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Main Description
True 50s - Meet your Heros
This is a pickup I swore I’d never make if I’m being honest – but, like most things, time makes fools of us all – so here it is – a “proper” vintage humbuckers – aimed at hitting that iconic tone that shaped rock music on the very first humbucking guitars.
Now – be warned – this a real warts and all recreation of a late 50s humbuckers – it’s not going to do everything! Its aimed more at historical accuracy then anything we’ve ever built before, and I really can’t stress this enough, that comes with the good AND the bad.
In reality, this is a pickup (and all other pickups in this style if you ask me!) is more an exercise in ticking boxes then a great piece of engineering and design – but, honestly? Even as someone who doesn’t massively buy in to the mojo and mystery associated with pickups – it blew me away. It’s a real “plug and play” joy! Everything you expect it to be able to do, it does right off the bat! (Which makes a mockery of our usual protracted design process frankly!)
So – what boxes needed to be ticked to make a “real” vintage humbuckers? It runs like this.
- Butyrate bobbins (49.2mm spacing)
- 3/16” mild steel poles
- 5/40 UNC mild steel pole screws
- Long legged “vintage” German Silver base (that’s a fancy way of saying pointy corners on the wings, and the holes for the pole screws are threaded)
- No such thing as a neck pickup, only a bridge that’s been installed “spun round” so the poles point the right way.
- 62mm long Alnico 2 bar magnet.
- 22AWG Metal braided hook-up wire.
- A pair of 42 AWG Plain enamel coils coming in below 8kohm
- Maple spacers
- A tradional German silver cover WITHOUT a copper under plating (if you want one!)
- No wax potting
- No “cloth tape” (Only paper!)
So – that’s what we’ve done – to the letter! And it does exactly what you’d hope frankly – its rich and sultry and chewy with just enough sparkle to carry medium levels of gain. – its one of those pickups where you don’t really need to muck about with the amp settings – just stick a bit of gain on it, and its going to give you rock music straight off the bat.
BUT – its not without its short comings! So here they are.
- This humbuckers isn’t potted, so its prone to microphonic feedback if you push your volume or gain too hard.
- Options are limited – Black or Ivory Butyrate Bobbins, Gold or Nickel poles and covers, only 49.2mm spacing – that’s your lot! That’s what the originals came with, so that’s what the reproductions come with!
- They’re, realistically, only ever going to fit into Gibson®, Epiphone® and similar guitars! And, frankly, they’re not really going to sound “right” if you do manage to shoe horn one into a Strat®
Now, I am well aware this is reading more like a list of “this is why its historically accurate” and “a list of reasons why you don’t want a historically accurate pickup!”… but, I suppose that’s the point of it. This isn’t a tonal quest for perfection for me – it’s a bit of a “meet your heros” thing – it’s a pickup from the late 50s, it does what the originals did, its got its own sound that you’ll struggle to get with any other pickup… but its got its draw backs. If you can live with them, it’ll make all your dreams come true… but be warned, its not going to be for everyone.
Gibson®, Epiphone®, Stratocaster® and Strat® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Gibson Musical Instruments Corporation. Axesrus® has no affiliation with FMIC
The Good & The BadBetween you, me and the fence post, I'm more an engineer then i am a salesman, so to scratch that itch - I’m compelled to not only write up the unavoidable "hey, this pickup great! Play Rock or Blues?! This one’s for you!", but for the sake of balance, it’s only fair that i get to write up what they're not great too (and because this section isn't "up front" - i get to be a bit more technical about it too! Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to explain what all those lovely buzz words actually mean eh?)
Remember too - whilst I’m writing this stuff about Axesrus pickups, its true of every pickup ever made. Even if you’re not buying ours, this stuff is handy! It’s all true! all pickups have characteristics that make them good or bad... there are no perfect pickups!
So, here we go - True 50s - A proper, warts and all "this is what guitars did in the 50s!" humbucker. Glassy and bright and slightly badly behaved! One of those i absolutely love, but can never have! So lets pick the bones out of it.
