So, my understanding is that the pickup is influenced by the string moving and tells the speaker to make a sound.
So, everything else should be no consequence, besides maybe sophistication of pickup and size of string.
So, why do other things seem to matter? I’m at a loss for a lot of specific examples, but people are always discussing various elements of their guitars and their impact on sound, but I don’t see how anything really impacts sound. Like why all the cutouts, swoops, materials, different saddles and bridges, etc. I’d understand on an acoustic, but on an electric a lot of it seems like it shouldn’t matter.
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The location of the pickup in relation to the string determines which fundamental is presented the most. This is why switching pick ups have different sounds. More towards the center of the string, the sound will be deeper, richer. More towards the end, it will be brighter, sharper and this has to do with how a guitar string vibrated when plucked. It doesn’t just sway back and forth, a string vibrates in a infinite number of ways, all at the same time.
It will vibrate over the full length, this is the fundamental note. Like the low string, is the E below middle C. This will be the most powerful vibration which is why you hear it.
The string then will vibrate at a 1/2 interval making a note 1 octave above the E, and will be 1/2 power.
The string then will vibrate at a 1/3 interval, this one at 1/4 power.
The string then will vibrate at a 1/4 interval making a note 2 octave above the E and so on, forever, each getting 1/2 as strong.
All these extra vibrations give the sound its timbre, this is like the color of the sound. An E on the flute sounds different than an E on a guitar than an E on a Oboe. Each of these instruments make different intervals which is why they sound different.
So the pickups resides in some spot in which a number of these vibrations all overlap giving that pickup its sound.
When electric, what matters is the kind of pickup, the location of the pickup and if the pickup is powered or not. The other piece can make a difference if say you are going from a stiffer bridge material from a softer one which would change how much the vibration would attenuate, or changing the location of the bridge would change your striking location with the pick and as a result can change some of the vibrations on the string.
To take this a little farther, I know you have heard a solo going on and all of the sudden the solo hits this screaming high note and they hit the tremolo bar and dive it down, or pull it up. What they are doing here is hitting a harmonic, one of the other vibrations on the string. Say you want to hear the 1/8 vibration. This would make a note 3 octaves higher than the note you plucked on the string, but you have all the vibrations from 1 – 1/7 overpowering the sound of the 1/8, so you use your thumb to remove all those other vibrations by touching your thumb 1/8 the length of the string from the bottom. 1/8 vibration means the string is vibrating in 8 pieces, by putting your thumb at the 1/8 point you stop any vibration that is not a multiple of 8 so you only hear the 1/8. You can do this on acoustic as well. Pluck E, then rest your finger at 1 octave above E on the E string, pluck it again and you will hear the Octave E. Move your finger down to 1/4 from the head or bottom, pluck and you will hear 2 octaves above E now as you are filtering out anything not a multiple of 4.
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