Not that I am getting lazy... I was going to rave about Jonathan's custom wound Lollar pickups, but he gets super detailed and technical, so I wanted to pass on this info to everyone else...."A first in electric guitar pickups, the GVCG / Jason Lollar AlNiCo 3 Staggered Poles. Give your '60's guitar the famed early 50's Flatpole tone, or give your Flatpole guitar the '60's staggered bite.....
These I dreamed up after being blown away time after time installing Lollar AlNiCo 3 Flatpoles in my guitars, and I asked Jason if a Staggered AlNiCo 3 was a possibility. He sourced the magnet slugs, and after a long wait, here they are...
These are simply the best of both worlds, in my opinion, for several reasons: AlNiCo 3 magnets associated with early Flatpole guitars are famous for their warm, robust, and "brown" sound, and the Lollar 3's have the most tonal character I have ever heard in a new pickup, period. The midrange in these pickups is very dense, and snarly, and the top end is rolled off, with not even a hint of "icepick", or any other "modern" tonal attribute. These are especially wicked in this staggered configuration, where you get the snap and urgency of a Staggered Pole AlNiCo 5 pickup, with the meat and potatoes of an old Flatpole...
Ohm Readings on these sets are perfect at 7.5k, allowing a very balanced tonal range, a biting but not harsh top end, and a rich bottom end that will punish your amp while you bask in the glory of these puppies... They are hardly potted at all in pure Beeswax, Jason and I have worked out the perfect potting time for an "Alive" sounding pickup with minimal "Squeal". The neck pickups in these sets are amazing, they defy what has always been a plague with this style pickup, the dreaded "dullness factor". This neck pickup design uses the AlNiCo 3 slugs slightly underwound, and a Nickel/Silver cover to let the full range of frequency pass. The result is the finest, most balanced and useful neck pickup you've ever heard. The sets ship with conical metal springs, which I use exclusively here at GVCG, please do not use tone robbing surgical tubing with these pickups. They are wrapped in cotton string, and are meticulously hand aged by GVCG.
These will be available from time to time on a limited basis, and the sets will be numbered.
They are $250 per set shipped." If you want some, contact Jonathan at: fivestarstudios@earthlink.net
These pickups are Lollar pickups on speed, with Jonathan's GVCG ageing also... what more could you ask for. I can tell everyone that they are the pickups you need, and should get. Other than these, try and get yourselves some Abby Ybarra pickups for your Tele... trouble is, they are currently NOT available individually, unless you are buying the whole guitar.