Les Paul style Guitar - PAF or P90?

Dave_Mc

timmypix said:

Cirrus said:

I thought I was there, but by chance I found some T-Top style pickups from a company called Fletcher Pickups - I'd not heard of them before, but I have always wanted to try T-Tops and the maker lives 5 minutes from me, so... they're in the guitar as of a couple of hours ago. And they seem really cool.

7.5/7.7k, alnico 3. Open, uncompressed, a bit of PAF-like mids but more grit/grind in the distorted sound.

I mean I won't know what I really think of them for a few weeks but...

I've been wanting to try Fletcher stuff for a while, and had a brief chat with him at the Guitar Show. He does pickups as a hobby alongside his main job, so he's a bit cheaper than a lot of the UK winders. A3 is an unsung hero in humbuckers, it's got a really nice characteristic. Look forward to hearing your thoughts once you've lived with them for a bit.

How is alnico 3 in humbuckers? I've been hmming and hahhing about alnico 3 for a while (since I'm not that keen on alnico 2 and 3 is kind of similar I think, at least based on the single coils I've tried).

I've got a Fletcher humbucker (a Home model- basically an alnico 5 PAF) in the bridge position in my Framus superstrat, it's very nice indeed. That being said, all the UK winders I've tried (I've tried a lot, but haven't tried anywhere near all of them, either) have been very nice- I've been happy with all of them.

timmypix

Dave_Mc said:

timmypix said:

Cirrus said:

I thought I was there, but by chance I found some T-Top style pickups from a company called Fletcher Pickups - I'd not heard of them before, but I have always wanted to try T-Tops and the maker lives 5 minutes from me, so... they're in the guitar as of a couple of hours ago. And they seem really cool.

7.5/7.7k, alnico 3. Open, uncompressed, a bit of PAF-like mids but more grit/grind in the distorted sound.

I mean I won't know what I really think of them for a few weeks but...

I've been wanting to try Fletcher stuff for a while, and had a brief chat with him at the Guitar Show. He does pickups as a hobby alongside his main job, so he's a bit cheaper than a lot of the UK winders. A3 is an unsung hero in humbuckers, it's got a really nice characteristic. Look forward to hearing your thoughts once you've lived with them for a bit.

How is alnico 3 in humbuckers? I've been hmming and hahhing about alnico 3 for a while (since I'm not that keen on alnico 2 and 3 is kind of similar I think, at least based on the single coils I've tried).

I've got a Fletcher humbucker (a Home model- basically an alnico 5 PAF) in the bridge position in my Framus superstrat, it's very nice indeed. That being said, all the UK winders I've tried (I've tried a lot, but haven't tried anywhere near all of them, either) have been very nice- I've been happy with all of them.

More different to A2 than I think a lot of people think. A2 is generally pretty distinctive - thicker mids, bitey but sweet top end, and full bass. A3 is kind of like the best of A4, A2 and A5 - it's got low string-pull and is very balanced, like A4, but A4 can sometimes impart quite a soft/crunchy attack. A3 has the quicker attack of A5 and A2 but without the biteyness or strong EQ characteristics, and generally feels much more controlled overall in the pickups I've tried (OX4, Oil City).

It's always hard to describe these things well, but I think the best way I can describe it is that A3 feels the most "do-anything". It's sweet and musical for your stereotypical middle-aged-blues tones, but holds together incredibly well under high gain - enough mids to still bite without being obviously middy, controlled bass so it doesn't get flubby, and smooth high end that stays clear but doesn't get harsh. Now obviously the wind is a massive factor in all of that, and I've only tried it in OX4 PAFs and Oil City T-types, but those characteristics ring true for both, I think.

@nacnudnai can weigh in more because they're his pickups I've been playing!

Dave_Mc

timmypix said:

Dave_Mc said:

timmypix said:

Cirrus said:

I thought I was there, but by chance I found some T-Top style pickups from a company called Fletcher Pickups - I'd not heard of them before, but I have always wanted to try T-Tops and the maker lives 5 minutes from me, so... they're in the guitar as of a couple of hours ago. And they seem really cool.

7.5/7.7k, alnico 3. Open, uncompressed, a bit of PAF-like mids but more grit/grind in the distorted sound.

I mean I won't know what I really think of them for a few weeks but...

I've been wanting to try Fletcher stuff for a while, and had a brief chat with him at the Guitar Show. He does pickups as a hobby alongside his main job, so he's a bit cheaper than a lot of the UK winders. A3 is an unsung hero in humbuckers, it's got a really nice characteristic. Look forward to hearing your thoughts once you've lived with them for a bit.

How is alnico 3 in humbuckers? I've been hmming and hahhing about alnico 3 for a while (since I'm not that keen on alnico 2 and 3 is kind of similar I think, at least based on the single coils I've tried).

I've got a Fletcher humbucker (a Home model- basically an alnico 5 PAF) in the bridge position in my Framus superstrat, it's very nice indeed. That being said, all the UK winders I've tried (I've tried a lot, but haven't tried anywhere near all of them, either) have been very nice- I've been happy with all of them.

More different to A2 than I think a lot of people think. A2 is generally pretty distinctive - thicker mids, bitey but sweet top end, and full bass. A3 is kind of like the best of A4, A2 and A5 - it's got low string-pull and is very balanced, like A4, but A4 can sometimes impart quite a soft/crunchy attack. A3 has the quicker attack of A5 and A2 but without the biteyness or strong EQ characteristics, and generally feels much more controlled overall in the pickups I've tried (OX4, Oil City).

