I tend to make more vintage style humbuckers, but recently I was listening to some YT clips from Anderton's in the UK. Pete Honor was playing a purple tele that got out of the custom shop with unusual pickups.

The neck was taller than normal, so much so the cover barely fit. The tall magnets gave it a bit of a strat neck tone.

The bridge was meant to be a traditional Broadcaster type, with flat poles, a higher level of wind (w/ 43AWG) and extra midrange. But it turned all that up to 11. It also was fitted with a bottom plate that was nearly twice as thick as a normal plate. That added inductance gave it a lot of attitude and bite.

I had a spare Tele that was a little unloved due to Fender Noiseless pickups, a too thin neck and heavy hardware. It was not ergonomic or good sounding.

So, I set out to approximate those features on an experimental set of T-pickups (Plum Danish) as part of the Tele overhaul. I went a little further on these pickups and mixed magnets, so the neck had A3 for E and A strings, then A5 for the rest, to prevent wooliness and retain bell-like highs. The bridge, on the other hand, started with A5 for the E, A and D, then used taller A2 rods for the unwound strings.

Reading the Gauss strength, across the different rods made me a little nervous, but in actual use, the sound is well balanced. The inductance and resistance of the coils ended up close to Pete's pickups (and the custom recreations made by Monty's of London) but I used my favorite 42.5 AWG custom gauge wire. Oh, to get the extra inductance, rather than use 2 bridge plates, I brazed on the flat steel slug from a minihumbucker to the back of a regular Tele plate, directly below the magnets.

The effect was pretty good. A strong, bell like neck tone that doesn't get sloppy on the big E string and a punchy bridge sound that has some twang but responds well to any level of gain, from amp or pedal.

Things were going so well, I started simultaneously building an inexpensive strat, from wood parts I got during a labor day sale. It was a hardtail (!) and I made a similar set for it, with mixed magnets, all A3, slightly oversized and tall, for the neck, all A5 for a chimey middle and Strat bridge made like a Tele bridge, with A5 and A2 rods and a plate. So far, that is only about 70% done, but I am dying to hear them.

I'll work on some pictures and clips if anybody is interested.

Hello i just wanted to post this picture i made some time ago :

https://preview.redd.it/jsckoqopk8ya1.jpg?width=768&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=682a27c1432fbcfdf85e4b9324f186a7f1ffd886

After a lot of research and new infos after Ed's death here is the what i've found.

For VH1 Frankie : Eddie had a 1963 es 335. This is where the paf from the frankie comes from. You can see the early unpainted version of the frankie with a zebra paf with holes in the bobbins. He damaged it and seymour rewound it with black bobbins. Seymour then tried to sold it as the duncan custom because it was the first custom shop humbucker. After the add was removed you had to call the custom shop to get this pickup. Many thought i was the sh-5 but no at all This is the 78 model. It is 9k however it comes with alnico 2 instead of V. How do we know it is short alnico V. There are 2 reasons es 335 from 1963 mostly had short alnico V magnets. The second reason is that in one picture of the bee humbucker which has the paf original magnet you can clearly see and measure the magnet and it is approximatively 2.25 inches. Those dimensions were used for alnico V.

For VH1 shark : the songs in Vh1 were recorded with the stock super 70's humbuckers you can clearly see them in the clip of running with the devil.

For Vh2 bumblebee : It didn't use a mighty mite as there are holes in the bobbins. Van halen took a dimarzio super distortion, took the magnet from the paf and swapped it with the ceramic magnet. he covered the coils with copper shielding and then dipped the humbucker in parafin wax. He destroyed 3 super distortions before getting the wax pot right. those infos were taken from the evh fender website, pictures and interviews.

For the frankie after VH2 : Eddie loved his bee humbucker and asked duncan to clone it. Duncan certainly came with variants of it. Like the custom custom. those are all 14k humbuckers. Eddie finally settled with alnico 2 and he used it for fair warning and women and children first. This is the humbucker sold by evh and the seymour duncan custom shop (frankenstein humbucker).

For 1984 : Dimarzio inspected the kramer 5150 humbucker when they were designing the axis humbuckers. They confirmed it was a damaged duncan Jb which read 180k output. You can read about this story if you look for the pdf remembering van halen in dimarzio stories.

i hope this will help you find the humbuckers you need to play your favorite van halen riffs.

Lately I'm thinking of buying some new pickups a sd JB for bridge and ssl2 for middle but i'm in dilemma whatever to choose hot rails or JB Jr for neck. any suggestions?

Just decided to drill a hole and put a middle humbucker on my Epiphone Les Paul Custom. I'm planned to buy new humbuckers to replace the original humbuckers as well, any suggestions for the humbuckers combination? (HHH) *For hard rock

Any experience or comments comparing these two pickups? Feel free to offer alternatives.

Longer term, I am looking for a permanent setup for modern percussive finger style. In other words, dual source pickup with stereo jack output.

