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Hey guys,

Do a lot of you find the hand wound pickups on the market a big step above the standard and high quality Duimarzios and Duncans on the market? I am wondering if many of you made the jump only to come back. I can honestly say I have moved to the boutique pick and string makers and notice a nice difference but am on the fence with the whole pickup thing...

The vast majority of my pickups in the future will come from Jon Moore, a one-man show up in Canada whose scatterwinding gives you the best combination of dynamics, COMPLETE mids, and treble clarity and sparkle that I've ever heard.

I will occasionally buy a Duncan, especially for single coils (Moore hasn't branched out into singles yet) from time to time, but until something happens to this guy, he is my main man...

Can you send me a private message on this? I forgot his info.

After trying a few of the Boutique pups and being dissapionted in the end I am happy to be back with or anyone else that sells pups at fair prices. Wagners are way over priced and hyped ........I found out the hard way!


Originally Posted by papersoulCan you send me a private message on this? I forgot his info.

Check your mail. He'll make you just about anything you want, so if you're looking to experiment, don't be afraid to ask about it.

ive tried a bunch of boutique pups and still love the antiquitys strats and buckers.
my aps/twangbanger set is one of my favorites and thats normal production stuff


Originally Posted by papersoulHey guys,

Do a lot of you find the hand wound pickups on the market a big step above the standard and high quality Duimarzios and Duncans on the market? I am wondering if many of you made the jump only to come back. I can honestly say I have moved to the boutique pick and string makers and notice a nice difference but am on the fence with the whole pickup thing...

As a certified old fart who got into pickup replacement when Dimarzio/Duncan/ first came on the scene, I have tried and use a wide variety of pickups.

I agree with Zhangligun about Jon Moores pickups. Great, great stuff. I am very please with the pickups Jon has wound for me. He was easy to deal with, fair priced, had qucik turn around and most of all, NAILED what I wanted in a pickup. I've referred several people to him and they are also very impressed with Jons pups. Lollars, Electrokraft, Fralins, Rolphs, ect are also top notch, toneful pickups.

That said, I also use Ducnan, Dimarzio, Golden Age and hand made Korean pups in a few of my guitars.

It all boils down to what your looking for tone wise and how much money you want to spend.

I think Duncans Seth Lovers and Antiquites ( tele, strat and bucker ) take a back set to no one as far as tone and build quality goes. DiMarzio offers some excellent sounding pickups. I'm ver yimpressed with the tone from their VV series. After trying various off the shelf and botique tele bridge pups for a homebrew, my search ended ( for now anyway! ) with a VV Hot T. It gives me the blend of spank and girth I was searching for.

You can drive yourself nuts with searching for quot;the one.quot; All I can say is try a Moore, Lollar, High Order, et cet and see if they do it for you. Let your ears be the judge. You never know. It may turn out that GFS has what your looking for. I've used a few of their pickups with excellent results.

Of all of the pickups that I have tried over the years, the Antiquity's and Seth Lovers have been the best IMHO for tone and quality. That said, there are many great pups and makers out there in all price ranges.


Originally Posted by ZhangliqunThe vast majority of my pickups in the future will come from Jon Moore, a one-man show up in Canada whose scatterwinding gives you the best combination of dynamics, COMPLETE mids, and treble clarity and sparkle that I've ever heard.

I will occasionally buy a Duncan, especially for single coils (Moore hasn't branched out into singles yet) from time to time, but until something happens to this guy, he is my main man...

More info on this John Moore, please! I live in Canada and this might be very easy for me.


Originally Posted by twoheadedboyMore info on this John Moore, please! I live in Canada and this might be very easy for me.

e-mail: rhonjon@sympatico.ca

Michael Gray, the one man in charge of Chubtone pickups, makes handwound pickups that sound beyond amazing for CHEAP.

Got a link for Chubtone?

Does Jon Moore do P-90s?quot;


Originally Posted by ZhangliqunGot a link for Chubtone?

mgray55@hotmail.com is his e-mail. He will e-mail you back with a list of his offerings. His work is outstanding...

Mark

Has anyone heard or owned Tim Allen's Timbucker's? He' out of Alabama and handwinding/building pups to order [in his spare time]. His pick-ups HANDS-DOWN sound better than the SETHs and ANTs. VooDoo's sound better than the Seths. You can find his address and # at the Gibson-LPF. I had it but its been a couple years now. But check out the sound clips there. You be the judge. Thats how I found him a few years back. I have Seths in a couple of my guitars. Because they are factory stock in both guitars I won't change them. But I don't care for the Seth in the bridge, the neck is OK. And like I said the TIMBUCKERS are the go to pick-up. And he will build them anyway you desire. Last time we talked he was winding them as a PAF style and also doing a set that was overwound and hotter. But there non-waxed, non-potted pups like Original Pafs or Seths. He was charging 240 a set shipping. Fralins are higher than that! As are Seths! But as I said this was two years ago. I know they are still raving about them, there was a thread on the LPF-TONE-ZONE this past week-end with sound clips etc etc. I didn't really get into it cause I'm all set with pups at the moment. So you'll have to check the price's.

