Editing Lipstick pickup

{{refimprove|date=January 2012}}

[[Image:Lipstick2.jpg|thumb|Lipstick-tube pickups on a Danelectro electric guitar]]
A '''lipstick guitar pickup''' is a form of [[single-coil]] [[Pick up (music technology)|magnetic guitar pickup]], having its [[electronics]] totally encased in a [[Chrome plating|chrome-plated]] metal tube.

The lipstick-tube pickup was first introduced by [[Danelectro]] on their line of [[electric guitar]]s. The original lipstick-tube pickups were, in fact, manufactured using surplus [[lipstick]] tubes, and were featured on Danelectro, Danelectro's Coral series, and guitars that were later marketed through [[Sears, Roebuck and Company]] department stores under the name [[Silvertone (instruments)|Silvertone]].

These pickups continue to be featured on Danelectro and other guitars. Current production pickups are not made using lipstick tubes, but tubes manufactured specifically for guitar pickups.

== Construction ==

Unlike a traditional guitar pickup that uses a plastic or fiber [[bobbin]] as a form for winding its coil, the lipstick-tube pickup has its coil wrapped around an [[alnico]] VI bar [[magnet]], and then wrapped in tape, usually a [[cellophane]]-type tape on vintage units, before being inserted into the metal tube casing.  Most vintage [[Danelectro]] guitars had their pickups mounted using spring-loaded brackets underneath the tube casing, which could be adjusted for height by means of screws located on the back of the guitar body. Other Danelectro guitars, like the Coral hollowbody series, suspended the pickups from the guitar's top with two screws threaded through the guitar's top and into the brackets.  Modern lipstick-tube pickups are usually mounted in a [[pickguard]] like on a [[Stratocaster]].

Vintage [[Danelectro]] lipstick-tube pickups are quite wide, at 3.22&nbsp;in (8.18&nbsp;cm) overall. They cannot be retrofitted into a [[Stratocaster]] or similar guitar without removing plastic from the pickguard and wood from the guitar body.  To overcome this situation, a variety of aftermarket lipstick-tube pickups have been offered that are the same general width as the common [[Stratocaster]] style single-coils, with a 2.77&nbsp;in (7.04&nbsp;cm) wide tube casing.<ref name="tele-note">The [[Fender Telecaster]]'s [[Guitar#Neck|neck]]-position pickup, despite its appearance, is not a lipstick-tube pickup. It is a traditional single-coil pickup under a chrome-plated cover.</ref> More recently, [[Fender Musical Instruments Corporation|Fender]] themselves introduced a Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan designed lipstick-tube pickups for their [[Squier]] line, called the Surf Stratocaster and a Fender factory special run (FSR) American Standard Stratocaster with [[Seymour Duncan]] SLS-1 lipstick pickups, as well as offering the same SLS-1 pickups as a [[Fender Custom Shop|Custom Shop]] option.

== Sound ==

The sound of lipstick-tube pickups is frequently described as "jangly" and is most closely associated with [[surf rock|surf]], [[rockabilly]], and [[jangle pop]].

== Notes ==
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[[Category:Guitar pickups]]