Re: J. Backlund Guitars?
What did you end up going with, and what tone was it you were looking for? I was initially attracted to the Alumitones because of their look, as well, but they just don't have the girth that real hums have, nor the spank of a single. They were really, really quiet, and the new alumitone "deathbuckers" or whatever they are sound more promising. You never know; it might be a total misnomer like my old Lee Jackson "Metaltronix" M1000. It certainly doesn't do metal...
While I will say that the "Deathbuckers" Did indeed have more output.. they still lack that "in your face" fire of other pickup designs. i do like its picking articulation at higher gains though.. sweeps and fast passages are much clearer sounding than most conventional pickups. IMHO, but they still lack that, as you call it "Girth" or fullness, thickness, fatness, Chunkyness.. or whatever you wanna call it.
I usually tell folks they sound very " pre-processed".. like they have already been recorded and compressed.... not really a good "live pickup" to me.
Because so many musicians change out their pickups in an effort to find their own tone.... we felt it was important to be able to offer several different "basic" tonal ranges to the customers.. but our standards have become the Duncan Custom, the Dimarzio PAF classic. and a customised EMG set for those that prefer actives...
With exceptions on certain models like the JBD-100, which requires a very specially built Custom designed pickup in the neck position.
These are made for us by Pete Builtoff at Vintage Vibe to my specifications and are designed to give a vintage Strat neck pickup sound with a little bit more mids, they use an ALNICO rail magnet and are sized to fit our heavy slant seen on the JBD-100... the output is a bit hotter than a standard strat at 8.1K... these pickups will also be used on several other later models yet to come.
the JBD-100 is also available with a custom EMG 808/85 set as well. ( joe walshes guitar uses this set currently)
Because "most" of our guitars are Mahogany bodied. I took a Les Paul special or Jr. approach to the tone.. Long sustain, a woody mid tone with good brightness and bite.
but we will build to accomidate the customer. and being as I spent several years with Tobias and Warrior. I have a heavy background in Multiple laminations and their tonal effects. so there are very few wood combos I haven't heard and logged.
