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Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

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  • Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

    Around 1992 or so I bought an abused guitar that had a pretty new looking Schaller humbucker in the bridge position. I took the guitar apart to refinish the body and make a new pickguard and when I was assembling it I discovered it was a 4-conductor wire. First I had seen in my limited experience. So I messed with the wiring until I had both coils working and put it into the neck position with a Super Distortion in the bridge.

    That pickup had a very hard, bright tone that I really liked in the neck spot. It was actually surfy sounding!

    My question is this: what the heck was that pickup? I only know it was black, had the standard slug/screw setup, and a "bridge" or "lead" sticker on the bottom plate.

    Did Schaller make a really bright, crisp humbucker? OR did I accidentally wire it in parallel? If that is the case, did they make a pickup with high enough output to sound ok in parallel and balance with a Super D in the bridge?? It was hotter than a Jazzmaster pickup the way I had it wired. (I know because I eventually put it in my band mate's Jazzmaster in the bridge position. It had more oomph than his stock pickup and got rid of the hum but was still clangy so we were both happy.)

  • #2
    Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

    The only Schaller HB's that I remember as matching your depiction are Golden50's: they were advertised as P.A.F. replicas but were actually closer to Gibson T-Top's, with the related tone. IME, they were certainly bright and crisp.

    If memory serves me, Michael Schenker considered these PU's as spot on substitutes for T-Top's and used them.
    Last edited by freefrog; 01-11-2020, 02:36 AM.
    Duncan user since the 80's...

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    • #3
      Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

      80's and 90's Schaller pickups were made by Shadow Electronics in Europe. They are good stuff.
      aka Chris Pile, formerly of Six String Fever

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      • #4
        Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

        Originally posted by freefrog View Post
        The only Schaller HB's that I remember as matching your depiction are Golden50's: they were advertised as P.A.F. replicas but were actually closer to Gibson T-Top's, with the related tone. IME, they were certainly bright and crisp.

        If memory serves me, Michael Schenker considered these PU's as spot on substitutes for T-Top's and used them.
        This is about the extent of my knowledge on Schaller pups too.
        They were factory pickups in Kramer guitars for a time. Later they started using Duncans.

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        • #5
          Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

          Golden 50, eh? Alrighty then, I will keep that in mind in the future.
          Thanks fellas!

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          • #6
            Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

            Originally posted by Dave Locher View Post
            Golden 50, eh? Alrighty then, I will keep that in mind in the future.
            Thanks fellas!
            If you snap some pics and post in the Kramer forumz.....those guys would know for sure what you have.

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            • #7
              Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

              I remember the Guitar World from when Michael Schenker released his album Perfect Timing. He said he had his Aria Flying V modified to quick mount pickups and he did blind trials with dozens of pickups and his choice for that album was Schaller PAF's. My experience with them was they were hard, loud and bright sounding.

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              • #8
                Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

                Originally posted by idsnowdog View Post
                I remember the Guitar World from when Michael Schenker released his album Perfect Timing. He said he had his Aria Flying V modified to quick mount pickups and he did blind trials with dozens of pickups and his choice for that album was Schaller PAF's. My experience with them was they were hard, loud and bright sounding.
                Hard, loud, and bright is EXACTLY how it sounded!
                That was quicker and easier than I expected.

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                • #9
                  Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

                  Originally posted by Dave Locher View Post
                  Hard, loud, and bright is EXACTLY how it sounded!
                  That was quicker and easier than I expected.
                  If people think the 59 sounds too hard and modern those Schaller's aren't a great choice because they are even stiffer. They could work as a neck pickup but you have to roll back the volume quite a bit.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Anybody familiar with circa 1990 Schaller humbuckers?

                    You don't have to roll back the volume when the bridge pickup is a Super Distortion! (At least not in that guitar.)

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