Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

[Benjy_26]

Hey all, I was playing my Hamer Studio with EMG's after doing a set up and changing out the battery. I was having a blast with it, harmonics are a breeze and lack of output is not an issue, but I feel like the inherent sound of the guitar is not coming through. I then thought of changing the EMG's over to an APH/Custom set. I also really like the SD line of PAF style humbuckers, like the Pearly Gates and the Seth, but in this guitar, I want a bit more output than a PG, but less than a Custom. I then thought that it would be pretty cool to have an Antiquity set in the Studio.

With that said, I have some questions regarding the Antiquity Humbuckers.

The Antiquity Humbuckers are a Custom Shop item, right?

Can I get them wound to my specs ( I want a clean neck and hot bridge, maybe around 12K for the bridge)?

Can I order them with four conductor wiring?

Can I order them in zebra under the covers?

How much should I expect to pay for them?

Can I order them individually, or must they be purchased as a set?

Thanks for the help, guys. :burnout:

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

Curly...you gonna answer or should I? (Saw your name!)

 

[Curly]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

well, Lew, I think you're the one to answer!

my guess is that there's a difference between an Antiquity that's wound to a spec, and a "Custom ordered" Custom Shop item ... the bottom line is that you can tell MJ what you want, and she can figure out how to wind it ... as for the price, I don't know!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

Curly's right.

I ordered a Jerry Donahue for my Tele from MJ because I wanted one that looked like an Antiquity and was wound by Seymour or MJ.

It does...but it's not an Antiquity. It's a JD from the Duncan Custom Shop with Antiquity cosmetics.

You'd be ordering a humbucker wound to custom specs and you could ask for it to be cosmetically aged like an Antiquity.

No real Antiquity would be wound to 12K tho because Antiquitys are reproductions of vintage paf's and no vintage paf would've been wound that hot.

Lew

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

Lew, couldn't you just ask MJ to take a standard Ant she was winding, and keep winding it until it got to around 12K, and make it a floor shop custom? The color shouldn't be an issue, I think most of them are double cream underneath, but I could be wrong about that.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

whats the tonal diff between a pearly gates and a seth lover?

 

[Curly]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

Lew, couldn't you just ask MJ to take a standard Ant she was winding, and keep winding it until it got to around 12K, and make it a floor shop custom? The color shouldn't be an issue, I think most of them are double cream underneath, but I could be wrong about that.

the question I had about that was if you could use the same wire ... in other words, could you get 12K out of 42 ga., for instance (I'm not sure what they use on the Antiquity), without having to go to 43 ga., etc ... which might change the character a bit

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

whats the tonal diff between a pearly gates and a seth lover?

The PG has mismatched coils, that's one of the things that give it it's distinctive sound. It's got an upper midrange sizzle to it. Great pickup, but for some that midrange hump is too much. It's also wax potted.

The Seth on the other hand, is like timetraveling back to 1957, grabbing a PAF pup from the Gibson factory, and comming back to 2004. True to the original design, the Seth is not wax potted, and I believe slightly lower output than the PG, but I'd have to look to be sure. The PG has a more open, air quality, is slightly smoother and more balanced than the PG. It also has that unique PAF "honk" that so many vintage fanatics like.

The PG is also a "PAF" clone, just a different flavor.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

the question I had about that was if you could use the same wire ... in other words, could you get 12K out of 42 ga., for instance (I'm not sure what they use on the Antiquity), without having to go to 43 ga., etc ... which might change the character a bit

Yeah....I don't know enough about it Curly. I would think you could certainly wind it with more output than standard, but how high for sure we'd have to ask MJ or Evan.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

Thanks for the replies gents! I guess I'm looking at a full on Custom Shop order. What do you guys think about the bridge wound to 12k with unbalanced coils (like a really hot PG) with an alnico II mag and an alnico II neck humbucker, also with unbalanced mags and wound in the low 7k range? Is there something out there in a stock lineup, or should I just jump in and order the pair?

Oh, BTW, does the aged alnico II mag make that big of a difference in tone as opposed to a full strength alnico II mag?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

Thanks for the replies gents! I guess I'm looking at a full on Custom Shop order. What do you guys think about the bridge wound to 12k with unbalanced coils (like a really hot PG) with an alnico II mag and an alnico II neck humbucker, also with unbalanced mags and wound in the low 7k range? Is there something out there in a stock lineup, or should I just jump in and order the pair?

Oh, BTW, does the aged alnico II mag make that big of a difference in tone as opposed to a full strength alnico II mag?

Personally, I like an unbalanced neck humbucker with hollow, transparant mids for chords and clean playing and a regular balanced bridge humbucker with fat thick mids for soloing. I don't know of a stock 12K bridge humbucker with unbalanced coils from SD. I'd go the Custom Shop route. Every Antiquity and Custom Shop pickup I have purchased has been a killer. Lew

 

[Blue Dream]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

You pretty much described a stock PG for the neck, unbalanced coils, A2, and 7.3k. The bridge looks like Custom Shop job.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Questions about Antiquity Humbuckers

Are the Antiquities wound with unbalanced coils?