It's always hard to describe these things well, but I think the best way I can describe it is that A3 feels the most "do-anything". It's sweet and musical for your stereotypical middle-aged-blues tones, but holds together incredibly well under high gain - enough mids to still bite without being obviously middy, controlled bass so it doesn't get flubby, and smooth high end that stays clear but doesn't get harsh. Now obviously the wind is a massive factor in all of that, and I've only tried it in OX4 PAFs and Oil City T-types, but those characteristics ring true for both, I think.

@nacnudnai can weigh in more because they're his pickups I've been playing!

Brilliant, thank you very much My feeling (based on the single coils I've tried) is that while I said 3 was sort of similar to 2, I do think I much prefer 3 to 2. My own opinion about "do anything" would probably be alnico 5, but that might just be my bias towards higher gain tones!

nacnudnai

Dave_Mc said:

timmypix said:

Dave_Mc said:

timmypix said:

Cirrus said:

I thought I was there, but by chance I found some T-Top style pickups from a company called Fletcher Pickups - I'd not heard of them before, but I have always wanted to try T-Tops and the maker lives 5 minutes from me, so... they're in the guitar as of a couple of hours ago. And they seem really cool.

7.5/7.7k, alnico 3. Open, uncompressed, a bit of PAF-like mids but more grit/grind in the distorted sound.

I mean I won't know what I really think of them for a few weeks but...

I've been wanting to try Fletcher stuff for a while, and had a brief chat with him at the Guitar Show. He does pickups as a hobby alongside his main job, so he's a bit cheaper than a lot of the UK winders. A3 is an unsung hero in humbuckers, it's got a really nice characteristic. Look forward to hearing your thoughts once you've lived with them for a bit.

How is alnico 3 in humbuckers? I've been hmming and hahhing about alnico 3 for a while (since I'm not that keen on alnico 2 and 3 is kind of similar I think, at least based on the single coils I've tried).

I've got a Fletcher humbucker (a Home model- basically an alnico 5 PAF) in the bridge position in my Framus superstrat, it's very nice indeed. That being said, all the UK winders I've tried (I've tried a lot, but haven't tried anywhere near all of them, either) have been very nice- I've been happy with all of them.

More different to A2 than I think a lot of people think. A2 is generally pretty distinctive - thicker mids, bitey but sweet top end, and full bass. A3 is kind of like the best of A4, A2 and A5 - it's got low string-pull and is very balanced, like A4, but A4 can sometimes impart quite a soft/crunchy attack. A3 has the quicker attack of A5 and A2 but without the biteyness or strong EQ characteristics, and generally feels much more controlled overall in the pickups I've tried (OX4, Oil City).

It's always hard to describe these things well, but I think the best way I can describe it is that A3 feels the most "do-anything". It's sweet and musical for your stereotypical middle-aged-blues tones, but holds together incredibly well under high gain - enough mids to still bite without being obviously middy, controlled bass so it doesn't get flubby, and smooth high end that stays clear but doesn't get harsh. Now obviously the wind is a massive factor in all of that, and I've only tried it in OX4 PAFs and Oil City T-types, but those characteristics ring true for both, I think.

@nacnudnai can weigh in more because they're his pickups I've been playing!

Brilliant, thank you very much My feeling (based on the single coils I've tried) is that while I said 3 was sort of similar to 2, I do think I much prefer 3 to 2. My own opinion about "do anything" would probably be alnico 5, but that might just be my bias towards higher gain tones!

Seeing as @timmypix has summoned me.

I've tried A3 in a good few contexts now, both neck and bridge - I've tried single coils, P90s, PAFs, more modern humbuckers and in a Charlie Christian-type. I initially tried it on the recommendation of Ash from Oil City, he said many of the good PAFs he's had experience with were A3.

A3 is excellent in both positions (obviously, if its in a good pickup to begin with), and the only similarity to A2 to my ears is the "bump" in mids. The highs and lows are quite balanced, and not particularly apparent.  A3 PAFs sit in a good sweet spot. It has mids in the right place so it doesn't necessarily "sound" low output when in the bridge position - it will do well in a JCM800 setting, and will also be very happy with cleans. In the neck, it can often be very singlecoil-esque, but not in terms of the treble response. I've never considered an A3 neck to be particularly snappy, but it is just remarkably clear.

This is by no stretch saying that A3 is perfect, and it wouldn't be for everyone. Even though I said it doesn't sound low output, it ultimately will be pretty low output compared to an A5 with the same wind. I've also done mag swaps where I didn't think A3 was particularly well suited...and done some where it has transformed a pickup into something way better.

If you want an A3 set that can satisfy the bias for high gain tones, I would recommend the Oil City Riot Act as the starting point - it is the best A3 I've tried with high gain!

End of essay - good luck!

Dave_Mc

@nacnudnai Excellent, thanks for that very detailed writeup. I've been hmming and hahhing for a good while now... problem is I think I prefer alnico 5 most of the time, but at the same time I don't want all of my pickups to sound the same, either.

As I said, I've also only tried alnico 3 in Strat- and Tele-style singles- so I don't know how much it applies to humbuckers. I've got a set of tapped Strat singles with alnico 5 on the low strings and alnico 3 on the high- I guess that's about the best you can do for instant comparisons with the same wind, although it's still not perfect as they're on different strings. It does seem fairly subtle in that context, but that might just be the different strings.

What you said about the mids has me a little wary of alnico 3, though- one of the things (and I could be wrong about this) that seems to make a lot of humbuckers be one-trick ponies (especially hotter ones) is too much midrange. 

That's very interesting what you said about mag swaps. 

I'm not sure about the high gain thing- I do tend to play more high gain, but for the guitar I'm thinking about the alnico 3 pickups (a Patrick Eggle Vienna semi-hollow) I'm not sure I'd need it to be that suited to high gain, at least if it means the lower gain tones are worse. If it can handle high gain and still do well for lower gain stuff, though, that's different!

Thanks again for your help