about what to do with my next build!
 
from what I understand, volume in this situation has little or nothing to do with the "hotness" of the signal from the pickup. by moving the pup, you are essentially moving the location of the string farther or in some cases almost completely out of the pickup's magnetic field. However, some magnets have larger magnetic fields, others have smaller . . . at least according to this source (near the bottom of the article).
http://www.aqdi.com/pickups.htm

Theoretically, if the correct magnet type and size were used, a pickup could be constructed to successfully stealth under the pickguard. The only questions is how drastic will a change in magnet size (and possibly type) have on the tonal qualities of the pickup? (Could the simple addition of an extra magnet to the bottom of a humbucker solve the magnetic field problem?)
 
i know volume technically doesn't matter, but as weak and low as that pickup was i just don't see it working well at all. at least not with the pickups i had in mind. even if you say that volume doesn't matter, as low as you'd have to put the other pickups to even it all out the whole guitar would just end up sounding terrible i think. i've seen it done, and done well. so i don't know what the secret to it might be. according to fender that stealth esquire didn't have any specially designed pickups in the middle or neck positions, just stock texas specials
 
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