Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

[nicksavridge]

I have Duncans in pretty much all of my guitars and they're all great. I have a single antiquity P90 soapbar in a warmoth mahogany hardtail strat as well as an antiquity dogear P90 in my LP Junior copy, a single phat cat in the bridge of my mexi strat, and a jazz/custom set in my epiphone LP standard. Though I just bit the bullet in trying out a new bridge pup in my epiphone as I was looking for something a little brighter than the custom, not dissing it I think it's a great pup in fact I'm planning on replacing the phat cat in my strat with it. However I just replaced the custom with a Manlius T Top clone and WOW! It was night and day in my opinion; immediately I noticed that the T Top clone was much more present and punchy. It had much more twang, clarity and note separation, and it paired very well in the middle position with the Duncan jazz nice and jangly. My amp setup isn't all too glamorous, a Line 6 Spider 4 clean with the MXR Dookie Drive in front, but it's actually a nice tone to my ears. It for sure did the new pickup justice, it produced a really bright snarly tone which is what I always chase after. Basically what I'm saying is I've really only used Duncans in my guitars and after trying out a different brand for a change, I was very impressed by the results of Mick's work! Though I haven't seen too many reviews on his stuff, so does anyone else have any experience with Manlius? I'd love to hear what other people think of the T Top replica as well as other pickup models!

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

I had a Vinyl: it's a slightly overwound version of his T-top replica.
Very nice pickup, bright but sweet, richer mids than a classic T-top yet not at all honky or congested.
I'd say it was in about the same tonal ballpark as my Pearly Gates Plus, only less harsh than the PGP.
My son has it now.

That's been my only Manlius so far.
He has a generally good reputation, I think.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

I have a different company’s T-Top replica and yeah compared to a Custom it makes the changes you specified. Both have their place. When you need to play something heavy and ballsy, you may want the Custom back. But you can get a lot of mileage out of a T-Top bridge in an LP. From the Duncan line, a stock 59 neck in the bridge makes a clearer solid T-Top IME.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

I've got his Jazzmaster pickups, plus a low wind PAF style wind with some form of old wire.
I like them both.

Another t top type wind which is from another good indepedent winder who is inexpensive is the Vineham 6070.

 

[nicksavridge]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

Thanks for those who have shared so far! Quick little update I put the old Duncan custom in my Mexi strat and it is fantastic! Again I loved it in the LP but I think it sounds better in the strat. For one thing it's a single pickup setup with one master volume control and no tone, so I think it definitely sounds brighter in the strat between that and I want to say the harder woods? Either way it pairs well!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

longer scale length and no tone control contribute to the brightness as well

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

Thanks for those who have shared so far! Quick little update I put the old Duncan custom in my Mexi strat and it is fantastic! Again I loved it in the LP but I think it sounds better in the strat. For one thing it's a single pickup setup with one master volume control and no tone, so I think it definitely sounds brighter in the strat between that and I want to say the harder woods? Either way it pairs well!

I love the CustomCustom in 25½" scale guitars.

 

[nicksavridge]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

Again I appreciate the feedback! Another question I have is has anyone ever heard of putting an angled humbucker in a strat with an HSH route? I know that with a swimming pool route there's little to no work, but I'm wondering if any carving needs to be done with an HSH route to make the angled pickup fit?

 

[nicksavridge]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

'59 neck in a bridge position...very interesting

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Tell Me About Your Manlius Pickups

Again I appreciate the feedback! Another question I have is has anyone ever heard of putting an angled humbucker in a strat with an HSH route? I know that with a swimming pool route there's little to no work, but I'm wondering if any carving needs to be done with an HSH route to make the angled pickup fit?

I'm sure there would be room for a bit of angle - there's clearance on either side of the adjustment screws, after all.
And you wouldn't need to tilt it by much, otherwise you'd start to move the strings away from their poles.