7-String Imperial Humbucker

Without a doubt the best sounding 7String pickup for my application. Although the guitar was sold, I held onto the Low-wind Imperial and installed it in my new Unger custom 7, in tandem with a Carlos soundboard transducer. 1+1+4. Beyond belief how great the sound is. It's a total treat when you can just focus on the music because the sound is right there for you. Kudos!

I have a 1997 Ibanez AF207 16" 7 String Jazz Box, which build-wise is an excellent instrument. But the stock pickup/harness left a lot to be desired. I felt the electronics were short-changing the instrument-- too many low mids- unfocused sounding and just not very musical. Remembering back a few years, I had encountered a guitar with Imperials and was really kind of shocked(in a good way) by the sound-- not the usual "Mud Fest" that some HBs impart. So I remembered that and when it came time to gut the electronics in the Ibanez. I chose a Low-Wind 7 String Imperial. Once installed-- with CTS and Alpha 500Kpots, new real jack, treble bleed, and .022 cap, I could not be happier. Why? Some pickups are wound in a way where they telegraph the actual sound of the guitar through the coils. This pickups is just such a creature. If I put the Volume on 3 and the Tone on 6 and play fingerstyle Jazz, not only does it sound very "acoustic", but I can also hear both hands on the guitar AND the sound of the top. Which to me, is pretty amazing for a laminated-top, mass-production axe. If I turn it up, it gets that very Trad Kenny Burrell-esque timbre-- fat, but not just 'pickup-fat"-- there are a lot of other artifacts in the signal. For me, this is a preferable thing-- more information in the signal means more nuance . So I'm really very pleased with the choice I made-- it transformed an electronically "hobbled" instrument into a fully-realized very useable tool for me. I couldn't be happier, frankly. The only downside of this purchase is that 7 String pickups are apparently only available in one string spacing width, which doesn't at all match the Ibanez, yet also doesn't affect the string-to-string balance in any tangible way. How is that?? Kudos for nailing the timbre for my desired musical goal.