Anyone built a test jig, or mule guitar for testing pickups ?

[Possum]

I did a trade for a custom built amp from a hobby builder. I cranked it up and wife said the dogs really hate your new amp, all 3 of them and the cat ran downstairs;-) Then the amp wouldn't work anymore, it just quit. Turns out it was oscillating at ultra high inaudible frequencies only animals can hear ;-)
When I started making pickups I only had a Blues Junior to test pickups in, big mistake, too much distortion, master volume, printed circuit. One week I thought I had done a killer strat set and took it to the jam and let one of the pro players try it out. They stunk to high hell, plugged into vintage deluxe reverb, they sounded awful, no sustain, shrill etc. Man was I embarrassed as in "bare ass." Lollar told me you have to own one of each kind of amp to really tell whats going on and he was really right. My main test amp is a '73 Vibrolux that I use in most of my videos, especially with buckers. Its unforgiving and lets me know if I screwed up or not. I don't use pedals or any of that stuff so try to keep it real. I was serious about a couple weeks, when it gets down to fine tuning a design, I personally won't sell a pickup until its been played for at least six months. Another thing I'll do is sell the new set to only certain customers and not list it on the website or Youtube and see how they like it, with full guarantee behind it. My newest PAF set I didn't put up for sale for a year to make sure I had tried literally every tweak on it I could; realize I am making my own parts so have way more details I can tweak because of that. Pickups do change as they age especially in the first months, it depends on what parts you are buying and your technique, I can't make quick judgement calls on my stuff or it ends up being a bad decision.

[soundmasterg]

I did a trade for a custom built amp from a hobby builder. I cranked it up and wife said the dogs really hate your new amp, all 3 of them and the cat ran downstairs;-) Then the amp wouldn't work anymore, it just quit. Turns out it was oscillating at ultra high inaudible frequencies only animals can hear ;-)

And I will have that amp from the hobby builder working and back to you before christmas. There were so many things wrong with it when you gave it to me to fix. Hopefully the "hobby builder" will improve his technique before selling or trading more amps! I'm making slow progres on it in between school demands.

Greg

[RedHouse]

This idea could use some refinement, but on a good path.

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Who's pic is that (of) Jim?

I had an almost identical Strat body routed thingy except mine was routed the opposite, the test pickguards were cut in two and the pickup portion slid out the top, while the ctrl's part stayed in the guitar. I realised too much wood was removed to make any tone assesment and so don't use it anymore. I wish I took a pic of the thing but it's long gone now. (I re-purposed the neck/hardware and tossed the body)

[frankfalbo]

Belwar helped us with our latest test guitars. We have Mahogany/Rosewood H/H single-cut, Ash/Rosewood Strat, and Ash/Maple Tele. We have two of each, and we selected each and every piece of wood from the same board (same tree, same location) So not only do they match in weight, they are literally from the same tree. I think each set is "most same" guitars ever built. That has helped me tremendously. If you have the money for two similar guitars that's the way to go. Even if they're a little different, what we usually do is to perform an A/B, make all of our observations, then install pickups A into guitar B and vice versa, confirming that what we heard followed the pickups to the other guitar, not the other way around. In every case, the smallest of differences followed the pickups, not the guitar, so we know these guitars are serving their purpose. But even if the guitars are a little different, you can calibrate your ears to know why and how they're different, then you'll know what to listen for when swapping pickups around. Of course we have a crap ton of other test guitars, including all of our personal guitars we donate to the cause for specific projects, but these equal pairs are easily the most valuable.

There were times when we used hot-swappable guitars, with fixtures and what not (think dan armstrong style, slip in from the side) Jim Shine's example from GDK is a fantastic way to test pickups: GDK Technologies Inc. It's limited to pickguard mounts, and because of the body loss and pickguard mount the sound you hear from the pickups will all be colored in that way. But at least the good news is they'll all be colored in the same way, which still serves the reference function. But as others have said, you need to put the pickups into something "real" that is within range of their intended use. So for strat pickups you need to try an Ash or Alder bolt neck, not your Jackson neck-through with Ebony and a Floyd Rose, right? Same for Humbuckers; Mahogany and Rosewood. What Dave said about amps is perhaps even more important. It takes a very special set of ears to hear pickups through one amp and discern meaningful things about other amps and gain structures. It's like being an expert producer or engineer and being able to make judgements about a final mix even when hearing it through a boom box or car stereo. It can be done but the better way for most ears is to toggle between reference systems and real world systems.

[RedHouse]

...What Dave said about amps is perhaps even more important...

Totally agree, and goes to show how generous Jason Lollar is for sharing ideas and observations as he does.

When Jason invited my wife and I over to his shop a couple years ago (ie; the Gauss meter group-buy thread) after the gauss meter stuff he showed me many cool things and ideas he does, some which help a pickup maker do better and more consistent work.

I don't go into details (promised whatever he shared was between us) but the man does have a cool collection of amps (and other gear). At the time he was just building a new music room/building, and also showed me a real cool B3 (with Leslie) he restored, and gave it a wee test drive for us. As we were driving home that afternoon my wife was saying "I wonder if he'll host any jams" and I'd bet'cha he gets that place a rock'in full of good tone.

{Edit} BTW, just to be clear, I'm not trying to insinuate Jason told me the secrets of life and pickups, just sayin he was very generous with his discussion of the craft and a gracious host.

[Jim Shine]

Who's pic is that (of) Jim?

I will have to dig, but I believe that was something someone posted over on my forum of the Fender booth at a NAMM show. It was within the past year or so

I have a picture somewhere of a Fender factory tester. It is an old Strat body carved up and modded .

Edit- Here it is

[David Schwab]

I've been using one of my basses for a test bed, since I was routed for 3 soapbar pickups. It has alligator clips attached to a 1/4" jack.

It's much too nice to be a test mule however, so I need to make something else and put this bass back together.