I won't get into the tone debate..as it's all subjective...to my ears,some of the really expensive pups sound really good, some don't sound any better than DiMarzio SuperD's (personally I'd go Bareknuckles if I was gonna spend the $, and someday I just might cos' I'm an idiot like that ).

To play devil's advocate though

1) Being put on a waiting list for 1-2 years for a pickup IMO is just plain ridiculous...I understand the dude only has so much time, but yeesh,..Only thing I'd wait 1 to 2 years for is Jessica Simpson to marry me

2) Somebody said Seths are more than $240 for a set..Seths are about 100 bucks apiece...i.e. $200 for a set. Antiquities are about $250 I believe.

3) Prices are outrageous for boutique pups..just like boutique amps...and like the boutique amps I've played, most of them really aren't THAT much better (and many aren't even that GOOD), certainly not considering the cost differential....I see just as many people going through boutique pups and amps as I do people with less expensive gear....chasing a tone they most likely will never find , cos even if you have your hero's gear nailed to a quot;Tquot;, your fingers and brain will never be the same (and the manufacturers know and eat this $hit up). I'm as guilty as anyone...we all are...but I know *I* need to be reminded of this from time to time

4) Duncans are hard to beat for the $. They may not offer THE sound you are looking for but they've pretty much got something for everyone, and for most people are more than adequate. And at reasonable prices.

thats my 2 coppers anyhoo

What about Bareknuckles, ive always bought but the Bareknuckle Van Halen pickups interest me and id like to try a set in my strat, has anyone got anything to say about these pickups or the quality of bareknuckle in general?

My 2 and a half cents' worth...

1. I'm completely sold on HighOrder pickups. I think they're better than mass-produced stuff. The tone will make you want to throw your DiMarzios in the toilet. Just my opinion, though. Typically a 2-month wait, not 2 years.

2. The real advantage of dealing with small-business pickup makers is being able to discuss the tone you want, the guitar they're going in, etc. with the pickup winder himself. He's usually got enough experience to make the right recommendation for your taste.

3. I often find myself studying catalogs by the big manufacturers to get insight on the tone of different pickups. Ever do this? Ever notice how every pickup has the perfect low end, high end, mids...the perfect pickup for YOU. Based on the Duncan catalogs, for example, I want to buy every pickup in the book. In reality, the right pickup is the only one you need. Major pickup manufacturers do not make it easy to find the right pickup.

4. No pickup is worth more than $100. If I can't find great pickups under $100, I'll start winding them myself. Yes, making great sounding pickups is an art, but some people just charge way too much. I do not need NOS wire or bobbins or anything else that the manufacturer has discovered and bought the entire stock so he can sell it to you for big bucks.

5. I would still consider major manufacturer pickups if their pickups were significantly cheaper than any boutique pickup maker. Is a $150 boutique P-90 better than a $75 Duncan P-90. Probably. Is it twice as good? I doubt it.

Tim has recently had a nice post on a similar topic at the Bare Knuckle Forum:Originally Posted by TimPlain enamel is a lovelly wire for detailed response, especially in the mids.It also produces a nice flat response too...........no nasty spikes.Having said that , it's not right for every job but we do use it alot.
As usual it's twice the price of polysol but the reward is in the tone.

As for components in other makers p/ups, I try not to comment as it looks like I'm running other peoples work down which is unfair especially when they're not here to defend themselves.However, afew 'observations' baed on some you've mentioned.Jim at WCR coils makes nice pickups, we've had a few come through for rewinding and they where made very well, mostly from stock Allparts components and polysol wire.His potting is a little unusual and the most frequent problem I'm asked to fix by players using his stuff is that of microphony.All in all though not too bad although they are the most expensive of all the small winders especially once you factor in the cost of covers, 4 conductor etc all of which add extra to WCR price.

I have to be honest and say Rio Grande pickups have the worst components of any of the 'bigger' makers, worse than Dimarzio even. We've had lots come through for rewind and the parts have been virtually unusable, very poor quality and wrong materials.The tone is OK but very dark generally because they're overwound with what I'd consider the wrong gauge wire.........always polysol too hence the dark mids and spikes. Again they have some interesting models which do some very clever things...............just don't ask me to rewind one again though

Your PRS pickups, if they are early ones, were made by PRS themselves.Later ones, post factory move, are predominantly Gotoh pickups and if they're working for you then that's great.If you're happy with a tone you're getting from whatever pickup or piece of equipment then that's the main thing.........it shouldn't matter what anyone else says.

I'd like to point out that although I've commented on some other makers pickups in this thread, in no way am I trying to infer they're cr@p or not worth looking into.The observations are based purely on units we've had through the workshop for repair and rewinding.It's always best to check out everything that's available...........what doesn't work for one player may well be amazing for another.

In answer to your orininal thread I've tried just about most pickup manufacturers small and large over the years, some good some not so but my fav has to be a pair of Tom Holmes pickups lent to me by B3 a few years ago.They were really good and seriously gave me something to aspire to.

Originally Posted by twoheadedboyDoes Jon Moore do P-90s?quot;

No, not yet. Although if you have a P-90 laying around, he might be able to re-wind it for you.