"Ask Bud!"

Question:

What influence does the mounting of the steel guitar pickup have on the sound? Is it wise to keep the pickup isolated from the guitar body, thus eliminating noise transfer or is it necessary to maintain some degree of body contact to get the sound characteristics of the steel transferred to the amp?

Answer:

The mounting of the steel guitar pickup does influence the sound of a steel guitar.

Different companies mount their pickups in different ways to achieve specific tonal characteristics. You can change these characteristics by changing the way the pickup is mounted.

Isolating the pickup using double-sided, foam tape (or a similar method) eliminates body noise and is important if the mechanics are noisy on your guitar.

To eliminate all mechanical noise and to get more of the tonal characteristics transferred from the body, you have to find a happy medium between total isolation and full contact.

The configuration and winding methodology of the pickup contributes considerably to the tonal characteristics of the guitar. Air gap (the distance between the pickup's top and bottom plate) has a lot to do with tone, also.

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