Bartolini humbuckers.

[Possum]

vive la france...

Hey I like the French, I sell alot of pickups there. My Dad was stationed near Dreux when I was about 12 and I really like France alot and the food. We lived off the base right next to a small town called Senonches, very pretty little medieval town, lots of farms around etc. Wish I'd been old enough to have a French girl friend like my brother did, but I wasn't very good with the language like my brother and mother were.

[fjgaston]

I was joking.
I'm in Paris and I find places to play in jam sessions almost every night, there are many very killed musicians who play the blues, rock n roll and jazz.
But it seems that there is a different feeling for the music in england and USA, even the luthiers seems way better (for electric guitars and rock n roll).
If one of you come to Paris and want to go to a jam session just send me a private message, I think you gonna spend a good time.

[squuatch]

Bartolini blade

Now their laminated blade humbuckers were another thing altogether. They were quite midrangy and loud.

Thanks Dave...that's the only info I can find on the net about the old Bart blade...heh
I can remember the old GP ad for them...but can't find any details about 'em anywhere
I picked one up last year and was gonna put it in a guitar...I tried to put it in one,
but the Bart was slightly too big for the rout (must be slightly bigger than Gibson rout)
I figure it might be good for my slide setup guitar...should be quite pokey in the bridge
It's got 4-conductor as well, so it might be potent enough for a decent split

Anyway, any info would be appreciated
Cheers, squatch (with one 'u' !)

[fieldwrangler]

Mama said there'd be days like these. Tuck pretty much wires the pickup (he doesn't even HAVE a bridge pickup in his guitars) straight(no switches, or tone controls) to a pre-amp buffer, and then EQ's the hell out of it. I suspect that if you bought a Barto and stuffed it in your cover and sent it to this guy, he'd send it back.

I dunno how far you are willing to go to satisfy the customer, and you didn't elaborate on the particulars of what you already tried in the pickups you did send, but I'm assuming that you wound your cleanest, smoothest brightest PAF. The next option is to try a non-PAF based build going for clean and Hi-Fi response.
Narrow coils, thin steel blades, and coils wired parallel OR stuff a Charlie Christian style under a cover.

My advice: tell the customer that he needs to have an interpreter translate for him. You need to know :
what guitar, effects(if any), and amp he is using
what combinations he has used in the past that did not work for him
what pickups he has tried and did or did not like in the past
The style(s) of music he will be playing
is he specifically after TUCK'S tone? what other tones does he like
Has he ever played the guitar/amp combinations of his "tone heroes"?
He needs to know:
his tone will NEVER sound like 'the record' unless he records it THEN listens
Tuck uses a BOATLOAD of outboard gear to get his tone.
He will need a BOATLOAD of gear to GET Tuck's tone.
Part of Tuck's (or anybody's) tone is in their HANDS. This is not your area of expertise, and the customer must consult a transplant surgeon and various characters with low moral values in order to have those
He needs to know that if you DO decide to wind another set for him, it will be the LAST set. PERIOD. no refunds, no crying.

If you do not like the answers and aknowledgements that you get from the guy i.e. get the sense that even with good communication/interpretation, that he has unrealistic, or even nutty expectations, cut him loose. Explain that you feel that you are not able to satisfy his tone needs, refund his money and privately notify all the other winders that you like and/or respect, not to do business with this guy. Depending on how evil you feel, you may enjoy referring this guy to your worst enemy
Either way, you'll rest uneasy knowing that you have learned a valuable lesson about being in a customer service based business.

A really excellent summary of the relevant issues here; I heartily second every single point here.

Bob Palmieri

[fieldwrangler]

Can't remember (probably because I never really knew 'cause they're not marked) which kindof Bartolini minis I have lying around here but I do recall measuring some astoundingly high gauss reading above the top surface. Seeing as how this whole business of String Pull is one of my personal Big Issues I wasn't at all happy with this ('specially for guitar neck position placement.)

Regarding the case of a pickup with a really high resonant frequency I may be about to make just such a thing, because they can actually sound "bassier" in some applications.

Bob Palmieri

[David Schwab]

Thanks Dave...that's the only info I can find on the net about the old Bart blade...heh
I can remember the old GP ad for them...but can't find any details about 'em anywhere I picked one up last year and was gonna put it in a guitar...I tried to put it in one, but the Bart was slightly too big for the rout (must be slightly bigger than Gibson rout) I figure it might be good for my slide setup guitar...should be quite pokey in the bridge
It's got 4-conductor as well, so it might be potent enough for a decent split

Anyway, any info would be appreciated
Cheers, squatch (with one 'u' !)

I knew a guy that had a set in his guitar (an early Tobias Explorer shape guitar). I thought they sounded very nice. It always freaked me out that the coils were exposed without even having any tape on them though. Looked like an accident waiting to happen.

[squuatch]

I knew a guy that had a set in his guitar (an early Tobias Explorer shape guitar). I thought they sounded very nice. It always freaked me out that the coils were exposed without even having any tape on them though. Looked like an accident waiting to happen.

Hey Dave, I'll persist with this pickup if you remember them sounding OK
Just have to do a bit of surgery 'cos someone's chopped the braided cable to just over an inch long!
This one's got tape around the coils and looks original
I was gonna pop it in this old Richard Nolan custom job I've got here
I'll let you know how it goes...thanks again for the info!
Dave

(we are not men we are Davo!)

[Jim Shine]

My #2 guitar has a Bartolini. Not sure of the model, but it is older. It came in the guitar and I wanted to get an idea of the properties of the wood in making a choice for replacement. But I fell in love with it. It isn't lifeless or dull. There is a 3 way switch and there is a crap sounding setting that is flat, but the other 2 selections are great. It is a very honest pickup. It is really a nice reproduction of the guitars natural acoustic tones. The body is walnut, so that could be part of it. I never has a set in one of my personal guitars before so I can't compare it to others.