Re: Top 10 Favorite Pickups throughout the years.
I'll play. In no particular order...
1. The Duncan SSL-2, or the G&L CLF-100s in my G&L Legacys. Great vintage strat tones, in a flat-pole version for my guitars with a 12" radius neck.
2. The G&L S-500 MFD. They can be bright or even edgy, but they are a muscled-up single coil that can push an amp without losing the character of a single coil. Really high output, and a wide frequency response--if you have a bad V1 tube, these pickups will expose it.
3. The Gotoh Dual Blades used in the G&L Legacy Special. These are special indeed, with a thick tone reminiscent of a PAF. The G&L PTB tone controls allow you to really shape the tone, and thus also get very close to the sound of a vintage single coil. Humbuckers, but they can still quack in 2 & 4. I like them much better than the Duncan Rails.
4. The Leo Fender-designed Z-Coil used in the G&L Z-3 and Comanche models. (Notice a trend here?) These are humbucking, made similar to a P-bass pickup, yet with a definite single coil tonality. They also work very well with the PTB system on the Comanche. They don't really sound like anything else. I think of them as a "blank slate" pickup; between the PTB and my amp, and get almost any tone I want, and still be something unique. Not for everybody; not for anybody who wants instant gratification--but work at it and you'll be rewarded with great tones.
5. The low impedance pickups and preamp from the Music Man Sabre guitars of the late 1970's. After Leo left Fender, and before he founded G&L with George Fullerton, these guys developed a set of low impedance pickups and an active preamp system for the Sabre. The pickups were done in different sizes for the neck and bridge, and used double rows of big 1/4" magnets. With the preamp, you can twang like a Tele, or cop Santana-like woman tone in just a couple of moves. Again, one that you'll have to put some time in to suss out. Oh, and the preamp is VLN and buffered, so driving 30 effects and a 100 feet of cable is no problem.
6. I've owned a Fender-designed guitar of some kind or another for my entire guitar playing life. Though I'm a Fender guy at heart, I have owned more than a few Gibsons over the years. And the Gibson pickup that REALLY gets me hot is a good P-90. The first guitar I ever had them in was a late-'60s/early '70s long-neck ES-330TD. This was 1972. That guitar had fantastic tone, and I really hated to let it go, but I had rent to pay. Ballsy as hell, clear string separation, and beautifully bluesy. One guitar I really wish I had back. A couple years later I bought a Les Paul Special Reissue, and that guitar sounded even better. Around that time Alembic was offering a hot-rod magnet kit (ceramics?) for the P-90, and I've always wondered if the original owner of the guitar installed them in that guitar. It was hot, gritty, bluesy, rocking and rich. Alas, had to sell that one too.
I'm on the prowl now for a good P-90 guitar--there's nothing like them.
7. Never really cared for the Gibson humbuckers I used back in the day, but a lot of that frustration can be traced back to the amp I was using and the type of music I was playing. The Burstbucker 1 & 2 pickups are my favorite Gibson pickups (other than some of the vintage PAFs I've played.) I have them in my LP Historics, and I love their versatility...blues, jazz, country, classic rock; it's all good. Great woman tone from the neck, and the bridge pickup can twang like a tele on steroids.
8. I have three favorite Duncan humbucking pickups, and two of these I am going to link together. I have a set of production Seth Lovers, in gold, in one of my LP Supremes. I added an RS pot kit when I had the install done. Changing out the 490R/498T set totally changed the character of that guitar. The stock pickups are okay, but they just don't work well together--every time I flipped the selector switch, I wanted to run back to my amp and change my settings. The Seths are warm, loving, gentle--a true-to-vintage tone. This guitar is hard to put down, and it can easily cover all the genres I play. The BB 1 & 2s can sometimes be a bit edgy or harsh; these are pure sweetness with the same kind of clarity. Yummy.
I also was fortunate to have grabbed a set of the Musician's Friend/Custom Shop 50th Anniversary A2 Seth Lovers, and I am so glad I did. Got these for a great price. They are everything the production models are--but just a little "MORE". It's hard to explain; yes they are wound a little hotter but it is more than that. I have them in a 1996 Les Paul 1960 Classic Premium Plus in HCSB, and again, they totally changed the character of the guitar from it's original state with the 496R/500T Hot Ceramics. Those pickups were just too hot for my Mesa amps, but I dug the tone. The 50th Anniversarys are heaven, possibly the best pickups I have.
9. Ah, Antiquity humbuckers. Again got them in a 1997 Les Paul 1960 Classic Premium Plus in Honeyburst. If you like a vintage PAF, these are fantastic. All the hype--well, it isn't hype--these lived up to their reputation. They are just delicious. I don't think I'll be spending $500 and up for boo-teek Holy Grail pickups as long as I have Antiquitys around. Fantastic value.
10. And finally, Duncan Texas Hot Antiquity Strat Single Coils. I have these in two of my G&L Legacys, replacing the SSL-2/CLF-100 factory pickup. I use the set with the standard pickup in the neck, a RW/RP middle and the Custom Hot Bridge pickup. Smooth, very smooth, and just a tad dark--the G&L MFD's are much more powerful and brighter. They have a fatness that in some ways reminds me of a P-90, but without the grit. These Ants have complex mid-range that's like the taste of an expensive vintage red wine rolling on your tongue. Very different animal to the stock guitars' vintage flats and their bright, popping tone. Nile Rodgers and Chic: the vintage flats. For something requires a little more punch and power, these Texas Hots deliver.
And an honorable mention for the open-coil humbuckers on my old 1972 Univox Les Paul copy. Those always sounded great, no matter what room or what amp I was going through. Very clear and clean, yet powerful. Another stolen guitar I miss.
So these are my favorites. I hope you enjoyed the read.
NEXT!
Bill
