Thoughts on this video about pickups?
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TheTrueZoltan!
Shredder
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Does higher string action really make a guitar louder?
Interesting video from Mikko. His conclusion is that higher action makes a guitar louder because the strings can vibrate more freely. However, I‘m not 100% convinced, although his audio examples really show a considerable difference. To me this would only make sense if the action was indeed so...
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Cirrus
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Erm, I dunno. I skipped about a bit but I didn't think it was an amazing comparison;
I've found at volume, it's a lot easier to feel the differences between pickups. There are things you can play that make them sound the same, and things you can play that reveal their differences - the overall output, frequency response, how a hard pick attack chirps or thumps, how clear the low strings are, how and when feedback happens.
Examples of where pickups can matter from parts I play in my band.
1; A song where the distortion comes on and I do a slide from 17th fret on the low E down to 5th with really spanky pick attack. Through the same rig, some pickups make that slide sound really muddy and when I get to the 5th fret it's just fundamental with no definition. Other pickups sound spanky like I want them to.
2; Lightly raking the strings with the back of my nails, with enough distortion on that the notes are *almost* feeding back. Some pickups give a glassy treble as my nails leave each string, some sound bassy without much note attack, others give a more chimey upper mid plucky sound.
If I was just doing hearty mid gain full chord strumming and some blues licks like that vid, pickups would all sound the same to me.
I've found at volume, it's a lot easier to feel the differences between pickups. There are things you can play that make them sound the same, and things you can play that reveal their differences - the overall output, frequency response, how a hard pick attack chirps or thumps, how clear the low strings are, how and when feedback happens.
Examples of where pickups can matter from parts I play in my band.
1; A song where the distortion comes on and I do a slide from 17th fret on the low E down to 5th with really spanky pick attack. Through the same rig, some pickups make that slide sound really muddy and when I get to the 5th fret it's just fundamental with no definition. Other pickups sound spanky like I want them to.
2; Lightly raking the strings with the back of my nails, with enough distortion on that the notes are *almost* feeding back. Some pickups give a glassy treble as my nails leave each string, some sound bassy without much note attack, others give a more chimey upper mid plucky sound.
If I was just doing hearty mid gain full chord strumming and some blues licks like that vid, pickups would all sound the same to me.
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I didn't watch very much, but did skip around to sections. His overall point seemed to be about proper action and setup before deciding on pickup changes. My response would be, "duh." 
Dial a guitar in til you've got it playing and responding the best it can for your needs. That's like the cake. Pickups are like the icing, and some icing taste sweet, some taste sour, and some even spicy. Although simply taking care to fine tune pickup height can do wonders.
Dial a guitar in til you've got it playing and responding the best it can for your needs. That's like the cake. Pickups are like the icing, and some icing taste sweet, some taste sour, and some even spicy. Although simply taking care to fine tune pickup height can do wonders.
Eagle
Rock Star
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It's the same idiots and trolls that don't think wood makes any difference either . Screwing a bridge on a fence post and saying it sounds exactly like a Les Paul ,oh wait Epiphone have been doing good business with this for years.
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JiveTurkey
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