Remington Steelmaster Pickup Placement

[Rick Abbott]

I have a Remington Steelmaster; it's the longer scale, 24-24-1/2, something like that.

It is a tremendous instrument and I really like its playability in every way. One modification is I removed all the volume and tone knobs. On / off switches, straight to the output jack.

What I don't like is a particular aspect of its tone. To my ear, it seems to have an odd midrange. I think it's a little like having a wah pedal, ever so slightly set north of center. I've played lots and lots of hard blues and used a wah pedal extensively. This sounds like holding the pedal in a location to boost the cutting power of the mids. I can't eq it out with the amp, I tried.

The guitar has George L 10-1 pickups and I am going to change them if I can overcome this sound. I really think it's because of the pickup placement. The pickups are centered at 2.9 inches from the center of the bridge.

Most of my other steels have the center of the pickup located at 2 inches from the center of the bridge. My Sho-Bud...the perfect sound to my ear...is at 1.9 inches.

I'm not convinced a different pickup will significantly alter this problem in the mids. I think it's harmonically related to where the string is being sensed.

Do I just have the wrong pickups? I don't hear this sound in Cindy Cashdollar's Remington. Her pickups are specially wound for her and are way lower in ohms than the 10-1.

Can pickups be wound to deliver a particular balance of mids versus highs and lows?

I now realize I should have probably asked this in Electronics. Move it if you must, but this is also about the experience of working with this particular non-pedal guitar.

[Brad Bechtel]

Do you suppose that the tone control was there for a reason?

[Rick Abbott]

Do you suppose that the tone control was there for a reason?

The removal was to attempt to correct this problem. So, it sounded that way before I took it out. I generally dislike what volume and tone controls do to guitar pickups, especially if I have a volume pedal inline between the guitar and the amp.

[John Poston]

I read recently on here someone put steeltronics single coils in their Remington, maybe they will weigh in here. I think different pickup would matter a lot even with the current pickup placement.

I have the stock pickups in my double 8 and it sounds ok to me. But I do feel like I'm not really vibing with the instrument for some reason.

[Tony Oresteen]

Check the polarity of the pickup magnets to make sure they are not out of phase.




Stew Mac sells them.

[Rich Arnold]

It might be best to restore the Remington to it's original condition and swap it out for another instrument. Probably not what you had in mind but that's what I would do.
Some guitars I've played just do nothing for me and others I really love.

[Rick Abbott]

I really love the playability. I will probably try single coils in the 11-14K range before I give up on the guitar.

I wonder if the natural phase cancellation of a humbucker is part of what I'm hearing?

[Danny Roy]

I’m probably too late, but I’m the guy who put the Steeltronics pickups in my Steelmaster T8. They took the guitar to a whole new level. As far as pickup placement, Herbie wanted that thicker, warmer sound of the neck pickup on the Stringmaster. He was also a fan of Hawaiian music, so the fuller tone of a Rickenbacker Horseshoe and similar styles of pickups was also part of the pickup’s position from the bridge. He tried the pickup in a few different places and settled on where it is now. Personally, that was one of the reasons why I bought it. I also love the richer steel tones of the early years. I knew the right single coil pickups in that spot would be fantastic. The George L humbucker is wound way too hot for that pickup location, to my ears and tech experience. The Steeltronics are really sweet. As per my request, he made them to Gibson’s early oval Racetrack P-90 specs, the pickups that Don Helms used on his Console Grande. I’m really happy with the tone. Makes me want to play the guitar even more.