Do a new pickup need to activate or run in.?

[belwar]

If there was a audible change (far beyond the scope of my router deafened ears), I would **theorize** that it would only be in un-potted pickups and likely due to the layers of wire in the coils slightly shifting and settling over time from vibration.. The change would likely be so minor though.

To use a cooking analogy: Think of flour.. when you first pour flour into a container it is aerated and loose.. However overtime the flour settles and becomes more tightly packed and dense. The effect can be sped up by vibrating the container. This is why you always stir your flour and measure by weight (Thanks AB!). And dont forget you are using the muffin method so just walk away.. just walk away!

[RedHouse]

Also, the "run-in" can have a lot to do with the ears of the player. I think it's a good idea for players to give them a good try before the critical ear judgements. Many times a player judges a new pickup relative to the one it's replacing and can skip over many virtues the new pickup brings to the table if too focused on it relative to the old one.

[StarryNight]

Picasso said: everything you can imagine is real. I think he must have made a pickup or two in his time.

[David Schwab]

I've attributed it to (in the case of humbuckers) the magnet/keeper/slugs/Poles all seem to balance-out.

Why wouldn't that happen just from it sitting on a shelf?

I've never heard a change in a pickup, however, I have noticed my perception of that pickup has changed. Sometimes I'll wind up a new pickup, and I don't care for it. Then the next day I like it. I know the sound of the pickup has not changed however, because I recorded it the first time I played it, and now I also like the recording. I don't think the recording has changed!

So I think we just think the sound has changed, when in fact we have gotten used to it. It's like acquiring a taste in food.

All my pickups are wax potted, so I know it has nothing to do with wire shifting, which I doubt happens anyway.

[RedHouse]

Why wouldn't that happen just from it sitting on a shelf?....

Well it would, that was my point, and all the more if it's very near another pickup while it sits there on the shelf.

[David Schwab]

Well it would, that was my point, and all the more if it's very near another pickup while it sits there on the shelf.

Only if it has alnico magnets. And then only maybe. That's easy enough to test for. Take a reading on a fresh pickup's magnets and then leave it near a few others for a while and then read it again. But I bet you wont see any difference.

Either way plugging it into an amp and playing it wont "break it in" any more than audio cables needing a burn in period.

[Mike Sulzer]

So I think we just think the sound has changed, when in fact we have gotten used to it. It's like acquiring a taste in food.

Above you argued that sound is a perceived phenomenon. So if you percieve it as different, it is, by definition, different.

It makes much more sense to me to define sound as independent of anybody's perception. Sound is wave propagation in air, yes, sound waves.

[RedHouse]

It makes much more sense to me to define sound as independent of anybody's perception. Sound is wave propagation in air, yes, sound waves.

Too oblique Mike.

All things are molecular too, but that doesn't make a baseball bat into a Les Paul.

The whole detached scientist thing is better served elsewhere, sound and tone are too subjective to personal opinion and that can't be dismissed in it's discussion.

[Mike Sulzer]

Too oblique Mike.

All things are molecular too, but that doesn't make a baseball bat into a Les Paul.

The whole detached scientist thing is better served elsewhere, sound and tone are too subjective to personal opinion and that can't be dismissed in it's discussion.

I do not see a problem in what I am saying. We each perceive the sound differently. That is, we respond as individuals to the same stimulus. That is exactly what happens, and it allows completely for personal differences.

[David Schwab]

Above you argued that sound is a perceived phenomenon. So if you percieve it as different, it is, by definition, different.

It makes much more sense to me to define sound as independent of anybody's perception. Sound is wave propagation in air, yes, sound waves.

When it comes to musical sounds, you interpret them. You compare them to known examples. The first time many people heard a compact disk it sounded too bright. This was in comparison to vinyl. But then you get accustomed to it and then vinyl sounds dull. Nothing in the source sound has changed, just the way you perceive them based on your own experience.

I recently made a new bridge Jazz bass pickup and thought it was too bright. I was going to rewind the pickup the next day. But the next day the pickup sounded better to me, including the recordings I made on the same day I made the pickup. I'm used to the difference now from my previous pickup in that bass, and now I like it.

[Steve Conner]

All things are molecular too, but that doesn't make a baseball bat into a Les Paul.

But Les Paul made his first Les Paul out of a railroad tie, or something. If he had used a baseball bat, it would still have been a Les Paul, albeit one with quite an odd neck radius. If I made a guitar out of a railroad tie, or indeed anything, it would be an unplayable piece of crap.

Air vibrations, frequency responses, and so on are objective and can be analyzed scientifically. (Science consists of the things that still happen when the tree falls with nobody to hear it.)

Subjective impressions of "tone" can also be analyzed, it's called psychoacoustics. It is tricky and has to be done carefully. I ignore all subjective judgments that aren't based on the results of a double blind test, except Dave's assertion that "Alnico 2 Pros sound great."

[RedHouse]

....But Les Paul made his first Les Paul out of a railroad tie, or something. If he had used a baseball bat, it would still have been a Les Paul, ...

Right after I posted that I knew someone would bring that up, thanks Steve. I shouild have said it doesn't make a bat into a Strat.

If you watch the DVD "Les Paul - Chasing Sound" he talks about how that guitar didn't sound very good, it just proved a point about sustain and also higher volume w/o feedback.

....I ignore all subjective judgments that aren't based on the results of a double blind test, except Dave's assertion that "Alnico 2 Pros sound great." ...

Why's that?

[Mark Hammer]

Geez louise! How many dozen posts and nobody has mentioned the obvious.

If you want to hear a pickup, it needs to be installed in a guitar. DO NOT mistake the breaking-in that the guitar needs, with putative changes in the pickup itself.

Honestly, so many rumours get started when people ignore the obvious.

[RedHouse]

Geez louise! How many dozen posts and nobody has mentioned the obvious.

If you want to hear a pickup, it needs to be installed in a guitar. DO NOT mistake the breaking-in that the guitar needs, with putative changes in the pickup itself.

Honestly, so many rumours get started when people ignore the obvious.

Uh Mark, you do realize Bruce was just kidding right?

[Mark Hammer]

Yes. I was referring to the original post.