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Humbuckers
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Humbuckers
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Vintage Humbuckers
First launched in 1957 on Gibson's Les Paul range this new type of pick-up, designed by Seth Lover, set the standard for the low noise, powerful, mid-range emphasised sound that we have all come to know and love. The first humbuckers, nickednamed 'PAFs' (for Patent Applied For) due to the stickers that Gibson affixed to the underside at the time, were wound by hand with the result that the sound and output varied, often considerably. Typically an original PAF will have a DC resistance of 7.5 to 8.5k Ohms. Polepiece spacing on original PAFs is 1-15/16" or 49.21mm. As a rule of thumb lower resistance pickups give a clearer, more trebly sound. A number of manufacturers have attempted to recreate the sound of the early PAFs, including Gibson themselves. Our range of Vintage humbuckers captures the sound and look of those early pickups.
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Hot Humbuckers
In the 70s came the craze for 'hotrodding' electric guitars with pickups that replicated PAFs and hotter pickups that suited the music of the time. Pickups can be made hotter by increasing the number of windings and/or changing the specification of the magnets. A guide to how hot a pickup will be is its DC resistance. Classic PAFs have a DC resistance of 7.5 - 8.5k. As a rule increasing the DC resistance increases the output of the pickup and also increases the mid-range emphasis, with the result that some earlier designs can sound a little muddy. That of course may suit your music - it's all a question of taste. Modern, hot humbuckers are designed to retain their high frequencies.
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Very Hot Humbuckers!!
High output - with attitude!
This class of humbucker is designed to really overdrive the front-end of a Marshall (preferably stacked!) not for jazz comping through a Polytone Minibrute. All manufacturers provide high output models in their range, aimed at different musical styles, with ceramic magnet types sounding ruder and edgier than Alnico magnet types.So if it's the Nu-Metal tone that you're trying to capture, we've got it covered.
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Humbucker/Single Coil Hybrids
Ever wondered why a split coil humbucker doesn't sound like a true single coil pickup? The construction of humbuckers and single coils is completely different. The single coil has a coil wrapped around 6 rod magnets, while a humbucker has two coils wrapped around two sets of pole pieces which touch a central bar magnet placed below the coils. The polepieces focus the magnetic field through each coil. However, if you start with two true single coil pickups side-by-side, when you split the coils you are left with a true single coil. Both Rio Grande (Tallboy) and Seymour Duncan (SH-3 Stag Mag) produce such pickups, for maximum versatility.
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