Hi Guys, The confusion between a pickup and a microphone exists because they both use the same physics principle but the mechanism is different. The physics principle is that a wire that moves through a magnetic field will cause a disturbance in the magnetic field and the electricity to flow. A microphone uses mechanical energy to directly move the wire through the magnetic field. This causes a disturbance in the magnetic field and the electrons to flow in the wire. The wire moves the field stays. A pickup wire does not move (unless it is not potted as Dylan said). The pickup wire sits in a magnetic field that usually does not change. The metal string moving through the magnetic field disturbs the magnetic field. The electrical signal is "picked up" from the changing magnetic field. The field moves the wire stay. The field changing is caused indirectly by the string moving through it. Still mechanical energy, still same principle, just different mechanism. Microphone - wire moves through stationary field. Pickup - field moves with stationary wire. As a side note, there will be electricity flowing through the metal string too (because it moves through the magnetic field) but it is usually not connected to anything. Put a multi-meter on a string and try it. That is one reason you get noisy pickups, the string is not earthed or isolated properly. Cheers from Australia.

@DMSProduktions

Ай бұрын

Onya Knackers!

I’m a physics teacher. I am literally going to build one of those microphone mock-ups for next year. Loved it.

@DylanTalksTone

Ай бұрын

lol thanks!!!

@davidjairala69

Ай бұрын

I'm glad I'm not the only one out here subscribed to both Dylan and Angela Collier 😄

You really are the most level-headed, scientific channel out there when it comes to straight up guitar mechanics etc. I have been subscribed since like 20 or 30k and it just stays just as interesting. Real, genuine, education. "Sustain, bro!"

Happy Memorial Day to everyone in the chat, I hope that it's going well for all of you.

Thanks so much for this .. (a) brilliant explanation of all the small details (b) now I understand why yelling into a pickup can be heard through the amp .. Literally want to leave my work right now, drive home, plug in and try yelling with the strings not muted and muted .. Really appreciate it

Thanks, very informative

Thankyou for your techy videos

Thanks for the best plain speak description I've seen in years. (I did know the difference, but thanks nonetheless)

great video!

Another good video; honestly never gave an ounce of thought to have a microphone works.

Great video Dylan, in Spanish one of the names for pickups is literally “guitar microphones”

On the replay. Thanks For Sharing Dylan 🧠🎶🎶🎶🎶

Thanks a lot!!! It is so great there is a knowledgeable person out there who just comes out and says this stuff in a simple way. So much bs about this in the "guitar community". Thanks Dylan

I love these types of videos. Thanks man! I have just enough basic electronics knowledge to get a lot out of this stuff. I immediately though, oh I bet that's how capacitive touch screens work as well. Just more of a solid gap between the screen and the conductive layer.

@DMSProduktions

Ай бұрын

No, THAT is what is known as a RESISTIVE touch screen. Capacitive has no layer, but the glass has a molecular level of conductive metal fused onto it, & the software reads the capacitive drop at the coords where you touched it! There are other methods as well like acoustic sensors & near field, which is what is used on modern smart phones!

I changed the cheap stock saddles on my Harley Benton TE62 telecaster copy with Wilkinson compensated brass saddles. The hum has been greatly reduced and the chords ring out with more clarity. Can cheap saddles contribute to hum????

Jazz guitarist Barney Kessel referred to a Charlie Christian pickup as a Microphone in a interview on utube about the guitar he played.

Hi dylan!!! What's the best way to contact you? I will be attending a ttg workshop in September and was wondering if you will also be doing a class on how to make pickups. I will also be buying all the equipment and materials needed to start building pickups and would like to learn from you, purchase a few sets of your pickups and would like some of your partner links. Tia.

You just opened a new rabbit hole for me. Haha This makes me think that the material the strings are made of makes a difference. I have preferred GHS Boomers, maybe I just like nickel plated strings? How do coated strings affect the magnetic field? Thank you for this. 😂 I started following you for the video you made on how Tone pots and capacitors work. I prefer learning content like this. Thanks!

@67goat

Ай бұрын

If you assume the strings are the same, minus the coating, I would think the coating itself wouldn't alter tat interaction. However, if the nut and bridge are set the same, the part of the string that interacts with the pickup would be a little bit further from the pickup. String height and geometry definitely affect tone. It would probably be measurable with the right equipment, but that coating is very thin, so I doubt it would be noticeable to the human ear (on an electric). It is also possible that the coating could slightly alter how the string moves, and therefore affect the tone. But again, would it be enough to be noticeable? The string still needs to vibrate at specific frequencies to hit the right notes, and the standing wave that travels up and down the string could only be altered so much (assuming the only difference is the coating) and still stay in tune.

Hey Dylan! Not to nay-say, but my recent experiences has me wondering about the microphonic nature of pickups and I want to understand what's happening for my own reference: When I play audio through my phone and hold the speaker to my selected pickup and I hear it through the amp very loud and clear even with strings off. Tried with Single Coil, Active EMGs, And Humbucker. Like you said, I think it might be louder with strings but ocurring without as well. In my mind that seems microphonic. Can you help me understand? Easily testable, I've tried with DI and Tube amp and Solid State with similar results. Thanks if you get to my comment!

