Tuesday, September 9, 2008

I forgot to put in a subject? Quelle dommage!

I normally keep my Telecaster's neck pickup high. How high? High enough that it's the 24th fret. You know, just in case you need that extra push over the cliff. It's just a great and wonderful thing.

But you know what? The magnetism really screws things up when you try to do the Eklundh harmonics thing.

I've screwed the neck pickup all the way down, and most of the 4th fret harmonics are chiming now.

Now I'm considering Esquires. I'm considering EMGs. I'm considering Lace Sensors. Anything to cut the magnetic interference. And allow me to fret on the neck pickup again.

11 comments:

Pribek said...

Maybe, you could just take the pickup out and super glue something cool in there like a tiger's tooth or an iPhone.

Dave Jacob said...

I'm also considering the Sustainer, which is the ultimate magnetic interference on a string.

But a tiger's tooth would be cool.

patrick said...

You could also try covering the pickup with copper, which would shield the magnetic field a bit. Of course, that's going to lower the output a lot too. I'd try a hunk of copper water pipe, cut down the side and hammered into shape. If it works, you could polish it to a shine with emery paper, 800 grit wet/dry, and rouge.

Dave Jacob said...

Or I could suck it up, go Esquire, and commission Warmoth or someone to build me a 24-fret Tele neck. That'll give me that high E, won't it?

Stratoblogster said...

Did you see that Eklundh's Caparison guitars have 27 frets.

This has been a rough week for getting our butts kicked by that crazy Swede!

Dave Jacob said...

I haven't had my butt kicked by that crazy Swede.

I'm not even playing him.

I'm not remotely in the same league.

But yeah, that is a 27 fretter, ain't it? Part of me thinks like a string-band picker from the 20s. "There's no money above the fifth fret!". In my case, much beyond the 15th and you're getting diminishing returns.

And that's not a neck-and-bridge pickup setup, that's middle-and-bridge pickup setup!

Speaking of which, anyone know the reason why they put the neck pickup at the harmonic node?

Stratoblogster said...

Dave, Why not glue an uncut nut on the top of your neck pickup?

Dave Jacob said...

Maybe I just might.

It makes sense to me to pick up the thimble trick first.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to point out that when you the harmonic thing, the section of string directly over the neck pick-up...(usually) stands still.

said another way: let's take harm on the 12th and 5th frets. Doing this divides the string into 1/2's and 1/4's when you pick and ring here, there is no movement in that area,(directly over the neck pick up)because harmonics isolate the sections of string that move. when a pick up is located at one of those points, there is no sound to generate and your amp gets bored.

when the string is devided into 3rds...like on the harmonics on the 7th, that section of string moves and is therefore...picked up.

Dropping your pick-up gives the pick up a more open f/stop (if I can use a photography term). it senses a wider area of the string. The sound may not be as defined, but it gives your amp something to do when you play those notes.

Humbuckers are immune to this phenomenon since their footprint is larger, and therefore sense a larger section of string.

Hope this helps.

Pribek said...

Thimble Trick-Does my heart good that guitar players are still seeking new ways to make the instrument sound like two cats fornicating.

Dave Jacob said...

Pribek: That is about the funniest thing I've read today.

Eric: I knew the null point thing, but I hadn't thought about the rest of it. Thanks!