Meeting Photos 

During planning meetings in 2003, the section officers and committee decided to explore the science of the magnetic guitar pickup. Further research by committeeman Daniel Casado at the January NAMM show put us in contact with Evan Skop at Seymour Duncan. Beyond that, it became clear that the sound of an electric guitar is not just the sound of the guitar, it is the system created by the guitar, the pickups, the amplifier, and the speakers.

In the process of reaching this epiphany, the scope of the meeting grew, and grew, and grew. To allow our presenters a reasonable amount of time in which to present their portion of the topic, we decided to split the meeting into thirds. Since the magnetic guitar pickup is a passive device, its operation depends on some fairly basic electrical principles. But understanding some of these parameters requires some basic electronic theory, hence meeting #1. The pickups themselves and their construction turned into meeting #2, and the amplifiers used became meeting #3.

Ask anyone who knows anything about electric guitar amplification and they'll tell you that the whole thing is a mix of science and voodoo. The science answers the parts that we understand. The only answer for the rest is Voodoo.

Join us in a three-part journey into the intricacies of guitar pickups and guitar amplifiers. Because of the depth of the subject, and our sincere desire to ensure that our presenters have sufficient time to get into sufficient detail for their portion of the subject, we have divided the meeting into three parts, to be held on three separate occasions.

On April 6, PNW Committee member and manufacturer's rep Daniel Casado took us through a review of basic electronics. This presentation explained the fundamental building blocks that all electronic devices are based on. We learned about passive and active components, and how they are combined together to make power supplies, amplifiers, tone controls, and effects.

On April 27, Evan Skopp from the Seymour Duncan company, and Jason Lollar of Lollar Guitars will enhance our understanding of guitar pickups and their construction. Take a small magnet. Wind a coil of wire around it, and place it under the string. Connect to an amp, and Voila! music.

Oh that it was that simple.

On May 25, Andy Marshall from THD Electronics will explore the amplifier's contribution to the system.

Part 1, Fundamental Concepts of Electronic Components 
Part 2, Pickups 
Part 3, The amplifier 

Last modified 4/30/2004.