I had a '72 Thinline tele with wide-range humbuckers that was sitting unplayed next to my desk for more than a decade 'cause I love her looks and was a wonderful present for university graduation, but could just make it sound dull or too sharp. Never thought about adjusting the pole pieces (stupid me). Watched your video, gave the pole pieces a chanche and, god, it sounds so much better now! You made me love an old friend again, thanks a lot!
Ahh man, stories like this make my day!! So glad to hear that and I‘d love to play that tele of yours one day. Haha! I’m sure it’s a sweet guitar. Cheers!
Yip! It's amazing what a little pole-pulling can do. I've often pulled or pushed up/down the magnets in my Fender PUPs, when the G or B are too loud or quiet.
@@Ndlanding honestly, I always thought that raising or lowering the pole pieces would have more or less the same effect of lowering or raising the whole pickup. It was a really pleasing surprise for me finding out that you can actually fine tune the character of the pickup in a much more "precise" way. I guess you never stop learning.
You make a great point about high output buckers. Most of us have more gain on tap than we realistically need and modern amps/modeling software can likely get you wherever you want in that regard. Why trade dynamics or definition when you can have sweet nicely voiced humbuckers and distort them as much as you want? Great video, and even better playing!
Helpful tips. I made the same experience with my Tokai Love Rock which sounded too fat and not enough nerve. My solution : - I chose a set of OX4 low wind A4 magnet pickups , un-wax potting. - I lowered the neck pickup as much as possible into the cavity, and adjusted the bridge pickup height in function for a good balance. - I adjusted the pole pieces to have a better attack and notes separation. - I adopted 50’ wiring and put a simple treble bleed on neck pickup only (250 pF). But I didn’t remove the cover, because I don’t like the look without ! ☺️
Excellent video. I can honestly say from my own experience that everything you say is true. Using lower output pickups and getting the distortion from that amp results in a much more beefier and more articulate and dynamic tone and a wider range of tonal options by using the volume and tone controls on the guitar. Unwaxed pickups definitely sound better and, with practice, the feedback can be harnessed and made musical. Great playing, too! Thank you.
I was recently roaming the mean streets of Bend, Oregon when a bearded young man wearing tight fitting trousers approached me and said “BRO, UNWAXED HUMBUCKERS HAVE BETTER DYNAMICS RANGE THAN WAXED HUMBUCKERS. I NEVER KNEW THAT BEFORE TODAY BRAH”. I looked at him, took a step back, and said “LITTLE MAN! I HAVE NO FUCKIN IDEA WHAT ANY OF THAT MEANS BUT THANK YOU FOR YOUR PASSION!” I then went about with my day
When I was a kid I found the same thing fooling around with Humbuckers all of them were miss matched and each one had there own sound. Even the power of the magnets. In those days no wax potting and I like the way they sounded better. It's the same thing with Amps too in those days if they ran out of a part they would use the next value not to mention that there was also a percentage that the part could be off. The cloning Idea is the best solution.IMO One thing that is just about impossible to get right is the grain and density of the wood. Each Guitar will have it's own response with the same pickup. It can drive you crazy. I know you understand this. Great Video. Thanks for sharing. c]8-)
The Les Pauls from the 50's like the 58 and especially the 59's they were all unwaxed, I have an 08 standard plus there's a pair of burstbucker pro's in it and as far as I know they're the lowest output of the burstbucker pick-ups and honestly they sound savage I wouldn't change my LP for anything and I have a 2018 335 that has a pair of MHS (Memphis Historic Spec) humbuckers and again they sound amazing clean tones with reverb are sweet as you like switch to OD and again savage sound, having said that I'm not one for buying a guitar because of what pick-ups are in it or if the coils have the same amount of windings or anything if it feels good in my hands and sounds good to my ear that's good enough for me, great video brother man really enjoyed it 👍😎
I had a strange vibration/overtone coming from my G string on a PRS McCarty 594.. I was trying to diagnose for months what was causing it.. I scoured the internet.. I checked nut,frets, loose hardware,high frets low frets,break angle,strings etc.... I was ready to sell it when you said something about saddle cuts on les paul style bridges being cut like a V and sometimes 5hey can pinch strings.. low and behold I took a nut file and lightly smoothed out my saddle and it worked.. I can't thank you enough..
Great video. I’m a bit in the dark about how high or low to set humbuckers because I’m still learning and don’t really have a “sound” I stick to. One of my guitars has medium output humbuckers which I love. The other has p-rails so I assume that would be a good example of an unbalanced humbuckers since the humbucker is made up half p90 and half single coil blade.
I ordered a set of Wizz Premium Clones with unbalanced coils and A3 for the neck position and more evenly wound coils for the bridge and with A2 magnet. They are freaking awesome! The magnets are really a fun thing to faff around with. I have spare UOA5, A2's, A3's and A4's (the latter came from my OX4's Low Wind - they are now short A5 in the neck and A8 in the bridge). Thanks for a great video once again.
I'd liked the video and subscribed. Great info simply presented and complete! Thanks this was better than all the tons of videos I watched on the same topic.
