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Lindy Fralin Drops Some Replacement Knowledge
Last month we discussed some things to would be inappropriate for me, because I
think about if you’re considering a pickup don’t play the blues.” Similarly, the words
replacement. I alluded to some conver- “high-output” in the name will often lead to
sations I’ve had with Lindy Fralin, and comments such as, “Not for me; I don’t play
thought you’d like to get his perspective. heavy metal.” The concept being adhered
In case you don’t know, Lindy is widely to here is that more output is more appro-regarded as one of the most knowledge- priate only for heavier types of music, where
able pickup guys on the planet. Countless more gain and volume are desired. But the
heavyweights have turned to him for tonal new paradigm that Lindy has introduced is
assistance over the years.
I was in Lindy’s shop several
years ago and he had a bunch
of guitars that they use to test
pickups. One of the Strats had
Lindy’s Steel-Pole pickups in
it, in all three positions. This
particular pickup is constructed
like a P- 90, but in a Strat form
factor, and is a fairly hot pickup. We often sell these pickups
to people for use in the bridge,
to beef up that position a little.
Somewhat less frequently we’ll
sell a complete set of them,
but many people fear that this
pickup will be too hot for the
neck and middle positions,
and that using them in these
positions would sacrifice their
Strat’s “chimey-ness.”
Then there’s the plethora of ambiguous
terms used to define tone – words like
“chime,” “quack,” “smooth,” “hair” and
“creamy.” I think it’s safe to assume these
words mean different things to different
people. Customers also use terms like “low-
mids” and “highs” to define what they’re
looking for, but what frequency ranges are
these, exactly? In any case, suffice it to say
that, again, these terms mean
different things to different
people.
So what’s a manufacturer to do?
Take a stab at it. The manufac-
turer listens to the customer
and makes an educated guess,
but in the end, it’s only a guess.
And of course it’s also only a
guess when consumers arrive
at their own decision, and for
this reason many manufacturers
have a replacement policy. Many,
for instance, give the customer
a period of time to try a set
of pickups, with the option of
exchanging them if they haven’t
taken the customer to his
desired tonal destination.
Lindy Fralin’s Steel-Pole pickups are constructed like P-90s, but in a Strat form factor
and are fairly hot – but that doesn’t make them “rock-only”
Of course, at this point the manufacturer
that pickup selection is often more about will have an advantage that they didn’t have
choosing a set of pickups whose output will before: they have a frame of reference.
work with the inherent tonality of the gui- Once a set of their pickups is in a particu-
tar (and other factors such as the amp and lar guitar, being influenced by that guitar’s
the player’s ears) in order to arrive at the inherent tonality, played by the customer
desired tonal destination. through his gear, with his hands, and being
listened to with his ears, subsequent input
from the customer becomes much more
meaningful. Since they now have a baseline,
the manufacturer can home in on an appro-
priate choice.
So I asked Lindy about this guitar in his
shop that had these pickups in all three
positions, and he commented that they had
tried many different pickups in that guitar,
and that it was so inherently bright that it
needed the output of the Steel-Pole pickups
in order to warm it up tonally. It was too
“brittle” sounding with the lower output
pickups they had tried.
This is an interesting consideration. What
Lindy didn’t say was, “We wanted that guitar
to shred, so we put hot pickups in it,” or “We
use that guitar to play loud, obnoxious rock
n’ roll, and needed it to pummel the front of
that Dual Rectifier over in the corner.”
I think any pickup manufacturer will tell you
that a situation they encounter daily is that
people call them looking for pickup recommendations. It probably seems to the consumer that no one would be better equipped
to do this, since the manufacturer has more
experience with their own product line than
anyone else, and of course there’s some
truth to that. What’s probably less apparent
to the consumer, however, is that the pickup
manufacturer is missing a lot of the information needed to make a reliable recommendation. The manufacturer has no knowledge
of the guitar’s inherent tonality, and while
the consumer will often be asked questions
about what kind of gear they’re using and
what type of music they primarily play, the
person conducting the interview will still be
left with only a cursory grasp of the situation.
Next month: more about the differences in
pickups and how these differences affect a
pickup’s output and tone.
A lot of customers that we speak with get
caught up with the names of pickups or
their “output” (which I’ve put in quotes
since DC resistance is usually the only
measurement considered), and I think
this is unfortunate. For instance, the word
“blues” in the name of a pickup can lead
to misperceptions such as, “This pickup
George Ellison
Founder, Acme Guitar Works
acmeguitarworks.com
george@acmeguitarworks.com
772-770-1919
