Pickup Lingo!

[Eyes Wide Shut]

I just thought I'd start this thread for people like me, who don't really understand Pickup Lingo.

I hear people use terms such as "Hairy", "Open-sounding", "Harmonic Response", "Organic" and I wondered if people could ellaborate on what these terms actually mean by describing them in another way. For people who know, it may seem really obvious, but I'm honestly being truthful in saying I have no idea lol.

I'm more interested into hearing what it means when the pickup is described as "Open-Sounding" and "Organic", as a few of my potential pickups are decribed in this way.

Cheers

[darkbluemurder]

Very good question but very difficult to answer. Everybody hears things differently, and to describe tone is as difficult as singing about football.

I'll take a stab anyway.

Open sounding: with clean amp settings you can hear all frequencies but especially the highs. With an overdriven amp setting you can still hear individual notes in a chord and the sound changes if you change your pick attack. The antipode to "open" would be "congested" or "choked".

Organic: a tone which does not exhibit any artificial (its antipode) sizzle in the high end which becomes especially noticeable in overdriven amp settings.

Cheers Stephan

[Eyes Wide Shut]

Thanks very much for that. I see you have an A-Bomb in your Signiture. Would you say this pickup sounds open?

[darkbluemurder]

I see you have an A-Bomb in your Signiture. Would you say this pickup sounds open?

I would not call it exactly open - it has too much power for that. But it's not congested either. It fits the guitar it is in. I did not want a pickup for that guitar that is really open. 

Of the BKPs I played the most open to me are the Abraxas, the Cold Sweat and the VHII. The vintage models should even be more open but I have not yet had one in my guitar.

More pickup lingo clarification: I see the terms "dynamic" and "punchy" often used synonymously but I believe they are vastly different things. "Dynamic" to me is the difference in loudness or tone depending on the variation of attack. "Punch" to me is tight power.

Cheers Stephan

[Eyes Wide Shut]

Thanks very much for that :) I've left another message on the other thread asking about the Abraxas as well, just to save this thread running into the same as tthe other lol.

If anyone else has any other pickup lino, feel free to add.

Cheers,

[Kiichi]

Hairy is having unwanted (!) overtones. You want the clean skin but get a bush. This is a variation of fizzy.

[Eyes Wide Shut]

Hairy is having unwanted (!) overtones. You want the clean skin but get a bush. This is a variation of fizzy.

Nice Analogy there :)

[ericsabbath]

not necessarily "unwanted"
the painkiller, for example, is a quite hairy pickup compared to other BKP's, but that's part of its tone

[Madsakre]

"Hairy"

Harsh top end.

"Open-sounding"

Loose bottom end.

"Harmonic Response"

Hippies call it tech karma. Dont believe their lies!

"Organic"

Neutral, boring EQ

[ericsabbath]

I always suspected Madsakre was a real troll :lol:

[BigB]

I always suspected Madsakre was a real troll :lol:

Now you know :mrgreen:

[Madsakre]