I have a set of hot D'marzio's or T-tops, I can't tell which in my 78' Custom LP and I like to play with high amp volume. I use an attenuator at home but on stage they squeal like crazy. I love the natural gain I get with just the amp and guitar but players have recommended that I wax them. I don't want to lose any dynamics like you were talking about, but I love them.
I BULID CUSTOM GUITARS BY HAND. YOU WILL SEE MY CUSTOM SHOP NAME ON THIS POST. I PUT FULL COVERS ON A, HSH GUITAR. YOU CAN'T SEE THE POLES. THE PICKUPS ARE DEMARIZO HUMBUCKERS, UN BLANCED, SINGLE COIL 57 FENDER IN THE CENTER. ALL FULL COVERS. THEY DO SOUND VERY WARM, BUT YOU CAN CRANK UP YOUR VOLUME AND GET METAL TONES. THEY SPILT, BUT THE INNER COIL ONLY, NO SOUND DROP. I PUT A TONE BLEED ON THE VOLUME. THAT RIGHT THERE GIVES YOU MORE HIGH-END TONE AT LOW VOLUME. I SAY, PICK YOUR FLAVOR AND WHAT SOUND YOU LIKE IN YOUR PLAYING. NICE VIDEO BRO.
Hey Kris, great video! I only know your white explorer from your old videos, I even thought you don't have that guitar anymore. Could you tell us a little bit about that guitar, what you did on it and what's your thought's on it? That would be great! Thanks for your content, you're inspiring me and teaching me so many interesting things!
I was testing my humbuckers the other day to see if I can make them sound like single coils. By tweaking the amp I got close enough. What I'm saying is an amateur like myself didn't actually needed coil splits on my guitar. Medium output alnico 5 humbuckers seem to be versatile enough.
a les paul with good paf style pickups and 50s wiring is really all you need. if you know how to work the controls on the guitar there are a lot of different tones there
Thanks Chris, I actually didn't know that gold deadened tone. That helped me with the decision of putting gold tops on my new pickups I ordered for my 78' Custom LP. I wanted to match the gold hardware on it. I don't think he look is not worth the tone loss and they cost more that way too.
It’s amazing how different the slug coil sounds from the screw coil. When I make humbuckers for telecasters I often use two slug coils. Gets you 20% or more closer to a wide range HB tone. Screw coil is really sweet sounding.
I have a parts build that came with a neck humbucker and nothing in the bridge (blasphemy for a tellie I know). Anyway, the neck pickup is WAY too warm. It's great for jazz music. But I don't play jazz. I play funk. I plan on modifying the bridge section. Any suggestions for good clean rhythm humbuckers? I'm used to tellie/ASAT single coils.
Hi Kris, i want to ask if you could take an old and used guitar, maybe in the very low price range like you could find it on a flew market or at thrift stores (30-80 Euro) and than make this thing playable again. Typically the action is to high or low, the frets need more than a good polish (levelling/re-crowning?), the neck is always kind of wonky, one or two cables have to be resolderd etc. I guess such instruments are more than one time the entry point for new players on a very tight budget and they surely didn't have the money to go to the the Thoman workshop or a local Luthier because "it isn't worthy" when i have to pay 79Euro only to get an inspection and have to pay a lot more money for fixing the issues. In my opinion a lot of these things can be fixed with effort and patience... when you know what you have to do and so... i think you get the point, maybe you could show us something like that in a new "Guitar Tweakz" episode. Thanks :-)
Hey Kris! I really loved the video, if you could please tell me one thing. What is that song that you're playing on the Exploder in 06:21? I completely fell in love with that and would like to dig it more...
Hey Kris, I want to buy a tele as my next guitar, my previous was a Fender Vintera Strat 50's modified. Do you have a recommendation for a good mid price tele ? Maybe between 1k and 1.5k € ? What do you like better on a tele, maple or rosewood neck ? Love Your Videos btw 🤟
Thanks man!! Between 1k and 1.5 I’d definitely go for an American Performer. I love those guitars. Good build quality and good hardware. A lot of Gitarre for the price. I’m not sure about luthiers for that money. I guess it depends on the country, but here in Germany you’ll have to pay at least 2k (or a lot more) for a good luthier guitar. 1100€ for the performer tele is a fair price. Just be prepared to wait a few weeks, everything seems to be sold out atm. And the fretboard: I love both rosewood and maple on guitars. On teles though, I prefer maple. :)
That happens to all coil splits. In fact, all single coils aren't as loud as humbuckers. You'll notice it in HSH/HSS Supetstrat configurations...or an SH Tele...or my👈(pictured in my icon) miniH/P90...although, to be honest..in this case it's negligible. The reason is quite intuitive. Two coils have double the output of a single coil. 🤷 Its that simple. Slap your forehead, now, to signify your stupidity, like thus:🤦 Bonus round: The reason my minihumbucker and p90 pickups are evenly balanced, volume-wise, is because the minih coils are smaller than standard, and the p90 coil is larger than standard.
