I've been taking a lot of pickups apart lately. I've had some 'broken' pickups come to me for repairs and some given to me, and I've done a lot of magnet flips for people, including a set of mid-1970's Gibson T-Tops.
I like the wood spacers in some of the Gibson's and 'vintage style' Duncan's, as opposed to the plastic spacers. However, not all Gibson pickups use a wood spacer, believe it or not. I also like how Gibson and Epiphone both thread the pole piece screws into the baseplate, whereas, on many of the import pickups, the pole piece screws thread into the spacer itself. No big deal, it works the same anyways, just a preference.
Interestingly, the import pickups generally look better constructed in terms of thickness and material used in the construction of the bobbins, and the tightness of the winds in general.
Honorable mention goes to the Artec Classic Standard and Artec 1959. Both of these are Artec's premium offering, design by former Gibson winder Wolfgang Dam - inventor of the P-94.
Nickel silver baseplate, threaded like a Gibson, wood spacers, sand cast AlNico II Magnet and enameled wiring measuring right around #42awg and clearly scatter wound. Much better than I expected.
The Epiphone's look good inside too, and share a similar style bobbin, but they are so heavily wax potted at times - literally encased in a near solid block - that I wonder if this affects their tonal response??? Light wax potting is all that's required and only in certain areas.
Just thinking outloud...
I like the wood spacers in some of the Gibson's and 'vintage style' Duncan's, as opposed to the plastic spacers. However, not all Gibson pickups use a wood spacer, believe it or not. I also like how Gibson and Epiphone both thread the pole piece screws into the baseplate, whereas, on many of the import pickups, the pole piece screws thread into the spacer itself. No big deal, it works the same anyways, just a preference.
Interestingly, the import pickups generally look better constructed in terms of thickness and material used in the construction of the bobbins, and the tightness of the winds in general.
Honorable mention goes to the Artec Classic Standard and Artec 1959. Both of these are Artec's premium offering, design by former Gibson winder Wolfgang Dam - inventor of the P-94.
Nickel silver baseplate, threaded like a Gibson, wood spacers, sand cast AlNico II Magnet and enameled wiring measuring right around #42awg and clearly scatter wound. Much better than I expected.
The Epiphone's look good inside too, and share a similar style bobbin, but they are so heavily wax potted at times - literally encased in a near solid block - that I wonder if this affects their tonal response??? Light wax potting is all that's required and only in certain areas.
Just thinking outloud...