Coil "Mismatch"
The Good - Coil mismatches are one of those things that happened in the 50s by "mistake" (so a "proper 50s humbucker" is going to usually have one) - originally, the screw bobbins "internal" was shorter (across the length) then the slug side - so the 5000 winds EVERY "very vintage" humbucker has, originally, had a longer length of wire on the slug side then the screw!
As time went by, the bobbins were standardised, and at some point in the early 60s, the slug and screw bobbins were the same internal dimensions, and the magic of the mismatched coil was lost, so even though we're using Butyrate bobbins, in the vintage spacing, that size difference isn't there any more, so we're having to compesnate for that original design flaw. Very simply, by over winding the slug coil by a few extra hundred winds.
This has a weird effect on the signal (you can see if on the bode plots) -essentially, you get a VERY small section of the signal, that remains "unhumbuckered" - it feels like having an extra, tiny pickup in the circuit that only produces the very hint of very high overtone. This gives pickups like the True 50s a certain, intangible sparkle. A glassiness and chime that you cant quite put your finger on, but really does add that little bit of magic to the sound of the things.
The Bad - I'd struggle to say theres much "bad" about a magic, hidden overtone generator lurking in your vintage humbucker - but it might not be your thing. It does, if anything, shift the centre of focus on vintage humbuckers slightly, and you'll pervieve them as being a little brighter then they really are, but, honestly? I cant say theres really much of a negative to it.
Brightness
The Good - Vintage humbuckers are BRIGHT - they're a relatively low resistance, a relatively low inductance and a weak magnet - they're beautifully balanced in their own way, but you'd struggle to say they were a muscullar bruiser of a pickup. The mad thing is, that brightness, when you apply a little bit of grit (be that by pushing the amp to high volumes, or by using pedals to ape the effect!) makes everything sound EXACTLY like you'd expect it to. As a good rule of thumb, classic rock and blues, whilst it might be relatively heavy, with distortion and big amps, the pickups are quite sparkly! Its that combination that makes everything work, and stops your distorted sounds getting overly soupy.
The Bad - if your playing "Dentist Clean" (i dont know many that do!) - pickups like the True 50s can be ear splittingly. Bordering on brittle. Its almost sterile.
It just isn't very pleasing - if your going Uber clean, a little more warmth is your friend. (Bourbon City!)
Size and Style
The Good - Its all VERY historically correct, originally humbuckers came in a 3 colour options - you either got Zebra, Black, or, occasionally, Cream bobbins, and they could be covered with either a Nickel or a Gold cover, and the covers have no "copper underplate" so when they age, they develop those beautiful zebra stripes pretty quickly. They only came in 49.2mm spacing, and they always had long legged bases - so thats what we've done with the True 50s - you can get any combination of the above, limiting thought it may be... if we're going for a historic pickup, you might as well go for a properly historic pickup.
Theres some "joy" in working within the confines of what was availalble back in the day too - walking a mile in the shoes of your favourite guitarists.
The Bad - Historically accurate it may be, but with only a 49.2mm spacing and long legs? Your not fitting a True 50s into a Stratocaster any time soon (and it wouldn't sound right if you did!) - this ones fitting Gibson, Epiphone and guitars that look similar - very little else.
Further to that - Covers without copper unplate aren't as "good" a finish as coppered ones (expect to see the base metals texture showing through the plating), and Butyrate doesn't polish up in the same way as ABS (which is used on modern humbuckers) AND they smell vaguely of Parmesan cheese (or baby sick... depending on how you think of it) - it doesn't last too long, but its definitely there.
Unpotted / Not Waxed
The Good - The arguement for "unpotted" pickps is this - as the guitar is played, the entire thing vibrates, including the pickups, a potted pickup vibrates as a single unit, because its all "locked" together with wax. With unpotted pickup, the coils aren't fixed in place, so can, potentially, vibrate seperately to the bobbins. This means that the coils can move through the magnetic field, and generate "extra" signal and under the right conditions, this gives the pickups a little extra... something. It seems to come through as an increase in volume in the higher overtones again. Its nice! Its one of those little aspects that you cant quite nail down, but is certainly adding something to the overall feel of the pickup.