I have a 2019 Gibson ES-235 semi-hollow body with burstbucker pro 3(way to high output for me), and I really want to get low output pickups but I really don't know where to go.. Lollar low wind imperials? Potted, un-potted? I don't play with lots of overdrive but because it's a hollow body I'm not sure about feedback.. not sure what to do.
I have set of Semur Distortion Humbikers (SH-6) on my Gibson Les Paul 2005. Pick up in neck position is very muddy and has low tone voice. How can I correct EQ the neck pick up? Meantime voice of the pick up in the bridge position is exellent.
Hi. Very informative video, thanks. And very tasty music/playing. I would add that me for me I adjust every Humbucker Pickup top surface in my guitars to be parallel with the strings. Regards.
I think you should make a video with some dimarzio paf 59s, play without cover then, play with different covers etc. I think this would be interesting.
Every gain stage maxes sound over the top when you crank it. If you have microphonic pickups, and unpotted pickups can most time have them, it’s gonna amplify that ring and bad stuff. And because it’s high frequency, it’s gonna seem loud. If you use high gain, unpotted pickups are out of control and I can see how people wouldn’t like it. Thanks Kris, for pointing that out, they aren’t bad just not the right thing for that situation.
Low output unpotted humbuckers are quite useable at any volume or gain, it depends on the quality of the pickups. As proven by all the old original rock bands that had giant stacks at huge volume and didn’t have wax potted pickups at that time. No need for wax potting it’s nonsense as they’re humbuckers, the design bucks hum.
Hey, yeah these are the original MHS humbuckers. But they are not regular: for some reason Gibson wired them parallel for this ES-330L series, so they sound more quiet and clear compared to the normal series wiring. Cheers
This is great! And you look like my next door neighbor hahaha i have to show him. If you casually indulged in a leafy green plant, and he played guitar, they’ll be two of you hahahaha
There are some people in the Gretsch Forum, who removed Pole pieces from their Broadtron Pickups in a Fashion Like the Fender Widerange Humbuckers. Is this similar to the Principle you've mentioned with the unbalancing?
Hi Kris, what about the mod that PRS uses on their guitars to limit the volume drop when splitting the coils? AFAIK they solder a 1.1k resistor in the neck and 2.2k resistor in the bridge on the ground lug of the push / pull pot when splitting. This should let some signal of the split coil still come through and counteract the volume drop. It would be cool if that also works with "off the shelf" pickups and how different resistor values affect the tone and volume when splitting.
Now THAT is a really interesting subject! I will come back to that PRS mod here, or on Guitar Tech Tips on the Thomann channel. You got me all excited here. Haha!
Hey Kris! I really love your videos (…és nem csak azért mert magyar vagyok 😁) …so what I would like to know is whether the special pre-built wiring like the Emerson does make the sound better, fatter and cleaner or not? Can the difference be sensible or audible? This is a big dilemma for me at this point regarding the humbuckers…just like the 50’s vs modern wiring. 😊
I'm curious about the science behind the difference in sound between a PU before and after wax potting. I'm not disputing your claim, but I can't say I've noticed it in PU I potted myself to get rid of annoying microphonic squeals. My assumption before your video was that the PU sound is all about electrical/magnetic properties (strings, windings, wire, magnets, etc). Given that wax is non-conductive, non-magnetic, and not really even in the space between the strings and the magnets, what could explain a difference in frequency response?
That’s a very interesting question and I have a very non Scientific but very logical explanation for that difference. It has to do something with being slightly microphonic or not. I’d love to talk about that in my next Comment Time video. Cheers
How about the actual tonal difference of F-spacing vs. regular? That is, does it really not sound "right" if your pole pieces aren't exactly aligned with the strings?
ive put a pair of gold burstbuckers in my hb sc550 and theres hardly any difference between that and my mates gibson les paul custom with tim shaw. pick ups..to be honest. i think theres way to much hype in the pick up world..especially where price is concerned..some can cost £400-500 each and cost less than a pint of beer to make
Oooh...let's patent pop off 'bucker covers! It started here. Great vid, bro. I like you style! But seriously...pop-off humbucker covers. There is clearly a market. Throwing you a sub, bro.
the funny thing is, i swapped out my pups on my 58 historic for bareknuckle nail bombs,, super high output! something like 13-14k! - but,, they clean up so nice on a old mashall type amp. Swings and round abouts i guess...BTW,, mine are open cream and not covered the gibson people are not impressed it did that! LOL..
Why would anyone want high output humbuckers or coil splits, they suck. Just a nice unpotted humbucker with unmatched coils will do with covers. Don’t get me started on different alnico magnets, they all sound slightly different 🤯. Nice video by the way.
Hey, if you coil split, the weaker one goes to ground and will be muted. That’s why I said there’s less of a volume loss with unbalanced humbuckers. Cheers
Nice You answered more than 5 of my questions Thanks I know my lp style over works because of the high output pickup Whatever I set the gain at its over the top Thanks Kris 🙏 Soldering iron and desolder pump time
The old P.A.F.s having unbalanced coils was not intentional but due to manufacturing precision. But as they're all after the sound of the old P.A.F.s, they unbalance them now intentionally for the replicas...
