teach me about lipsticks

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:01 pm

im thinking of doing an lipstick jag, but I dont actually know anything really about lipsticks except theyre bright and look cool as fuck. How do they compare to regular jag pickups?

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:32 pm

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:12 am

sometimes I wonder why this is considered a guitar forum

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 2:38 am

[youtube][/youtube]

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 2:47 am

In the first incarnation of the Cindicaster, instead of the overwound Kent Armstrong TCH-1 in the bridge position I had a lipstick wired up, but even when it was practically kissing the strings it was a way weaker than the TV Jones Classic in the neck, and by that time it sounded icky.

In a nutshell, traditional lipstick pickups are very bright, weak in output, jangle like crazy; basically everything you've probably guessed up to now. Of course you can fool the public by running a lipstick'd guitar through a Muff or Frantone Cream Puff and blast their ears with paint-peeling bass frequencies, but for the most part they're not designed to have a lot of mids or lower end, unless it's an overwound GFS pair or the like that (I've heard) aren't bad. Maybe a few other Danelectro players could chime in, I played a late 90s DC-3 for a several months and loved it for lightly overdriven stuff, and I felt it certainly didn't sound cheap at all.

LOL@boney me, c.2004

WayToHip · Post by **WayToHip** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 2:57 am

I have the 60th anniversary DC-3, white with gold hardware. Anyway, its great for light OD sounds, it can't do metal to save its life. Jangles all the time, and really good for palm muted cowboy bassline stuff.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 3:04 am

I wqs thinking of the curtis novak lipsticks for jag
Would they be any good through muffs and crazy fuzzes? Oliver Ackerman usea a lipstic well so im thinking it can work.

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:25 am

I had a 90s Korean lipstick in a test guitar, but with a cap in parallel, I think .006 mfd but I'm not sure, and it wasn't super bright at all, actually pretty good with heavy fuzz.

George · Post by **George** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:05 am

Yeah the 90s Dano lipsticks don't have much output. Great in a 12 string and for cleans/light-mid od. In a standard jag config it's gonna be jangly an plinkety as fuck cos of the 1 meg pots and anaemic bridge. Probably not the best suit. I would look into a slightly overwound set at least

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:25 am

I had a danelectro 63, the middle (in series) position is one of the bed guitar sounds I've ever got from a guitar, I thought it handled heavy stuff well... Wish the guitar it's self hadn't been so small. I did a tune for one of the SS Doom rock comps with it I'll post a link if I can find it...

http://bestnetworx.com/uploader/files/1 ... %20man.mp3

Can't remember how to tag it properly so the wee player thingy appears

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 11:37 am

Thanks guys,
I dont think ill do the lipstick jag
At least not at thus point in time

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 11:50 am

Dano U2's sell for like $200. Just buy one of those if you want to try lipsticks, as they're great guitars to have around, cheap and don't depreciate any further than that. Don't go putting lipsticks in your jag that's just dumb.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 4:46 pm

only got one lipstick in the neck position of my silvertone. one of the OG lipsticks too.

real clear, bassy, i'd imagine one in the bridge position would brighten it up a lil, would really like to blend two of them too. also hear with a treble booster you can really get the most of a 1448 since it's all clear and bassy, that extra treble makes for some nice fuzzy OD tones. lipsticks also dont take feedback well if you're into that.

tried that cheapo lipstick strat and it just sounded like a strat, not sure if those pickups are just SCs in a lipstick house or what.

so lower output not much difference on RI lipsticks to other SC pickups. the OG ones wont break my amp up (60's dano/sears 1483).
i'd probably stick with the regular jag pickups for a jag. specially if you're looking for the jangles. i feel like those lipsticks only look/sound good in dano/silvertone guitars.
although the wiring for the jag with taht strangle switch could help add some treble for fuzz and OD. rhythm circuit would probably be way too muddy

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 4:57 pm

Josh wrote:tried that cheapo lipstick strat and it just sounded like a strat, not sure if those pickups are just SCs in a lipstick house or what.

Where did you get yours?

To recap the Inside an Artec/GFS lipstick for strat thread, here's the pix. Built like a proper lipstick. Sounds like a lipstick to me, only a tad hotter.

This is what that lipstick is doing now. Sounds good in this position.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:14 pm

Yes, lipstick has a bar magnet and a coil around it. Actually original Melody Maker pickup had a similar construction, but plastic cover instead of metal lipstick cover. Also I believe that the length of scale influence on the sound of the guitar very much. Danelectro's have shorter scale and lipsticks installed in them should have more meatier sound with rich midrange, the same lipsticks in 25.5 guitar will sound thinner, more stratish, but thicker than usual singles. There are a lot of modern variations of lipsticks on the market, from no name Chinese (that I believe a piece of crap) to GFS, the tendency that they started to become hotter in the 2000's and according to reviews started to sound better than in the 90's reissues. I think lipsticks are perfect for some indie tones and dirty blues, if you gonna play some mind blowing distortion then there is nothing better than humbuckers

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:09 pm

sunshiner wrote: Danelectro's have shorter scale and lipsticks installed in them should have more meatier sound with rich midrange, the same lipsticks in 25.5 guitar will sound thinner, more stratish, but thicker than usual singles.

No. Danelectro Scale length is 25", whereas a Strat is 25 1/2". Any difference in sound when these pickups are mounted in Strats or Danos has nothing to do with scale length because 25" sounds no different from 25 1/2".

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:01 pm

YuriK wrote:sometimes I wonder why this is considered a guitar forum

It's a fucking what?

I don't even have a guitar.*

*This is not true. I even have two new ones but have been too busy lazy to start a NGD thrad.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:20 pm

timhulio wrote:
Josh wrote:tried that cheapo lipstick strat and it just sounded like a strat, not sure if those pickups are just SCs in a lipstick house or what.
Where did you get yours?

dont own one unfortunately or have any of the RI lipsticks. definitely dont sound bad though. i like the look of one just in the neck of your strat. i tried a couple of them at a guitar center (the sonic blue one and surf green one), i just didnt' notice much of a sound difference between that and any other strat other than it looked way cooler.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:02 pm

I think ill hold off on the lipstick jag atleast for now
Maybe ill put them in the mp jag. I dont play it too much cuz its ugly lol but with lipsticks and a pickguard it might look ugly in the cool kind of way.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Fri Oct 03, 2014 10:32 am

timhulio wrote:
sunshiner wrote: Danelectro's have shorter scale and lipsticks installed in them should have more meatier sound with rich midrange, the same lipsticks in 25.5 guitar will sound thinner, more stratish, but thicker than usual singles.
No. Danelectro Scale length is 25", whereas a Strat is 25 1/2". Any difference in sound when these pickups are mounted in Strats or Danos has nothing to do with scale length because 25" sounds no different from 25 1/2".

Half of the inch actually is the big difference IMO, 25" is even closer to 24.75" than to 25.5". It's considered by PRS some builders to have advantages of both.