What do I do with this?
It’s an Eastwood Breadwinner — their take on the Ovation Breadwinner.
It plays pretty good as it happens.
But f**ck me the pickups are shockers.
Dreadful.
The Ovation, apparently, had active pickups.
I’m not sure the Eastwood is exactly active.
You can stick a 9v battery into it and, with the flick of a switch, the pickups get more lively.
I think it’s an active tone circuit. [This could be bollox.]
But,
Active, passive, or submissive — the pickups are shrill, nasty, horrid buggers.
So…
What do I replace them with?
They are mini-humbucker sized. So I’m guessing that’s the size of replacement I’m looking for.
Regardless of the fact that the guitar looks like it has melted in front of your radiator what could I stick in it?
I like the sound of:
Michael Schenker
David Gilmour
Brian Aubert (Silversun PIckups)
The Joy Division / New Order bloke
Side note: I was thinking, maybe EMG mini humbuckers. There are no YouTube reviews. That's odd! Any experience?
Comments
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Since they do actually look 'right', maybe see what Ash at Oil City would recommend doing for a rebuild in the existing casings?
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
I've had a look @TheGuitarWeasel Oil City site and I'm curious.
Is there a mini-humbucker which sounds, I guess, like a BKP Stormy Monday?
ish?
The Eastwood pickups look suspiciously Filter'Tron-esque. The active circuitry is probably a simple booster pre-amp. Next string change, unfasten the pickguard and take a look.
I might have mentioned t'other night over a steaming trough of gravysalad that I recently salvaged a Seymour Duncan Vintage Mini Humbucker for use in my tele neck - comparing it directly to the Classic 57's in my 335 (which in themselves aren't a million miles soundwise from Stormy Mondays) I'd say the mini HB is a bit brighter and more 'flutey' but still gratifyingly grunty. Presuming the Oil City mini HB is in that sonic ballpark then I imagine some judicious tweaking of the coil and magnet spec would yield further girth and poke, and still set you back less than most US manufacturers.
Since the guitar already has a battery compartment, EMG does active mini HB replacements. http://www.emgpickups.com/guitar/mini-hums.html Good luck finding a UK stockist at the moment.
On some original Ovations, the polepieces were rod magnets and the coils could be split to emulate Fender tones.
Winterizer neck. Something a tad beefier for the bridge/Treble position. No cissy coil splitting.
I think I have made a decision...
I've never been a fan of the Johnny Winter sound.
I'm going to go EMG.
This is also prompted by the fact that the Eastwood's volume and tone pots are rubbish and I'd have to bin them anyway.
Just got to see if I can get a pair now.
Got someone coming back from the States in a fortnight and I'm sure they won't mind bringing me back a couple of small black boxes with wires sticking out.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
So I'd go to Ash for some Oil City loveliness.
I think it comes down to not really having a clear idea in my head what this guitar is "supposed" to sound like.
I didn't really do my homework listening to other players with mini-humbuckers. In fact other than Johnny Winter I can't think of one. And even that way of thinking is seriously flawed because it's not like changing a pickup is going to change the way I play.
I want to gig this guitar, I've had it long enough(!) and the stock pickups are really not up to the job so I'll be doing my own mini-hum journey of discovery to see what they can do. I'm quite curious!
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Well, the existing mini-humbuckers in the Breadwinner definitely tick the thin and scratchy boxes.
Gawd help us, maybe they're supposed to sound like that?