Seymour Duncan Invaders. (Drops mic floats* away like a boss) *hidden wheels in boots to create floating illusion ( David Blane ain’t got nothing on me🪄)
This is a weird video full of very questionable statements, but one in particular I find just baffling - that when you coil split a humbucker, "the louder coil will remain active". How exactly do you suggest this would work? You can quite literally choose which one of the coils will remain active and which one will go to ground, simply by wiring the coil split that way. If you wire it so that the screw coil will go to ground when you activate the coil split, then the slug coil will be the active one. If you wire it so that the slug coil will go to ground, then the screw coil will be the active one. Whichever is "stronger" (if there even is a stronger one) doesn't matter.
Unpotted, unbalanced and not overly wound. Oh would this sound like a mini humbucker? Clarity. Now we just need some lower end!!!! But maybe in a simi hollow you would automatically get that. What do ya think 🤐
Sir, your coil splitting d efinition is way off my friend. You choose what coil you turn off,and which one stays on. That's the point of having the push pull or dpdt switch.
I think it’s interesting how humbuckers seemed to get a reputation as a fatter pickup than single coils. I wonder if that’s just because of players getting larger sounds without the hiss? (Maybe it’s just because they are bigger than single coils hahaha) . I mean what I’ve heard of early PAFs they seem to be made to sound like singles, without the hum Hence humbuckers I suppose
You are so right! I haven’t thought of that. 😅 I was mainly focusing on the misinformation I read everywhere all the time. I completely forgot about series, parallel, coil split, coil tap etc. All of that should come in an other video. 👍
I had a '72 Thinline tele with wide-range humbuckers that was sitting unplayed next to my desk for more than a decade 'cause I love her looks and was a wonderful present for university graduation, but could just make it sound dull or too sharp. Never thought about adjusting the pole pieces (stupid me). Watched your video, gave the pole pieces a chanche and, god, it sounds so much better now! You made me love an old friend again, thanks a lot!
Ahh man, stories like this make my day!! So glad to hear that and I‘d love to play that tele of yours one day. Haha! I’m sure it’s a sweet guitar. Cheers!
@@KrisBarocsi Never say never!
I think you and your Tele will have a beautiful friendship from here on, may she bring you years of pleasure and cool grooves brother man 😎
Yip! It's amazing what a little pole-pulling can do. I've often pulled or pushed up/down the magnets in my Fender PUPs, when the G or B are too loud or quiet.
@@Ndlanding honestly, I always thought that raising or lowering the pole pieces would have more or less the same effect of lowering or raising the whole pickup. It was a really pleasing surprise for me finding out that you can actually fine tune the character of the pickup in a much more "precise" way. I guess you never stop learning.
You make a great point about high output buckers. Most of us have more gain on tap than we realistically need and modern amps/modeling software can likely get you wherever you want in that regard. Why trade dynamics or definition when you can have sweet nicely voiced humbuckers and distort them as much as you want? Great video, and even better playing!
That’s exactly the point, I couldn’t agree more Alan. Cheers!
Helpful tips.
I made the same experience with my Tokai Love Rock which sounded too fat and not enough nerve.
My solution :
- I chose a set of OX4 low wind A4 magnet pickups , un-wax potting.
- I lowered the neck pickup as much as possible into the cavity, and adjusted the bridge pickup height in function for a good balance.
- I adjusted the pole pieces to have a better attack and notes separation.
- I adopted 50’ wiring and put a simple treble bleed on neck pickup only (250 pF).
But I didn’t remove the cover, because I don’t like the look without ! ☺️
Excellent video. I can honestly say from my own experience that everything you say is true. Using lower output pickups and getting the distortion from that amp results in a much more beefier and more articulate and dynamic tone and a wider range of tonal options by using the volume and tone controls on the guitar. Unwaxed pickups definitely sound better and, with practice, the feedback can be harnessed and made musical. Great playing, too! Thank you.
THEY DO GIVE MORE HARMONICS TO YOUR SOUND. THEY ALSO GRAB THE VIBRATION OF YOUR GUITAR. LIKE TAPPING ON THE BODY.
I was recently roaming the mean streets of Bend, Oregon when a bearded young man wearing tight fitting trousers approached me and said “BRO, UNWAXED HUMBUCKERS HAVE BETTER DYNAMICS RANGE THAN WAXED HUMBUCKERS. I NEVER KNEW THAT BEFORE TODAY BRAH”. I looked at him, took a step back, and said “LITTLE MAN! I HAVE NO FUCKIN IDEA WHAT ANY OF THAT MEANS BUT THANK YOU FOR YOUR PASSION!”
I then went about with my day
Hi Kris, So glad someone adresses this subject. Put things right for unbalanced, unwaxed, asymetrical HB. Cheers !
When I was a kid I found the same thing fooling around with Humbuckers all of them were miss matched and each one had there own sound. Even the power of the magnets. In those days no wax potting and I like the way they sounded better. It's the same thing with Amps too in those days if they ran out of a part they would use the next value not to mention that there was also a percentage that the part could be off. The cloning Idea is the best solution.IMO One thing that is just about impossible to get right is the grain and density of the wood. Each Guitar will have it's own response with the same pickup. It can drive you crazy. I know you understand this. Great Video. Thanks for sharing. c]8-)
My opinion is that I've been ignoring your YT channel for way too long! Congrat for both great playing and also great technical knowledge!
