Frequently Asked Questions
You’ll find a selection of the most commonly asked questions below together with some advice & opinion from our side on getting the best out of your equipment. Take a look through these in the first instance but if you need more help or if you can’t find the answer you’re looking for then don’t hesitate to get in touch, we’re just an email away, or call +44 7799 417775
All prices shown on our website are inclusive of UK sales tax (VAT) at the current rate of 20%. Tax is however not applicable for all orders shipped outside of the EU and for non-EU orders this 20% tax will be automatically deducted from the website prices at checkout. Please note:
1.) VAT may also be deducted from orders to EU VAT registered businesses on request. If you are buying as an EU VAT registered business please create your user account on the Deacci website and then send a copy of your company information including a valid VAT ID to “info@deacci.com”. Once we have verified the details provided we will enable your account for permanent VAT free shopping.
2.) If you are ordering as a citizen of NON-EU country but you wish to personally collect your goods from Deacci’s premises or another EU address then we must apply VAT to your purchase. You may be able to recover the VAT when you export your pickups back to your home country by completing the relevant Customs paperwork when leaving the EU.
If you have any further questions or if we can assist in any way please get in touch at info@deacci.com
The simplest way to purchase your shiny new Deacci pickups is through our online store where you’ll find the entire range together with all of the different customisation options.
If you prefer to take a look at them first hand before buying then you can find a list of our current stockists here. If your local store doesn’t stock Deacci pickups yet then ask them why the heck not!
If you’re unsure which set is right for you or if there’s a special sound that you’re looking for and you want to get some advice first then you can drop an email to hello@deacci.com or fill in the contact form and we’ll get straight back to you.
Wax Potting involves dipping the finished bobbin or pickup in a hot bath of paraffin and beeswax until sufficient air is expelled from the windings which are then coated and solidified in the wax when it cools and hardens. The addition of beeswax to the paraffin formula ensures that the hardened wax does not become brittle. The principle idea behind wax potting is to remove the possibility of movement in any of the coil windings. Why?… because that movement could cause unwanted feedback.
OK so not all feedback is bad or unwanted, in fact we quite like the lively feeling from a set of un-potted pickups that are just on the verge of becoming micro-phonic, but we pot certain pickups as standard for reasons of simple practicality: your setup and acceptable level of gain & volume to create the conditions for perfect feedback are subject to too many variables so what works well in the Jam room usually will not do so well at a live gig where the volume levels (and factors influencing feedback) are usually greater. We carefully choose which pickups remain un-potted but if, considering all the above, you still want a particular pickup or set with or without wax they can be provided as a custom order – just drop us a line via the contact form.
We’re constantly adding new products to the Deacci range but if you’re searching for a particular sound then we’re happy to arrange a custom wind just for you. To find out more just get in touch with us and we’ll talk you through the options.
If you want to be sure of getting the best out of your shiny new set of Deacci pickups there are some important areas of your guitar setup that you might want to think about before taking the plunge. With practice most of these adjustments can be made in a couple of hours but new guitar players or those not comfortable with making these adjustments should initially take their guitar to a technician who will be in the best position to give personalised advice. The same advice applies whether your guitar cost little or a lot.
Basic Setup:
- Strings: Find a gauge that suits, experiment with different brands and formula such as Nickel Steel, Pure Nickel or some of the coated strings if you need longevity. We prefer and recommend Pure Nickel Strings.
- Tremolo: For Strat type guitars you should decide if you prefer a Floating or Fixed Tremolo. Floating will sound more open and chimey whereas fixed will help with the sustain and eliminate many of the tuning problems with incorrectly set up floating trem or poor quality hardware.
- Intonation: Learn how to intonate your guitar, all you need is a good tuner, a small screwdriver and some patience. Each time you change string gauge, or switch to a different brand it is likely your intonation will need a small adjustment. If its not intonated properly the higher up the neck you play the more off-pitch each note will become.
- Neck Adjustment (Truss Rod): This is usually never set exactly right from the factory and again with string gauge changes adjustments may be needed. A well set up neck will greatly improve playability of your guitar.
- Action: Whether you prefer a high action or a low action or somewhere in between, the perfect action for every player is different and again is dependent on string choice. Remember that changes to the neck and tremolo adjustments interact with changes to the string height so each of these needs to be set, checked and possibly reset a number of times.
Upgrades:
- Pots: If your existing pots work without crackle, hiss or pop, and feel OK when rolling from low to high settings (i.e. smooth volume and tone transitions) then leave them alone, otherwise replace with quality pots by manufacturers such as CTS or Bourns.
- Caps: A tone capacitors value will have more effect on your tone than its construction, i.e. whether it is a PIO, Polyester or the much maligned ceramic capacitor. While improving cap construction type from ceramic to a PIO will provide an improvement in tone, we believe this is only really worth doing once you have found the correct cap value for your equipment style and preferences.
- Wiring: for Les Paul guitars we prefer 50s wiring; you may prefer modern and/or a combination of the hundreds of switching possibilities for your tone circuit that allow coil splitting, reverse phase, Series Parallel or other combinations. As long as the connections are solid, all grounding is in place, and pickups are wired correctly there are no tonal reasons that we can think of to upgrade from say PVC coated wires to cloth or braid covered vintage.
- Pickups: And finally to the reason you’re here in the first place… upgrading your pickups. Although we’d love to see you grab yourself a shiny new set of Deacci pickups we believe that pickups are probably last on the list of things to do if you are considering tonal upgrades. Poor tone from a bad setup or faulty basic hardware can never be redeemed by pickups no matter how good they are so get the basics right first. Without that solid foundation you’ll always struggle to get the best out of your Deacci pickups (or any others for that matter) and knowing that you’re missing out on some of the finest sounds available would just make us sad. You don’t want to make us sad do you?
Now that you have successfully fitted your pickups to your guitar and tuned up the strings its time to set the pickup height. This process can be as complicated or easy as you want it to be but it is something you should experiment with to find what works best for you. Pickup height (or distance from the strings) has a massive influence on volume, tone and sustain. The closer the pickup is to the strings, the louder, brighter and more sustain it generates, go too close however and the strength of the magnet may just start to pull on the string and cause a reduction in sustain and create unpleasant harmonics. This becomes more pronounced with pickups which have stronger magnets.
The easiest way to set pickup height is to begin with the neck while keeping guitar volume and tone controls on 10 and a fairly clean amp setting:
- Fret your strings at the highest fret and raise the pickup until pole pieces are about 2mm or the thickness of a couple of business cards away from the fretted strings
- Adjust any pole piece screws so that they are all a similar distance from the strings. This will likely mean that the poles in the centre of the pickup (D&G strings) are higher than the outer Low and High E String pole pieces (i.e the poles now follow the radius of your guitar neck).
- Now play, listen, adjust, repeat, and continue experimenting until the pickup is at a height that you like. You are finding your sweet spot for the neck.
- Once Neck adjustments are complete you can repeat the same with the bridge.
- Once Bridge adjustments are complete listen to the balance between neck and bridge and adjust to taste, most guitarists like all pickups to be similar in volume output so that there are no major volume changes when switching from one pickup to the other, however the rules are made to be broken…. Have fun!
Remember, pickup closer to the strings is more punchy, bright and aggressive; lower will be softer and more mellow. Pickup height is very personal, no-one can do this on your guitar as well as you, so take an evening with a screwdriver and find your perfect pickup height.