WOOD MOUNTED PICKUPS?

[migetkotla]

I learned the hard way that I need to be careful when ordering pickups off another site while designing and ordering my Warmoth build.  I've had Warmoth employees contact me more than once while reviewing my order to recommend alternatives because some of my choices may not have been good ones......I think I've agreed with their recommendations each time.  And it impresses me when a company contacts a customer that has already bought an item to ask them "are you sure you really want it like this?"  They've also gone out of their way to pick a piece of wood for me and get back to me on other similar requests. 

I did once order a body and because I didn't order pickups from Warmoth they had no idea I had special ordered pups that were designed to be "wood mounted."  I want to order another "wood mount" strat but I'm not sure if there is a real difference.  Is there a type of pickup (vintage vs. hot, etc) that works better mounted to the wood rather than pickup rings, etc?  To a non-luthier it just seems like the pickup would do better mounted solidly into wood.  Doesn't seem like most guitars are designed/made that way so that's why I figured I'd go to those who probably make this choice more often than others - so glad for this forum!

Thanks for any info you can share!

 

[Cederick]

I just talk from personal preference; but wood mounting looks unfinished to me... Pickup rings are where it's at! At least visually  :cool01:

How it sounds I have no idea, but there could of course be some kind of benefit to having the pups directly mounted because of vibratious and stuff like that. I would love to try it out myself but it's nothing I have planned to do in the near future, so I let real experts and internet warriors debate on this.

 

[migetkotla]

Thanks.....the one project I did do with mounted pups I went ahead and placed rings around the pups anyway as decor - looks like ring mounted pups but actually wood mounted. 

 

[Cederick]

Thanks.....the one project I did do with mounted pups I went ahead and placed rings around the pups anyway as decor - looks like ring mounted pups but actually wood mounted.

Great idea  :icon_thumright:

 

[Hendrix]

some tips said Foaming Pickup Cavities can reduce microphonic squealing . and wood mounted already do it this way .

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Hot-Rod_Your_Electric_Tiny_Tone_Tweaks_Done_Dirt_Cheap

but most of time it is aesthetic consideration , like Tom Anderson/ Suhr guitar

people like to show as much as possible the beautiful top , and I think PU ring look too old-fashioned .

 

[Cagey]

I've never been able to discern a difference between solid- and trapeze-mounted pickup sound, and I've done it to more than one guitar both ways with the same pickups and without changing anything else. Outgrew the idea while I was still a puppy.

If they'd have been piezo pickups, that would have been different. But, with traditional magnetics, the pickup is sensing the movement of the string in a magnetic field, not mechanical vibration. All you accomplish by hard-mounting them is making it a bitch to adjust their height.

 

[migetkotla]

That about says all I needed to know!  Thanks so much!!!

 

[Strat Avenger]

A pickup sounds no different whether it's wood-mounted, ring-mounted, or pickguard-mounted.  Go with what looks best to you.

 

[line6man]

I've never been able to discern a difference between solid- and trapeze-mounted pickup sound, and I've done it to more than one guitar both ways with the same pickups and without changing anything else. Outgrew the idea while I was still a puppy.

If they'd have been piezo pickups, that would have been different. But, with traditional magnetics, the pickup is sensing the movement of the string in a magnetic field, not mechanical vibration. All you accomplish by hard-mounting them is making it a bitch to adjust their height.

If someone tells you they get better tone by direct mounting, tell them to get better pickups. An audible difference between mounting methods indicates microphonic pickups.

 

[Ace Flibble]

I've noticed a difference between ring/pickguard mounting and wood mounting, but only in the most extreme cases. It's the same difference you get if you use very large springs for ring/pickguard mount and raise the pickup so high that the spring is completely compressed. Having the pickup be totally static with a firm, rigid connection to the rest of the guitar seems to bring through additional high-end and, conversely to what logic would dictate, a sort of springy aftertone, not unlike the sound of a guitar with a vibrato. I can only conclude that having the pickup mounted by ring or pickguard with the springs uncompressed must provide a sort of shock absorber, giving a rounder tone.

But like I said, only noticed it in the most extreme of circumstances; it has not been often that I've changed a guitar from one type of pickup mounting to another without also changing many other elements of the guitar. I've only noticed this change—and been able to identify it as being directly related to the pickup mounting—the very few times (perhaps three, total) that I've made the switch from ring or pickguard mounting to wood mounting, or vice versa, without changing anything else about the guitar. It is not something I would base a guitar's spec around or pay much mind to.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I prefer wood mounted, but more for a picking hand comfort issue, and I prefer that the routing tolerances are tight, which can differ from manufacturer.  I do think that rings work better for carved tops with steeper break angles over bridge saddle, especially covered pickups.

 

[AutoBat]

I prefer the look of wood mounted pickups.  Rings with single coilslook terrible to me, doubly so if rings are used ON TOP of pickguards.

 

[DavyDave53]

Dr. May and Mr. Eddie had great success with directly mounted pickups in their guitars. 

I've never had one. 

I think you just gave me a good excuse for yet another build.

 

[Cagey]

Dr. May and Mr. Eddie had great success with directly mounted pickups in their guitars. 

Correlation is not causation.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

Dr. May and Mr. Eddie had great success with directly mounted pickups in their guitars. 

I think May and Eddie had great success because they were fantastic and innovative guitar players.

 

[DavyDave53]

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/entertainment/top_10_most_famous_guitars.html

Only a double neck could be more recognizable in this non-scientific sampling.

Coincidence or statistical anomaly?

 

[bagman67]

Indeed.  And look how few guitarists have made even an dent in the popular consciousness with trapeze-mounted pups.

 

[Great Ape]

Indeed.  And look how few guitarists have made even an dent in the popular consciousness with trapeze-mounted pups.

SURELY THOU JESTETH!!??!! Heareth thou not of Clapton, Allman, Bloomfield, Trucks, Santana, Garcia, and I shant go on, lest I be accused of unnecessary verbosity...     

 

[bagman67]

Indeed.  And look how few guitarists have made even an dent in the popular consciousness with trapeze-mounted pups.

SURELY THOU JESTETH!!??!! Heareth thou not of Clapton, Allman, Bloomfield, Trucks, Santana, Garcia, and I shant go on, lest I be accused of unnecessary verbosity...   

Yeah, sure, those guys, but anyone FAMOUS?


:icon_jokercolor:


Sarcasm so oft goes awry when siphoned through the series of internet tubes...

 

[stratamania]

Dr. May and Mr. Eddie had great success with directly mounted pickups in their guitars. 

I think May and Eddie had great success because they were fantastic and innovative guitar players.

Agreed It must be talent after all they both had home made guitars, especially May, who used second hand wood from an old fireplace. Obviously talent can overcome such obstacles as DIY equipment.

For the rest Tone starts at the player not how the pickups are mounted. Mount them however suits you.