Opinions on HIGH OHMAGE, UFO's and conspiracies.....

[Sweetfinger]

I never said they all had covers, because the ones on the Flying V and such didn't.

This from the earlier DF thread where you pretty much say they did:

Did you look at the link I posted of the Gibson ES-347? Those are the original DirtyFingers, they had covers and one row of screws. They are encapsulated in the covers with black epoxy, just like the SuperHumbuckers Gibson used in many of their guitars in the 70's and 80's. They also have two braided coax wires, one was the pickup out, and the other was the junction between the series connection of the coils for coil cutting.

The ones with no covers are the reissues.

You also said that the ES-347 NEVER came with Super Humbuckers, which is contradicted by the Gibson catalogs which SPECIFY Super Hums (and show them as having adjustable polepieces). I'm sure that later runs like yours did have different pickups, Gibson was very likely throwing different pickups in everything just to see what would fly- which is the ONLY reason that I can think of that would drive them to put a 16K hot pickup in a deluxe semi-hollow body guitar in the first place.

Lemme put it like this. If I claimed that I had a gold-top Les Paul with dog-ear pickups, would that be incorrect? Certainly the guts are essentially the same, but the guitar actually has 'soap-bar' pickups. If I claimed all the old gold-tops had P-90's, or Fender never made Squiers in Mexico, would anyone disagree? They should. These are the fine distinctions that I am arguing about. I'm just trying to clarify misleading or incorrect information so that somewhere down the line it doesn't get referenced as gospel truth....like Dave's fave link:
http://www.zen-pharaohs.com/guitars/Gibson/es347.htm

Another example-read this and find the totally glaringly WRONG statement:
http://www.epinions.com/inst-review-...397869C0-prod1
I don't know where this text came from originally, but I have seen it in at least one other article which was printed in a music trade magazine. It shows that misleading, incomplete or just plain wrong information can seep out anywhere. Just to be safe, however, let it be known that I will pay REALLY BIG BUCK$ for any authentic mid 60's Les Pauls!

There's certainly a lot of holes in the information about Gibson during its nadir; I'm just trying to point out inaccuracies when I see them- I can't help it, its part of my job. I would really be interested in a deconstruction of one of the "covered encapsulated" DF's (or I suspect, more properly called Series 7's). Heck, I'd like to see as much detail on the Super Humbuckers, True Blues, and other weirdo Gibson pups as has been seen on old PAF's. Well...gotta go finish a touch-up on a headstock repair on a Les Paul 55.

[David Schwab]

like Dave's fave link:
http://www.zen-pharaohs.com/guitars/Gibson/es347.htm

How is that inaccurate info?

Here's the Gibson link:

Gibson reunites power and dirt in Dirty Fingers guitar pickup

It clearly states:

The original Dirty Fingers pickups were available on just a few select models in the early 1980s, including the Flying V, Explorer, ES-347 and 335-S.

That was one of the "few select models" I got the pickups from. As I pointed out... sure they could have made ES-347's with Super Hums, but they wouldn't be 16K, and clearly they made custom pickups for that particular model to have the coil split wiring for that guitar... and the covers. So these are clearly the Dirty Fingers that Gibson is talking about in that press release.

And they called a whole bunch of pickups Super Humbuckers. I always think of the L-6S (both the Santana guitar and the Ripper) when I think of SuperHums.. but they did use that name on other pickups. Doesn't even mean the pickups where the same... just the name. The L6-S pickups and electronics were designed by Bill Lawrence.

[Possum]

specs...

yeah the specs of course are a bit off, one I have is just under 16K the other is like 16.5K, neither is 8 henries, both are right around 7 henries, but who knows what kind of meters they were using then too, probably not digital.....

[NightWinder]

yeah the specs of course are a bit off, one I have is just under 16K the other is like 16.5K, neither is 8 henries, both are right around 7 henries, but who knows what kind of meters they were using then too, probably not digital.....

Maybe a wee bit to fast on the wind.....

[Possum]

.......

Its more likely that digital LCR meters are better than what they had in the early 80s.........more accurate readings....

[Mystic]

[OFM]

Hehehehehe...

Recently a customer asked me for the most powerful and insane pickup i could make...

Personally i don't like high gain pickups, and unfortunatelly they're quite popular here in Chile (everybody's mad 'bout Dimarzios). But this was an interesting challenge.

I didn't use very high OHMage, but instead used nedymium magnets. 6 neodymium rods between poles and 3 mini-neo blocks on each side.

My customer was very happy, it was definitely the most insane pickup we've ever heard...

I prefer PAF style humbuckers, anyway... I learned to appreciate the tone, rather than the output, hehehehe...

Greetings,
Ben

[Possum]

are they popular?

I have a customer who tells me high gain pickups aren't in vogue anymore, well except Nitewinder who eats a bowl full of them for breakfast every morning. He told me Vai and Satriani aren't using hot pickups anymore, probably for good reason :-) His reasoning is that modern amps are high gain already so who needs a hot pickup to turn that to mush.

[NightWinder]

I would think easy of play, harmonic structure and overall playablity would be one reason to make a higher ohmer. SHit, even at 16k, mine don't come out with massive abounts of gain, instead more open, bigger reponse, and surprisingly clean for a 16k. I really shoot for less drive with the higher ohms. Not so close on the wind, or tight. Tight, but not overly tight (you know possum)
If I were you Possum, I'd try my hand at something medium...........12, 14k .Not to hot, not to cool, but just right.
Breakfast has been consisting of Solderon for the last week!!!! Go figure!!, leaves a bitter taste when the milks gone.....

[Spence]

So why not bang out 16 K humbuckers with a weaker magnet. Anything non ceramic makes such a difference to a hot pickup.

[NightWinder]

What?!!! No Ceramics?! Ceramics are a gift from the horned one himself when used in high ohmers!! A5 is cool, but ceramics let the horns grow properly.......BAbys!

[David Schwab]

This from the earlier DF thread where you pretty much say they did:...

No, I said all the pickup on ES-347's had covers. So the DirtyFingers on those particular guitars always had covers.

This all started because you implied that DF's never had covers, so I must have had a different pickup.