Product Description

For every electric guitarist, a book that goes right to the source of the sound! The pick-up may be a humble piece of technology, yet without it there would be no electric guitars. In The Guitar Pick-Ups Handbook, guitarist and author Dave Hunter explores the history of the transducer that captures mechanical vibrations, from its beginnings in the early 20th-century through to the present day. He explains why different designs affect the sound of classic electric guitars, and provides complementary aural demonstrations on a specially recorded accompanying CD.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30823 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780879309312
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Dave Hunter is a leading guitar writer and a musician. His books include Totally Guitar, Guitar effects Pedals and Guitar Rigs.

Customer Reviews

A Great Reource, but missing page(s.) Deserves better editing!
If you love guitars, tone, and modifying your instrument, this book is a must-have. But it has a couple of problems that keep it from being perfect. Hopefully a revised edition will take care of these issues, but as is, it's still worth getting if you're interested.

Even if you're just considering ordering a set or two of pickups, it's worth the $17 to read this book, and make sure you're getting the right set for you and your guitar. There's a lot of great information here.

Dave Hunter has (once again,) done a great job with this book. It discusses the history of pickups, from all the major companies. Then goes on to describe most of the major pickup makers, as well as many big boutique names like Lollar and Fralin.

His writing is clear, and to the point, and makes a sometimes tedious subject fun and interesting.

What's very useful is that it breaks down the specs of almost every pickup made by these makers, and gives a good description of the tone they produce, (the descriptions are independent of the makers descriptions.)

There's a lot of useful tech info, and specs, but plenty of stuff for just interesting reading.

The best part, imo, is the in-depth interviews with the makers.
Dave HUnter talkes to Kent Armstrong, Joe Barden, Larry Dimarzio and Steve Blucher, Seymour Duncan, Mike Eldred, (Fender Custom Shop,) Lindy Fralin and Jason Lollar.

It's interesting, for example, that Seymour Duncan designed the Alnico Pro II's for Billy Gibbsons, (as well as the Pearly Gates later on,) the Duncan Custom was for Santana, the Full Shred for Nancy Wilson, and his strat and tele pickups had input for Eric johnson, Mark Knofler, Ralph Trower, James Burton, Jerry Donahue, Albert Lee, on and on.

It's a recent book, and mentions the TQR articles on PAF's, and has a lot of information on Gibson's pickup history.

There's also a very useful CD that demos many different kinds of pickups, from several vintage PAF's, to boutique stuff and production line pickups.


The downside is that there appears to be an editing problem. I have a version with a black cover, and in the Dimarzio section, it seems like a page is missing,( pg. 134-136 don't follow.)

You could also argue that with the huge numbers of small hand-winders, it would be nice if the covered some of these makers as well, (WB, WCR, Tom Holmes, etc.)
I wouldn't be surprised to if save space, they cut out some of the more obscure names in pickup making.

That said, it's a very comprehensive book, and for the majority of its audience, it covers more than you'll ever need to know.


Anyway, that aside, it's a great resource, a fun read and provides great answer for many common pickup questions.

Pickup THIS book!
The Guitar Pickup Handbook: Dave Hunter

I just got my copy of this new book from Dave Hunter - one of the luckiest and most prolific authors I've found in years, if ever!

I'm into the last sections of this book - who knew that pickups could be so 'deep' in so many aspects of design, components, and ultimately placement - and can't say enough about why you should BUY and READ this book!

Dave has put out a series of books over the last several years, and with each one that I find, buy and read, I learn more than I have in the last 35+ years of playing about WHAT I own/owned and WHY I have been able to enjoy the toys I've had over the years.

I own every single book that he's authored concerning the guitar and amplifier for BackBeat books, and can't recommend his tomes enough. Dave manages to enlighten me with every book - and this new one is no exception. While I've grown up in the age of after-market pickup offerings, I never really paid much attention to these 'manufacturers' or their products - yeah I've owned DiMarzios when they first came out, and of course Seymour Duncans, my 80's EMG's, and lately even Harmonic Designs. I've learned so much about WHY these offerings are/can be so different, for all of their outward similar appearances. I've also learned WHY some designs with similar 'ratings' sound so different, and WHY you shouldn't judge a pickup based solely on those ratings!

Dave does a great job in educating those of us who have taken these simple devices granted for many years, including enough background to make your head spin on the early attempts, up to and including the new 'vintage' market, but also delves into many aspects that we should all consider when upgrading our axes - this is a great one-stop resource if you're in the market at all for upgrading or even purchasing an axe that you can have customized from the get-go.

I've been aware of some personal preferences for guitar components over the years, but Dave Hunter has truly opened my eyes and educated me once again in a much deeper respect than I've ever gotten through any simple (skewed) marketing or (skewed) review.

Do yourself a favor, and RUN to the nearest book store (or Amazon as I did) and BUY this book! Even if you're not in the market, you need to know this information and READ about these wonderful gadgets!
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tim boehlert
hearditontheweb.com