ASL From the maker of … Oil City!

CHrisP86 · January 2015

I'd been meaning to ask what the Havoc neck pickup was and now I know! The bridge version is superb in my Mira and I will definitely match up the neck pickup at some point.

FelineGuitars · February 2015

We have decided that the ASL Tour '84 will now be called by the name that I had hoped to use for a pickup that ticked all the boxes for my own tastes : The Tomcat.

We have just finalised the neck version to match the bridge that had been making me grin so much and I have to confess to being bowled over.

Here is the explanation of what the pickup is:

Tomcat

Vintage Inspired Tone with Claws and Balls

Somehow by comparison anything else seems neutered

Classic PAF style pickup given a shot of adrenaline for rocking out onstage

Some experiments with A5 magnets and winding with different variations of AWG42 wire paid dividends.

We also looked deeper into how the various types of insulation on the wire affected the sound of the pickup.

We found some insulation types were better for allowing top end sparkle to cut through and others yielded an improved low end tightness and added some low mid focus to the sound.

After some back to back testing we tried to mix the wire types, playing to the strengths of each wire type to render a pickup that would have a ballsy low end authority, but with a clear sparkling top end.

A very dynamic sounding pickup, excelling in clean, mid gain and overdriven amp sounds.

The extra top end sparkle is great for cleans, whilst the tightness low mid focus are perfect for when the drive kicks in.

samzadgan · February 2015

THANK YOU ASH!!!

So last night i picked up my guitar from Ash...new Bridge pickup installed...but this is no simple Bridge pickup. I think I gave Ash a pretty tough task, which he has managed to completely overachieve. What I wanted was a hot (A8, much like the pickups he did for my Iceman) humbucker in the bridge, but in a P90 case, but also make it look like a P90 too.

Ash did a great job on the pickup and looks perfect...but the sound...WOW...everything i could ask for and more. So clear and articulate and hot without losing any definition. I play 12-60 strings in B, and a lot of gain (the fuzzy-distortion kind) and its very easy for things to get muddy beyond recognition. But these pickups manage to keep the clarity, leave the bass loose enough to be spongy, yet tight enough to not overpower the whole sound.

I left the P90 in the neck as is, which i believe proved difficult for Ash to match the humbucker to the neck, but again he did a great job, and its worked out really nice. In fact, in a happy coincidence, the middle position sounds really cool...there's almost a cocked-wah type sound through it...on clean it sounds like a setting on a Strat rather than a Les Paul. I don't really know how to explain it, but it gives the guitar a completely different tone and something it never had before.

I will let @theguitarweasel, if he has time, to fill in the blanks with the technical side of things...all I know is this pickup has made the guitar an absolute tone monster!

here's a pic for proof!

OilCityPickups · February 2015

I will be taking everyone through the build process in a separate thread shortly :-)

OilCityPickups · February 2015

On a slightly different note ... a couple of my 'house guitars' are now sporting ASL pickups.

I have had the OLP Silhouette for a while ... and not been sure what combo of pickups to showcase in it. I always like to trial a guitar on it's original pickups for a while ... get a feel for the instrument and what will suit it. The OLP has a super low action and a lovely chunky neck profile so it should have set my pulse racing. But lack luster neck and middle single coils ... and a slightly thin sounding (for my tastes) DiMarzio Virtual PAF made me not want to pick it up that much ... in spite of being small, light and comfortable ... with a trem that stays in tune nicely.

After some toying I decided on the extra harmonic 'girth' of an ASL Blackbird in the bridge ... coupled with a pair of Sycorax single coils up front. The Sycorax is a fair bit hotter than the stock OLP singles ... and push the amp front end to some nice, bluesy breakup really easily. The Blackbird adds a smoothness that was lacking before ... very happy and I'm playing it lots!

The next guitar to benefit from my little spate of 'building for demo' was my 'Vintage Modified Squier Tele Custom'.

