Quake3World

Know what's cool too? Thomas Nordegg (Steve Vai's guitar tech guy) demoing the Antares autotune system:

[youtube]PPnIIbj-9eE[/youtube]

mrd wrote:I think his point was mainly to illustrate that selling pickups solely based on the strength of the output signal is misguided. Especially considering the entire purpose of the amp is to do the amplification work for you.

It happens everywhere. Same thing with photocameras being marketed by their MP count, which is a pretty dumb thing to do.

mrd wrote:Doesn't play like a brick either, I am not really sure what that is supposed to mean though.

I dunno, I don't really like the feel of the neck combined with the rather excessive weight that I've experienced with these models. I guess it takes getting used to though. I'm too used to the light weight ultra-thin necks they put on the Ibanez models I play (an RG and a JEM). Before I got the RG I played a (Fender) Squier Stratocaster. I never really play it anymore (it's too obvious it's a guitar on a budget) but even that one's neck feels really cumbersome.

Ferrao10 wrote:Since we already rolled off topic pretty much I can just as well ask right in this.
You guys heard of (or actually have heard) Curtis Novak Pickups?
I was told they sound fantastic.

what pickups ? strat? tele? jazzmaster?

i have repaired quite a few (get them cheap that way) awesome pickups so i have some idea what to look for.

what type of sound are you after and what type of music do you want to play with them?

Like Eraser said, a good input alone doesn't qualify for "the best output". That would be like comparing a rich and beautiful setting to an instagram photo done with a 4k camera with bad wiring.
But that wasn't my point.
My point was if Novak PUs are any good for what they want to replicate and also enrichen that sound. Regardless of their higher philosophy. In an equal cicuit, do they enrichen the sound they were supposed to record and output in a good way?

In that way, plained, have you worked with them? Have you heard Novak PUs? Were they better or different than the ones straight from the manufacturer? Doesn't matter what type, really.

i disagree about shitty mics or camera mics as an excuse for average or shit tones,

yea the sound quality is shit but evidence of awesome tones will still shines through tho.

listen to old shitty sounding concert bootlegs of your fav old bands, steller guitar, bass or drum sounds still can be heard.

for pickups imo i dont believe in "advertising gimmicks" such as scatterwound. whatever works works.

the best sounding pickups wont improve a shitty sounding guitar (a very subjective opinion), what i mean by shitty i mean plinky or horrible note and chord definition and clarity due to stuff like frequency cancellation from the wood , i would guess.

i have has fantastic luck with old Japanese pickups from what ever guitar may correspond from the desired tone era.

for example the old fujigen and matsumatu strats are well known to be awesome so the pickups, if constructed with the popper materials, can kinda be assumed as good.

the Japanese are master craftsman and they surely can indeed reverse engineer 50's and 60's fender and gibson tones.

some say better even!

He's not saying a good pickup can save a bad guitar, just that there (apparently) is a tendency to market a higher output signal strength as a good thing for pickups, which is comparable to saying a photocamera is better because it has a higher MP count. Both are false assumptions.

In the end, you shouldn't buy an instrument without playing it, feeling it, listening to it. It doesn't matter what they put on the box about how awesome it would be, it is about your own opinion and if it matches what you are looking for.

i didnt say he did.

yea the overwound was a trend about a decade ago.

now its the underwound keep up ey!

I agree about the Japanese craftsmanship. They have made very good, cheap replicas of US guitars and also effects.
I would even say I'd prefer a Jap 90's-00's Fender to a Mex one.

About Novak PUs, since nobody can really tell, I guess I'll have to bite the apple and just go for them in my next guitar, a Deimel Firestar.
Not sure yet if Jaguar on neck and JazzMaster on bridge or both Jags. I've always wanted a Jag. Mind you, I'm lefthanded. I would have had to import one from Japan 3-4 years ago, but I'm too late. They aren't being produced anymore and they just won't appear on ebay here, except for one that was offered for 2.500€ (new, from a shop).
I figured the Deimel is just a bit more but with Mastery bridge, good vibrato and fucking handmade. So, yeah .

lol yea so true the old Japanese effects are top shelf no doubt.

whoa those firestars look fricken awesome!

very very nice choice for sure