Pick-ups for slide

[gouranga]

Hi folks.

Which pick-ups for use on standard electric guitars do the members advise users for slide, to get the best sound and response.
Is there also any neck profiles members would deem better than others.
Any other advice or comments would be welcomed.

Thanks

Gouranga

Slidin along nicely. (in the snow)

[leeophonic]

All really a question of taste, traditionally I like the sunrise pickups, that,s my personal favorite.
But everyone should keep an eye on Jason Lollar as he is developing a disc that will mount to the soundhole and fit his pickups to it , imagine fit a Valco through strings replica and what a monster that would create!
Lee

[Michael Messer]

Hi Gouranga,

Over the years I have seen every type of pickup used to get a great slide sound. It is a personal taste thing. For example; Duane Allman got a fantastic sound with humbuckers, and Muddy Waters with single coil. I loved Ry Cooder & Lowell George's single coil Strat sound, I also love the Supro Coodercaster sound, which is what I have used for the past ten years. Personal taste - trial & error.

Sunrise pickups are designed for acoustic guitars, not electrics.

Shine on
Michael

[leeophonic]

I was approaching this as an acoustic solution having not really read the header!
Lee

[andys]

I concur with Michael here. have a look at the guitars/pickups of choice of many a well known slide player and you'll see no pattern at all.

Derek Trucks/Allman;- Humbuckers
Sonny Landreth/Bonnie Raitt;- Strat single coils
Ry Cooder;- Old Teisco pickups
Muddy Waters;- Tele pickups
Many early electric blues players used the pickups that were in the first cheap electrics, and went on to use Supros and Kays because thats what was available
Some folk swear by lipstick Danelectro pickups, others use P90s.

Dont forget the other 75% of your tone equation, the box with the knobs on and the speaker inside it that you plug into.
You can use cheap pickups into a good amp, and your tone will be way better than the other way round. To me that goes for slide playing as well.

As for fingerboard radius that to is a personal preference as well. Some players like a flat profile, some like it slightly radiused, then you see other players using old Fenders with baseball bat necks with 7.5" radius boards. Ironicly for someone starting off playing electric slide who wants a cheap starter, some of these "Rock/metal" guitars with the flatter radiused necks are not only pretty ideal, but can be bought really cheaply as well.

I love playing on the flat board of my MM Blues, but I also play on the more radiused boards of my little LP Jnr or one of my Squier 51s, the neck pickup of which has a lovely slide tone to me

[Gerry C]

And don't forget the other side of things: you can a wonderful amp and a fantastic guitar with amazing pickups, but your sound comes from your hands and heart. I once knew a guy who was well off (had his own company) and had several really high end guitars both electric and acoustic. And he was a lovely bloke, but he couldn't carry a tune in a bucket or keep time with Big Ben...

Cheerily,

Gerry C

[pete1951]

Andys hit the nail on the head, its the amp that does the work, So you need a pickup that will go with your amp. If its got little gain then humbucks would be a good starting point, if its thick and creamy at the volume you want to play at single coils may do. Many modern amps try to do everything, usualy this is a comprmise. Unless you are in a band doing lots of styles get a small valve amp [you can mic it up if your not loud enough]

[Deleted]

Dec 17, 2009 16:33:20 GMT andys said:

Muddy Waters;- Tele pickups

Muddy only started playing the Tele in the late 50s. All his classic early Chess stuff was recorded with a Gretsch acoustic archtop with a DeArmond pickup, after that he used a Les Paul with P-90s, then the Tele, by the late 60s he was using Guilds, then the Tele again in the 70s. His pre-Telecaster tone is the definitive one, as far as I'm concerned, that's also the era when he played the most up-front guitar (being the only guitar player on his early recordings with Big Crawford).

[Michael Messer]

I agree with Zak about Muddy's definitive sound being the Gretsch with the DeArmond pickup, not forgetting the steel fingerpicks which are also a big part of that early sound. However, I think Muddy had two definitive guitar sounds and the Telecaster is to me as definitive as the Gretsch.

Shine On,
Michael.

[Deleted]

Muddy had a great electrifying make-your-hair-stand-up kind of tone later on (just listen to any slow track on "Muddy 'Mississippi' Waters Live"), I just think it was a really intense cutting sound designed to cut through the din of a band that featured two (sometimes three) rhythm guitar players and piano. It wouldn't have worked the same way in a sparse context like his guitar & upright bass duets or the early trio stuff with unamplified Little Walter, where he used a fatter archtop sound that filled space - a sound that would have been lost in the din of his big loud 70s band.
He certainly had a great sound with the Telecaster:

[rickS]

Lowell George, as I recall, swapped out his standard strat bridge p/up for a tele, to fatten the sound - his tone is the one I've always liked the best, a fat single coil ( P90 is good too ), & using compression for clean sustain, rather than overdrive/distortion - but his sound seemed to be very much built around his playing style, probably wouldn't work so well for eg Elmore James style..

[Stevie]

I built my "Lowell" Strat sometime around 1980 in a flurry of guitar projects. It was actually built from bits left over after changing my mind so much on another Strat! Naturally, you need to have the body routed to suit. I never approached "that" sound. I have read that the sound of the "Tele" and hence the pick up derives as much from the use of a base plate (and what that's made from), its position relative to the saddles when compared to a Strat and the fact that it is suspended from a metal bridge assembly (as distinct from a plastic scratchplate)

www.tdpri.com/resourceBASEPLATE.htm

Using a Seymour Duncan Pup (and I have now no recollection of which one) I can state that I detect no real difference from any of my Strat type efforts. As an aside, it sports a Red Rhodes "Velvet Hammer" in the middle spot and a Semour Duncan 1/4 pounder at the neck. What a mixture!

There I go laying myself open to being shot down! At least it is based upon experience rather than theory.

[Gerry C]

Here's Muddy playing a Tele a few years later - in colour and the epitome of cool. Enjoy, brothers and sisters!

Cheerily,

Gerry C

[Michael Messer]

...and this one


Shine On
Michael

[Deleted]

ah that last one always makes me think of that awesome series of films by various directors, but masterminded by Martin Scorsese, 'The Blues: A Musical Journey'. Truly wonderful