Re: Any experience with a Charlie Christian PU?
t's not just the blade, but the whole construction and sound of the pickup.
The originals used huge cobalt steel magnets, (the two long bars in the picture below.) They actually played a major role in holding not just the pickup together, but attaching it to the guitar's top.
These magnets had to be so big, because cobalt steel magnets of the 30's were very low gauss, So even with those big magnets, there wasn't much magnetic force.
The wire was 38 gauge(!) which is essentially, a huge wire. No one uses it nowadays, unless replicating this pickup. It's just too big.
In fact it's so big, they couldn't get many wraps around the bobbin before it would be full.
It was a revolutionary design, but not very efficient. It weighs 2 lbs., takes a long time to build, is particularly prone to breakdowns and noise.
I've also heard that the cobalt steel magnets lose magnetism much more than in later pickup designs, (can't confirm that, though.)
As a result of the wire and magnets, even though it was a huge pickup, it generally only had a DC resistance of 2.5-4k ohms, with plenty of examples reading around 1-1.5k.
But the thing is, all these features combined to create a very unique sound. The appealing thing about the Charlie Christian pickup is that it has a lot of power and warmth, but also a lot of clarity and responsiveness. It doesn't have the output of a distortion pickup, but it does put out a good amount of volume, often comparable to a P-90 with a much higher DC reading.
People compare them to P-90's in tone, and while this is true to some extent, to my ear, they're a much more complex tone with a greater frequency range and clarity. Some modern P-90's, (esp. Lollar's low-winds,) and single-coils like DeArmonds have some similar characteristics, but it's hard to find another pickup with the same combination of warmth and clarity.
This is why so many jazz and blues players hold it in such high regard.
What winders like Kent Armstrong, (I think he was first,) Pete Biltoft, Jason Lollar, and Dave Stephens, have managed to do, is to substitute strong, much smaller alnico magnets for the original steel bars.
I'm sure there's a lot more work that goes into it, however, in order to maintain that unique tone and not turn it into a P-90 with a blade.
Charlie Christian, T-Bone Walker, Oscar Moore, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, and many, many more are among the players who made it so famous. Gibson even offered it as an option for 20 years after they stopped using it on production models, and they brought it back in the 70's for the ES-175CC.
In the 70's and 80's, Danny Gatton re-popularized it, and also showed it could be surprisingly versatile. It even sounds great with some overdrive. Lot's of guys like Redd Volkert, Vince Gill and other country and rockabilly players have discovered what a great neck pickup it makes
It was also very influential on Bill Lawrence and Joe Barden, (and subsequently Seymour Duncan and Larry Dimarzio,) as far as design features and tone.
Soloway guitars are often shipped with Biltoft's humbucker-sized Charlie Christian pickups, Soloway Guitars - Listen, they used to post a lot of mp3's to show off the different tones.
In addition, there's a UK company that's producing incredible, very accurate vintage reproductions of the pickup: Charlie Christian Pickups - CC Pickups
Hope this answered some of your questions. I've been a fan of this pickup since I was a boy: nothing else sounds quite like it.
It's so nice that it's back, and in many different options.
Pete Biltoft is even producing versions that fit in Strat, Tele and P-90 slots, with a choice of colors!
Take care!
