Blast from the past: Fuglybucker. Set.

[Masta' C]

...FWIW, I do get regularly asked about how the forum feels about certain things...while I don't answer for everyone, I might point to specific threads.

That's actually really cool! Nice to know.

The fact that SD even allows us to have this forum and supports it the way they do is very generous. Look at DiMarzio...they hardly even acknowledge the user-generated forum for their own products! And the Fender.com forums...gone in a flash after more than a decade! SD is one of the only brands that actively maintains an official forum these days!

SD rocks. The forum pickups were just extra icing on the cake

 

[Mincer]

I'd like to think the forum is good for the company as well as the participants, so we all benefit from the collective knowledge here. I know I do.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Great thoughts from Masta'C and Mincer. I really appreciate all of your knowledge, experience, and input. Thanks to you and to the many more members that make this forum so valuable.

 

[Demanic]

Well if FedEx does their job, I should be able to hear them for myself by sometime next week.

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[El Dunco]

I don’t know why it was considered a failure. I think it’s really onto something. Modern voicing and medium, clean output is exactly what passives should be doing. It’s perfect for modern amps that just don’t need that kick in the face.

It has the most articulation string to string I’ve ever heard. It doesn’t lose any of it with an overdrive. It has a gorgeous clean tone with the inner coils of both pickups. split, instant country blues.


4:24 here is a great example of that sound.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Exotic and unusual, yes, which probably accounts for the fact that there weren't many made.
But I don't think the Fugly was considered a failure, except by those who'd wanted it to be a fire-breathing monster.

 

[GuitarDoc]

"There weren't many made" (at least initially) because they were only made to fill the private orders received from the forum members who designed it. It wasn't made for general public sale.

 

[uOpt]

I should mention I have no objections to the sound, just the format and mounting requirements (which came as a surprise).

As for order numbers, I think the forum was already in decline in favor of social media at the time.

 

[Mincer]

I think for the most part, the people that did order them really liked them.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

"There weren't many made" (at least initially) because they were only made to fill the private orders received from the forum members who designed it. It wasn't made for general public sale.

Yep, I understand there was never any expectation many would be ordered. Just wanted to head off any implication that the Fugly might be considered a failure from a commercial perspective. After all, the Hybrid became so popular that it's now a standard model. But the Fugly is a true exotic.

I consider the result a great pickup (aside from inconvenient mounting issues due to the oversized coil, as uOpt has pointed out).
Tone is what matters, and judged on that basis it's a success.

 

[Demanic]

Well my set came in yesterday. Today I installed them in my Shecter Blackjack. I had thought about putting them in my Jackson DXMG, but I'm very happy with the Jazzn/JB in that one.
The Blackjack has some of the best tone of all of my guitars, and while I liked the 59n/JB set that came in it, I've always thought that it deserved something unique. The Fuglies fit the bill. Now I finally have a guitar with a set of relatively lower wound A2 pickups. They are brighter than I expected.

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[Demanic]

Did a tap test on the pickups. I wired everything back up to factory. Positions 1-3-5 on the 5 way are what you would expect. Full humbucker and both full in the middle. But according to the tap test, position two gives the inside coils of both humbuckers.
Position 4 is interesting. It gives the top coil of the neck humbucker ( the PA coil) with a very slight bleedthrough from the bridge humbucker.

 

[Mincer]

Are the pickups supposed to be opposite orientation, rather than the same? I have no idea...I've never tried them.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Are the pickups supposed to be opposite orientation, rather than the same? I have no idea...I've never tried them.

Don't think so.

Personally I love the inside-coils-parallel sound in most cases, though it generally requires a mag flip to be fully humbucking.
Usually when it's done intentionally - as on PRS or using the Megaswitch P - it is in position 4.

In this case I think the wiring is supposed to give one inside and one outside coil, except that one of the pickups is mounted backwards.
AFAIK the blade is intended to be the inside coil for both neck and bridge.

Demanic, is there a reason why the bridge is turned around on this one?

 

[Artie]

Well my set came in yesterday. Today I installed them in my Shecter Blackjack.

Sweet! I have the same guitar with the El Diablo / Ric Bass pups. That guitar was made for these.

 

[Demanic]

Don't think so.

Personally I love the inside-coils-parallel sound in most cases, though it generally requires a mag flip to be fully humbucking.
Usually when it's done intentionally - as on PRS or using the Megaswitch P - it is in position 4.

In this case I think the wiring is supposed to give one inside and one outside coil, except that one of the pickups is mounted backwards.
AFAIK the blade is intended to be the inside coil for both neck and bridge.

Demanic, is there a reason why the bridge is turned around on this one?

I mounted them that way because I tend to like the sound with the rail being closest to the bridge. And I kept the orientation the same for the neck just because it seemed to make sense to do so.

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[eclecticsynergy]

I mounted them that way because I tend to like the sound with the rail being closest to the bridge. And I kept the orientation the same for the neck just because it seemed to make sense to do so.

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Makes sense. But it follows that what would have been the outer coil is now the inner one.
Wouldn't be hard to rewire so it splits to the other one, though.

 

[Demanic]

So far it sounds good the way it is and not dissimilar to the way that the switching affected the other set of pickups. So I think that I'll leave it be for now.

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[Demanic]

Was playing this guitar tonight. Loving the tones, wonder if they have anything to do with the string to pole alignment?

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[PFDarkside]

I didn’t realize these were developed into a set. I thought it was just a bridge.