Good to see you here and thanks a lot! Enjoy the videos!
Great video. All of your vids on pickups are great. The polls, covers etc...I come back and watch them again every now and then.
Man, that’s so cool to hear! Thanks a lot!
High quality video. Like your friendly and personal attitude and also quality of video and audio 🎉
Cheers Charlie! 🙏
The Les Pauls from the 50's like the 58 and especially the 59's they were all unwaxed, I have an 08 standard plus there's a pair of burstbucker pro's in it and as far as I know they're the lowest output of the burstbucker pick-ups and honestly they sound savage I wouldn't change my LP for anything and I have a 2018 335 that has a pair of MHS (Memphis Historic Spec) humbuckers and again they sound amazing clean tones with reverb are sweet as you like switch to OD and again savage sound, having said that I'm not one for buying a guitar because of what pick-ups are in it or if the coils have the same amount of windings or anything if it feels good in my hands and sounds good to my ear that's good enough for me, great video brother man really enjoyed it 👍😎
I had a strange vibration/overtone coming from my G string on a PRS McCarty 594.. I was trying to diagnose for months what was causing it.. I scoured the internet.. I checked nut,frets, loose hardware,high frets low frets,break angle,strings etc.... I was ready to sell it when you said something about saddle cuts on les paul style bridges being cut like a V and sometimes 5hey can pinch strings.. low and behold I took a nut file and lightly smoothed out my saddle and it worked.. I can't thank you enough..
That is so cool man, I‘m really happy to hear that! 💪 Enjoy that sweet McCarty!
Great video. I’m a bit in the dark about how high or low to set humbuckers because I’m still learning and don’t really have a “sound” I stick to. One of my guitars has medium output humbuckers which I love. The other has p-rails so I assume that would be a good example of an unbalanced humbuckers since the humbucker is made up half p90 and half single coil blade.
I ordered a set of Wizz Premium Clones with unbalanced coils and A3 for the neck position and more evenly wound coils for the bridge and with A2 magnet. They are freaking awesome! The magnets are really a fun thing to faff around with. I have spare UOA5, A2's, A3's and A4's (the latter came from my OX4's Low Wind - they are now short A5 in the neck and A8 in the bridge).
Thanks for a great video once again.
I bet those sound magical dude. Thanks for watching!
I'd liked the video and subscribed. Great info simply presented and complete! Thanks this was better than all the tons of videos I watched on the same topic.
Thanks a lot James! Glad to see that you enjoy the videos. 🙌🥳
I love my 59 Epiphone with USA Gibson pickups. I love low output pickups combined with Hi gain pedal and plexi style amp 😊 Brilliant video Kris 👏🏻
I have a set of hot D'marzio's or T-tops, I can't tell which in my 78' Custom LP and I like to play with high amp volume. I use an attenuator at home but on stage they squeal like crazy. I love the natural gain I get with just the amp and guitar but players have recommended that I wax them. I don't want to lose any dynamics like you were talking about, but I love them.
Well done - the only thing I'm missing are some words about spacing 50mm / 53mm.
Good point!! I forgot to mention that. Why not talking about it in a Comment Time video. 😁
Love your tone at 6:30. And excellent info. Thanks!
I BULID CUSTOM GUITARS BY HAND. YOU WILL SEE MY CUSTOM SHOP NAME ON THIS POST. I PUT FULL COVERS ON A, HSH GUITAR. YOU CAN'T SEE THE POLES. THE PICKUPS ARE DEMARIZO HUMBUCKERS, UN BLANCED, SINGLE COIL 57 FENDER IN THE CENTER. ALL FULL COVERS. THEY DO SOUND VERY WARM, BUT YOU CAN CRANK UP YOUR VOLUME AND GET METAL TONES. THEY SPILT, BUT THE INNER COIL ONLY, NO SOUND DROP. I PUT A TONE BLEED ON THE VOLUME. THAT RIGHT THERE GIVES YOU MORE HIGH-END TONE AT LOW VOLUME. I SAY, PICK YOUR FLAVOR AND WHAT SOUND YOU LIKE IN YOUR PLAYING. NICE VIDEO BRO.
Hey Kris, great video!
I only know your white explorer from your old videos, I even thought you don't have that guitar anymore. Could you tell us a little bit about that guitar, what you did on it and what's your thought's on it? That would be great!
Thanks for your content, you're inspiring me and teaching me so many interesting things!
Beautiful playing Kris❕
I was testing my humbuckers the other day to see if I can make them sound like single coils. By tweaking the amp I got close enough. What I'm saying is an amateur like myself didn't actually needed coil splits on my guitar. Medium output alnico 5 humbuckers seem to be versatile enough.
a les paul with good paf style pickups and 50s wiring is really all you need. if you know how to work the controls on the guitar there are a lot of different tones there
Hi Kris, nice video. What PUs do you have in your LesPaul? Neck/bridge, potted or unpotted?
