Pikcups And The Like

[drain.you]

Hey everyone,
I been playing electric guitar for a year now and now i starting to investigate how I can change the sound of my guitar. looked at pedals and amps and various things but I'm coming home and looking at pickups now. How exactly do they work and how does adjusting how close they are to the strings change the sound of the guitar?
any help welcome, cheers everyone.

oh, by the way, i play a crappy yamaha pacifica 112.

[Phalanx]

Fortunate you have a 112. The pickup layout of a 112 is extremely similar to Fender Stratocasters, so I would highly recommend replacing the stock Yamaha pickups with either Fender vintage reissue pickups, or Seymour Duncan pickups. Actually changing pickups is actually really easy. All you have to do is search for 'pickup diagrams' on google.

When pickups are too close to the strings, it can produce an annoying 'clicking' noise when the strings hit the pickup poles (the little round metal things in the middle of the pickups). When they're too far away, you run the risk of having too much access noise coming into contact with the pickup.

On a 112 I believe you have a HSS (Humbucker/Single Coil/ Single Coil) pickup configuration. Humbuckers have a much warmer and thick tone to them, while single coils tend to have more treble and 'grit'.

I hope I was of some help.

[drain.you]

thanks dude!
when you said 'When they're too far away, you run the risk of having too much access noise coming into contact with the pickup'. What kind of access noise are you talking about? what kinda things can they pickup other than string vibrations?

[Phalanx]

When they're too far away, the pickup has a harder time distinguishing between the string vibration and say, someone talking. So, the pickup could pickup someone talking, or even a really loud drummer. Although it's a stretch to say that you could hear the snare through your amplifier, it can interfere with the sound.