FAQ’s

  • Why Choose Green Pickups?

    At Green Pickups, we believe that great guitar tone starts with understanding how a pickup works, not simply recreating a recipe from the past.

    Based in Manchester, UK, Green Pickups combines over 25 years of guitar-playing experience with a background in electrical engineering. Every pickup is designed and built with careful consideration of how coil geometry, wire type, magnet choice and construction influence the final sound.

    Our range includes everything from vintage-inspired Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jazzmaster, P90 and PAF-style humbuckers to more unconventional designs, including our Staple and Stratbucker pickups.

    Rather than taking a one size fits all approach, we're always happy to discuss your guitar, playing style and the sound you're looking to achieve. Whether you want greater clarity, more punch, improved dynamics or something completely different, we can help you find the right pickup for your needs.

    As a small independent manufacturer, we take pride in the attention to detail that goes into every pickup we make. Our aim isn't simply to reproduce the sounds of the past, but to build pickups that inspire you to play.

    Thoughtfully designed and built for guitarists who care about their tone..

  • Check the banner on the home page for accurate lead times.

  • Shipping for all UK based customers is free.

    EU and ROW prices are shown on the SHIPPING page at the bottom.

  • Green Pickups specialises in a carefully developed range of pickups, each designed and refined to deliver its own distinctive sound.

    To maintain consistency, quality and reasonable production lead times, we generally build our pickups to their established specifications rather than offering fully bespoke designs.

    Selected cosmetic and fitting options remain available where listed on individual product pages.

    We may occasionally undertake specialist projects, but these are considered on an individual basis.

  • Please see the returns page at the bottom for all information

  • Having played guitar professionally for over 25 years I’m able to provide comprehensive pre and post purchase advice and support. I’ll do my best to ensure all your pickup related questions are answered as comprehensively as I can. Please get in touch via the CONTACT page or Instagram.

  • I deliberately keep the packaging simple. Your pickups arrive in a cardboard box, wrapped in tissue paper and are protected with shredded cardboard, with no unnecessary layers or elaborate presentation packaging. I’d rather put the money into quality magnets, wire, materials and the time that goes into making each pickup than into packaging that ultimately ends up in the bin. At the end of the day, you’re paying for that, and it’s reflected in the cost set by a builder. Would you rather have £10-£15 knocked off the price, or a fancy presentation box!

    I also do it because it reduces waste, keeps the packaging easy to recycle and reflects the direction of modern packaging standards towards using only what’s necessary to protect the product. Because ultimately, you’re buying the pickup, not the box!

  • My answer is…potentially!

    There’s lots of debate on this topic and there’s certainly a case to be made with Formvar coated wire. With Formvar (F), the insulation coating is thicker compared to Plain Enamel (PE) and Polyurethane (P). This can affect the distance between wire placement and therefore the capacitance. Studies have shown that coils made with F and PE using the same number of turns, generated coils of different dimensions. The F coil resulted in less capacitance but a larger coil diameter, increasing inductance and impedance. As a consequence, this produced a cut in high frequencies but added bass. The PE coil had greater capacitance but reduced its inductance and its impedance, making the middle and treble frequencies greater. Poly coated wire is virtually identical in thickness when compared to plain enamel. However, their individual permittivity is slightly different (almost negligible!) leading to many players stating they can hear a difference.

    Dylan Talks Tone has a great video on this here

    I can only speak from my experience as both a pickup builder and electrical engineer. When it comes to electrical systems, the chemical composition of the sheath is the last thing anyone worries about and so it should be with pickups. As long as the cable is of a good grade and the sheathing is of a good quality then it is fit for purpose.

    From the research and tests I’ve carried out, I’ve found that the main factors that can affect the tone of a pickup are:

    Coil size, magnet type, cable size, cable tension, number of winds and gauss. These things are measurable and consistent, everything else is subjective.

    My understanding of why the insulation coating on the wires were changed over the years is really just down to availability, consistency and cost. Polyurethane for example has a much more uniform coating than Formvar and PE. This means it causes less issues when winding coils. It also doesn’t need the coil ends to be sanded before soldering, speeding up production. This is also my go to cable, simply because it was the first cable I worked with. I find it easy off the roll and nice to wind!

    Another thing to note is that Formvar and certain types of PE can be almost four times more expensive for builders to buy than poly. This means they produce more expensive “boutique” models. This doesn’t mean however that it will produce a great sounding pickup!