Of course I bought a BG1400 just days before the Gilly was released! Actually I think I'm gonna be happy about that--it's a choice I didn't have to make, and I'm gonna guess this is more the pickup for me anyway. While a lot of what follows will pertain to Gilly owners too, this one I'm not sure about: Maybe one of the first things to say is that the BG1400 would not fit through the opening in either of my Am Std type bridges (a Gotoh and a Babicz)--I had to grind the opening slightly with a Dremel. I'd guess it fits an ashtray fine. Depth-wise, there was no problem (the body is a Mex Tele).
I've recently read that the Gilly is going to be a little less output and smoother, however, I'd guess that the following will still apply to some degree. In humbucker mode, the BG1400 sounds very much like an overwound pickup. My guess is that to get a resistance of +28k, they had to use 43 or 44 gauge wire, which gives it that thick mid-heavy tone, but not exactly single or PAF tone. This pickup suits me well in this guitar because I need it to be a sort of swiss army knife. Thus I used a 5-way superswitch (no mods required to the cavity!) to get some pretty diverse sounds out of it. It is paired with a Fralin Split Blade Blues Special in the neck, which balances nicely. Starting from the bridge position:
1. Bridge series humbucking - lots of gain, darker than a regular Tele
2. Bridge single, north (top) coil, not humbucking - great presence (stonger upper mids), but not as bright as a regular Tele
3. Bridge parallel humbucking - brighter and thinner than #2, more like a Strat bridge and middle, kinda "quacky"
4. Bridge (north) and neck, parallel humbucking - this has that "inbetween" sound, but with more mids--still, pretty good "quack"
5. Neck humbucking - sounds like a slightly hotter Tele neck pickup
NOTE: The tone control is only assigned to postitions 2 and 3.
I'm using 1, 2, and 5 mostly. I also tried a couple of other things:
- Bridge series, not humbucking is shown in the directions as "power boost" mode and it does sound about 2dB louder, but is also a little darker. With OD pedals, I didn't see a need for this.
- Bridge single, south (bottom) coil - I debated about leaving this, as it was a flatter, quieter single coil sound that I could imagine some uses for. However, it's not humbucking so I opted for the north + neck combination instead.
In the end, this is not a pickup you buy to get a classic Tele sound (maybe the Gilly will be?). To me, it's strength is flexibility. It is definitely a unique voice, and can operate in the range of Les Paul, Strat and Tele sounds pretty well. While I can and certainly will use this with my classic rock cover band, it is extremely useful with a contemporary country (can we just call it pop southern rock?) band that I am playing with more and more. An added bonus is that the darker bridge tone is great for slide playing.
I've recently read that the Gilly is going to be a little less output and smoother, however, I'd guess that the following will still apply to some degree. In humbucker mode, the BG1400 sounds very much like an overwound pickup. My guess is that to get a resistance of +28k, they had to use 43 or 44 gauge wire, which gives it that thick mid-heavy tone, but not exactly single or PAF tone. This pickup suits me well in this guitar because I need it to be a sort of swiss army knife. Thus I used a 5-way superswitch (no mods required to the cavity!) to get some pretty diverse sounds out of it. It is paired with a Fralin Split Blade Blues Special in the neck, which balances nicely. Starting from the bridge position:
1. Bridge series humbucking - lots of gain, darker than a regular Tele
2. Bridge single, north (top) coil, not humbucking - great presence (stonger upper mids), but not as bright as a regular Tele
3. Bridge parallel humbucking - brighter and thinner than #2, more like a Strat bridge and middle, kinda "quacky"
4. Bridge (north) and neck, parallel humbucking - this has that "inbetween" sound, but with more mids--still, pretty good "quack"
5. Neck humbucking - sounds like a slightly hotter Tele neck pickup
NOTE: The tone control is only assigned to postitions 2 and 3.
I'm using 1, 2, and 5 mostly. I also tried a couple of other things:
- Bridge series, not humbucking is shown in the directions as "power boost" mode and it does sound about 2dB louder, but is also a little darker. With OD pedals, I didn't see a need for this.
- Bridge single, south (bottom) coil - I debated about leaving this, as it was a flatter, quieter single coil sound that I could imagine some uses for. However, it's not humbucking so I opted for the north + neck combination instead.
In the end, this is not a pickup you buy to get a classic Tele sound (maybe the Gilly will be?). To me, it's strength is flexibility. It is definitely a unique voice, and can operate in the range of Les Paul, Strat and Tele sounds pretty well. While I can and certainly will use this with my classic rock cover band, it is extremely useful with a contemporary country (can we just call it pop southern rock?) band that I am playing with more and more. An added bonus is that the darker bridge tone is great for slide playing.
