The Steel Guitar Forum

Now that I've got the interchangable pickup sustem in one of my guitars, I'm going to start collecting pickups for it.

What do all you guys use? and how would you describe the sounds of your various pickups?

Have any of you tried the new Dimarzio pickups with adjustable pole pieces? Or the new Crap Trap reproductions?

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My gear: A piece of wood with some INTERCHANGABLE wires attached

Mike, I think it depends on the amp that you use. I have George L's series I&2 on my guitar and use a Sho-Bud amp. My friend says that it has an Emmonds sound. All I know , they are real clear, more on the treble side.
I hope this helps.

Okay, here goes:<ol>[*]Shields Dual Coil - this is the pickup I got with my first Sierra in 1984. It has 3 leads. One side is darker sounding than the other. If you combine the two signals, you get a thinner, slightly out-of-phase sound with less volume that is similar to a Fender Stringmaster. It has adjustable pole pieces, which is really nice for balancing out the volume differences between strings.

[*]George L 12-1 - dark and rich. I use the 12-1 when I want organ tones or really big bass. It's also real smooth on the high end (my Sierra Laptop has a 10-1 for the same reason). The frequency response is a good match with my 12AX7-based distortion channels, so I often switch to this pickup on rock tunes.

[*]Lawrence 712 - My favorite pickup! It's hotter than the others, and very clear. It's bright without being tinny. Very "high fidelity" on highs and lows, and extremely quiet (no hum). It has a bit too much bite when I switch to the distortion channel, though. On country gigs, I often use this pickup and no others. My Williams D-10 is equipped with Lawrence 710's, and it also sounds great.

[*]Lawrence LXR-16 - has a very pretty sound for solo steel and Hawaiian. I play in a guitar band, and this pickup tends to blend with the acoustic guitars a lot, to the point of getting lost in the mix a bit. Sometimes I like that, but more often I want to cut through the mix, so I don't use this one too much.

[*]Lace Sensor - This is the closest I get to Neil Young's "Old Black" sound. It really rocks in the distortion channel. It adds an edge that the 12-1 doesn't have, but isn't as bright as the 712. I just got this recently, and I've never tried it in the clean channel with the band. Ask me again in a couple of months.[/list]I also have some very nice sounding 10 string pickups that I use for recording only. My pickup slot loads from the front, so that I can use 10 string pickups when I don't need the bottom two strings. 10 string pickups generally sound a bit "tighter" than 12 string. I personally believe that this is a factor in the success of the D-10 over the S-12 in the recording industry.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic), Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6), Roland Handsonic<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bobby Lee on 06 October 2002 at 10:19 AM.]</p></FONT>

I have a Lawrence 912 that is not as bright or punchy as the 712 but sounds very nice. I also have the Dimarzio that works with the 3 position switch.

Please note:
If you are considering this Dimarzio pickup for your Sierra, the bezel mount in the guitar will require a 4 pole setup and the pickup will not work correctly with the Sierra 3 pole bezel mount. Call Tom Baker at Sierra for clarification on this before you order the pickup.

I also use a pickup that Jerry Walace rewound for me. VERY NICE single coil sound.

I have the Danny Shields pick up also as well as the Sierra 1 (E-66) and Sierra II. I have other Sierra pickups also but the above models are the ones I use the most.

Also, pickups respond differently to different amps in my opinion. Your milage may vary...