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What do the pickup rings do for the 20th?

roburado

roburado

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 18, 2005
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Commerce, MI
On the 20th Ann. Silo and the other guitars it spawned (except Luke's version IIRC), what do the pickup rings achieve tonally? Why was the choice made to put them in? It seems JP likes what they do, because on that latest prototype, they're on there.

EBMM people, I'm not complaining. Just asking. :D
 
I think the rings allow you to adjust the pickup positions. The normal JP model has the pickups mounted directly to the body, so you can only adjust by shimming them. I'm not sure if the normal Silo has direct-mounted pickups as well.. but I think most if not all of the EBMM guitars do.
 
SteveB said:
I think the rings allow you to adjust the pickup positions. The normal JP model has the pickups mounted directly to the body, so you can only adjust by shimming them. I'm not sure if the normal Silo has direct-mounted pickups as well.. but I think most if not all of the EBMM guitars do.
Click to expand...

Sil Specials are mounted to the pickguard and are adjustable.
 
roburado said:
On the 20th Ann. Silo and the other guitars it spawned (except Luke's version IIRC), what do the pickup rings achieve tonally? Why was the choice made to put them in? It seems JP likes what they do, because on that latest prototype, they're on there.

EBMM people, I'm not complaining. Just asking. :D
Click to expand...

I think part of it is that the pickup shape is the same as the bass humbucker pickup shapes--something that is very identifyable with the line of basses, and this brings the two lines together. Much like a good rug will pull a room together....
 
bassmonkeee said:
I think part of it is that the pickup shape is the same as the bass humbucker pickup shapes--something that is very identifyable with the line of basses, and this brings the two lines together. Much like a good rug will pull a room together....
Click to expand...

You know, I was thinking that might have been part of the thinking there.
 
Looking at the rings, it would allow for tilt adjustment as well as height. Dunno if that's the only reason.
 
Everyone knows that pickup rings has been around forever. And unfortunately, as simple as they seem, have remained unchanged for whatever reason for TOO LONG.

The EBMM rings have a few design changes that allow for better functionality than the standard rings you find on every other guitar.
1. The 3 point height adjustment not only allows you to move the pickup to it's desired location, but to keep there without the potential for rocking from front to back.
2. The pickups are hard mounted to the ring itself with the desired height protruding out of the top of the ring. You may notice on some older archtops the pickups can be almost 1" above the rings which not only decreases stability, but also looks kind or wierd (in my opinion).
3. Laslty, due to the fact that the pickup+pickup ring assembly move together in and out of the body cavity, there is no need to shape the pickup ring to match the arch in certain tops. So you always get a sleek looking, tight fitting pickup mount. You can really notice the advantage to this on poorly made guitars where a generic square rings is simply thrown onto whatever body shape.

Check them out and take a closer look sometime....I think you'll dig it!
 
A fantastic look. Like an update of the old Gibson Mini Bucker Deluxe idea yeah Drew? Were the housing moves up and down instead?

Fabulous look. Can't wait for what the future has in store.
 
drewbixcubed said:
Everyone knows that pickup rings has been around forever. And unfortunately, as simple as they seem, have remained unchanged for whatever reason for TOO LONG.

The EBMM rings have a few design changes that allow for better functionality than the standard rings you find on every other guitar.
1. The 3 point height adjustment not only allows you to move the pickup to it's desired location, but to keep there without the potential for rocking from front to back.
2. The pickups are hard mounted to the ring itself with the desired height protruding out of the top of the ring. You may notice on some older archtops the pickups can be almost 1" above the rings which not only decreases stability, but also looks kind or wierd (in my opinion).
3. Laslty, due to the fact that the pickup+pickup ring assembly move together in and out of the body cavity, there is no need to shape the pickup ring to match the arch in certain tops. So you always get a sleek looking, tight fitting pickup mount. You can really notice the advantage to this on poorly made guitars where a generic square rings is simply thrown onto whatever body shape.

Check them out and take a closer look sometime....I think you'll dig it!
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for the insight, Drew! Having never seen them up close, I never knew about the 3-point height adjustment. That's awesome. Leave it to EBMM to come up with something like that. Thanks again! :D
 
Cool innovations, Rookie!

I like the no-rocking improvement. I always disliked that about guitars with pickup rings. (Although I don't mind pickup rings anyway..)
 
drewbixcubed said:
Everyone knows that pickup rings has been around forever. And unfortunately, as simple as they seem, have remained unchanged for whatever reason for TOO LONG.

The EBMM rings have a few design changes that allow for better functionality than the standard rings you find on every other guitar.
1. The 3 point height adjustment not only allows you to move the pickup to it's desired location, but to keep there without the potential for rocking from front to back.
2. The pickups are hard mounted to the ring itself with the desired height protruding out of the top of the ring. You may notice on some older archtops the pickups can be almost 1" above the rings which not only decreases stability, but also looks kind or wierd (in my opinion).
3. Laslty, due to the fact that the pickup+pickup ring assembly move together in and out of the body cavity, there is no need to shape the pickup ring to match the arch in certain tops. So you always get a sleek looking, tight fitting pickup mount. You can really notice the advantage to this on poorly made guitars where a generic square rings is simply thrown onto whatever body shape.

Check them out and take a closer look sometime....I think you'll dig it!
Click to expand...

Hi there,

I'm looking to replace the pickups on the 20th silo with Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs. Will they fit into the current pickup mounting rings or do I need to work out some mods?
 
Funny, as I just installed those in mine myself!

DiMarzio once said that the closest pickups they currently have in production (or had) to the custom wound ones found in the 20th Anniversary Silhouette are the Virtual Hot PAF bridge and Virtual PAF neck. When I spoke to them recently regarding the 36th Anniversary models (the previously mentioned PAFs are now discontinued), they also mentioned that the anniversary models are also fairly similar to the custom wound ones, but will have a more overall vintage vibe and warmer on the treble strings.

Physically, like almost all other DiMarzio humbuckers, they are identical, so they will fit the pickup rings perfectly. Just remember to get F-spaced for the bridge and normal (not F-spaced) for the neck. The type of cover won't matter. The legs should also be "standard" (short-legged), not "traditional" (long-legged), and as the stock pickups are four-conductor pickups, I'd get the new ones in four-conductor version as well for ease of installation.
 
Last edited:
Octavarius said:
Funny, as I just installed those in mine myself!

DiMarzio once said that the closest pickups they currently have in production (or had) to the custom wound ones found in the 20th Anniversary Silhouette are the Virtual Hot PAF bridge and Virtual PAF neck. When I spoke to them recently regarding the 36th Anniversary models (the previously mentioned PAFs are now discontinued), they also mentioned that the anniversary models are also fairly similar to the custom wound ones, but will have a more overall vintage vibe and warmer on the treble strings.

Physically, like almost all other DiMarzio humbuckers, they are identical, so they will fit the pickup rings perfectly. Just remember to get F-spaced for the bridge and normal (not F-spaced) for the neck. The type of cover won't matter. The legs should also be "standard" (short-legged), not "traditional" (long-legged), and as the stock pickups are four-conductor pickups, I'd get the new ones in four-conductor version as well for ease of installation.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. Here's what Larry Dimarzio replied when I asked for a comparison btw 36th PAFs and the 20th silo stock pus.

"The sound may seem more aggressive because it will have a little more body, but the output won't be hotter. More output would sacrifice some of the airiness and clarity you like.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbgUMqUMns"]YouTube- Guitar World reveiws the new DiMarzio PAF 36th Anniversary[/ame]


How do you like the 36th PAFs so far?
 
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