Guitar Geekery
Did a very guitar geeky thing this week.
After trying in vain to find someplace that would sell me a set of Lindy Fralin Blues Specials for several days, I did some research on other boutique guitar pickup builders, and found O.C. Duff. I hadn't heard Duff's (I have heard Fralin's) and so I sent him an email asking some questions and seeking his advice. He actually answered me, we had a nice conversation, and I order pickups from him that he is custom winding to meet the tonal requirements that I described. How cool is that? It's not a "set" - it's MINE. :) I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.
I'm refitting my 1968 Reissue Fender Paisely Telecaster with custom pickups and a 4-way switch. I'll probably add locking tuners to it as well. The current pickups are quite nice, and very Tele-y, but since this is my third Telecaster (hangs head in shame) I wanted something a bit different.
Owen suggested (and I accepted) a set that consists of a vintage Broadcaster type bridge pickup - this is wound a bit hotter so has a bit less high end and more mid punch - and a tele/strat pickup in the neck. This is a long magnet pickup wound with strat wire and wound hotter than a typical tele neck pickup, to give me a nice warm blusey tone in the neck. He's going to Reverse Wind Reverse Polarity the pickups (for hum cancellation when both pickups are turned on), and he's even gonig to solder in the extra wire on the neck pickup for the 4 way switch.
The 4-way swtich mod give an extra 2 pickup setting - so the settings will be 1 - Bridge, 2 - Neck and Bridge in parallel, 3 - neck, 4 neck and bridge in series. The "series" setting is the new one, and gives a thicker, fatter sound - just another tonal possibility. :)
So if you ever are in the market for custom pickups for your electric guitar, I highly recommend O.C. Duff. I'll be sure to give a full review when I get them and get them installed.
After trying in vain to find someplace that would sell me a set of Lindy Fralin Blues Specials for several days, I did some research on other boutique guitar pickup builders, and found O.C. Duff. I hadn't heard Duff's (I have heard Fralin's) and so I sent him an email asking some questions and seeking his advice. He actually answered me, we had a nice conversation, and I order pickups from him that he is custom winding to meet the tonal requirements that I described. How cool is that? It's not a "set" - it's MINE. :) I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.
I'm refitting my 1968 Reissue Fender Paisely Telecaster with custom pickups and a 4-way switch. I'll probably add locking tuners to it as well. The current pickups are quite nice, and very Tele-y, but since this is my third Telecaster (hangs head in shame) I wanted something a bit different.
Owen suggested (and I accepted) a set that consists of a vintage Broadcaster type bridge pickup - this is wound a bit hotter so has a bit less high end and more mid punch - and a tele/strat pickup in the neck. This is a long magnet pickup wound with strat wire and wound hotter than a typical tele neck pickup, to give me a nice warm blusey tone in the neck. He's going to Reverse Wind Reverse Polarity the pickups (for hum cancellation when both pickups are turned on), and he's even gonig to solder in the extra wire on the neck pickup for the 4 way switch.
The 4-way swtich mod give an extra 2 pickup setting - so the settings will be 1 - Bridge, 2 - Neck and Bridge in parallel, 3 - neck, 4 neck and bridge in series. The "series" setting is the new one, and gives a thicker, fatter sound - just another tonal possibility. :)
So if you ever are in the market for custom pickups for your electric guitar, I highly recommend O.C. Duff. I'll be sure to give a full review when I get them and get them installed.