Anyone know anything about these pickups? I've been really wanting to turn my SSS strat into a HSH strat, but worried this might be a bit too good to be true. Thanks!

This pickup is a blade humbucker with a narrow bobbin to fit inside a single-coil guitar.

Now, the humbucker I've come across before have 2 wires. Nice and easy. This one has 4: white, red, green, and black. The wiring diagram on the box isn't helpful because it's for actual single coils. And to further confuse things, I have found out that there is no standardisation between manufacturers as to what the 4 colours mean.

I know that I have to join 2 together. Does anybody know which two in belcat pickups, or how I can find out?

I'm working on a guitar for a friend and it came to me with 3 P90s, 4 knobs, and modded with a 5-way switch. I didn't intend to change the wiring, but I can't figure out what's happening with the interaction between the switch and the knobs, and I'm not even sure how the 5-way switch with 3 pickups could allow a 2-volume/ 2-tone config.

Right now, both "volume" knobs are active in all 5 switch positions, and almost seem to be interacting in a pre/post manner. One of the tone knobs doesn't seem to do anything except slightly change the background buzz.

(edit) I guess I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to set it up:
- leave it as-is, it's definitely not optimal
- is there a way to use the 5-way 3-pickup setup with 2-vol, 2-tone knob config? (I don't think so)
- keep the 5 way switch, and configure the knobs as 3-volume 1-tone, also not "normal", but potentially useful
- go back to the original 3-pickup, 3-way switch, 2 vol, 2 tone config. This is a '65 non-reverse firebird, and there may be some value in keeping it closer to the original setup.

I’ve been googling and searching sold listings and can’t quite find a match for these. As best I can tell from the markings they’re hand wound 54 clones/copies. Anybody got an idea on the make?

Building a custom, one-off guitar and the goal is to have a de tuned sludge doom metal monster. Any suggestions for humbucker pickups? No budget yet for this….why I need help to figure it out . Vintage ; second hand, cheap , boutique , active / passive……GO!

Fender Deluxe Strat 60th Anniv. 2006

Thank you?

I've got a Cort KX508MS that comes stock with fishman moderns. 3 way switch and two p/p pots- one for second voice and one for coil ?split/tap?

The sound I'm getting from all voices is a kind of honky single coil sound. I assumed I didn't like the moderns as much as the Stephen Carpenter set in another guitar so I did a plug n play swap for them, soldering the coil split lead onto the new set just like on the moderns. Unfortunately, I'm getting the same sound, but putting those stock moderns in another guitar WITHOUT the coil tap lead, they sound how I expect them to.

I haven't found a thread anywhere of a similar issue, and I'm sure there's a wiring mishap somewhere. Would it be possible to simply unsolder the coil tap and leave that wire taped off in the body? Or will I only create more issues? Any advice or suggestion is very appreciated. Thank you!

I've recently became acquainted with the concept of a low impedance pickup and I have a question, what is the difference between a regular Les Paul recording pickup for example, versus an EMG pickup for example?

Other than of course the fact that the Les Paul Recording was made to plug in straight to a console or mixer and be absolutely as clean as possible, and that the EMG pickup is made to be a hot, high Gain sound which essentially makes them opposite in nature, what else is the difference?

How similar would they be if you remove the pre amplification from an EMG pickup?

Is there a way to tell the make/model of this Seymour Duncan pickup?

https://preview.redd.it/tvu9ci85m0xa1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9cd68d68ec46bf26e46af2ed930024f832addd7f

Planning a custom guitar build and looking for pickup suggestions. It will be a dual humbucker setup. Guitar will be primary down tuned for playing doom / stoner / sludge with some death metal in there. Let hear em!

EMG 81x/85x (preferred) and 81/85 sets are a frightful price and basically impossible to get second hand for a 6 string for less than a new one.

Are there any other alternatives that give a similar experience for considerably less?

Im not too sure what it is, I was thinking its either some weird humbucker with 4 screws or just 2 single coil pickups stuck together.

Does anyone here know if the DeArmond/Gretsch Dynasonic pickups would fit in the same hole a mini humbucker on a firebird sits in? They look to be about the same size as a p90 and i know they’re interchangeable with mini humbucker routs. Didn’t know if it was the same for the DeArmond pickups or not.

I havea 2014 Burny LP. I also have an EMG 81/85 set I got used. Seller claims to have taken it off his Jackson but it comes with solderless connections. The parts resembled the diagram below from EMG, only difference is the stereo jack is not solderless and needs the battery and tone pot wires soldered.

I have installed all the parts that came with the pickups, including the stereo jack, as per the diagram and made sure the connections are correct too. FWIW I also purchased a brand new Energizer 9V battery though from experience, a lack of battery only leads to low signal output, not total loss of sound. I have also made sure the amp and guitar cable work fine with other guitars. Could anyone kindly point me to where the usual culprits are for when EMGs make no sound?