What exactly is meant when a pickup is described as "hairy" ?

[darkandrew]

I've often read the Alnico Nailbomb described as "hairy" but to be honest I'm not entirely sure what is meant by that description? Any ideas?

[Dave Sloven]

Not smooth.

Aggressive in the mids and low mids.

Painkiller is another example.  That and the A-Bomb are the two main examples.  The C-Bomb could probably be described as 'a bit hairy'.  Rebel Yell just has peach fuzz

Not sure if the Aftermath is hairy or not

[With Full Distortion]

are you sure the word used is Hairy and not AIRY?
I never heard this term before.

[darrenw5094]

I have a Painkiller in a mahogany Ibanez RG and a Holy Diver in another mahogany Ibanez RG. The Painkiller HAS more mids, but not huge difference between them. But i would not have said it was hairy, but the Alnico Nailbomb in my Les Paul deffo is. LOL

[Kiichi]

I always thought of hairy as a certain thing about the high mids to high end. When there is something that sounds fizzy, high frequencies that are a bit out of place. Overtones which are present but do not belond there. It is really hard to put into words as so many things we talk about are.

[darkandrew]

are you sure the word used is Hairy and not AIRY?
I never heard this term before.

I know, it's not a term I'd heard used to describe pickups before I discovered Bare Knuckles. At first I too thought it was a mis-spelling or typo of "airy" but it seems to be used quite a lot, usually in connection with Alnico Nailbombs, to describe a different property.

[Dave Sloven]

I think it relates to the qualities of an asymmetric winding.  The more asymmetric, the more 'hairy' in general.

This is an example of a 'hairy' guitar sound, although I think it owes a lot to removing the tone pots.  No idea what pickups are used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZcm_buEcng

[mongey]

I'm with Kiichi. I equate hairy  to a  fizzy quality

[darkbluemurder]

I always thought of hairy as a certain thing about the high mids to high end. When there is something that sounds fizzy, high frequencies that are a bit out of place. Overtones which are present but do not belond there. It is really hard to put into words as so many things we talk about are.

I tend to agree. "Hairy" to me means a certain bite in the upper mids/treble range but still musically related to the note. The opposite would be "smooth". I hear "fizzy" as musically unrelated to the note and hence, as noise.

"Airy" is something different altogether. The opposite of that would be "choked". 

Cheers Stephan