Post by Charlie Hall on Oct 12, 2009 4:05:28 GMT
Having heard a recent sound file by William where it appears he was using the middle pickup, yet sounded more like a bridge pickup, I thought this article would be an interesting read:
www.till.com/articles/PickupMixing/
It specifically shows the frequency responses of Strat pickups according to their position, note that this does not take into account the different sounds available from different types of pickups or guitars and it does assume that each pickup response is flat, which is not actually the case with any guitar pickups. Many other combinations are also discussed, including multiple pickup selections, in or out of phase (note that the usual positions 2 and 4 of a 5 way Strat switch are not out of phase, although they are often described as such).
By taking note of the differences, it should be possible, with fine EQ techniques, to simulate say, the sound of a neck pickup, when playing with the bridge pickup, and so on. I am not saying that this is what William did, but it could have occured "accidentally".
I used the bridge pickup of my Gretsch on one of our recent CD recordings, and EQd it to sound more like a neck pickup selection by cutting mids at a certain frequency with a parametric EQ, maybe it is not exactly a neck pickup sound but it certainly sounds nothing like a bridge pickup would be expected to sound. I was surprised at how easy this was to achieve.
Near the bottom of the page there is also a Pickup Response Demonstration Applet, I believe this requires Sun Java to be installed on your computer for it to work. For those who try it, I think you will find that the frequency response stays much the same, regardless of the note played. This proves that the response is indeed dependent on the pickup position. As noted earlier, the actual sound will still depend on the type of pickups, and also the guitar they are fitted on. It is also possible that some pickups may have notches in their response, probably due to such techniques as scatter winding.
Regards,
Charlie
www.till.com/articles/PickupMixing/
It specifically shows the frequency responses of Strat pickups according to their position, note that this does not take into account the different sounds available from different types of pickups or guitars and it does assume that each pickup response is flat, which is not actually the case with any guitar pickups. Many other combinations are also discussed, including multiple pickup selections, in or out of phase (note that the usual positions 2 and 4 of a 5 way Strat switch are not out of phase, although they are often described as such).
By taking note of the differences, it should be possible, with fine EQ techniques, to simulate say, the sound of a neck pickup, when playing with the bridge pickup, and so on. I am not saying that this is what William did, but it could have occured "accidentally".
I used the bridge pickup of my Gretsch on one of our recent CD recordings, and EQd it to sound more like a neck pickup selection by cutting mids at a certain frequency with a parametric EQ, maybe it is not exactly a neck pickup sound but it certainly sounds nothing like a bridge pickup would be expected to sound. I was surprised at how easy this was to achieve.
Near the bottom of the page there is also a Pickup Response Demonstration Applet, I believe this requires Sun Java to be installed on your computer for it to work. For those who try it, I think you will find that the frequency response stays much the same, regardless of the note played. This proves that the response is indeed dependent on the pickup position. As noted earlier, the actual sound will still depend on the type of pickups, and also the guitar they are fitted on. It is also possible that some pickups may have notches in their response, probably due to such techniques as scatter winding.
Regards,
Charlie
