What do you guys think makes "quack"?

[achase4u]

Ive been experimenting with winds for about 8-9 months now, and one of the things that seems to vary a little I find is the quack in the in between positions. I guess all pickups will vary a little - but what do you guys think affects this sound the most?

Im sort of toying with things - like the two pickups that are together, have an almost exact winding pattern/pitch or totally different, tension the same or not, loose/tight... number of turns etc...

The best Ive made so far were with some enamel - about 5.6k in the neck and middle, and 6k in the bridge...

I also find the nice edge and nasaly factor kind of subside if alot of wire goes on...

[GlennW]

I think it has something to do with how far apart they are, and it seems like standard or weaker winds (not hot) quack more...don't know about the details of the pickups themselves.

[achase4u]

mmmmhmmm - the spacing is the main factor - but some get the better quack - it probably is the weaker or standard winds though...


hmmmm

[Mark Hammer]

One of the things we too often ignore is the manner in which longer necks (i.e., 23 and 24-fret, as opposed to 20 or 21-fret) constrains the available space for situating pickups. Sure, you can stick a trio of SCs in a Strat-alike with a slanted bridge, and a middle pickup situated in a manner that is proportionally correct. But the tone achieved is a function of the spacing of the pickups relative to what they can sense on the string. Most noticeably, the further back from the midpoint of the string the neck pickup is, the less it starts to sound like a neck pickup until you start to fret higher up.

I wound myself a very nice pickup with slightly narrower pole-spacing to go in the neck position on my Epi Coronet. Sounds great. A really nice SRV tone....just not until you start to get above the 7th fret. You will note that the Coronet is one of those instruments, like the SG that have a 23-fret neck joined wayyyyyyyyy up at the 23rd fret, leaving less room between the end of the fretboard and the bridge. You will also note that an SG or similar guitar, is among the very last instruments you would expect quack from under any circumstances.

Distance and spacing matter when it comes to quack.

[salvarsan]

It may be a canard.

Quack is an example of comb filtering (or cancellation) from two or more
pickups "seeing" the string at different phase angles of its vibration.

The quack character is determined by two pickups' high frequency response,
their distance apart, and how much of the string each pickup sees
(aka magnetic aperture).

As an empirical note, overwound pickups tend to quack less than vintage winds.

For a technical discussion on Quack:
http://www.till.com/articles/PickupMixing/index.html

-drh

[David Schwab]

I think ducks make quack.


But yeah, you need good high end from the pickups to get a good quack.

[achase4u]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Thats a cool analysis page too...

Well - keep on quackin then!

[Ruel]

I think ducks make quack.

That's what I figured. LOL

[Mark Hammer]

...and chickens make cluck.

The real conundrum is whether "bark" is made by dogs or trees.

[belwar]

I think ducks make quack.

I thought ducks said AFLAC .. at least thats what TV taught me.



I should get out more.