Will there ever be anything else?

[Meowy]

In terms of size and shape there are a very limited number of electric guitar pickups in use and in production today.

Most Popular:
Humbuckers
Strat single coils
Tele neck / bridge
P90s

Less Popular:
Minihums
Filtertrons, etc
Repros of Dano lipsticks, Dearmonds, toasters, and other earlier designs

Given the enormous popularity and success of the first group, will there ever be new pickup designs that are so significant that it will drive guitar manufacturers and designers to adopt new pickup form factors into their instruments?

And except for the manufacturing process, the technology hasn't changed that much in 50 years either.

Are guitar pickups just one of those things where the physical design has for the most part been perfected and completely standardized?

[Rosewood]

Even if designs change the shape and size will probably remain the same in order to sell pickups. Also it seems every time someone makes progress in a new direction it fades and we're back to the old designs. Bass pickups is one that always seems to benefit from active systems, low or hi Z.

[David Schwab]

Yeah, like Sam Lee Guy said in the Alumitone thread, people always want to get the sounds they grew up listening to. Same holds true for guitar design... Strats, Tele's, & Pauls...

I think there is still room for different pickups though, especially if you are putting them in custom instruments.

Bass players do seem more open minded, probably because bass is often more hi-fi.

[Stan H]

Seems optical pickups are starting to pop up everywhere...

[DrStrangelove]

Troll bait

...And except for the manufacturing process, the technology hasn't changed that much in 50 years either.

Are guitar pickups just one of those things where the physical design has for the most part been perfected and completely standardized?

Guitars/pickups/amps having 50 year old designs are popular because guitarists
like it that way and are perdurately resistant to change.

Consider the market demographic.

Guitarists, when selecting gear, are only slightly less reactionary than christian
fundamentalists, more susceptible to faith-based arguments laden with
hyperbolic assertions of miracles, and are generally not the sharpest tools
in the shed (my apologies to the christian fundamentalists).

-drh

[David King]

So now we have even fewer lions to go around?

[DrStrangelove]

Troll bait, part II

So now we have even fewer lions to go around?

I see no need to set lions on guitar players.
They, while noisy, do not proselytize, nor meddle in politics, and tend to stay in groups where they are usually self-limiting, such as MyLesPaul.

Nonetheless, when they finally do adopt an interesting and useful "new thing", they may not get the wherefores right. Looky:

http://www.guitarnoise.com/review.php?id=375

The Alumitone pickup is a radical departure in pickup making. Conventional pickups are voltage designed, meaning it's the voltage in the current that makes them work. The Alumitone is current-driven instead.

So far, so good...

What this means is a much more fluid system which allows smoother operation.

WTF does _that_ mean?!

Also, the Alumitone is aluminium-based rather than copper-based.

Yup.

Aluminium is a much better conductor than copper. This gives you less resistance and higher output.

Any Questions?

-drh

[David Schwab]

Any Questions?

Loud is the new black?

(look at the way they master CDs these days)

[DrStrangelove]

Loud is the new black?

(cough)

Um, didn't you catch that little bit about aluminum being a better conductor than copper (which it isn't)?

trivium:
The reason Lace uses aluminum for the current loop is that it costs roughly half as much as copper.

-drh

[Dave Kerr]

And I thought it was because they couldn't get the trademark for Coppertone.

[Possum]

dying laughing....

"Guitarists, when selecting gear, are only slightly less reactionary than christian
fundamentalists, more susceptible to faith-based arguments laden with
hyperbolic assertions of miracles, and are generally not the sharpest tools
in the shed (my apologies to the christian fundamentalists).
"

Jeeeezus Gawd that is so right on and funny
I think you forgot the part that musicians are also self medicating and tend to die younger than everyone else of "wasting" diseases.