The Bad - with enough volume, its perfectly possible for an unpotted pickups coils to start vibrating, generating enough signal to kick the amp into life, get hit by feedback, and keep vibrating! this is known as microphonic feedback, and theres absolutely no way to stopping it (short of turning the volume down and hoping whatevers caused the original noise has stopped (might by your last chord, might be buzzing lights behind the stage)
I will say this - i've absolutely no problem wax potting a True 50s - its not historic, and i'd certainly suggest trying them unpotted to see if you can live with it, because there is some magic in there, but i wont hold you to ransom if you want them potting after the fact. They can come back, be potted at no extra charge, and shipped back out.
Matched Set?
Because this is a historic humbucker, it comes from a time when pickups didn't come in different "types" - a humbucker was a humbucker. If you needed to fit it into the bridge, you hung it with the pole screws at the bridge, if it was going in the neck? You spun it round. The hookup wire comes out the wrong side of the base now, but who cares.
So, thats what we're doing here - its one size fits all - stick it in neck or bridge, it'll work.
You can, if you want, mix and match the True 50s with other pickups too, but i cant imagine why you would to be honest - part of the charm is working with what the 1950s gave us, so, for me? A pair of these is all you'll ever need.
That said - i'm not here to brow beat you into being boring! So, these combos work.
Bridge pickups (True 50s in Neck)
Bourbon City - Just a shade more guts then the True 50s, a little more aggressive, and lacking some of that "snap" in the top end, so not a bad choice if your looking to push a bit more of a rock angle, and your chasing a little more body from your bridge.
Classic 50s - Abit of half way house between the True 50s and the Bourbon - a little more "chunky" in the lows (but not as much as the Bourbons!), and a little more defined in the highs. Its very much a coin toss for me - the Classic 50s and the True 50s are both cut from the same cloth frankly (so they'll naturally pair up well!) - but the Trues are tied to that historic accuracy, and the Classics aren't (so you could, if you so desired, have a bright green and purple one if your heart desires!)
Model 24 - In the same way the Bourbon is going to give you that bit of extra muscle, the Model 24s going to do the same, just "more" - more aggresion, more punch, stronger, righter low end, with less headroom and more compression giving a more modern rock tone.
True 50s - Now, if i was being "sensible", and i was letting head rule heart, i'd probably advise against the True 50s as a brdge pickup... its a little on the bright side, its a bit too fizzy, and its a little "light"... but, thats kind of the charm. We're looking at "meet your heros" pickup here, so if thats what they played back in the day? Thats probably what you want to play now! As a Matched set though, its not without its charms - pushed hard through a big, british amp, and it'll make your dreams come true.
Neck Pickups (True 50s in Bridge)
Classic 50s - again, see above. On a slightly personal note, if your thinking "I'll take a very historic True 50s in the bridge, and a Classic 50s in the neck!" - just cut out the middle man and get a pair of Classic 50s. The True 50s is a great pickup, but the necks the champ, going without that is selling yourself short. Go get a set of Classics (you can still get them with the Butyrate bobbins and all the bells and whilstles... or, again, get a green set!)
True 50s - The logical choice frankly - a true "matched set" - the same pickup in the bridge as in the neck, creamy, brassy, bell like, with enough sparkle to retain that "raunch" you'd expect from a 1950s humbucker. If we're going down the route of "lets work with what they had in 1957", with that "warts and all" approach to pickups, consider it a blessing that the True 50s is an absolutely world class neck pickup in its own right.
Late 50s Humbucker Sized P90 - a bit left field, but not a bad pairing! Humbucker sized P90s dont sound much like "real" P90s, but they've got a wonderfully warm, almost wooly, jazzy vibe to them, which, in the right hands, can compliment a vintage humbucker like the True 50s to perfection.