My 1978 les paul custom sounded great without the pickup covers ! Alas I sold that beautiful guitar !
Thanks Chris, I actually didn't know that gold deadened tone. That helped me with the decision of putting gold tops on my new pickups I ordered for my 78' Custom LP. I wanted to match the gold hardware on it. I don't think he look is not worth the tone loss and they cost more that way too.
Id say 2 factors are
Magnets
Pole piece types. Slug, screw and hex all have different sounds. You could really go futher with metal types too.
It’s amazing how different the slug coil sounds from the screw coil. When I make humbuckers for telecasters I often use two slug coils. Gets you 20% or more closer to a wide range HB tone. Screw coil is really sweet sounding.
Very informative, thanks!
What’s that redish lespaul model? Pups? Fukn good sounding one. Thnxx brother ❤
Hi, would you please tell which pickups are in the 3 guitars you used in the video? Thanx😎
I have a parts build that came with a neck humbucker and nothing in the bridge (blasphemy for a tellie I know). Anyway, the neck pickup is WAY too warm. It's great for jazz music. But I don't play jazz. I play funk. I plan on modifying the bridge section. Any suggestions for good clean rhythm humbuckers? I'm used to tellie/ASAT single coils.
Hi Kris,
i want to ask if you could take an old and used guitar, maybe in the very low price range like you could find it on a flew market or at thrift stores (30-80 Euro) and than make this thing playable again. Typically the action is to high or low, the frets need more than a good polish (levelling/re-crowning?), the neck is always kind of wonky, one or two cables have to be resolderd etc.
I guess such instruments are more than one time the entry point for new players on a very tight budget and they surely didn't have the money to go to the the Thoman workshop or a local Luthier because "it isn't worthy" when i have to pay 79Euro only to get an inspection and have to pay a lot more money for fixing the issues. In my opinion a lot of these things can be fixed with effort and patience... when you know what you have to do and so... i think you get the point, maybe you could show us something like that in a new "Guitar Tweakz" episode. Thanks :-)
Thanks for teaching us so many precious concepts and facts!
And I thank you for watching my videos. It’s much much appreciated! 🙌
Hey Kris! I really loved the video, if you could please tell me one thing. What is that song that you're playing on the Exploder in 06:21? I completely fell in love with that and would like to dig it more...
Hey Kris, I want to buy a tele as my next guitar, my previous was a Fender Vintera Strat 50's modified. Do you have a recommendation for a good mid price tele ? Maybe between 1k and 1.5k € ? What do you like better on a tele, maple or rosewood neck ? Love Your Videos btw 🤟
Could think about of a custom guitar if you have a budget like that. There are luthiers/guitar builders that offer guitars below 2k.
@@jicklesjingles8134 yeah I thought about that, maybe you get more guitar for the money than when buying a fender vintera or something similar
Thanks man!! Between 1k and 1.5 I’d definitely go for an American Performer. I love those guitars. Good build quality and good hardware. A lot of Gitarre for the price. I’m not sure about luthiers for that money. I guess it depends on the country, but here in Germany you’ll have to pay at least 2k (or a lot more) for a good luthier guitar. 1100€ for the performer tele is a fair price. Just be prepared to wait a few weeks, everything seems to be sold out atm.
And the fretboard: I love both rosewood and maple on guitars. On teles though, I prefer maple. :)
@@KrisBarocsi check out Suwak Custom Guitars for example. Great craftsmanship and fair pricing. Made in Germany 👍
@@jicklesjingles8134 will do! Thanks for the heads up!
T.G.I.T. !!!! (Thank God It's Thursday)
I was watching some news and your notification came.... news can wait I guess!✌️🤪🎸🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶
haha! So cooooool thanks a lot!
Can I change humbucker polepiece screws without rewaxing pups? Do I need to dip new screws in wax before installing?
Great video, Kris!
Kris, is this why my HB Fusion Tele HH has a loss of volume when I Split the Coils? Thanks Sir and Cheers from Salem, Ohio US.
That happens to all coil splits. In fact, all single coils aren't as loud as humbuckers.
You'll notice it in HSH/HSS Supetstrat configurations...or an SH Tele...or my👈(pictured in my icon) miniH/P90...although, to be honest..in this case it's negligible.
The reason is quite intuitive. Two coils have double the output of a single coil. 🤷
Its that simple. Slap your forehead, now, to signify your stupidity, like thus:🤦
Bonus round:
The reason my minihumbucker and p90 pickups are evenly balanced, volume-wise, is because the minih coils are smaller than standard, and the p90 coil is larger than standard.
I have a 2019 Gibson ES-235 semi-hollow body with burstbucker pro 3(way to high output for me), and I really want to get low output pickups but I really don't know where to go.. Lollar low wind imperials? Potted, un-potted? I don't play with lots of overdrive but because it's a hollow body I'm not sure about feedback.. not sure what to do.
I have set of Semur Distortion Humbikers (SH-6) on my Gibson Les Paul 2005. Pick up in neck position is very muddy and has low tone voice. How can I correct EQ the neck pick up? Meantime voice of the pick up in the bridge position is exellent.
