Dirty Fingers Review

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

I've been a vintage DF user on and off for years. I have one in a short-scale strat right now that is just brutal.

I'm thinking of putting it in my '79 Les Paul... I should be a good match for the T-Top in the neck.

Looks good in your Paul bro!
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Christopher Caruana said:
Ya I had too before I decided to get it. If you really want to know what it sounds like. Listen to Whitesnake's self titled album (I think from '87) The guitar player John Sykes used a DF in his LP custom on most of that album. And listen to all the early Scorpions stuff; most of that was a DF in a gibson explorer. That's what I listened to, and it gives a pretty good demo of what to expect from that pickup.
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check out the late thin lizzy stuff too, like the "thunder and lightning" album, and their BBC special breakup tour.
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Christopher Caruana said:
So I never wrote a formal review of the DF I dropped into my LP.

2003 Gibson LP classic

(Neck) Alnico II Pro

(Bridge) Alnico II Pro.......changed to.........Dirty Fingers

The first thing I hear is how much more compressed and tighter the sound and feel of the dirty fingers is compaired to the A2P.

The clean tones are very tight, but still very articulate for a ceramic humbucker but not as open and loose as the A2P. It is actually goes very good, paired with the A2P in the neck. It has one of the nicer sounding clean tones I've heard out of a ceramic pickup. With a hard pick attack, the speaker will break up just a tad.

The lead tones out of this thing are amazing! At a low gain setting it does a pretty good AC/DC sound for how hot it is. On a mid to high gain setting, This thing does a great 80's big hair/hard rock tone. The first couple of bands that come to my mind when hearing this pickup are: Scorpions (early years), Whitesnake (John Sykes era), and Firehouse. Again, just like the clean tones, the DF is very tight and compressed, but still highly articulate. The sustain is incredible!! and pinched harmonics just SCREAM!! It is a very aggressive sounding pickup. For being so hot, it still is able to cover a very wide range of musical sounds.

I was going for a John Sykes/Steve Clark type sound from the bridge with the DF, and a Slash type sound from the neck with the A2P and that is just what I got!! :friday:
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The Dirty Fingers HB pups are comparable to the JB HB pups by SD (a hot or slightly overwound PAF), and if I'm not mistaken the magnets used in the Gibson Dirty Fingers HB pups are A5 magnets as well.
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Southbound Suarez said:
The Dirty Fingers HB pups are comparable to the JB HB pups by SD (a hot or slightly overwound PAF), and if I'm not mistaken the magnets used in the Gibson Dirty Fingers HB pups are A5 magnets as well.
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The Dirty Fingers is wound to about 17.1k and has 3 ceramic magnets. I dont really see how that compairs to the JB? The Dirty Fingers is SUPER hot.
 
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Re: Dirty Fingers Review

The original Diry Fingers is really hot. I don't know what others are experiencing with the reissue, but I love how the hotness matches up perfectly with the tune-o-matic bridge.

A Dirty Fingers actually forces the player to lay the meat of the back edge of the palm on the bridge to control all the extraneous blasts that happen.

The Dirty Fingers I love has the ability to make tones louder after they are strummed! All ya do is strum a chord while heavily palm muting, hold it, and lift/roll the palm back to add "wild decaying roar".

To be honest, I don't know what John Sykes sounds like.
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Sounds like a DD to me then. I didn't know it has the triple magnets.

So it's just a awg44 500T?
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Christopher Caruana said:
The Dirty Fingers is wound to about 17.1k and has 3 ceramic magnets. I dont really see how that compairs to the JB? The Dirty Fingers is SUPER hot.
Click to expand...

I don't know about the 2000 era Gibson Dirty Fingers HB pups, but the ones made back in the 80's to 90's most assuredly were not. I can most definitely hear the difference between lets say a SD Invader, DiMarzio Super Distortion, and Gibson Dirty Fingers pups. I mean Sheeeeeeit! 17.1K seems like they would either blow speakers or overload the front end of an amp not to mention sound like MUD, plus how would you keep the strings from permanently attaching themselves to the fillister head screws on each pup with 3 internally loaded ceramic bar magnets pulling at the strings?
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Southbound Suarez said:
I don't know about the 2000 era Gibson Dirty Fingers HB pups, but the ones made back in the 80's to 90's most assuredly were not. I can most definitely hear the difference between lets say a SD Invader, DiMarzio Super Distortion, and Gibson Dirty Fingers pups. I mean Sheeeeeeit! 17.1K seems like they would either blow speakers or overload the front end of an amp not to mention sound like MUD, plus how would you keep the strings from permanently attaching themselves to the fillister head screws on each pup with 3 internally loaded ceramic bar magnets pulling at the strings?
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17 K would actually be quite low for a awg44 wind, and pretty bright by high-gain pickup standards.

A JB with A2 also has more highs than a CC although it has more A/C resistance. Why? Because the thinner wire drives up resistance but the coil is very small and compact, it doesn't have more actual winds than the lower A/C awg43 coils.
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Southbound Suarez said:
I don't know about the 2000 era Gibson Dirty Fingers HB pups, but the ones made back in the 80's to 90's most assuredly were not. I can most definitely hear the difference between lets say a SD Invader, DiMarzio Super Distortion, and Gibson Dirty Fingers pups. I mean Sheeeeeeit! 17.1K seems like they would either blow speakers or overload the front end of an amp not to mention sound like MUD, plus how would you keep the strings from permanently attaching themselves to the fillister head screws on each pup with 3 internally loaded ceramic bar magnets pulling at the strings?
Click to expand...

The 2000 era DF pickups are the same as the Vintage DF pickups. They are the same because they are DF "reissue" pickups. I also contacted Gibson, and they said they are the same. They wouldn't tell me the wire size, but they said these are reissue models based off of the late 70's/early 80's model that came stock in some of their LP, Explorer and Fling V guitars in the mid 80's. 3 Ceramic magnets and ranges anywhere from 16.1k - 17.4k.
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

I know Sykes switched to 57 Classics at some point.

Also, how hot are the Fingers? I have a PRS Dragon bridge pickup - ceramic that is hot but has GREAT clean tones especially split!
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

DF doesn't compare to any Duncans IMO. It's a pretty unique creature.

It has a hair about it - kind of like the fizz people report on a PG's high end. But it is wayyyyy hot. In an AWESOME way. I like it a lot more than an X2N, which I think is maybe a better comparison.
 
Re: Dirty Fingers Review

papersoul said:
I know Sykes switched to 57 Classics at some point.

Also, how hot are the Fingers? I have a PRS Dragon bridge pickup - ceramic that is hot but has GREAT clean tones especially split!
Click to expand...

Sykes switched to the '57s after the dirty fingers had stopped working after all the years he used it. The DF is the hottest humbucker gibson makes. Its about 17.1k with 3 ceramic magnets.
 
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