Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

[loldman]

Hi All,

I've had a Franky pickup for 4 years now and I love it to bits, kind of want to get another one, but I can't justify paying $160 for one. I've tried the following pickups so far but haven't really been impressed:

EVH Wolfgang bridge - lacking in low end/low mids and complexity up high
Custom Custom - less low mids and more low end than the Franky
AT-1 - boomy low end in comparison and piercing highs, lacking that low mid thickness.
AT-1 modded to ebmm axis spec - it's just a higher output mid-reduced version of the AT-1. No idea what people see in this pickup
Peavey wolfgang bridge - like the ebmm axis pickup but with less bass and less treble

Surely paying $160 for the franky pickup is not the only way to get that tone. I'm starting to think the Franky pickup might be the JB with windings taken off to make it 14k or maybe one under-wound JB coil and one custom coil. What else is there to try? :alcoholic

 

[Lampy H]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

I'd try a JB with an A2 mag.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Seems like you could have just bought a Franky instead of messing with the 4 pickups you did. If you paid anymore than 40 bucks a whack to try those you would have been money ahead to just buy a Franky.

You can try hybrids you might find some cool tones but the Franky pickup isnt a hybrid so I doubt you will match the tone of it. The JB2 is a cool idea but doesnt sound like the franky pickup either. The JB is the wrong wire gauge for the franky pickup so its not just an unwound one.

I wish you luck in your search

but if thats the tone you really want you can probably save yourself some money and a bunch of disappointment by just buying the one you know will work.

 

[loldman]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Seems like you could have just bought a Franky instead of messing with the 4 pickups you did. If you paid anymore than 40 bucks a whack to try those you would have been money ahead to just buy a Franky.

You can try hybrids you might find some cool tones but the Franky pickup isnt a hybrid so I doubt you will match the tone of it. The JB2 is a cool idea but doesnt sound like the franky pickup either. The JB is the wrong wire gauge for the franky pickup so its not just an unwound one.

I wish you luck in your search

but if thats the tone you really want you can probably save yourself some money and a bunch of disappointment by just buying the one you know will work.

Shame about the JB wire gauge, I thought I was on to something. Going to try a Peavey wolf bridge with A2 tonight.

Oh and by the way, just a little tid bit for anybody buying EVH wolfgang pickups, stay clear black one, it's what they put in the new wolfgang standard. It is probably not made in the USA even despite of what it says on the box (yes I paid full price for the fancy boxed pickup). It is easily identifiable:
-Slugs are flush with the bobbin on the black, they protrude about 0.5 to 0.7mm on all three zebra wolfgang pickups, that I have bought
-RoHS sticker on the back of the black one
-Completely night and day tone difference, less low mids, less lows, overall less punch, on the black pickup (Bridge pickup, haven't bought the neck)
If you ask for pics, I have 'em

 

[jmh151]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Shame about the JB wire gauge, I thought I was on to something. Going to try a Peavey wolf bridge with A2 tonight.

Oh and by the way, just a little tid bit for anybody buying EVH wolfgang pickups, stay clear black one, it's what they put in the new wolfgang standard. It is probably not made in the USA even despite of what it says on the box (yes I paid full price for the fancy boxed pickup). It is easily identifiable:
-Slugs are flush with the bobbin on the black, they protrude about 0.5 to 0.7mm on all three zebra wolfgang pickups, that I have bought
-RoHS sticker on the back of the black one
-Completely night and day tone difference, less low mids, less lows, overall less punch, on the black pickup (Bridge pickup, haven't bought the neck)
If you ask for pics, I have 'em

The black ones are used in the EVH striped series as well

I agree to stay away from the black ones. The aftermarket zebra one I got sounds fine, the one that came in my EVH striped guitar needed to be repotted

 

[loldman]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Just tried Peavey Wolf bridge with A2. It's pretty close, a touch more bass and a touch less upper mids. Not sure if common knowledge, but the the Peavey Wolf bridge HB has the slug coil aired. Makes sense. Any reason why the Franky pickup/IM1 can't be a Custom Custom with the slug coil aired?

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Seems like you could have just bought a Franky instead of messing with the 4 pickups you did. If you paid anymore than 40 bucks a whack to try those you would have been money ahead to just buy a Franky.

Buy the right one once or buy the wrong one a dozen times. Basically it's ignoring the cost of switching pickups in an effort to find a cheaper alternative to the IM1.

 

[loldman]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Buy the right one once or buy the wrong one a dozen times. Basically it's ignoring the cost of switching pickups in an effort to find a cheaper alternative to the IM1.

I know I've spent a lot of money on pickups that have turned out to not be what I'm after, but I don't regret it. I have learned a lot so far while having fun, so why not.

 

[loldman]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

So Who wants to half-air their Custom Custom?

 

[dotsdad]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Put a roughcast Alnico V magnet in the Custom Custom and enjoy!

 

[blueman335]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

I've spent a lot of money on pickups that have turned out to not be what I'm after, but I don't regret it. I have learned a lot so far while having fun, so why not.

Why not? Reread your first post on this thread. Doesn't sound like you're having a blast spending money on PU's you're disappointed in, especially since you could have long ago just gotten what you wanted and already been getting the tones you're after. You can't afford another Franky because you blew too much money on substitutes. That's 'having fun'?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Why not? Reread your first post on this thread. Doesn't sound like you're having a blast spending money on PU's you're disappointed in, especially since you could have long ago just gotten what you wanted and been getting the tones you're after. You can't afford another Franky because you blew too much money on substitutes. That's 'having fun'?

Thank you! I was confounded on that point also.

 

[loldman]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Why not? Reread your first post on this thread. Doesn't sound like you're having a blast spending money on PU's you're disappointed in, especially since you could have long ago just gotten what you wanted and been getting the tones you're after. You can't afford another Franky because you blew too much money on substitutes. That's 'having fun'?

I have bought all these pickups except the black Wolf bridge years ago, and while I do like the wolf bridge pickups, they're not doing it for me right now. Yea, I could have bought at least four other Franky/IM1s with the money I had spent on other pickups, but that wouldn't had been as fun. It's one thing to read about a pickup, it's another to try it in your axe. I don't regret buying any of those pickups and have no idea why I'm being criticized for it. I'm in a different financial situation now having just bought a house - I don't want to spend any more money.

over the weekend, I've been mixing and matching coils and magnets from my box-o-parts and have come up with some decent tones. Anybody remember Chris Carter's SIN pickups? Years ago I had bought his 14k 42AWG alnico 5 rapture bridge and his 16k 43AWG ebmm Axis clone (which sounds nothing like that famous dimarzio - muddy). I combined the Axis Screw coil and the rapture slug coil, a Ceramic 8 magnet, no screw retainer - slug coil aired. It sounds fairly nice. Definitely in the Franky/IM1 ballpark with a touch more lows and low mids, a little less high mids and a bit more treble. Harmonics out the wazoo and great clean sounds.

Edit: Here's some recordings, pardon the bad playing, amp had to be kept at bedroom volume as it's late here down under
https://soundcloud.com/stan-bloch/c8-half-air-hybrid-pickup
https://soundcloud.com/stan-bloch/evh-franky-pickup
Yes, they're in different guitars, but both are strat shape northern ash bodies, the franky has a maple neck, the other has a solid pau-ferro neck. Both equipped with flush mounted floyds and big brass blocks. The amp is well.. I designed and built it. it's different. Speaker cab is a 1x12 Sumback m75, mic'd with a nady sm57 wannabe

 

[loldman]

Re: Cheap alternative to the IM1/Franky pickup

Nobody cares?