I played some new Gibson Custom Shop guitars recently, including some 60th anniversary '59 LPs and was a little surprised at the tone of the pickups, these were the new unpotted Custombuckers. I have since played them again and like them more than first time around. It's been a long while since I played a guitar with unpotted pickups and forgot how much they pick up the sound of the guitar body resonance, pick taps against the pickup cover etc. This extra capacity adds a definite liveliness and feel to the sound and they definitely impart a more vintage tone that rewards use of the volume and tone controls more.
I know some of the aftermarket pickup winders have been selling unpotted PAFs for a while ( OX4, Duncan Antiquities etc) but this is the first time I've known Gibson to fit them as stock.
What's your thoughts , experiences with unpotted PAF style pickups?
Comments
I gave up and had the Riff Raffs potted, and I'm pretty sure I'll do the same with the Mojos. I don't really notice the extra liveliness or whatever people talk about. I don't remember noticing a tone change when I got the Riff Raffs back. I gig with an FRFR monitor angled up at me, and when I'm soloing with gain, it's horrible. I can't leave space in my solos because the second I stop playing, it shrieks. If I roll the volume off between licks I still get a moment of squeal at the start and end of each phrase. I could probably do it with the pickup selector, by having one pickup volume permanently rolled off all the way, but then I couldn't easily change pickups mid-solo.
Basically it's terrible and I hate it.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
The more 'natural' the signal chain the more you can detect - Subtle but effective
Agree with Ash @OilCityPickups - the more gain you use with more volume and you'll probably wish you had potted p/ups
I noticed quite a difference in sound from the 2016 Custombuckers to these new Alnico III unpotted Custombuckers.
Here's a couple of examples of the new Gibson pickups:
Also, if playing loud/live, I doubt the negligible difference (to the audience) versus the drawbacks would be worth it.
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