ASL From the maker of … Oil City!

OilCityPickups

Philly_Q said:

Does one of those "Big Block" pickups have bigger polepieces than the other, or are my eyes playing tricks?

Indeed, one has huge 1/4 inch alnico 5 poles ... the other has standard Fender diameter ones. Developing stuff that others aren't doing ... more details when I can release them :-)

ThePrettyDamned

I can envisage another build... A Tele with a single pickup and one of those bitchin' looking big block pickups. I don't know what they are, or what they sound like, but they look awesome! One of those in a Tele with a gotoh humbuggy bridge would look the nuts

TTony

FelineGuitars said:

We already have a few Fretboard members with some ASL pickups - certainly a few Transonics and a couple of Eruptions.

Here are a pair of prototype ASL "Big Block" single coils we have conjured up for some work we are doing for UFO's Paul Raymond.

Yup, one of those will do very nicely, thank you.

FelineGuitars

FelineGuitars said:

We already have a few Fretboard members with some ASL pickups - certainly a few Transonics and a couple of Eruptions.

Here are a pair of prototype ASL "Big Block" single coils we have conjured up for some work we are doing for UFO's Paul Raymond.

These differ from the Mighty Nineties as they have slug magnet polepieces, whicgh has meant a certain amount of building from the ground up for Ash.
The idea has been to bring some non-typical Gibson / humbucker sounds to guitars that are routed for humbuckers.

These two are based on windings and construction pickups better known for being punchy yet "twangy", yet placing them in something like a Les Paul or SG will yield a very different result to their more traditional homes, and yet still bring much of the essence of the twangier guitar.

Still much testing to be done, but I suspect it's going to lead to some interesting ideas being sprung.

hubobulous

I'm very interested to hear those in a Les Paul. As you're well aware, that twanginess in a LP is a concept that intrigues me :-)

OilCityPickups

The LP concept is capable of many more sounds that we normally associate with it. Jonathan and I are intrigued by how many 'classic' pickup types could be adapted to the humbucker size format.

hubobulous

......that could be awesome....

OilCityPickups

hubobulous said:

......that could be awesome....

That's what we figured ... 

I have spent many hours rebuilding and rewinding classic pickups from many manufacturers, from DeArmond and Gretsch to Rickenbacker and early even Fender so I have amassed a large file of info on the classic makes and specs. I have a huge soft spot for single coils, and I think there are loads more great tones out there than people believe. 

samzadgan

TheGuitarWeasel said:

The LP concept is capable of many more sounds that we normally associate with it. Jonathan and I are intrigued by how many 'classic' pickup types could be adapted to the humbucker size format.

the exact opposite of what your making for me!

OilCityPickups

For every ying there's a yang (or a tong) :-)

ThePrettyDamned

You're so right, I love seeing some of the old mij pickups - they look bizarre, but I often wonder if they have any particularly interesting qualities to the sound.

It's not just pafs, tele, strat and p90s after all

OilCityPickups

Am awful lot of the weird and wonderful Japanese pickups sounded quite good. Often in the early days they used whatever odd magnets came to hand ... and certainly didn't pot them. Happy accident rather than careful design created the blend ... but when it works, it works.

FelineGuitars

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:

Philly_Q

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.

I'm surprised you knew any Jam era Paul Weller Jonathan!
:P

(I'm impressed, I certainly wouldn't know any myself)

FelineGuitars

Err - I accidentally found myself playing something that sounded like That's entertainment.........

I guess being 14 or 15 when they were popular meant that they crept into your conciousness whether you liked it or not.

I had classmates who were big Jam fans....I was more into Queen, Fleetwood Mac and The Boomtown Rats

Philly_Q

FelineGuitars said:

I had classmates who were big Jam fans....I was more into Queen, Fleetwood Mac and The Boomtown Rats

Yeah, I had friends who were into The Jam, The Buzzcocks, The Stranglers.... I was an ELO fan for a while then discovered Rainbow, Whitesnake, Deep Purple and Rush... and so it went from then on.

samzadgan

Philly_Q said:

FelineGuitars said:

I had classmates who were big Jam fans....I was more into Queen, Fleetwood Mac and The Boomtown Rats

Yeah, I had friends who were into The Jam, The Buzzcocks, The Stranglers.... I was an ELO fan for a while then discovered Rainbow, Whitesnake, Deep Purple and Rush... and so it went from then on.

Rainbow...what a band!

FelineGuitars

Philly_Q said:

FelineGuitars said:

I had classmates who were big Jam fans....I was more into Queen, Fleetwood Mac and The Boomtown Rats

Yeah, I had friends who were into The Jam, The Buzzcocks, The Stranglers.... I was an ELO fan for a while then discovered Rainbow, Whitesnake, Deep Purple and Rush... and so it went from then on.

yes - I also found those bands - buying Whitesnake's Fool for your Loving was a good day........think it was only a short while later my cousin got me into Def Leppard, Kiss and UFO

Dave_Mc

wow that lion cub is very nice

FelineGuitars

One of the Blackmachine customers breaking in his ASL blackbirds

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