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The Supro and other "string through" pickups have some nifty advantages and some drawbacks. The big drawback is that you've got a pickup that surrounds the strings- it's a real estate hog and if you have one in the bridge position you can forget about palm muting. They are quite sensitive to string height- there is a noticeable difference between a fretted note and an open string. This is worse the higher the action and the further from the bridge the pickup is placed. They may not mix well with other pickups if the string through is humbucking.
Part of their use by slide players is simply due to that type of pickup's use on steel guitars and by Ry Cooder on his "Coodercaster". Why Do SRV guys use Tubescreamers, sunburst Strats, and concho encrusted hats? It's a "thing", part style choice, partly sonic, and part prior art. Same with the Supro pickups.
Placing a ferrous plate over a bottom loaded coil assembly is not quite the same as a string through. To do a true "string through" like the Supro, the magnets need to be sandwiched between the two ferrous plates: the top plate, and the bottom plate, to or into which the poles attach.
Whatever criticism you have of Lollar's description, it is functionally and tonally accurate. I don't doubt that there is some string damping no matter where the string resides inside a magnetic field, but lemme tell ya, it is a LOT less when the string is floating in the middle between the North and South poles. Because the strings float in the middle, the magnet can be stupidly strong. Because the polepieces also float, they (and the coil) can be placed quite close to the strings. Doing so doesn't increase the string pull, just gives a much stronger signal. Though I don't have actual measurements, my recollection of my old pre-war Rickenbacher horseshoe was that it was quite high in output, on the order of a distortion humbucker, yet had a quite low DCR, under 3K.
Typically with slide, you're not deflecting the strings much vertically and not too much side to side, either. The Supro pickups seem to be sensitive to both. I wonder how a blade pickup might work as a string through.
Part of their use by slide players is simply due to that type of pickup's use on steel guitars and by Ry Cooder on his "Coodercaster". Why Do SRV guys use Tubescreamers, sunburst Strats, and concho encrusted hats? It's a "thing", part style choice, partly sonic, and part prior art. Same with the Supro pickups.
Placing a ferrous plate over a bottom loaded coil assembly is not quite the same as a string through. To do a true "string through" like the Supro, the magnets need to be sandwiched between the two ferrous plates: the top plate, and the bottom plate, to or into which the poles attach.
Whatever criticism you have of Lollar's description, it is functionally and tonally accurate. I don't doubt that there is some string damping no matter where the string resides inside a magnetic field, but lemme tell ya, it is a LOT less when the string is floating in the middle between the North and South poles. Because the strings float in the middle, the magnet can be stupidly strong. Because the polepieces also float, they (and the coil) can be placed quite close to the strings. Doing so doesn't increase the string pull, just gives a much stronger signal. Though I don't have actual measurements, my recollection of my old pre-war Rickenbacher horseshoe was that it was quite high in output, on the order of a distortion humbucker, yet had a quite low DCR, under 3K.
Typically with slide, you're not deflecting the strings much vertically and not too much side to side, either. The Supro pickups seem to be sensitive to both. I wonder how a blade pickup might work as a string through.
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