But in all seriousness, I've invented a couple of pickup ideas that sell and if I meet some guy at the jam in a bar of course, and am telling him about what a whiz bang idea is inside that cover, they'll get the old glazed over eyes-look and then say, "wuhl, whut duz it zound like?" "Can I git Stevie Wray tone out uv it?" "Twooo hunerd dollaz, Ewe must be high. Say kin I borrow 20 til next week, I need anuther shot."

[bbsailor]

It is too easy to write nonsense

[QUOTE=DrStrangelove;43595]I see no need to set lions on guitar players.
They, while noisy, do not proselytize, nor meddle in politics, and tend to stay in groups where they are usually self-limiting, such as MyLesPaul.

Nonetheless, when they finally do adopt an interesting and useful "new thing", they may not get the wherefores right. Looky:

http://www.guitarnoise.com/review.php?id=375

The Alumitone pickup is a radical departure in pickup making. Conventional pickups are voltage designed, meaning it's the voltage in the current that makes them work. The Alumitone is current-driven instead.

So far, so good...

What this means is a much more fluid system which allows smoother operation.

WTF does _that_ mean?!


Many product reviews are simply cut-and-paste of the manufacture's product description with very little original analysis. In my previous jobs as a technical writer for US Army communication-electronics systems and automated test equipment, we had to stick to the facts and not get swept up by the marketing hype that accompanies any new technology.

In technical forums like this, there is an implied requirement that technical discussions be fact-based and any claims should be able to be replicated for verification. That is the scientific method and is what separates us from those who would have us join their flock using terms that promise the ultimate tone and aural nirvana.

Patents are a great source for information but they must be read with caution. There are only so many ways that a magnet, coil and metal string can generate current or voltage. There are only a limited number of ways to attempt to minimize noise; humbucking coils, for example. Some designs dispense with the traditional coil and use the string as a moving coil or the pickup frame as the single turn coil as in the Alumitones.

Once people realize that pickup coils are actually tuned inductors with as many different resonant frequencies as one can vary the number of coil turns and core structures, their mystery will fade. We need to deal with "Pickup Revelations" so those interested in the quality of guitar sound can match their needs/desires or customer needs/desires with the right technical approaches. Hopefully, this forum will continue in this direction.

Joseph Rogowski

[DrStrangelove]

Optical pickup

Ron Hoag demo'd his K-max optical pickup back in 1969 and has refined it since.

Very homebrew website but the info is compelling.

http://www.opticalguitars.com/

-drh

[Steve Conner]

I totally agree with you guys. I don't know how in hell anyone ever makes money by selling things to musicians, though I suspect like PRS, the business plan involves selling beautiful expensive things to lawyers and dentists.

[bbsailor]

Reaching Critical Mass

drh said: "Ron Hoag demo'd his K-max optical pickup back in 1969 and has refined it since.

Very homebrew website but the info is compelling.

http://www.opticalguitars.com/"

Ron Hoag also was trying to market the "Extremely Low Impedance Guitar Pickup System" where the string functions as the diaphram of its own ribbon-like transducer vibrating in a magnetic field.

New ideas take time to become adopted. They have historically needed to reach some sort of critical mass as driven by:
accepted technology trends
economical alternative to what is commonly used
clear performance benefits
easier/cheaper manufacturing processes
fads and irrationality
public policy
tax incentives
emulation of respected people
effective marketing

Lasers were initially a labortory curiosity until publicized applications attracted public attention. Initially laser beams were bounced off the moon and then soon after small versions were bounced off reflective surfaces burning-in and reflecting the digits encoded in the pits to store and read digital data. From target range finders to to other military applications, lasers eventually made it into the consumer market. The Blue Ray laser is currently looking to become the high definition DVD standard along with the recent surge in HD plasma and LCD TV sales. Here is where a critical mass has clearly been achieved. The Government decision to end analog TV transmission in 2009 helped to stimulate the HDTV market and the recent HDTV sales boost.

Are there any candidates for new pickup technology that have the potential to reach a critical mass?


Joseph Rogowski