Bode Plots
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Swap Graphs?
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Pickup #1
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Pickup #2
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Setup
Again, traditional is the name of the game here.
500k pots work perfectly (thats what was used on the recordings for reference) and a 0.022 or a 0.047 cap on the tone will see you absolutely fine - you can try a 300k tone pot if you like, but i've never felt it made much of a difference myself.
Covers, as always, mute what top end "snap" there is ever so slightly - i actually prefer the True 50s with a cover, because everything gets a little more "smooth" - but its horses for courses. Originally, most all PAF humbucker will have been covered, so its a more authentic experience in my opinion, but theres some real fun to be had in the uncovered version.
Warranty & Returns
In an ideal world, I wouldn’t have to write this section up, and, I really wish I didn’t have to, but, if I’m being honest and transparent about how pickups work, for better or worse, it’s probably worth being honest and open your rights as a consumer too, and maybe give a little insight into how we actually build pickups.
How we do it
Pickups, at our end of things – are “Custom made” – I cannot stress this enough. When you click the “Add To Cart” button, there is no pickup on the shelf, no bucket of pre-terminated bobbins or half complete pickups. It is made, entirely, from scratch using the parts we have available.
This means, if you order a Bourbon city, or a Hot Iron, or a Texas Blue, it is wound FOR YOU. It is being built to the specifications you have stipulated in the drop-down menus, even the most “normal” design, is still, essentially, built to order.
That entails our pickers collecting the parts from stores, delivering them to the winders, who then get the copper on there, and then the wound coils going to the techs to solder, terminate, test, polish, wax pot, clean, retest… you get the idea.
This is all done “in house” and, obviously, there is a queue, which is first in first out, so pickups will NEVER be shipped same day. Realistically, it takes about 2 weeks, but we do get busier at the beginning/end and middle of the month, so that can have a knock on effect.
And this is all being done, by hand, on a VERY small scale. At maximum, we can produce about 6 pickups a day.
It works wonderfully frankly, because we can make, pretty much, anything you can dream up, and keeping it small scale, means we have an exceptionally high attention to detail with each pickup sold.
Returns
So we have an item, when all is said and done, that didn’t exist until you purchased it, that has cost a lot of man hours to actually manufacture, and has been manufactured to your exact specifications.
As such, pickups come under the remit of “custom work” as laid out under the our terms and conditions, and as outlined in the UK governments distance selling regulations.
This means, in short, pickups are none returnable, and none refundable.
I understand, in this day and age, that may seem quite the hard-nosed approach, but, sadly, there’s no wiggle room in this. Once a pickup is wound, there’s no going back. It belongs to you. There is no “I’ll test it to see if I like it” or “I’ll return it if I don’t like the colour!”.
Warranty
All Axesrus pickups come with a “relaxed lifetime” warranty as far as I’m concerned. I’m never going to ask you to register the purchase, stop offering support 12 months after purchase or limit support to the initial customer in the case of second-hand stuff. We are incredibly proud of the pickups we produce, and I’ll help out wherever I can.
However, its worth laying out what I’d consider “realistic” expectations as to what we will cover as part of a warranty.
Repairs and replacements
Whilst we will not accept pickups as return for refund under any circumstances, we reserve the right to repair or replace any pickup that develops a manufacturing fault within a reasonable time frame.
I won’t put a scale on that time frame, but I will say, its at our discretion. If you’re lucky enough to have some of the VERY early hand wound stuff we made, and we (stupidly) thought we could do it at £20 a pickup, and the coil wires snapped after 10 years? I’m probably not in a position to repair or replace it free of charge, you know? You’ve had your fun; you’ve got your money’s worth!
On the flip side of that – if you’ve bought a £200 humbucker 2 years ago, and it’s developed a fault? You’d better believe Axes is bending over backwards to get it repaired and get you up and running again.
