Why is there a pickup under my SR4 pickguard?

[kdef77]

I just bought a SR4 HS on e-bay and got it today. I took the pickguard off and there is a third pickup underneath. I couldn't find any references to it anywhere. Is this a piezo pickup? If so, does anyone know how to control it?

Thanks.

 

[Derek Kiernan]

That's the phantom or "dummy" coil, which combines with the single position for canceling noise.

 

[73jbass]

That's the dummy coil for the neck pickup.

 

[Zombbg4]

Dang, so its a normal thing...I thought we had another "there's a doll under my truss rod cover" type situation.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

???

How long has EB been using a phantom coil? I had a SR 5 for years and I *know* I took off the pickguard at some point and never saw such a thing...

That's a pretty high-speed thing, tho - Alembic was the first company to do that back in the day...

 

[Mr. Pickles]

Dang, so its a normal thing...I thought we had another "there's a doll under my truss rod cover" type situation.

That was an interesting one, wasn't it.

 

[J. Crawford]

That was an interesting one, wasn't it.

Big time.

 

[GlennW]

Dang, so its a normal thing...I thought we had another "there's a doll under my truss rod cover" type situation.

I enjoyed that thread so much I saved the pics.

 

[Way Off Bass]

isnt that a Caribbean good luck doll?

 

[GlennW]

It's a worry doll. If you search the basses forum you'll find the thread, entertaining read.

 

[cantstopwinning]

hahaha... "dummy coil"

dummy.


(just kidding)

 

[kdef77]

Thank you.

 

[king_biscuit]

???

How long has EB been using a phantom coil? I had a SR 5 for years and I *know* I took off the pickguard at some point and never saw such a thing...

On the SR5 H? Since the early 90s when EB switched from alnico to ceramic magnets. The dummy coil is on the bottom of the pickup on the SR5 H ceramics.

 

[abngourmet]

???

How long has EB been using a phantom coil? I had a SR 5 for years and I *know* I took off the pickguard at some point and never saw such a thing...

That's a pretty high-speed thing, tho - Alembic was the first company to do that back in the day...

And Alembic still does. My Series II custom will have single coils with the dummy humcanceller in between them. You can view the factory to customer thread here.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Alan

 

[joeyl]

some people use a custom pickguard on those and bring the coil up for a HSS config

 

[joeyl]

found the video again

 

[line6man]

Is this a piezo pickup?

I have never heard of a Piezo pickup. Piezo's sense vibration, as in Piezo bridge saddles.
Pickups sense magnetic fields.

Like everyone else said, its a dummy coil.

 

[plogwok]

I have never heard of a Piezo pickup. Piezo's sense vibration, as in Piezo bridge saddles.
Pickups sense magnetic fields.

Like everyone else said, its a dummy coil.

um, yes, piezo's sense vibrations...which is pretty much how your bass makes a noise.

A piezo pickup directly senses the vibration of the strings, a regular pickup senses it indirectly by sensing the disturbance in their magnetic field, which is in turn caused by a magnetic material (your strings) vibrating within the magnetic field (created by the pole pieces in your pickups)

 

[PilbaraBass]

Apparently, that “dummy” coil is no dummy…there is a magnet on the pole pieces, and hence it actually WILL produce sound if it were placed closer to the strings.

Personally, I’m not sold on the use of dummy coils, because they increase the DCR and overall inductance of your single-coil, hence the single-coil is no longer true SC, but more of a humbucker with a narrow magnetic aperture. Sounds similar to true SC but not close enough for me.

 

[PilbaraBass]

um, yes, piezo's sense vibrations...which is pretty much how your bass makes a noise.

A piezo pickup directly senses the vibration of the strings, a regular pickup senses it indirectly by sensing the disturbance in their magnetic field, which is in turn caused by a magnetic material (your strings) vibrating within the magnetic field (created by the pole pieces in your pickups)

actually, technically, piezos work on a change in pressure on the piezo crystal not vibration directly. That is why piezos are mounted under bridge saddles.