I have no experience with these really - I've played many guitars with them in (almost all Danelectros) but never directly compared them or replaced any.
I have a Danelectro Convertible - single Lipstick. I like it for its cool lo-fi and slightly trashy vibe, but the pickup sounds a bit... tinny. I know they're supposed to, sort of - but I just don't love it. It also hums sometimes. I'm not that bothered about it usually, but it's nice to have the option of it not doing in some places with particularly noisy electrics. (Open mics with low lights over the stage are a bad one.)
So... are there any humbucking Lipstick pickups? Not the dual Lipsticks, a single pickup - either side-by-side or stacked (and yes I know these sound different!) - which looks the same and fits a Danelectro. I can't find one online but perhaps I'm missing something.
If not, do higher-quality replacements (eg Duncan) actually sound much better? There are clips which appear to indicate they might, but not necessarily in the way I want - I'm really looking for something a bit chunkier rather than a "better tin can", if you see what I mean...
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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I know Marc Ransley at Mojo Pickups is doing some lippy ones (as I've ordered some) and he has gone back to the original old ones and taken it from there, but I've not tried them yet. Saying that he is so anal about such things, he has probably found the woman that was working on the Tuesday morning when they made their best pickups and copied the clothes she was wearing..
He might not thank me for that image, admittedly...
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
With 4-conductor wiring so I can use the "treble" end of one with the "bass" end of another.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
We get our tube from hub le bas. I'm not sure if that's the type of thing your looking for?
Lipstick tubes consist of two tubular halves with domed ends ... a inner sleeve to seat the halves together ... then a couple of screws and a brass bracket.
Guitar parts USA do a 'lipstick kit' but it's Strat size ... rather than the full length you really need to make a humbucking bucking lipstick. They manage to get it totally wrong as well by supplying a Firebird bobbin and a ceramic magnet. The originals had that rarest of beasts alnico 6 magnets with the wire wound straight on ... no bobbins.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
IMO, don't bother paying a premium for the Duncan's - they're not that much better than the GFS's, and they're certainly no better in rejecting hum. That said, mine all are in guitars with shielding paint in the cavity and I don't really notice the hum.
Anyways, I have a Jerry Jones Baby Sitar. Not mad about the lipstick sound and was wondering what other options were around, ideally something with more midrange and preferably humbucking that doesn’t require routing.
@ICBM did you ever find a solution?
It's odd to see this thread again now though, since about an hour ago my screensaver which shows random pics from my photo library chose the one of my daughter playing the Convertible, which I haven't seen for ages...
"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
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein