Magnetism and Pickup Placement Key Factors in VH Tone

[johnnybgoood]

"I was miking his cabinets for the album. I said, 'I want to get this microphone as close as possible to the speaker here.' He just took a knife and cut the grill cloth completely away, right in front of me." This is a direct quote from Don Landee in the book 'Van Halen Rising' written by Greg Renoff.

[jnew]

No coincidence there. We've seen pics of cabs with no grille clothe. And JBL's in it.

[garbeaj]

"I was miking his cabinets for the album. I said, 'I want to get this microphone as close as possible to the speaker here.' He just took a knife and cut the grill cloth completely away, right in front of me." This is a direct quote from Don Landee in the book 'Van Halen Rising' written by Greg Renoff.

That's right! I completely forgot about that part. I need to read the book again...I've only read it once, but it's about time to read it again!

[dnatronic]

How come in this discussion of pickups and magnetic fields nobody has discussed what effect that slanting the humbucker had on Ed's tone? And how come nobody today makes a modern guitar with a slanted humbucker in a regular production guitar?

Case in point, Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day had his guitar tech make a Telecaster with a customized slanted humbucker. His main strat also has a slanted humbucker in it.

[jnew]

Yep. I do that in my old beat up strat with a Duncan Custom and I believe it plays a role. Especially towards the low E side. Not a deal breaker because not all those songs used that slanted hum bucker strat. Also, do we know for certain that the PU was that way for the recording or did it end up that way in time for that album cover shoot.

Kramer had production models in the 80's with their PU's at a slant but I don't ever recalling anyone who had that guitar, getting THE sound because of that. Of course nobody ran their amps like Ed did either. That should speak volumes itself but yes, there is some effect. I like BJA and some Green Day stuff but it's not VH tone.

[garbeaj]

How come in this discussion of pickups and magnetic fields nobody has discussed what effect that slanting the humbucker had on Ed's tone? And how come nobody today makes a modern guitar with a slanted humbucker in a regular production guitar?

Case in point, Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day had his guitar tech make a Telecaster with a customized slanted humbucker. His main strat also has a slanted humbucker in it.

Because Eddie did not really slant his pickups. The original Frankenstein is slightly slanted, but not to the degree that his backup Kramers from the 1984-0U812 tours and production model Kramers were.

It should be said that many of Eddie's greatest tones had nothing to do with slanting a pickup because they were achieved with a lawsuit era Ibanez Destroyer or a vintage '58 Korina Gibson Flying V.

If you focus on specific tracks that are known to use the original Frankenstein by a preponderance of evidence from photos and interviews I suppose you could try to compare sounds from the very slightly slanted original Frankenstein pickup placement to the many other tracks that featured guitars with non-slanted pickups...but I firmly believe the difference is marginal. Most people can't tell the difference in tone between the original Frankenstein and the Ibanez Destroyer on the first album for instance. The distinction between slightly slanted and non-slanted seems obviously minuscule.

It is important to avoid getting caught up in the myth that production model Kramers had anything to do with what Eddie actually used during the 1984 tour through the 0U812 era. His most often used and most iconic Kramer guitar was the 5150, a guitar that was almost entirely hand built and that did not have a slanted humbucker.

Of course fully slanted humbuckers (pickups slanted to the severe degree that Eddie's backup Kramers and production model Kramers were slanted) were NEVER used on any Van Halen album as far as all interview and photographic evidence I've ever seen would suggest.

If you want to discuss how the very slightly slanted humbucker sounds on the original Frankenstein in all of it's many iterations and pickup swaps, then you would have to focus specifically on those recordings and live performances that feature the original Frankenstein.

[fivecoyote]

Don't mess with the garbeaj! He knows all! lol, totally true man, excellent points!

[garbeaj]

Don't mess with the garbeaj! He knows all! lol, totally true man, excellent points!

Hah! I'm far from knowing it all, especially when it comes to amps and electronics...but I like to think that we should try to maintain focus on the differences between stock and what Eddie specifically used. Always a WORLD of difference!