Pickup for 6 string lap steel

Pickups, Diy Electronics, Stompboxes, Guitar wiring...
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na4it
Posts: 101
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:26 pm

Pickup for 6 string lap steel

Post by na4it »

Thinking about building a D6 console / lap steel. Gathering parts....

What would you recommend for pickups?

P-90 Soapbar
Stratocaster
Humbucker
Scott Duckworth
E6 Rogue lap steel, D6 Regal RD-30MS squareneck reso-guitar,
Li'l Izzy, Zoom MS-50G Effects Pedal into a Berhinger mixer and Harbinger V2112 speaker(s).

Amateur Radio Operator NA4IT (Extra)
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Keith Cary
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2016 4:16 pm

Re: Pickup for 6 string lap steel

Post by Keith Cary »

It's going to depend a lot on what you like. Personally, for blues stuff and a wide variety of music I love the sound of a P90. Because I sometimes play in really hummy environments I've put Dimarzio "PAF" humbuckers on several steels that I play all the time. I installed a single-coil/humbucker switch. (Dimarzio, and many other pickup makers, supply an easy diagram with the pickups.) I like this setup a lot and it gives me different tones and lets me play cleanly in a variety of hum situations. The single coil position isn't as wonderful as a P-90, in my opinion, but it does capture some of that nature. --- I use a Strat pickup on one acoustic lap guitar. On there it sounds great, because the guitar is pretty bassy already. A single Strat pickup might be a little bright for me in a solid body.... though Fender used something a lot like one in their single pickup lap steels, like the Champ. The famous Fender Stringmaster had two pickups which were pretty similar to Strat pickups. They were wound backwards from each other, with magnets reversed, like two halves of a Humbucker, but separated by a couple of inches. There's a blend control to bring one of them in and out of the circuit. People love those guitars. Similar pickups can be had now as the center and bridge position Strat pickup. Make sure one is reverse wound for the humbucker effect.
Keith
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