# Guitar Heads - Your Rig - Your Tone

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-heads-your-rig-your-tone/531733>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 8, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-heads-your-rig-your-tone/531733 "2010-03-08T16:18:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Wisthekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wisthekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisthekiller)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-heads-your-rig-your-tone/531733/81 "2010-03-27T18:02:52Z")

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> [@WordMan](#):
>
> What’s a toaster pickup? That phrase is used as a nickname for a Rickenbacker pickup; did you install one of those into a Gibson?

[http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00DCnaLzdsAPqH/Guitar-Humbucking-Pickups-XT-PK014-.jpg](http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00DCnaLzdsAPqH/Guitar-Humbucking-Pickups-XT-PK014-.jpg) is what my friends and I call a toaster pickup. I didnt know real ones were on Rickenbacker. So i have one of these on the bridge and a big silver Gibson one for the neck. And mines an Epiphone, not Gibson guitar.

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-heads-your-rig-your-tone/531733/82 "2010-03-27T18:05:03Z")

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> [@Wisthekiller](#):
>
> [http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00DCnaLzdsAPqH/Guitar-Humbucking-Pickups-XT-PK014-.jpg](http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00DCnaLzdsAPqH/Guitar-Humbucking-Pickups-XT-PK014-.jpg) is what my friends and I call a toaster pickup. I didnt know real ones were on Rickenbacker. So i have one of these on the bridge and a big silver Gibson one for the neck. And mines an Epiphone, not Gibson guitar.

Ah - that’s just a two-coil Humbucker pickup. Sometimes referred to as a 'bucker or a Gibson-style pickup. They often come with chrome covers which is what it sounds like is over your neck pickup - but the same pickup is underneath…

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**Author:** ![Wisthekiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wisthekiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wisthekiller)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-heads-your-rig-your-tone/531733/83 "2010-03-27T18:20:00Z")

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They sound COMPLETELY different though. It may be the coiling or something but they sound different. Its not the position either because I had both of the 2 coil Humbucker pickups on it at first but switched neck for the chrome one.

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-heads-your-rig-your-tone/531733/84 "2010-03-27T18:39:01Z")

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> [@Wisthekiller](#):
>
> They sound COMPLETELY different though. It may be the coiling or something but they sound different. Its not the position either because I had both of the 2 coil Humbucker pickups on it at first but switched neck for the chrome one.

Entirely possible - the same two-coil design has many variations and many different brands or models have very different sounds. By the same token, one of your pickups may not be functioning properly or there is a hitch in your circuit somewhere…if you like both as they sound now, then you are probably fine…

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