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Anyone have Tony Iommi pickup specs?

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  • Anyone have Tony Iommi pickup specs?

    Reading about them online but can't really find any specs other than they are some sort of PAF design thats double potted with wax and epoxy. Does anyone know what type of magnet, what the coils measure out at, etc?

  • #2
    I see Gibson has applied for a patent on that pickup... so they must be doing something a bit different....

    Iommi says he originally had them designed for him when he owned his own guitar company, and he brought that design to Gibson to copy.

    He said his original SG had P-90's and he wanted that sound with no hum.

    There's an interview here:

    http://www.gibson.com/whatsnew/press...002/jul8a.html

    I haven't been able to find any technical info on the pickup itself, and I doubt there is any, unless the patent can be found... and it hasn't been granted yet.
    It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure. — Albert Einstein


    http://coneyislandguitars.com
    www.soundcloud.com/davidravenmoon

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    • #3
      Double potted huh? Yuck! Makes the pickup sound dead.

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      • #4
        potting.....

        Well, some of these guys play at such high volumes, extreme volume that they really have to be potted solidly. I saw a youtube thing where a guitar tech was stuffing foam around a humbucker in Steve Vai's or some guitar hero's guitar because they play so loud that the pickup itself will start to vibrate in the guitar. I've seen this on some prototype pickups I've done and its really weird, you're getting acoustic feedback but its comiing from the whole pickup vibrating in the guitar, kinda like a cell phone vibrate mode.
        http://www.SDpickups.com
        Stephens Design Pickups

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        • #5
          patent

          if you can find the patent application for this pickup it should have all the details. Its probably nothing really different, probably allen head or all slug pickup and ceramic magnet....
          http://www.SDpickups.com
          Stephens Design Pickups

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          • #6
            Vibration

            Originally posted by Possum View Post
            Well, some of these guys play at such high volumes, extreme volume that they really have to be potted solidly. I saw a youtube thing where a guitar tech was stuffing foam around a humbucker in Steve Vai's or some guitar hero's guitar because they play so loud that the pickup itself will start to vibrate in the guitar. I've seen this on some prototype pickups I've done and its really weird, you're getting acoustic feedback but its comiing from the whole pickup vibrating in the guitar, kinda like a cell phone vibrate mode.
            Air conditioner foam works great too.$2.00 for a 3 ft strip, and it fits almost perfectly in the pu cavity to the bottom of the p.u. I must admit, nothing like a 78 jmp 50 wter on 7 or 8. Moving air!!

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            • #7
              Do you want to sound like Tony Iommi now, or then?

              Iommi's sound has been constantly evolving- to the point where his current sound(pickups/guitars/amps) is nothing like where he started from. The song "Wicked World" was a Strat. Everything else up through the first few albums is the SG with P-90's. Then he has custom pickups wound for the SG, and then has whole custom guitars made. Almost all the classic Sabbath was played through Laney Supergroup series heads. It sounds like he tried out the Laney Klipp series for Sabotage , then waffles around for a few years with Boogies, Marshalls, etc. Finally, he ends up with the current, over-distorted tone with lots of high end, but no grunt.

              AFAIK the old Birch pickups (the guy that reworked Iommi's original pickups) were constructed a lot like Carvin M-22SD's -double rows of doubled oxide allen poles, with a really hot wind. Indeed, I've been able to cop many middle-period Sabbath tones with the Carvin. Allparts has a "Distortion" humbucker(can't remember if it is the $20 or $40 one) that nailed the late '70's tone as well. The AP needed to be dipped in wax, also.

              I gotta tell ya- I own an old Supergroup 100 Watt head, and THAT is the sound of classic Sabbath. Any higher output, relatively smooth sounding pickup will do the rest.

              Personally, I would only be interested in the Iommi signature pickup for curiosity- I suspect it wouldn't deliver the classic tones that I would prefer to hear. Certainly not for 140 bucks!

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              • #8
                I was reading the Gibson page with the Iommi pickups, and I saw this:

                The "patent-applied-for" magnet configuration and special wire winding ensure maximized sustain...
                Makes me wonder what they could be doing different with the magnets!

                "Special wire winding" ... I guess that means a boat load of #44!
                It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure. — Albert Einstein


                http://coneyislandguitars.com
                www.soundcloud.com/davidravenmoon

                Comment

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