This guitar had to my tastes 'god awful' Duncan Designed P90s in when I got it ... but a wonderful neck and a weighty, but resonant body.

I replaced the scratchplate with one designed for a twin humbucker setup ages ago ... and had been using a pair of Oil City BrassKnuckles ... with the tone knobs wired as progressive coil taps.Six months ago I fancied a change ... so the old girl hosted the first ASL Havoc in the bridge ... and after a spell in the rack with no pickups ... while Jonathan trialed the Havoc ... I made a choice!

I have been listening to a lot of ZZ Top recently ... so a pair of ASL TubeSnakes to nail that Rev BG sound tickled my fancy. I wanted to stay close to a Tele Custom look ... so I went for raw nickel covers ... but added hex grub screw poles for a bit of an 'industrial' vibe.

Sounds great ... and the progressive taps are still really useful too!

Jeremiah · February 2015

Do you find the hex screws make a noticeable difference to the sound?

OilCityPickups · February 2015

There is practically no real difference; but I wind with a touch more coil offset when producing twin hex coils. Some 'openness' comes from the mass disparity between slugs and screws. That can easily be put back in by adding or subtracting turns from one or other coil.

samzadgan · February 2015

those pickups look great man...when i get a tele one day...i want pickups like that!

xscaramanga · February 2015

samzadgan said:

Threadjack:

What guitar is that? It looks like a '54 Black Beauty (or reissue thereof) but those have the staple pickup in the neck, and you said you left the neck pickup stock.

/threadjack

samzadgan · February 2015

@jonnyscarmanga thats an Edwards LPC with P90's. Amazing guitar...heavy as it should be with the right woods and ebony board...feels great and now sounds even better.

OilCityPickups · February 2015

Stunning feeling guitar ... it was at 'mine' for a while while the pickup was sorted (photo story coming soon) and I would put it up there with any US Les Paul. Gorgeous neck, fingerboard and fretting!

FelineGuitars · March 2015

FelineGuitars said:

Ok - tried out the two beasts in my Lion Cub.
The Ricky Hi-Gain style pickup (the onewith the bigger poles) was like the Beatles on steroids and was easy to fall into playing Jam era Paul Weller too. Suspect REM stuff would have been tempting too if I knew any. Was interesting hearing it in a mahogany body rather than a maple guitar like a Rick - probably less twangy and bass-light than it would have been in the Rick.

The Broadcaster type wind was a bit more as expected - thick and yet spangly tele-lovliness
Here it is still in there:

We got a mention in the UFO interview in Guitar and Bass magazine this week.

The pickup in question is the one above wound by Ash (and not myself as said in the article - although we supplied it)

Many thanks to Paul Raymond for giving us a mention though - nice to get a mention from one of your favourite bands.

OilCityPickups · March 2015

It's quite a blast to have one of my pickups out with UFO ... they were heroes of mine back in the day ... and still are.

Deijavoo · March 2015

Is there any audio clips of the ASL blackbird? Particularly in a Blackmachine?

Deijavoo · March 2015

More I mean.

OilCityPickups · March 2015

That you would have to ask Jonathan at Feline ... none that I have, as I don't have a Blackmachine to create any on :-(

I'm sure some are in the pipeline. Blackbirds are turning into quite a success story ... I don't seem to be able to hang on to any for very long!

Ash

Deijavoo · March 2015

I'm low on cashflow just now, but that Blackmachine I tried with your pups in sounded immense. May have to try the halfway point of getting some of these in something a bit shreddy.

FelineGuitars · March 2015

For sales of standard ASLs and that includes the Blackbirds - have a word with myself.

We keep a good selection in stock and can answer all the standard questions - leaving Ash free to do the custom shop stuff

OilCityPickups · March 2015

As the man says ... he is the chap wiv em on his shelves

;-)

Deijavoo · March 2015

:-)

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ASL From the maker of … Oil City!

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