JASON LOLLAR
The Pickup Artist
tantly, it takes experience working with different designs, techniques and materials. I have
seen guys get obsessed with finding materials
that have closer resemblance to vintage
pieces and still miss
the mark, and I have
seen other builders
think that they had
rediscovered some
previously unknown
technique and work
that angle to death.
Making pickups to
me is much like playing guitar: the more
you play and learn, Pre-War Rick pickup
the better you sound.
You don’t see good
players hiding their technique very often; on
the other hand, if they told you how they do
something, it may not make any sense to you
if you are not up to that level yet.
It took me years of trial and error and thousands of pickups to understand most of the
and you get some made. Six months later you
order again but this time the batch weighs
30 percent more. Most likely your plater
tried to get some imper-
fection out by laying on
a thicker coat of copper
than last time. If you
listen to it on a pickup
you’ll hear a difference,
but how do you learn
to even check for that?
Sometimes to find a vari-
able, you have to stum-
ble onto it before you
recognize it, meaning a
lot of trial and error.
variables involved. For instance, let’s say you
specify a particular type and thickness of
materials to be used for a metal pickup cover
I understand that nearly
every pickup you make
goes through a wax session in a classic
Crock-Pot. What are the pros and cons of
wax potting, in your mind?
