Pickup Mounting: Ideas for better sound transfer from wood?

[SausageofPower]

So, I've read a lot in the past months about how mounting pickups directly to the wood of a guitar will give you better characteristics of the wood in your sound. Now, all of my guitars use pickup rings, but I was thinking about a couple of things here and wanted to get opinions:

-Wooden blocks in the cavities. Similar pieces of wood could convey the tonal nuances of the body to the pickup. Or, and this might be pushing it, could you do a "poor man's maple top" by putting different wood species in the pickup cavities?

-Wooden pickup rings. Same idea, just different area. I think flamed maple rings stained black would look badass.

Ideas? Feedback? I'm just thinking here. Endless tinkerer.

[Nightbat]

Try option #1 for easy to do and undo and get the most effect (if any) of it
bonus being able to make different hights (maybe even slabs or shims) so you can adjust the pickupheight (would still be a PITA though)

Looking at the size don't think it actually matters in sound what you use, as long as it's a material that doesn't dampen vibrations

[Ward]

JET guitars uses blocks of wood to fill in the holes around direct mounted pickups. They say "Direct mounted pickups are trimmed with exotic hardwood. No ugly holes showing, and better microphinic coupling."

I don't know if it goes into any more detail, but here is a website:

http://www.jetguitars.com/

[JACKSONFREAK]

Some of the direct mounted ibanez prestige have fitted contoured cavities. Including the screws and what not on the bottom.
Gil

[tommymetal]

direct mounting works great with neck thru guitars. tuners, floyd..and the pups are all screwed into the same peice of wood.
set neck pauls work well to
but they are set, not really the same

and if some stroke tells you set thru..if you here those words..tell him..fuck off!
it can not be set and thru at the same time
fuck me
direct mount neck thru biggest block yer floyd will hold...
sustain baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chad]

Not sure if you are aware, but Jackson doesn't do a single piece of wood on their neck-throughs....at least on Soloists. The neck is a combination of the neck wood and body wood. For example, my Soloist neck is maple veneered with alder. For that reason, I have trouble thinking of Jacksons as true neck-through construction.

And I'll be the stroke: set-through is indeed a real construction method.

[tommymetal]

Not sure if you are aware, but Jackson doesn't do a single piece of wood on their neck-throughs....at least on Soloists. The neck is a combination of the neck wood and body wood. For example, my Soloist neck is maple veneered with alder. For that reason, I have trouble thinking of Jacksons as true neck-through construction.

And I'll be the stroke: set-through is indeed a real construction method.

OK
neck thru with a cap
floyd screws are long enough to go thru the cap. head to tail one peice of wood. with attached wings. a cap over the one peice going from the head to the tail...thru right?
set is set
separate neck. set...into a seperate body. sure its kinda thru...?

[Chad]

Here's a thread where Jackson's neck-through method is discussed in detail:

http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/105715-Neck-through-construction

[tommymetal]

still neck thru
when i buy blanks from carvin neck thru, with attatched wings.
but when you cap it,,,wood removed from a neck thru to make room for the cap
same shit different method sustain is the end game i beleive. floyd studs in the same chunk of wood as the tuners. and the same as the direct mounted pups.
thats my way concept.
not that yours is wrong. so jacksons rippin' us off?
no say no
heh

[jgcable]

Direct mounted pickups are a pain in the ass in the studio when recording. Thats the big thing I notice.

[SausageofPower]

Direct mounted pickups are a pain in the ass in the studio when recording. Thats the big thing I notice.

How so?

[markD]

john, how so? i do a lot of session work and haven't noticed anything. i am curious to get more details on your opinion.

[Nightbat]

I would think height adjusting on the fly would be a bitch to do

[VitaminG]

I would think height adjusting on the fly would be a bitch to do

for sure! You have to screw right instead of left to lower the pickup. Or is it left instead of right? Oh god, I think something just popped inside my head!

[Chad]

So, I've read a lot in the past months about how mounting pickups directly to the wood of a guitar will give you better characteristics of the wood in your sound. Now, all of my guitars use pickup rings, but I was thinking about a couple of things here and wanted to get opinions:

-Wooden blocks in the cavities. Similar pieces of wood could convey the tonal nuances of the body to the pickup. Or, and this might be pushing it, could you do a "poor man's maple top" by putting different wood species in the pickup cavities?

-Wooden pickup rings. Same idea, just different area. I think flamed maple rings stained black would look badass.

Ideas? Feedback? I'm just thinking here. Endless tinkerer.

If you go through with this, it would be cool to hear if you noticed any difference in tone or feel. Before and after recordings would be really cool too. I'm guessing the difference is extremely small to zero and whether the difference is good or bad would be subjective. Personally, the ease of adjustment of ring or pickguard mounted pickups, for me, trumps any difference that direct mount would offer. I can think of about 100 other things I would do to tweak my sound rather than mess with direct mounting the pickups or putting pieces of wood in the pickup cavity.

Just curious, in reading, did you encounter people who have done ABX testing of the same guitar with the only variable is direct mount vs ring mount?