Starsailor wrote:Does anyone have any ideas regarding concealed pickups?
I am not sure what the point of it is. I think that the concealed PU would get noise from behind the bar. What does this idea add to the instrument?
Confused, Allan.....
Allan, i'm actually quite confused myself! The only thing that made me even think of concealed pickups are the two Youtube-clips of the the National New Yorker that I posted at first.
I really, really like how the NY sounds in those clips and it seems like the sound (in harp mode, which i like the most) is some kind of combination of the concealed pickups (I'm not sure if the visible pickup is involved).
I'm sure there might be different wiring solutions to achieve a similar type of sound, but then I have to get the right pickups (i'm thinking a good old PAF would be a good choise in the bridge position) and a wiring scheme. I'm aware that I probably won't find exactly what i'm looking for, but it doesn't hurt to ask for alternative solutions.
I had the same thought about a p/up at the twelfth fret after watching/listening to Kelly Joe Phelps for years.
He produces some awesome sounds by picking the strings behind the bar, then sliding around. I don't listen to tons of steel guitar music (ironically) so I don't know if this is a real common practice, but it's definitely something I'm into.
I figured that if I had a pickup on the neck, in the fingerboard, I could produce some wild sounds on an electric instrument. I figured the 12th fret would be the ideal place for it, with such a strong harmonic. But I really have no clue how it would sound...it's a trippy idea I had, and was surprised to read about someone else thinking the same thing.
It's something I'll definitely try....after I've built a handful of steels, though. Not something I'm willing to commit to on my first build.
Actually, if you want to amplify the 12 fret harmonic as strongly as possible the pickup would need to be at the position of the 24th fret or close to the 5th fret. When you generate a 12th fret harmonic the actual 12th fret point becomes the harmonic node and is the point of minimum excursion of the string. The largest movement of the string would be at the anti-node which there are two of while the 12th fret harmonic is sounding. The anti-nodes occur at the quarter points, thus, the 24th and approximately the 5th fret positions.
Allan.....
Only nuts eat squirrels. Keep yer tools sharp! That way you can use more of your strength guiding them AWAY from your body rather than forcing the cut!!!
Allan wrote:Actually, if you want to amplify the 12 fret harmonic as strongly as possible the pickup would need to be at the position of the 24th fret or close to the 5th fret. When you generate a 12th fret harmonic the actual 12th fret point becomes the harmonic node and is the point of minimum excursion of the string. The largest movement of the string would be at the anti-node which there are two of while the 12th fret harmonic is sounding. The anti-nodes occur at the quarter points, thus, the 24th and approximately the 5th fret positions.
Allan.....
Yet another reason I am glad I joined this forum.
This was a complete tangent in my lap steel building form of thought, but this forum was a fun place to air it out.
Definitely something I am still going to try.....maybe with a different p/up system to amplify the harmonics, maybe something along the idea of what Taylor is doing now, just further down the fingerboard.
Thanks for your insight, Allan. All of this is still very new & fascinating to me...
starsailor. those are Revi bridges and they are great bridges. Solid and work very well. He send good size screws for mounting also.He also has nice nuts! ok no wise remarks lol.I have used his bridges and nuts on three of my builds and they work great.
Steelweaver wrote:starsailor. those are Revi bridges and they are great bridges. Solid and work very well. He send good size screws for mounting also.He also has nice nuts! ok no wise remarks lol.I have used his bridges and nuts on three of my builds and they work great.
Sounds good! I saw there were a couple of new lap steel bridges on his eBay. Which model have you used? Any pros or cons?
Thanks for the information, I will probably place an order in the near future.