I’ll say this too, we won’t hang you out to dry – if that £20 pickup can be repaired, even if we’re not doing it as part of the warranty, we will offer to repair it at a reasonable price.
Damage vs. Fault
Pickups are delicate creatures I’m afraid. Nature of the beast I suppose, they were never designed, all those years ago, to be “presented” outside of a guitar, so go in knowing this, pickups can be damaged. Either in transit, whilst in storage, or during install.
It is VERY difficult to know how a pickup has developed a fault, so most of the time, we will go into all warranty claims with the mindset that “it’s a manufacturing fault”, frankly, because it keeps everyone happy, avoids any awkward conversations as to “who’s done what” and, normally, repairing damage done during install is the same work as repairing a manufacturing fault either way. Worst case, we might have a delicate email exchange about who’s covering the postage, but that’s about as bad as it gets.
However, we will take this approach only when a pickup, which is showing damage, is only showing minimal damage. I appreciate everyone makes mistakes.
Pickups that have been heavily damaged, have seen heavy wear and tear, or have been intentionally broken in an effort to raise a warranty claim, will see not be repaired, or replaced. Neither free of charge or “for a fee”
Lead times and cancellations
We do publish the lead times on all of our custom build work, and there is very little we can do to decrease the time it takes to actually manufacture this stuff I’m afraid, short of jumping you to the front of the queue (which is never fair, and we won’t do it)
Be aware that once an order is placed, work beings on your build, and as such, you’ve entered into the contract, and there is no backing out. Coils can often be wound within the hour or the order being placed, but they will sit in the work queue due to a back log at terminating/testing/cleaning.
Modifications
There are, occasionally, situations where someone buys a pickup, installs it, plays it for a while, and then might want something a little different down the line. Maybe a different magnet, or a cover fitting, or a new hookup wire fitting.
I am happy to carry out this work, and, normally, regardless of the “time since purchase”, this will be done simply for the cost of parts and postage.
However, the “depth” of these modifications, and if we’re willing/capable of carrying them out, is at the discretion of Axesrus. We’re happy to discuss this on a case-to-case basis, but go in eyes open, that its unlikely to be part of the warranty.
“Warranty with initial purchase”
I’m not a stickler when it comes to this stuff, but I will say, we do have to draw the line somewhere, so, strictly speaking, this “relaxed warranty” is, officially, limited to the original purchaser of the product.
That said, I’m not a robot, nor am I a fool. I’m aware that sometimes, a pickup is moved on relatively quickly, or is bought by a 3rd party for someone else, so, in these cases, lets just be sensible about it. I’ll carry forward a “true” warranty on a pickup for 12 months after the initial purchase, regardless of who is contacting me in regards to any issue.
However, I will need to know who the initial customer was. Even if it’s just their name and a rough date of purchase.
This goes for technical support too – I’ve no problems offering support on Axesrus products, regardless of “time since purchase”, but I will ask for some proof that they are in fact, Axesrus products.
Modifications to second hand parts, will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis too.
Changes in specification/tolerances
Over the years, we’ve had a few “interesting” conversations regarding pickup specifications, especially when it comes to returns and warranty.
The published specs of our pickups, are published with a “within tolerance” subtext, based off of the readings from our testing equipment.
There will, always, be variation between one pickup and the next, and whilst we endeavor to keep those readings within the tolerances stated, they do occasionally wander outside of the 10% we stipulate as “acceptable” – this is usually due to temperature fluctuation, or specification changes outside of our control (wire diameter, alloy composition etc.) – any resulting change in readings based on these factors, will result in an updated technical spec on the website, but, as you can imagine, the first we know about an unforeseen spec change, is when the pickups come off the winder.
We do not consider these “out of spec” accidents to be cause for a warranty claim I’m afraid, and we endeavor to keep on top of them so the information we’re giving you at point of purchase, is as accurate as possible.
Warranty postage
Repairs or replacement postage cost, outside of an initial 14 day period, is at your cost. I appreciate, in some situations, that this is prohibitive (especially when shipping outside of the UK).
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