Typically, when we start researching and designing a new humbucker, we wire the pickups in the simplest and most common way possible: in series, with no coil tapping, phase switching, or parallel options. We want to hear the purest tone possible from the pickup in its essential form. Sometimes this takes many hours; sometimes it takes years.
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The term humbucker probably brings to mind the “Gibson” sound, or rather – and more specifically – the “Patent Applied For” or “P.A.F.” sound. The pickups made by Gibson in this narrow time frame, spanning from the late ’50s to early ’60s (though the patent was officially awarded in 1959) have become synonymous with what a humbucker “should” sound like. Never mind the fact that rarely would you ever find two P.A.F.-era pickups that share the same exact sound, but that’s a whole other topic unto itself. Because of this, what is now considered a traditional humbucker has become as much form as it is function.
Continue readingWe get asked all the time, “Why does my old pickup sound dull?” There are many reasons the tone can suffer on vintage pickups.
We can’t resurrect or improve every beaten, tired, old pickup that we come across. Some of them, like the ones seen above, are just too far gone. Only a complete rebuild, with brand new parts could bring them back to life, but at that point, you may as well just replace it! You can’t shine a turd, as they say — and even if you could, you’d still just have a shiny turd. But, just maybe, your dull sound isn’t the turd you thought it was, so in this edition, we’ll address the possible causes and potential solutions.
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We will, that’s who!
Potting is the process of soaking the pickup in melted wax, in order to saturate the components, which will isolate them and reduce movement of the coils. Because of this, potted pickups have reduced likelihood of excessive handling noise, microphonic feedback or mechanical failure. However, if a pickup is potted too much, the pickup can often sound lifeless and dull, lacking character and “vibe”.
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