Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Young
Dazzo and Trance are certainly in the same general camp as the Frap (SBTs, and small plastic boxes with some type of multi-dimensional sensing element inside). Teddy worked with Arnie Lazarus (inventor of the Frap) for a while and the Trance Amulet visually looks identical to the Frap pickup. Both Teddy and Gary Hull at Trance are quick to say that their designs are nothing like the Frap. So.... who knows?
PUTW on the other hand is quite different, while still being an SBT - basically a small flexible piece of braided-looking material similar to a strip of tape. PUTW seems most similar to the McIntyre, at least as far as basic appearance and, even, to some extent, sound.
At some level, there are only 3 types of pickups, USTs, SBTs, and Mags, but the devil's in the details.
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Its my understanding that the "braided-looking material" on the PUTW pickups is a kevlar jacket, and that there's a strip of high-grade piezo film material inside.
That's the description of the SBTs. David has a special design for the USTs which I don't understand and can't explain. He once told me that the I/O UST acts like a UST and an SBT combined into one pickup. From my experience with it, I can observe that the I/O UST is the most top responsive UST that I've ever used - and that includes my experiences with the Headway, DTAR, Highlander and Fishman co-axial pickups.
BTW, its been my experience that the I/O UST does quack some, and its especially noticeable when recorded directly. That said, its important to note that my current I/O UST-equipped guitar has a bone saddle, and that I got noticeably
more quack from the DTAR Wavelength UST system which I once had in that same guitar. That's why I tend to suspect that the I/O UST is probably the least quacky UST out there, all things (like the same saddle material) being equal. I've always found that tusq is the most forgiving saddle material for USTs.