Hi. Very informative video, thanks. And very tasty music/playing. I would add that me for me I adjust every Humbucker Pickup top surface in my guitars to be parallel with the strings. Regards.
Gotta love them woody tones from a Les Paul... awesome Kris !
Yep, couldn’t agree more!
I think you should make a video with some dimarzio paf 59s, play without cover then, play with different covers etc. I think this would be interesting.
Really nice Kris!👍👍🎸
Every gain stage maxes sound over the top when you crank it. If you have microphonic pickups, and unpotted pickups can most time have them, it’s gonna amplify that ring and bad stuff. And because it’s high frequency, it’s gonna seem loud. If you use high gain, unpotted pickups are out of control and I can see how people wouldn’t like it. Thanks Kris, for pointing that out, they aren’t bad just not the right thing for that situation.
Low output unpotted humbuckers are quite useable at any volume or gain, it depends on the quality of the pickups. As proven by all the old original rock bands that had giant stacks at huge volume and didn’t have wax potted pickups at that time. No need for wax potting it’s nonsense as they’re humbuckers, the design bucks hum.
Are those the stock pickups in your 335, and if not what are they? They sound killer man!
Hey, yeah these are the original MHS humbuckers. But they are not regular: for some reason Gibson wired them parallel for this ES-330L series, so they sound more quiet and clear compared to the normal series wiring. Cheers
Angus used lower output PAF's into old Marshall's, seemed to work out pretty good. Plenty of gain as well.
Exactly! 👌
This is great! And you look like my next door neighbor hahaha i have to show him. If you casually indulged in a leafy green plant, and he played guitar, they’ll be two of you hahahaha
😆 Maybe that’s me… dear neighbor.
So, any medium/low output, unwaxed hb for les paul you like and could mention?
There are some people in the Gretsch Forum, who removed Pole pieces from their Broadtron Pickups in a Fashion Like the Fender Widerange Humbuckers. Is this similar to the Principle you've mentioned with the unbalancing?
Thank you Kris, I really learned something!
Glad to hear that. Thanks for watching! 🙌
Hi Kris, what about the mod that PRS uses on their guitars to limit the volume drop when splitting the coils?
AFAIK they solder a 1.1k resistor in the neck and 2.2k resistor in the bridge on the ground lug of the push / pull pot when splitting.
This should let some signal of the split coil still come through and counteract the volume drop.
It would be cool if that also works with "off the shelf" pickups and how different resistor values affect the tone and volume when splitting.
Now THAT is a really interesting subject! I will come back to that PRS mod here, or on Guitar Tech Tips on the Thomann channel. You got me all excited here. Haha!
@@KrisBarocsi Awesome! Really looking forward to that video.
The reason for the imbalance in PAF pickups was that they weren't winding to a resistance value but untill the bobbins were full.
Hi Chris, always a pleasure to listen to your statements...👍
Those are always neutrale and informative...👌
Big thanks👏👏👏
Greetz
Thanks a lot Bernd!! 🥳
Maaan, that Explorer sounds fantastic! What PUps are these? Great vid btw.
Thanks a lot! A full video coming up on that guitar soon-ish. Stay tuned :)
Hey Kris! I really love your videos (…és nem csak azért mert magyar vagyok 😁)
…so what I would like to know is whether the special pre-built wiring like the Emerson does make the sound better, fatter and cleaner or not? Can the difference be sensible or audible?
This is a big dilemma for me at this point regarding the humbuckers…just like the 50’s vs modern wiring. 😊
Whoop whoop 🙌 Nagyon köszi! Now THAT is a question that needs to be discussed in a Comment Time video. 👍 Stay tuned! Szia!
I'm curious about the science behind the difference in sound between a PU before and after wax potting. I'm not disputing your claim, but I can't say I've noticed it in PU I potted myself to get rid of annoying microphonic squeals. My assumption before your video was that the PU sound is all about electrical/magnetic properties (strings, windings, wire, magnets, etc). Given that wax is non-conductive, non-magnetic, and not really even in the space between the strings and the magnets, what could explain a difference in frequency response?
That’s a very interesting question and I have a very non Scientific but very logical explanation for that difference. It has to do something with being slightly microphonic or not. I’d love to talk about that in my next Comment Time video. Cheers
How about the actual tonal difference of F-spacing vs. regular? That is, does it really not sound "right" if your pole pieces aren't exactly aligned with the strings?
@ Kris, What bridge pickup is mounted on your Les Paul ? Sounds killer.
Thanks a lot! The bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan Skinnerburst Antiquity and the neck humbucker is a Raw Vintage PAF. I love them!
ive put a pair of gold burstbuckers in my hb sc550 and theres hardly any difference between that and my mates gibson les paul custom with tim shaw. pick ups..to be honest. i think theres way to much hype in the pick up world..especially where price is concerned..some can cost £400-500 each and cost less than a pint of beer to make
First hell yeah! Love your vids!
grab any seats? Sorry I’m late I was arguing that guy at Rich’s about what lotion he uses.
Dude, you faaast! Haha! Enjoy the video!
