Tone Transplant
Changing Your Pickups Is One Of The Oldest Mods In The Book – But A Growing Number Of Makers Are Offering Hybrid Designs That Transplant The Internals Of One Classic Pickup Into The Shell Of Another, Opening The Door To A Host Of New Sounds
We’ve covered why and how to change your pickups for aftermarket replacements many times in Guitarist, but in light of a rising trend in pickup design that many top makers are pursuing, the theme is worth revisiting.
Most of us have probably seen pickups such as Bare Knuckle’s Mississippi Queen: a P-90 designed as a drop-in replacement for a humbucker, so you can access fat single-coil sounds in your Les Paul or 335. But other makers have taken the transplant idea further. Fancy a Burns Tri-Sonic-style pickup that fits your Tele without any modifications to the body? Or maybe a Fender Wide Range-style humbucker that fits a Jazzmaster? Thanks to imaginative makers such as Mojo Pickups and Creamery Pickups, you can radically modify the voice of your guitar without any need to reach for the router.
We join pickup-making maestro Jaime Campbell of Creamery Pickups to talk about the musical possibilities offered by classic pickup designs reconfigured to fit a greatly expanded variety of guitars.
When you’re converting a classic pickup design so that it has the same form factor as another pickup – such as a P-90 that fits in a PAF-size cavity – what kinds of challenges do you encounter? “It’s a question of geometry: what kind of approximation of a well-known pickup can be made so it is a direct drop-in replacement for a different pickup design, which also fits in the shape, size and space available? With a Jazzmaster, you have a pretty wide number of options because there’s a large space within which to work – though the shallow cavity depth is always a consideration for those who don’t wish to modify the bodywood in any way.
“I use the Jazzmaster as an example because I make a wide variety of pickup designs that fit in that guitar. Traditional PAF-spec and overwound or higher-gain humbuckers are options, but the most popular from my own range are my Wide Range-style humbuckers in the Jazzmaster shape and size. But I’ve also made P-90s, Mosrites, Gold Foil, even Rickenbackerstyle designs to fit.
“So when it comes to traditional humbucker sizes, the Wide Range-type design is a great option for those who want the fuller, fatter nature of a PAF-style humbucker but with the clarity, chime and sparkle of a single coil. P-90-style designs are also a great option for those wanting a grittier single-coil sound.
“However, because the P-90 has a flatter, wider coil, to try to approximate this in the narrower humbucker form factor does mean one design compromise: you often get a tighter, brighter sound or have to use more turns of thinner 43 AWG coil wire. The latter yields more of a midrangesounding design but still with classic P-90 characteristics – so it’s an approximation rather than a full-on replica in the different size. It’s a similar case with my Strat-90 and Jag-90 pickups [P-90-style pickups designed to fit in Strats and Jaguars] because geometry dictates.
“Humbucker-sized Charlie-Christianstyle single coils can also be good. I’ve even made the tighter-sounding minihumbucker in a PAF size. I make a good number of Firebird- and Rickenbacker-spec pickup designs in a PAF size, too. If I look back through my notes there will also be many other designs based on a customer’s much-loved pickup from a different guitar. I’d say that Gold Foils have been popular these last few years as well, for their warmer, sweeter sound.
“With Telecasters, again, P-90-style internals can be transplanted into a pickup with the same shape and size as a standard Tele pickup – again with some compromises to the design, as geometry dictates. The old Burns Tri-Sonic design works well in a Strat size and I even make a version for Tele-size pickups, too. In the larger Fender Wide Range Humbucker size, I make everything from P-90 to hot/high-gain humbucker designs.
“Players often want to replicate a certain sound from a muchloved guitar but have that pickup fit in a new guitar they love the feel and playability of”
What reasons do players give for wanting these reconfigured units? “Often it’s down to a player wanting to replicate a certain sound from a muchloved guitar but have that pickup in a different size or shape to fit in a new guitar they love the feel and playability of. As you know, many guitar companies provide instruments for upcoming and well-known bands/artists and I’ve made a good number of ‘transplant’ pickup designs to fit in those guitars as direct drop-in replacements – sometimes even making them look like the original pickups so as not to harm the PR!” Are there any special considerations if you want to fit a pickup of this type? “The special considerations are twofold. First, do the pickups need to be direct drop-in replacements and, second, will the electrics be the same? Because the standard pots and caps for a traditional humbucker don’t necessarily work for a single-coil design transplanted into a pickup of the same size and shape. So I always have a conversation about fitting these new designs into existing wiring schemes.
“With direct drop-in replacements, there aren’t usually any physical issues, except, for instance, with things such as shallow Jazzmaster pickup cavities. Also, with the P90 Soapbar design, there are two central mounting screws that need to be considered if you’re making a humbucker design to fit the form factor of a P-90 pickup.” What are your favourite examples of pickups designed to fit in the shell of a different design? “My personal favourite is the original Fender Wide Range Humbucker design converted into a traditional PAF/ humbucker size, as in Creamery’s Baby ’71 pickup. Geometry places some constraints on the design, so it’s a little tighter, brighter and more focused than the larger full-size version. But, for me, it’s the most versatile PAF-sized pickup, due to its internal design of individual threaded rod magnets and an internal ferrous reflector plate.
“With the tone pot up at 10, the sound is clear, bright with that sparkle, chime and clarity of a single coil – but married to the fuller, fatter nature of a traditional humbucker. Roll back the pot and you have more of a classic PAF sound that, due to the internal design, keeps its clarity and string definition. It also works well if you have a Fender-style ‘Greasebucket’ tone control to keep the gain structure. Another favourite is a simple Tele-style bridge pickup without the traditional ferrous baseplate there to get that tighter, brighter dry single-coil funk sound of Prince and his famous Hohner/ MadCat Tele.” What musical applications suit the hybrid pickups we’re talking about? “The most common question I get asked with Strats is, ‘How can I beef up the thin bridge-position sound without going down the route of the dual-blade or stacked-coil design?’ Here a fat, full-sounding, P-90style design really works well to keep classic single-coil characteristics, but just rolling back that brittleness for something grittier, dirtier when pushed. With traditional twin-humbucker guitars, I’m often asked for something to lend more clarity to the naturally darker, warmer neck position. So here, a single-coil design in the PAF size helps, be it a P-90 or true six-rod-magnet design, or even something a little different like a Charlie-Christian-style pickup.
“Often, customers will just want a much more versatile guitar, so mixing and matching designs offers something unique to them and their style of play and I can modify the specifications, calibrating the designs to ensure a good volume balance as they switch through the positions.”