Do PUs age and sound better

[robt57]

A lot of talk about when a guitar and or wood gets old it ages and the tone is better etc. how about the wire in the PUPs and aged PUPs.

Why i everyone so hot on old vintage PUPs? because they sounded good from the start, or did they mature?

I have a Aria 5102 335 Copy, only it is actually hollow, no block down the center. it is almost 40 years old. It is what it is build wise. but those Humbuckers in there sound outstanding. If my 1st self re-fret on it goes bad, they are going in something else!

 

[RodeoTex]

I read somewhere (so take it for what its worth) that vintage pickups 'age' by losing some of their magnetic strength, thus sound 'sweeter'.

I can certainly believe that magnets weaken because knocking them around dislodges some of their molecular magnetic domains. We proved that in physics. Surely 40-50 year old pickups have taken some hits and bumps over the years.
JMO

 

[rand z]

according to bill lawrence, the MAGNETS lose very little of their magneticism over a very long period of time. therefore, and difference in sound would most likely come from either the guitar's aging or the other components in the pickups construction.

i've had joe bardens in my tele for almost 16 years. i've been very focused to the way they sound. imho, they might have lost a tad of umph, but the fidelity is still there and they still are definately "joe bardens" as we refer to them around here.

the tele itself is 32 years old and whether it's age plays into it's sound, now, is hard to say. the fact that it was refretted with jumbo frets, in the mid 90's, would probably effect the sound. otherwise...???

imho.

rand z tropicalsoul.net

 

[marsopilami]

well yet again i think this is a preference thing.
lets start with wood as it ages the paint comes off the pores open and it may even warp not enough that you can see it but a little bit. the biggest factor is the paint coming off and the pores opening also the drying of the wood will cause better sustain and the old blackguards really breath almost. necks in my opinion change the sound very minimal over the years maple necks might sound a bit softer after 50 years but barley noticeable.
ok as for the pickups magnets do loose a bit of strength but like the man said(bill Lawrence one of the greatest pickup makers)barley any. the copper windings will age deteriorate and rust. all together the pickup might sound a tad warmer but its mainly the body i think but hey that could just be me. i own a real 1950 broadcaster and a new 51 reissue not relic ed by fender as i don't believe in that but after changing the pickups there isn't a big difference i mean the old one is much nicer to play because its old and i have giged it for a fair amount of time aswell making it really warn but sound wise its about the same i think bardens make these old blackguards sound the best and plan to change them single coils are single coils imho

 

[WickedGTR]

I've replaced 'vintage' pickups with similar model new pickups recently, and the new ones were a lot better- The old ones had taken a beating and were getting microphonic- the new ones sounded clearer and tighter.

 

[11 Gauge]

One has to remember that not all magnets are created equal.

Don't quote me, but IIRC, alnico is more susceptible to being "altered" than ceramic.

If my old ceramics are anything to judge by, they don't sound any different to me.

I recall that Andy Summers' Tele had the magnets altered as a result of riding on an electric train for years. I believe that Seymour Duncan "recharged" them for him. Also, when Duncan was measuring Jerry Donahue's bridge pickup, he decided that it would take different magnets and windings to reproduce how the oldie sounds.

I also seem to recall that it was Joe Glaser or someone who thought that the magic in the oldies was in how the windings had settled and moved around over the years - something that really can't be replicated other than by time and circumstance.

I don't get hung up on it. A good pickup sounds good the first time you fire it up. If it sounds better as the years go by, that's just a plus.

 

[robt57]

I've replaced 'vintage' pickups with similar model new pickups recently, and the new ones were a lot better- The old ones had taken a beating and were getting microphonic- the new ones sounded clearer and tighter.

I'd have taken them out and Potted them. Or at least wind hot waxed string around the coils. You can even wrap copper tape over the string with out fear of grounding a coil. Ground it, and you will have some pretty darn quite single coils.

 

[bradpdx]

Unless your pickups are subjected to extreme conditions - like being dropped repeatedly on hard floors, exposed to huge magnetic fields or frozen at 40 below zero - the magnets won't change in any significant way, just like Mr. Lawrence says. Those little domains are self-reinforcing and tend to stay put.

An old pickup that has been in a guitar and not abused should be very similar to a new one that is made the same way. Indeed, that has been my observations with direct comparisons.

IMHO the main differences between old PUPs and newer factory ones (such as the transition from the 1950s to the 1960s) has to do with manufacturing. The old ones were often "sloppier" due to more hand work, and this affects the distributed reactance of the coil. They thought they were making them better, not worse.