The Steel Guitar Forum

Would someone guide me on a pickup upgrade for a Zum Stage-one. What would be a good upgrade? Also, I see that they are wide and slim pickups. What is the difference? I am a newbie you can see.

Contact the builder, Doug Earnest. He knows these guitars in and out!

Visual identification of Narrow and Wide mount pickups:

Thank you sir.

1) Stage One uses wide mount pickups (Oops. Sorry, Doug.)
2) are you dissatisfied with the pickup in there? It's highly thought of, but it takes a frustratingly long time to get a good tone out of yer fingers; I wasn't pleased with my tone til I'd been at it a decade. Tone is the last thing to fail into place.

I'll double down on Lane's statement. An experienced player (Years, man. Years.) can make a crappy pickup sound good. A novice needs patience. A great $200 pickup will make next to zero difference (aside from the hum reduction of a humbucker vs. a single coil) in the hands of a novice. It just isn't that easy and the difference between pickups just isn't that great.

Let me interject here before somebody goes out and spends money for a pickup and then finds out it won't fit.

I don't know of any commercially made pickups marketed specifically for pedal steel that will mount in the available space on a Stage One. You may get one in there but it will be too close to the strings.

Stage Ones DO NOT use either the wide mount or narrow mount pickup mounting configurations in the diagram posted above.

ZumSteel pro models use the wide mount, and my ZumSteel Encore model will also accept that pattern. Stage One humbuckers are mounted using one screw on each end of the pickup. Encores are also drilled to accept the Stage One pickup.

I would leave the stock pickup in. A Stage One great pickup for any venue I've played indoor or theatre or bar room.

Sorry, Doug.
And I STILL suggest that if a newbie is dissatisfied with his/her tone, have an experienced picker sit behind the guitar.
While humbling, it is a blessing to know it's not (usually) the guitar.