The Steel Guitar Forum

Help..... I have a 84 Telonics pick-up that picks up my pedals. its like a clicking sound, really annoying. Is the pick-up bad its fairly new or some other issue? Any advice? Thanks...............

Just a thought, make sure your cell phone is away from it.

Did the noise just start, or has it being making it since the pickup was installed? Keep in mind that ALL pickups will exhibit some amount of mechanical noise pickup. You operate the pedals, and since (just like the strings) they are connected to the guitar body, those vibrations are detected by the pickup (through the strings), and then amplified by your amplifier. Some guitars generate more mechanical noise, and some generate less. That's governed by their construction and the way they're assembled. But a microphonic pickup, one with loose windings or a loose bobbin, can cause more noise to go to the amp. Another thing that governs how much mechanical noise you hear is how the pickup is mounted. Is it mounted solidly, on spacers, or is it mounted on sponge rubber?

Only through some investigation can you determine if the noise is normal, or caused by the pickup. And one way to see if it's the pickup itself that's causing the noise is to remove the strings, and then tap on the pickup and guitar with your knuckle. With the strings removed, there should be absolutely no noise heard through the amp when you do this. If there is, the pickup is defective.

Thanks Larry and Donny for the input. I took out single coils from my LeGrande and put the hummbuckers in, thats when I noticed the noise.???????

A simple test for a microphonic pickup is to speak directly into the pickup, if your voice is transmitted through the amplifier then the pickup is most likely defective.

David, there are varying degrees of microphonics, and if your pickup will act like a microphone and picks up your voice, it is extremely microphonic, and will usually cause feedback if you floor the volume pedal.

Nick, your humbucking pickup could be bad...there's a slight chance of that. But humbuckers also put out more signal, and that in itself will make the noise louder. In addition, changing the way the pickup is mounted (sometimes as minor a thing as how tight the screws are) will cause more mechanical noise to be picked up.

And sometimes, we have to make trade-offs when we make changes to the guitar. Everything affects some things, and some things affect everything.

David Nugent wrote:A simple test for a microphonic pickup is to speak directly into the pickup, if your voice is transmitted through the amplifier then the pickup is most likely defective.

I have a 1973 bowlin' ball 'mica Gee-Ess 10 with its original Emmons single-coil pickup that's extremely microphonic. Since it's arguably the best-sounding of my three push/pulls, I don't consider the pickup to be "defective."