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Topic: Jazzmaster Pickup for Lap Steel? |
Gary Meixner
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 6:32 am |
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I am building a new lap steel and the design requires a thin, surface mounted pickup. Has anyone used or heard a Jazzmaster pickup on a lap steel guitar? Any other suggestions would be welcome as well. I play mostly Hawaiian, old country and Western Swing and use a standard C6 tuning.
Thank you,
Gary |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 8:39 am
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I don't recall anybody specifically using a Jazzmaster pickup on a lap steel before.
Here's an article about these pickups by Jason Lollar, who I'd recommend for such work.
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Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Benjamin Franz
From:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 5:14 pm
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| The Jazzmaster style pick up was used on the early model Fender 400 pedal steels. I've just taken the jazzmaster pickup off mine to experiment with a pair of stringmaster pick ups. |
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Nathan Sarver
From:
Washington State, USA
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 5:24 pm
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They sound phenomenal on the old Fender 1000 and 400 pedal steels. I don't see why there would be a problem using them for non-pedal steel.
b0b made a nice recording on both necks of his Fender 1000 here:
http://soundhost.net/b0b/Fender1000demo.mp3 |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 5:43 pm
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How did the experiment go Benjamin? I've been thinking about trying Lollar Stringmaster replcements on a Fender 1000.
Dave
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Benjamin Franz
From:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 6:36 pm
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Hey Dave, I've got the 400 in at a shop to do some routing to accommodate the pickups, and will have it back sometime next week, so I'll be sure to let you know. I've been trying out a lace alumitone p90, which was pretty good, though very thick sounding. My goal is to make my 400 sound like my stringmaster. I know they won't sound exactly alike, due to the two different steels have different acoustic sounds, but, I'm hoping it'll be in the ballpark.
The only reason I didn't stick with the jazzmaster pickup, is that despite all my efforts at shielding, it's just too noisy too be useful. |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 6:57 pm
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I think some of the tone difference has to do with that metal plate and the changer on the 400. It seems to almost act a resonator. My 400 is the loudest steel I have when played acoustically. I have to say that as much as I love the sound of my Fender pedal steels (400, 1000, 2000) My little Fender Deluxe 6 and my Stringmaster have them beat for tone (by a hair  )
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Benjamin Franz
From:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 7:30 pm
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| I agree. I also think a big difference is the fact that on a stringmaster, the ball end of the strings sit in the metal plate, which increases the resonance, as opposed to sitting in the hog rings on the 400, which I guess acoustically decouples them from the body. Acoustically my stringmaster has a much sweeter sound with more bottom end, but like you noticed, quieter than the 400. |
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Dave Zirbel
From:
Sebastopol, CA USA
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Posted 1 Oct 2010 8:19 pm
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| Quote: |
| I also think a big difference is the fact that on a stringmaster, the ball end of the strings sit in the metal plate, which increases the resonance, as opposed to sitting in the hog rings |
Imagine a Stringmaster with pedals with a changer/tuner BEHIND the nut and the ball end touching the plate........... 
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Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps |
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Benjamin Franz
From:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 2 Oct 2010 4:34 am
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| Amen. That would be my dream instrument! |
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