@67goat

Ай бұрын

Microphonic pickups usually have loose winds (generally unpotted pickups). The loose winds are being move by vibrations they pickup and are actually acting more like a microphone in that sense. I have been reconsidering my view on electric "tone woods" when it comes to microphonic pickups. I do think that if you have highly microphonic pickups that they may have noticeable tone differences with different woods (though not in the same way it affects acoustic guitars). But if they are only slightly microphonic, I don't think there is enough microphonic feedback to be noticeable over the regular electromagnetic changes that are turned to tone from playing. But even then, completely different than an acoustic. Those are woods that are used to project the sound and are shaped (along with the braces) specifically to flex at different spots on the guitar top. Solid body electrics are just cut to a shape and are not adjusted for things like differences in wood density. Meaning the only difference between a 7-pound ash Strat and an 8-pound ash Strat is that one has denser wood. A good acoustic top, on the other hand, is worked until it has a specific amount of flex to it.

I guess it also depends on where you're from and how they call them. In Mexico I've heard them be called "microphones", "guitar microphones", but it's more common "pastillas", which literally translates to "pills". I've also heard the slang "pasta" 🤣 I've heard Dylan makes a mean 'pasta' 😎

Like a speaker, but opposite. I like that simile.

@dw7704

Ай бұрын

You can use a microphone as a speaker and headphones as microphones It doesn’t work as well as the proper way around, and I’d be careful of sound levels, and not damaging expensive gear, but it works. I’ve done both

@leftyo9589

Ай бұрын

and anyone who has ever used a sound powered phone can tell you the mouth piece and ear piece are interchangeable. heck on an amplified ckt its common to speak into the ear piece! the main difference between a mic, and a speaker is the size.

@DMSProduktions

Ай бұрын

Well it is! They work the SAME way, just in reverse!

@DMSProduktions

Ай бұрын

@@dw7704 Same here. I've done some GOOD ambient recordings using speakers as mics!

nice. now do piezo vs phonograph needle

Re 'microphonic' pickups: what about the (supposedly) microphonic properties of the traditional telecaster bridge pickup with the metal tray? If these properties truly exist, they can't be merely the result of looseness, can they? And if they're not the result of loose parts, where do they come from? And just what is the function of the tray assembly anyway?

@67goat

Ай бұрын

That extra metal of the tray creates eddy currents that change the shape of the electromagnetic field, thus altering the tone vs same guitar without the tray.

Got my popcorn 🍿

As a layman, the dynamic mic and the pickup still seem more similar than different. The diaphragm makes a ferrous coil move in a magnetic field. Our pick makes a ferrous string move in a magnetic field. What am I missing?

@67goat

Ай бұрын

Because the diaphragm is still reacting to air pressure which will change as the sound changes. But the pickup is only responding to string movement. You could have two strings made of different materials that move the same way when struck, but audibly they would sound different. Because the motion is the same, a pickup would sound the same with both. But because the audible part is different, the diaphragm would pickup the difference because the air movement would be different between them. That's a little simplistic and you couldn't really create that scenario in real life. Because, even if you had two strings of different materials that moved exactly the same, they would probably have different electromagnetic effects (as it is not just the motion, but the amount the string material affects the em field). It's part of why acoustic strings don't work as well on an electric, because even though they are still metal, they don't affect the field as much. By the same token, electric strings usually don't sound as good on an acoustic as acoustic strings do. Electric strings are designed for how they interact with the emf, rather than their inherent tonal qualities.

If pickups don't have microphonic properties, why do old/dead strings sound different coming out of the amp compared to fresh new ones?

@DylanTalksTone

Ай бұрын

Because they become clogged and vibrate differently as they age… pretty simple

@PaulCooksStuff

Ай бұрын

Fresh metal has some elasticity - strings continuously flex and relax when struck. But repeated cycles change the molecular structure and make the metal harder and more brittle. Basically metal fatigue. That brittleness changes how they vibrate. We hear it acoustically as less treble. If we can hear something different, the dead string has to be physically vibrating differently and producing a different acoustic sound wave - less higher frequencies and harmonic overtones. That physical change in the string vibration with age is the same movement change the pickup is detecting magnetically/electrically. I think Stringjoy have some vids about it, at least in passing.

Burp, can we talk about Piezo Crystals and the sunflower girl, now?

I still don't see the difference lol except that the string acts as the diaphragm/filament

Hey, all!

What does this mean for how a guitar being a hollow body or semi-hollow body impacts its tone?

@DylanTalksTone

Ай бұрын

I mean… a guitar sounds how it sounds. It’s up to you whether you like it or not.

@vw9659

Ай бұрын

Semi-hollow and hollow-body guitars typically have higher bridge admittance at several frequencies than solid-body guitars, a result of their more mobile bridges. As such, they have been measured to lose string vibrations at those frequencies, to vibrate the bridge and body. Despite what some people believe, body vibrations in solid-body guitars are very small. That is, they have less such string vibration losses.

Hello everyone

Thank you for making this video! I've been complaining about this false equivalence for ages, so it'll be great to have a video to send people to.

Great video Dylan and thanks for informing folks of the science of guitars. I scratch my head on how people can't grasp the concept that a Microphone is different than a pickup. I started playing in the early 80's when I was 13 years old. I figured out that they were different then. I even wound my first pickup by 16 (it worked but it sucked). I was dissecting and repairing tube TV's at age 8 or 9 (yea, I knew that high voltage was dangerous). This was before the internet. I lived in rural Texas and learned a lot from electronic books in the library. Also every player I knew then seemed to know a heck of a lot more about guitars than folks these days. Again, thanks for the great information for the community.

A good historical example that a microphone is a speaker backwards is the gramophone. Records weren't just played on gramophones, they were made on them by recording into the horn(speaker) and then reversing the process to play the recording.

Paul Reed Smith needs to stop saying "pickups are microphones". He knows that they're not. Whether he's trying to make a simplistic point badly, or to deliberately mislead (eg to pretend that pickups "hear" the body wood vibrating), is unclear.