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Greetings Gents!

I working on my next StewMac order for a ES-335 style guitar that I want to start building. I tend to order everything at once as opposed to doing so piecemeal.

I am looking for thoughts as to whether folks here like StewMac's "Golden Age Parsons Street Humbuckers" and whether you would recommend them and if so which - the Alnico 2 or Alnico 5 pick-ups. I am not really pick-up knowledgeable. Alternative pick-up recommendations would of course be welcome. Ideally, I would like something that replicates the original PAF sound.

Don't know if I have much to offer you, but since nobody else has replied.

The rumor is that StewMac's pickups are the same as Guitarfetish pickups - just a rumor. They probably come from the same factory but are spec'd different. Pickups from GFS are less expensive than StewMac, FWIW.

There's tons of chatter about pickups on various forums but it seems that the majority of people are pretty happy with Seymour Duncan versions of the PAF's. They are more expensive than StewMac or GFS but not as expensive or Gibson or any of the boutique brands.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Kevin, thank you for replying. I'll check out some of the other forums as you suggested as well check out Seymour Duncan's. Strange with all the hardware posted here I didn't think asking about pickups would be a trade secret...lol.

Take a listen here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yRZlxoC2Z0

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1109 Military Rd.
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(716) 874-1498

I'd look at the SH-1 '59 model.

I put a set in the Les Paul I built. The only complaint is that the bridge might not be hot enough for heavy metal but all of my friends who play Jazz, Blues & Classic Rock love them.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

The JB in the bridge and the Jazz in the neck are THE most popular pickup combo IN THE WORLD.
And there's a reason for that.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

This could open up a pandora's box of what peoples favorites are... I have no knowledge or experience with the Stew Mac pickups... but, check out Dimarzio PAF 36th Anniversary and Classic Air models... nice pickups and the price is not too bad...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Gents, thank you. I get what I am hearing. Asking about alternate pickups is akin to asking acoustic guitar builders for a recommendation on what species of spruce for the top or back and sides wood sound best.

What I am looking for is pick-ups that replicate the vintage Gibson PAF sound without the associated price. I priced a bunch of Seymour Duncan pickups recommended above on Amazon.com vs. Amazon.ca -- the price differential was astonishing between ordering them from Amazon US versus Canada. I have a hunch the same differential would exist for Dimarzio pickups.

The appeal of the StewMac Parsons Golden Age are cost. If they live up to the billing StewMac gives them, then I would give them a shot. My comparison would be the stock Gibson pickups I have in my ES-335.

Cheers!

I absolutely love Lollar Imperials. They're my favorite.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

I bought a set of them to put in a build a couple years back. They did not stand out to me as being great. I also tried the regular golden age humbuckers in another build. They gave me the impression of a stock pickup on something like an Epiphone or LP studio.

However, I've used the Duncan '59 Humbucker in several guitars. Never been disappointed. They stand out to me. They are clear, kinda rude, but still smooth. Never muddy like a lot of humbuckers. About to use a Pearly Gates Plus/'59 Neck combo in another build. Excited to hear that.

I put Lollar imperials in my ES-335. I've thought about replacing them with Duncans. Probably will at some point. Lollars sound great but are twice the price of the Duncans without merit, IMO.

As a side note... A company called Mullinax here in Atlanta has started to make a "Humbucker" that I'm pretty excited to use at some point. It's actually 2 single coils in series. They have figured out how to match a pair of singles that sound great individually and like a Humbucker in series. The bridge sounds like a Tele bridge pickup when split. Most true humbuckers sound kind of anemic when tapped. Kind of awesome.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

One more thing... Saying something like "The classic Gibson PAF sound" is very misleading. Gibson wasn't a factory of elusive genius-types with secrets kept under lock and key in a vault somewhere never to be looked upon by pedestrians. They used what they had. They had a box of magnets. Some were A2, A3, A4, A5, etc. Not much rhyme or reason. Old Gibson pickups are all over the place. It's more than common to pull the pickups from old Gibsons and find one pickup with an A5 magnet and the other with an A2 or A3, each with a seemingly arbitrary gauss strength. The winds are in the same ballpark but never dead-on consistent. Some were amazing, some just ok. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. They surely didn't expect people to tear their pickups apart and try to recreate them. If you notice, Seymour Duncan has several different models of PAF style pickups. You'll also notice that they tend to be modeled after certain player's guitars. Like Slash & Billy Gibbons. What happened is they found pickups that everyone could agree had something special and recreated them with painstaking detail. Same can be said for the boutique companies like Lollar, Fralin, etc.

The reason why we go after this sound is not due to the pickups but what all of the legendary players did with them in the glory days of rock 'n' roll. Another reason I'm excited about the Mullinax take on humbuckers. Glad somebody is finally thinking forward as opposed to trying to keep recreating the past.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

Check out the thread. Alot of people on this forum like Ralph's pickups. I haven't tried the H.B ers but I did just order a set of the Vintage Strat pickups. I have yet to install them but I will post a review when i do. At the price it was worth a try. I'm sorry to say but I think sometimes people get a little hung up on the perfect pickup. I used to be a total gear dude I've had all the rare amps and guitars. Most of the great players sound almost the same regardless of the gear they happen to be playing at any givin moment.

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Link http://reranch.com/reranch/viewtopic.php?t=48027

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I think you mean Rolph pickups

Seymour Duncan Seth lover set would be my recommendation.


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Ken

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Ken

Stephens Design
Zhangbucker
Ron Ellis
Sheptone
Tom Holmes
Throbak
Arcane
Peter Florance Voodoo
Biltloft
Wolfetone

Hi guys, thank you. The posts above gave me the heads up to follow-up on your recommendations and do a little more research on my own as well.

Ken -- I thought that you were a big Seymour Duncan - Antiquities or Throbak fan?

I am. Seth Lover is pretty close to Ants, just shiney.
Throbak are good and I use them a lot.

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Ken

Ken, thank you for that.

Cheers,
Anthony

I've got a set of JB/Jazz Duncan's and love them have them coil tapped for versatility.

The Gibson 57 classics are great too

Also worth considering the Duncan made Benedetto PAF which I've used in the neck for the last 15 yrs in one of mine .. sweetest PAF I've ever played .