Oooh...let's patent pop off 'bucker covers! It started here. Great vid, bro. I like you style! But seriously...pop-off humbucker covers. There is clearly a market. Throwing you a sub, bro.
Hey man, thanks a lot!
what makes the pickup low or high output..the strength of magnet or the winding of the coil?
A combination of both.
Man! You’re a great guitarist!
Thanks so much man! 🙌
Often the opposite happens. A lot of players say that active pickups are not dynamic and sound cold. What do you think Kris?
Very good video.
Thank you very much!
the funny thing is, i swapped out my pups on my 58 historic for bareknuckle nail bombs,, super high output! something like 13-14k! - but,, they clean up so nice on a old mashall type amp. Swings and round abouts i guess...BTW,, mine are open cream and not covered
the gibson people are not impressed it did that! LOL..
Why would anyone want high output humbuckers or coil splits, they suck. Just a nice unpotted humbucker with unmatched coils will do with covers. Don’t get me started on different alnico magnets, they all sound slightly different 🤯. Nice video by the way.
I’m a high gain player. I hate potted pickups. I loose like 90% of my mojo with wax. Same with sjatebloarding
If your PUP is unbalanced and you coil split it, the volume difference may be much greater, if the working coil is the quieter one, I'd reckon.
Hey, if you coil split, the weaker one goes to ground and will be muted. That’s why I said there’s less of a volume loss with unbalanced humbuckers. Cheers
@@KrisBarocsi I suppose you must measure the impedances of each coil before doing the split, then?
That was a lot of good info! It was all things that make you go hmmmmmmmmbucker! ok ok... I'm going I'm going!!! Great vid.
So the Tesla OPUS1... with the top of should sond goood! in the new HB 550 II..... hummmm
Nice
You answered more than 5 of my questions
Thanks
I know my lp style over works because of the high output pickup
Whatever I set the gain at its over the top
Thanks Kris 🙏
Soldering iron and desolder pump time
how about guitar collection video? :)
If I want two coils, I put my telecaster switch in the middle position.
I just totally skipped past the Gibson style humbuckers and bought filtertron style.
You could've said more clearly:
"Stay off the forums ya idiots!"
Other than that, crystal clear...!
The old P.A.F.s having unbalanced coils was not intentional but due to manufacturing precision. But as they're all after the sound of the old P.A.F.s, they unbalance them now intentionally for the replicas...
Seymour Duncan Invaders.
(Drops mic floats* away like a boss)
*hidden wheels in boots to create floating illusion ( David Blane ain’t got nothing on me🪄)
🤣🤣 you my sir are the real Invader. Where did you hide your troopers? 🧐
😂
This is a weird video full of very questionable statements, but one in particular I find just baffling - that when you coil split a humbucker, "the louder coil will remain active". How exactly do you suggest this would work? You can quite literally choose which one of the coils will remain active and which one will go to ground, simply by wiring the coil split that way. If you wire it so that the screw coil will go to ground when you activate the coil split, then the slug coil will be the active one. If you wire it so that the slug coil will go to ground, then the screw coil will be the active one. Whichever is "stronger" (if there even is a stronger one) doesn't matter.
Unpotted, unbalanced and not overly wound. Oh would this sound like a mini humbucker? Clarity. Now we just need some lower end!!!! But maybe in a simi hollow you would automatically get that. What do ya think 🤐
as far as i am concerned, matched and unmatched coil humbuckers are totally different beasts. and i much prefer them unbalanced.
Has that LPJ behind your noggin got a "potbelly top carve"..??
Woooaah! Phwooaar!! 😦
Ain't ne'er seen that 'afore...!🤠👉
Sir, your coil splitting d efinition is way off my friend. You choose what coil you turn off,and which one stays on. That's the point of having the push pull or dpdt switch.
Prefer the sound of mismatched humbucking coils, both covers on, nickel-plated hardware; and prefer humbuckers and spaghetti ― unwaxed and al dente. 🍝
“The only thing that wasn’t clear here was the humbucker” - some single-coil die hard probably 😂
Ja, da wird viel humbug erzählt über diese hämburger 😂
Too my ear the PL sounds much better .
I think it’s interesting how humbuckers seemed to get a reputation as a fatter pickup than single coils. I wonder if that’s just because of players getting larger sounds without the hiss? (Maybe it’s just because they are bigger than single coils hahaha) . I mean what I’ve heard of early PAFs they seem to be made to sound like singles, without the hum
Hence humbuckers I suppose
sure.....you did not mention that humbuckers can be wired in parallel.
you asked for it.
You are so right! I haven’t thought of that. 😅 I was mainly focusing on the misinformation I read everywhere all the time. I completely forgot about series, parallel, coil split, coil tap etc. All of that should come in an other video. 👍
@@KrisBarocsi hahaha nice
Only one thing you need to know about Humbuckers! Get a Tele instead! :P
🤣 I agree with that... most of the time. But man, sometimes... there’s nothing like a good old low output humbucker with a hint of overdrive. Haha
"Well...no...". The short answer.
Gibson caring about keeping anything to a spec or standard? Yeah i doubt they did it then if they aren't now.
No help at all