250K control pots are the usual choice for single coil pickups.
500K control pots are the usual choice for humbuckers. Higher values produce a slightly brighter tone, lower values produce a warmer tone, tapering off the top end.
Pickups
The Stromberg Electro was the very first electric amplifying device created in 1928, it wasn't successful. In 1931 George Beauchamp produced the first successful electric amplified guitar coil mounted on the Electro A-22 "Frying Pan" an aluminum lap steel guitar. The first recording of an electric guitar was made in 1933 attributed to Hawaiian group : Noelani Hawaiian Orchestra and Hawaiian musician Andy Iona.
There are a great number of ways to amplify an instrument, sound hole pickups, transducer pickups, internal condenser microphones coupled with in built pre amps, active pickups also use preamps. I won't go into extensive detail on the various setups and arrays of pickups as it is a vast subject. Keith Richards is a great example of how a pickup array is used with a specific tuning to enhance a certain sound.
Keith Richards :
One of Keith Richards Fender Telecasters is configured with a single coil pickup at the bridge, the neck pickup is a Humbucker turned upside down. With this guitar Keith plays with only 5 strings, (no bottom E string) Tuning : G D G B D.
Songs that made this sound famous : Honky Tonk Woman, Brown Sugar...
Pickups
For all the changes and developments in the universe of the guitar there are only two types of electric coil pickup. The single coil and the Humbucking (Humbucker)
Pickup : Types
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Single Coil | The single coil pick-up is wrapped around a magnet in a variety of different ways, other variants come into play such as the type of magnets, the number of turns, gauge of wire. All these variations greatly contribute to the particular sound of the pickup. More accurate than Humbucking pickups, single coil pickups are brighter and with an airy,
crisp "Spanky sound", the single coil has a noticeable hum or buzz as it amplifies everything, including interference from electrical equipment and the mains. |
| Humbucking | 2/ Humbuckers are significantly quieter, by using a configuration of twin coils wrapped around two sets of poles, some arrays are single magnet, others are twin. In doing this Humbuckers have more gain, the disadvantage is they role off at the top end, a sound characteristic of modern rock, associated with Gibson guitars. Humbucking Etymology : To buck the hum inherent of the single coil, hence the name Humbucking. Two aspects of Humbucking pickups worth a mention: 1/ Humbucking pickup's have two coils that produce more inductance than a single coil pickup, which acts as a "Series filter" the effect being a noticeable roll off at top end. The advantage is it over comes the issue of hum. 2/ Humbucking pickups have a wider magnetic field which puts some of the high frequency harmonics out of phase, again effecting the top end. A minor side effect, the added magnetic force can pull down on the strings. |
| Piezo pickups | Piezo pickups are not a coil pickup, more like a microphone that picks up vibrations and converts the vibrations into electricity. The advantage of the Piezo is it works on nylon and steel strings. Wound pickups require metal strings making the Piezo pickups more common on acoustic instruments and in some cases electric guitars such as my Semi Acoustic electric guitars. My Semi Acoustic electric guitar has a secondary tail piece tuned to an octave plus a 5th with a 1/6th scale length, to capture the remaining string length the tail peace has a dedicated pickup under the back saddle. The effect is a chorus of complimentary overtones and harmonics. For more info click Semi Acoustic electric guitar. |
Capacitors, or "caps," are electronic components used to filter certain frequencies. Higher frequencies travel to ground making many guitars sound dull or muddy. This can be resolved by using a treble bypass capacitor between the output and input of the potentiometer. The value of the cap will determine what is blocked, effecting the tone of the guitar, the higher the cap value the more upper frequencies are allowed to pass through it. The tone knob is a tone pot and has the same properties as a cap but is variable.
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