Firebird Magnets

[Zhangliqun]

What I'm saying is forget trying to copy some old design, do something original in that form factor. Make your pickup, not someone else's.

That's fine but going with two bar slugs/blades wouldn't be especially original. Wouldn't be much different from an LP Deluxe mini, which has one blade and 6 tiny screws on the other coil.

I do have a mini design that's at least off-beat, if maybe not 100% original. It's a coverless mini with full-size slugs and screws that you can have in black or zebra/reverse zebra. The original purpose is to be coverless for more air and sparkle to match vintage Tele bridge pu's better (though I also make hotter bridge versions now). I just shave down full-size bobbins to mini width and mount them on a mini plate. It's an extremely cool pickup both aesthetically and sonically, if I do say so myself. My point being that I'm far from closed to trying something new and different. (Next R&D project: formvar humbuckers...)

Anyway, I offered this design to this customer but he didn't want it, insists on the hardcore Firebird.

[RedHouse]

That's kinda funny. Pickup makers will argue the how the smallest detail will change the sound of a pickup but then turnaround and say that a complete change in the style of construction shouldn't make that big of a difference...

Yes, that IS funny, but true.

On the one hand, the true sound of a pickup IS the sum of it's parts, but on the other hand, the sound of a great pickup ...is what the winder can do with the parts available.

Some claim only age old parts (or replica's thereof) can get your there, others work with what's readily available ...and get you there.

It's a blue-face debate!

[David Schwab]

Anyway, I offered this design to this customer but he didn't want it, insists on the hardcore Firebird.

I bet you this is one of those guys that thinks he knows what he wants, and then wont like it when he gets it! I kind of feel that any change to Gibson's mini buckers is a good thing, because back in the day no one liked those things, especially the LP Deluxe versions. The Firebird was better though.

Then again people used to change out their P-90s for humbuckers all the time (I know because I was asked to perform that task on numerous occasions), and now look how popular P-90s are.

[David Schwab]

Yes, that IS funny, but true.

On the one hand, the true sound of a pickup IS the sum of it's parts, but on the other hand, the sound of a great pickup ...is what the winder can do with the parts available.

Some claim only age old parts (or replica's thereof) can get your there, others work with what's readily available ...and get you there.

It's a blue-face debate!

There often is two paths to very similar destinations. A good example are the DiMarzio "PAF" pickups. They sound pretty good, yet they took some alternate path that lead them through some bushes and quicksand and past a dead squirrel. I guess their idea was to use "standard" parts and then make them perform the way they want.

Then you have the Duncan antiquities, which sound good and are made pretty much like the originals without going crazy over parts.