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previous: Steve A. Doc: &nb... -- 7/31/1999 5:10 AM

Re: Noiseless Pickups

8/5/1999 3:22 AM
Mark Hammer	Re: Noiseless Pickups Evans pickups (which I've mentioned here on more than one occasion) used a Z-like design, except that the two coils were end to end, and packaged inside one Strat-sized cover/housing, rather than askew as in the G&L.. As well, unlike the Z-pickups, the polepieces were not visible or adjustable. I dropped into the factory around 1989, discussed the design with the two guys who cranked them out, and watched them being made, so I have a reasonable sense about their design. They were used by Jeff Healey, Colin James, and apparently Stevie Ray Vaughan on one or two guitars (I have no confirmation, but my working assumption is that with both Colin and Evans being Canadian products, Colin must have introduced SRV to them when he opened up for SRV on a Canadian tour. Again, I'm just guessing here.). I haven't heard hide nor hair of Evans since 1990, so I don't know if the guys are still in business anymore. The pickup itself yielded acceptable cluck-tone in Strat positions 2 and 4, but tended to be a mite too strident for my tastes. That that may reflect the tendency of known players to use em with Tube Screamers all the time, rather than anything inherent in the design itself. The Evans guys told me that they felt stacked buckers (like the Fender noiseless design) simply couldn't nail "the sound" in comparison to the end-to-end design. Having built a few stacked buckers (two plastic bucker bobbins, with holes reamed out to allow alnico polepieces to slide through, although the standard Fender-sized polepieces don't go clear through both bobbins), they may have something there. It's QUIET for sure, but lacks punch; a decent jazz rhythm pickup. One of the things I've always wondered about is whether the design of end-to-end humbuckers resulted in an unusual response for the middle two strings (which would be at the ends of the coils, with overlapping but opposite fields). If so, I'm wondering whether this is effectively compensated for by polepiece characteristics (e.g., height), or by carefuly selecting coil or magnet parameters to result in resonances that mimic string balance. Alternatively, maybe the Z-design is intended to get around such a problem. I realize that wacko sometimes sells, but I expect a common-sense company like G&L would probably use a standard-sized housing unless they really needed to do otherwise. Maybe the skewed design creates enough of a distance between the ends of the coils that the two fields don't interfere with each other.

8/5/1999 3:22 AM

Mark Hammer

Re: Noiseless Pickups

Evans pickups (which I've mentioned here on more than one occasion) used a Z-like design, except that the two coils were end to end, and packaged inside one Strat-sized cover/housing, rather than askew as in the G&L.. As well, unlike the Z-pickups, the polepieces were not visible or adjustable. I dropped into the factory around 1989, discussed the design with the two guys who cranked them out, and watched them being made, so I have a reasonable sense about their design. They were used by Jeff Healey, Colin James, and apparently Stevie Ray Vaughan on one or two guitars (I have no confirmation, but my working assumption is that with both Colin and Evans being Canadian products, Colin must have introduced SRV to them when he opened up for SRV on a Canadian tour. Again, I'm just guessing here.).

I haven't heard hide nor hair of Evans since 1990, so I don't know if the guys are still in business anymore. The pickup itself yielded acceptable cluck-tone in Strat positions 2 and 4, but tended to be a mite too strident for my tastes. That that may reflect the tendency of known players to use em with Tube Screamers all the time, rather than anything inherent in the design itself.

The Evans guys told me that they felt stacked buckers (like the Fender noiseless design) simply couldn't nail "the sound" in comparison to the end-to-end design. Having built a few stacked buckers (two plastic bucker bobbins, with holes reamed out to allow alnico polepieces to slide through, although the standard Fender-sized polepieces don't go clear through both bobbins), they may have something there. It's QUIET for sure, but lacks punch; a decent jazz rhythm pickup.

One of the things I've always wondered about is whether the design of end-to-end humbuckers resulted in an unusual response for the middle two strings (which would be at the ends of the coils, with overlapping but opposite fields). If so, I'm wondering whether this is effectively compensated for by polepiece characteristics (e.g., height), or by carefuly selecting coil or magnet parameters to result in resonances that mimic string balance.

Alternatively, maybe the Z-design is intended to get around such a problem. I realize that wacko sometimes sells, but I expect a common-sense company like G&L would probably use a standard-sized housing unless they really needed to do otherwise. Maybe the skewed design creates enough of a distance between the ends of the coils that the two fields don't interfere with each other.

Replies:

Gus I own a G&L SHZ3 They have their o... -- 8/5/1999 7:39 PM