SIGNAL CHAIN
DEAN FARLEY
Microphonic Pickups: Vintage or Modern Sounds?
How’s everyone doing? This month’s column was inspired by a phone conversation
I had with editors Chris Burgess and Joe
Coffey about diagnosing microphonic pickups. The three of us had a discussion about
this potential “problem,” and it seemed
that it might be a great idea to look deeper
into this matter.
Okay, let’s face it. If you’re a lover of real vintage guitars, your chances of having a microphonic pickup are extremely high. So high, in
fact, that you might find yourself adjusting to
this idiosyncrasy in order to simply live with
it. Yes, your old, beloved single-coil Fender
guitars, Gretsch models with the DeArmond
DynaSonic pickups and any Gibson instrument equipped with the old P-90s (just to
mention a few), can really squeal like pigs!
However, the tone of these old tried and
true pickups can be way better sounding
to you than anything made later that was
“fixed” by potting the pickups before installing them into an instrument. Having owned
a few vintage humbuckers and P-90s in my
time has allowed me first-hand experience
with microphonics. In fact, we used to joke
around with this phenomenon, talking directly
into a pickup that was known to amplify our
voices through the speakers of our Marshall
stacks or Fender Twin Reverbs. To us, it was
just another “microphone,” and as such, we
learned to get around the problem by experimenting with the exact placement of the
pickup in relation to the amp’s speakers (and
other variables).
It wasn’t long before we found out that by
simply moving around the stage a bit we
could find the spots where the microphonic
squealing would lessen quite a bit—or totally
disappear. I asked my good friend, pickup
winder J.M. Rolph, about this issue and he
shared a few thoughts. He said that there
were a few things that could contribute to
the bad type of microphonics. The physical
location of your amplifier’s transformer can
affect this, too—so be sure that you find the
spots that don’t seem too adversely affected
(won’t squeal) at gigging volumes. Both J.M.
and myself agree that unpotted pickups are,
in general, more lively sounding when played
at cleaner amp settings. You’ll get much more
sparkle out of them in that scenario than you
would get with potted pickups. It’s with high
amounts of gain or distortion that a microphonic pickup is more likely to become unusable. However, there are a couple of things to
remember that can help you here.
First, when you hear any type of microphonic squealing, turn your tone control
down slightly. In many cases this can nip
that squeal in the bud. Second, try turning
your body away from the speakers, and
see what the results are. It is well worth
We used to joke
about this phe-
nomenon, talking
directly into a
pickup that was
known to amplify
our voices…
noting here that players such as Jeff Beck
and Roy Buchannon simply lived with their
microphonic pickups. You can see them
adjusting their tone controls to compensate
for the extra “mojo” of the old pickups in
their Telecasters on several vintage clips
posted on You Tube! There is also the story
of the time when Roy took his much-loved
Telecaster into a repair shop for some work
and was completely dumbfounded when
he played it upon picking it up afterward. It
seems that Roy actually accused the repairman of stealing his original pickup, because
the guitar didn’t sound anywhere near the
way it did when he dropped it off! Can you
imagine that? Perhaps the repairman potted his original pickup without asking Roy
first? It’s quite possible.
The original-design PAF humbuckers were
not potted either, and as a result they sound
quite different from the later humbuckers of
the 1970s, which were potted with beeswax
or paraffin. Various pickup designers also
used epoxies and resins. The very practice
of potting pickups came about as players
were cranking up their volume levels. Guitar
manufacturers did this so they would’t have
complaints from customers. I feel that the
unpotted humbuckers have a more airy,
three-dimensional tone to them. I also find it
very interesting that Gibson is now offering
vintage-type, unpotted pickups in their most
expensive (and most accurate) vintage replica
Les Pauls. In addition, several well-known
pickup winders, such as J.M. Rolph and
Seymour Duncan, offer authentic specification
humbucking pickups for players everywhere.
The point here is that there are indeed differences between original and modern pickups.
The choice of which ones you’ll use to create
your own sound is ultimately yours.
And since we’re near the subject, I want to
take a little detour and talk a little bit about
60-cycle hum, as well. In recent years there
has been a trend towards making the middle
pickup of a Stratocaster reverse wound with
reverse polarity (RWRP). What this does is
silence the hum in the 2 and 4 positions of
the selector switch. While many players enjoy
this benefit, I have found that the old, noisy
vintage pickups have more “smoke” in these
positions than the modern RWRP winding
does. Again, this is just an observation—if
you have the opportunity, try the differences
out to see which you like better. Have fun
and we’ll see you next time.
Dean Farley
is the chief designer of "Snake Oil Brand Strings"
( sobstrings.net) and has had a profound influence
on the trends in the strings of today.
