The ShadowMusic Web Community

Just a mention,
If you are looking for true Pre CBS Stratocaster tone for Shadows or anything else , check out Slider at,

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SLIDERSVINTAGEPICKUPS

Have a listen to my UTube soundfile of The Frightened City, not at me but at the great tone of these pickups, yes for sure its the sum of the parts i hear you say and not all of us have Meazzi Echomatics and Vox AC34 Amps, but to answer that statement compare this latest soundfile to my previous ones with the same amp and echo but using Texas Specials, good pickups but not in the same ballpark as these for authenticity, dont you agree,
Best regards,
Phil.

Hi Phil

It never ceases to amaze me the claims and counter claims on pickups, and that similar sounding phrase as almost holy grail rediscovery of that die for or lost 59 sound.

Firstly I have to laugh , as what would these young guns guitarists know of a 59 Strat sound, older than their tender crinkle free bum years ?

Secondly, just how many times can the wheel be reinvented ?

The pickup windings of Fender Stratocaster pickups through the years has been well documented, but almost every day some one somewhere and no disrespect comes along and praises a new designer brand of pickups. Started off with Dimarsio years ago, then we got Duncan Seymour then Kinman, now we have Tonerider, and everybody saying how fantastic they are, then people suddenly selling them and disenchanted. And finally these guys you mention.

The lunacy of certain guitarists maybe even members here with more dosh than sense who buy a Custom shop guitar, and then within weeks rip the pickups out to put something else in that's what ? better than the Fender originals ? give me a break. It's all claptrap IMHO and the perceived sound of what a vintage Strat sound is. It's different to every guitarist and even if you were a 60's guitarist, the memory of guitar sounds and tones has been argued until people have gone blue in the face and no-one giving an inch of ground on their beliefs.

The number of windings , the magnet alnico type and the copper gauge once stated are the limit to the design of the pickup. So if someone winds 10 extra turns then of course the sound will change, but then it's no longer vintage or true spec.

Similarly we have scatter winding concepts, and also bearing in mind that the bobbin winding girls probably never ever wound two pickups ever the same, between yacking about the latest hunk, or the baby or between fags and chit chat about cheating husbands. I suspect such idle and loose quality control produced once in a blue moon a perfect Strat sound,and by same laws of physics and logic, bummers too.

So put a Squire or Encore in Hanks hands with a MagicStomp and you will still hear that great sound we love,so much. So is it really the pickups ? err No, but it's a great way of making money and keeping the dream alive from suckers like us. :)

If i may say, one set of pups in your hands might give you a sound closer to hanks but not me, with my style etc i could get a better or closer sound with different pups. Which why i guess so many people get a great and similar sound to each other with different pups, gear etc i guess it all depends on what you want and what works best for you.

Personally I think these sound great and have a bit more musle than my cs54's which are great pups.

Scott

Twangaway thanks for info, incredible , such knowledge ,maybe you ought to start making pickups ,you are so very perceptive, do you play ? or are you another back seat guitarist ? by the way -

Dimarsio is spelt Dimarzio.

Duncan Seymour ? now im really confused ?

Dont recall mentioning these guys ? just one.

Dont recall saying these pickups were overwound ?

Not a new designer brand, hes been around for years

I take it you wont be buying a set then ?

Just trying to help people but lets all be negative shall we ?

just come in from a very hot gig to this bull...t , unbelievable , off to bed.

To Twangaway,
Phil is doing what this site is all about, sharing information and and music for the benefit of members which is reflective in the replies he receives, he's located some hand wound, scatterwound vintage pickups at a very reasonable price and demonstrated them to boot. Your critical contributions amount to absolutely nothing you're not getting it, in fact I don't think you'd get it if it came in a large bag marked "IT" .

It's not knowledge I have, just information and sitting on the sidelines absorbing all the hype. I agree Phil is merely exercising his good intention in providing us with feedback and we should thank him or anyone else here who goes to those lengths including David Robinson and rising star Justin. But keep it cool, I was merely generalizing in my philosophical whimsical way like a newspaper cartoonist might . Why do you have to believe someone as being totally negative. If I was standing next to Phil and heard a before and after pickup demonstration, I could well like the sound. As to whether it is vintage or what, does not matter it's what we all individually like in a guitar sound.

Poking fun at something on this board is fraught with dangers when the very stereotypes I was describing may well know themselves and be putting on their battle armour this morning, but for what ? Because somebody has highlighted the comical side of all this hype and absyrdness and obsession

Sometimes we need to lighten up and step back and just look at ourselves and these obsessions such as with fiesta reds, being Mark I , or MKII, or should we call it Ford Focus red these days. Then there are the bits of wire we call strings, The Maple neck from some UN Forestry preservation site. Alnico magnets from a cold war Polish redundant mine, what else is there ? oh yes, vintage valves from mesopotamia that give that extra zing and bell like tone.

The name of the manufactures stand out but why do I care how to spell them correctly when we know who we mean in referring to them, it was merely an observation on the absurdity of this quest to nowhere in all these things. As I said a plank of wood with barbed wire and an old P90 would sing in Hank's hand, blasted from an old soviet amplifier yodelling through the Austrian Alps with multitapped mountain peak delays

Too nice a day to stay in , so am going to soak up the sun and bleach my red stratocaster to a roasted salmon pink

Hi phil,
well I'm not getting involved in any exchange of salvo's. But to my ears, that is a nice vintage sound.
Not a bad demo either, perhaps a tad long winded.
Ian

£ 750 for a set of pickups, now you are having a larff Dave so on the other hand Phil's recommendation as you say is cheaper but still OTT on price for bobbin winding a few hundred meters of enameled copper wire . I bet you blindfolded tests would reveal a lot about this so called experience and knowledge on sounds :):)

Why are we putting up with this crap from this member.............It would a much better place without him, as a moderator I should not go down this path..........But speaking as a member, I can't stand shite like this from anybody.............Pick the bones out of that................