Tele neck pickup

[Alabam]

How is it's hum level compared to say the bridge pup? .

A lot lower than the bridge pickup.
I`m not too great in the science of pickup making (inductance, etc) so i just used my ears after installing them.

The click you can hear in this neck/bridge setting is coming from an electric fence close to our home.
By the way this was the tone i was aiming for and got.
So as pickup winding is only a hobby for me i haven`t made any since i put these two in my Jay Turser Telecaster.

[Vihar]

Yes, after 1957, no HB`s before that as far as i know.

Alabam, I think David meant these kind of humbuckers, not the regular PAFs:





David, are they anything close to the EMG S, SA (H, HA) pickups (minus the built in pre-amp)?

[Mark Hammer]

My understanding of that was always that they were not dual-coil "humbuckers" per se, but rather pickups whose impedance was low enough that they did not pick up audible hum. Remember that these guitars were produced at a time when there was less general technical knowledge about guitar electronics and few would have challenged the advertising copy for its technical accuracy.

Of course, I may be wrong.

[Possum]

...

Les Paul didn't like the SG because its really a bad design. The neck doesn't have much support because the neck pickup is routed in there and makes a weak neck join. George Gruhn hates SG's with a passion, I remember reading him saying they were a poor investment for that reason. Anyway, it had nothing to do with humbuckers. Les did do single coils, some of his weird home built frankensteins have a single blade pickup, one he recorded with.

[Robert M. Martinelli]

You can make humbuckers that sound like single coils. Just not standard style humbuckers. For example, the old Bill Lawrence L-250 was a great sounding pickup.

I totally agree...I owned an L-250 I installed in the "neck" position of my first strat, some 25 years ago...Can't remember what the specs were, but it sounded great indeed, I will never understand why BL discontinued it....

BTW, did someone spec'd it out? It would be nice to resuscitate it!

( my apologies for the slight thread hijack! )

Cheers

Bob

[David Schwab]

Alabam, I think David meant these kind of humbuckers, not the regular PAFs:


David, are they anything close to the EMG S, SA (H, HA) pickups (minus the built in pre-amp)?

I'm so sorry I didn't buy one of those when they were cheap!

Yeah, like the EMG-SA, except the EMG has a bar magnet that runs through both coils. The LP pickups have a magnet in the top and bottom coil, with the coils separated by a steel plate.

Also EMG's are regular high impedance pickups with preamps. The LP pickups were low Z, I think it's 30 AWG wire.

Les made his first pickups with coils from electric clocks. You can see similar pickups to the LP Recording guitar on the "log" guitar.

[David Schwab]

I totally agree...I owned an L-250 I installed in the "neck" position of my first strat, some 25 years ago...Can't remember what the specs were, but it sounded great indeed, I will never understand why BL discontinued it....

BTW, did someone spec'd it out? It would be nice to resuscitate it!

( my apologies for the slight thread hijack! )

Cheers

Bob

He didn't stop making them. Bill lost the business to his former partner, who still makes the L-250. I have two original L-250s in my Tele, and had a newer one at the bridge. I didn't like the new one, it sounded thinner and was microphonic. That was back when Stew-Mac was selling them.

Bill Lawrence L250 Stacked Humbucker Electric Guitar Pickup and more Guitar Pickups & Parts at GuitarCenter.com. (It's not stacked)

Now the real Bill L makes stacked Strat pickups which is supposed to be very good.

Wilde Bill's NF Singles

If you remove the felt on the bottom of the 250, you can see inside the pickup, since it's encapsulated with clear polyester resin. It's a side-winder design, with a magnet (ceramic, I think) behind each coil, and the stainless steel blade in the middle.

[Mark Hammer]

Les Paul didn't like the SG because its really a bad design. The neck doesn't have much support because the neck pickup is routed in there and makes a weak neck join. George Gruhn hates SG's with a passion, I remember reading him saying they were a poor investment for that reason. Anyway, it had nothing to do with humbuckers. Les did do single coils, some of his weird home built frankensteins have a single blade pickup, one he recorded with.

For something he dislikes so much, George sure has enough of them in the store! At the same time, we had lunch about 6 weeks ago, and one of the things he is big on is basic design principles, and how thoughtful the overall design is. And clearly the SG lunged for one aspect of design (fret access) at the expense of others (neck stability, pickup placement, risk of neck damage).

I like the tone of the SG, but I've never really thought of them as tonally flexible, in part because the basic design yields so little difference between neck and bridge pickup, in comparison to so many other models.

[David Schwab]

Here's a good photo of Les and the Log, with the pickup covers off.

[Robert M. Martinelli]

He didn't stop making them. Bill lost the business to his former partner, who still makes the L-250. I have two original L-250s in my Tele, and had a newer one at the bridge. I didn't like the new one, it sounded thinner and was microphonic. That was back when Stew-Mac was selling them.

Bill Lawrence L250 Stacked Humbucker Electric Guitar Pickup and more Guitar Pickups & Parts at GuitarCenter.com. (It's not stacked)

Now the real Bill L makes stacked Strat pickups which is supposed to be very good.

Wilde Bill's NF Singles

If you remove the felt on the bottom of the 250, you can see inside the pickup, since it's encapsulated with clear polyester resin. It's a side-winder design, with a magnet (ceramic, I think) behind each coil, and the stainless steel blade in the middle.

Thanks David, BTW I have read about the legal "battle" between BL and his former partner. As you noted, the "other maker's" pickups are microphonic, and they don't sound as close to the "original" ones as their name might suggest - there's only one "real" BL!

Time ago I emailed Bill and Becky and suggested them to start to make L-250s again, apparently with no luck

Cheers

Bob

[korinastratkyle]

Thanks David, BTW I have read about the legal "battle" between BL and his former partner. As you noted, the "other maker's" pickups are microphonic, and they don't sound as close to the "original" ones as their name might suggest - there's only one "real" BL!

Time ago I emailed Bill and Becky and suggested them to start to make L-250s again, apparently with no luck

Cheers

Bob

Last I knew they were using NOS parts to make some of their pickups... Maybe they ran out of the supplies to make them?

[Mike Sulzer]

I like the tone of the SG, but I've never really thought of them as tonally flexible, in part because the basic design yields so little difference between neck and bridge pickup, in comparison to so many other models.

SGs from the seventies had the neck pickup right up against the fretboard. Current production has it moved significantly towards the bridge.
(http://images.gibson.com/Files/279a0...af4d54fc17.jpg)
[I guess the neck does not break off so easily.]

Is there some other factor besides pickup placement that strongly affects the difference between the sound of the two pickups?

[StarryNight]

SG's

I find the SG way too neck heavy as the strap button is far off the fulcrum