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Modifying a Pickup

Back in 2016 I was rebuilding my old 60's (Made In Japan) Encore ES330 clone guitar. It looks like a ES335, but it's the size of a Casino Coupe and made the same way(hollow body with a small block under the bridge). A lot of Gretsch guitars are made the same way.

The pickups were large single coils the size of Tele bridge pickups with screw poles like a P90. They were decent pickups, but very microphonic(once picked up CB Radio chatter form a trucker on nearby highway) and you could talk through them. They would squeal like a stuck pig if you turned toward the amp or got too close.

I decided to change out the pickups while rebuilding the guitar and wanted to have a Firebird pickup for the neck and a mini-bucker for the bridge. I ordered a couple of pickups from Guitarfetish.com that sells GFS pickups. I got the A5 Fat Mini fro the Bridge and it works well in that position. The only Firebird style pickup they offered was a Ceramic magnet Minibird. So I got it for the neck position. I was thinking that a ceramic magnet pickup would be good for the neck position so as not to be too bassy/muddy sounding. It was decent, but not at all like a Firebird sound like I wanted and true Firebird pickups are expensive.

A true Firebird pickup has 2 magnets, 1 in each coil bobbin that are the actual rail pole. The GFS Minibird had 2 steel rail poles in the bobbins with the ceramic bar magnet across the bottom between the steel rails. Basically just a regular mini-bucker masquerading as a Firebird under a Firebird style cover.

I'm not saying this pickup was terrible, it just wasn't what I was looking for and it wasn't delivering the sound I was looking for. It may have been fantastic in another guitar and some people have liked this pickup in many guitars that they've put them in.

But it isn't a Firebird and it doesn't sound as good as a Firebird. Solution: Turn it into a Firebird.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Dean on February 25, 2018 at 12:11pm

how much money did you save?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 12:38pm

A good quality Firebird pickup will run you $75 to $125 plus shipping. The GFS pickup was $35 and I spent $4 on the magnets plus shipping and cut up a 99 cent bracket. So total cost was $40 plus shipping cost.

Cavalier Pickups have a great Firebird pickup(Phoenix Firebird) for $120.

http://www.cavalierpickups.com/

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 12:11pm

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPBtZSnagsA

This will give you an idea of what a Firebird can sound like since I don't have a way of making a video.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 12:20pm

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiGuyGq8LTM

And this one.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Dean on February 25, 2018 at 12:30pm

Wow, thanks for the video links, that dude is cool, and has good chops

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 12:40pm

Yeah he's good and a bit high strung. LOL

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Permalink Reply by Richard Dean on February 25, 2018 at 12:45pm

His persona is what makes him so good

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 12:47pm

He has his own band, look him up on youtube. He filled in for Richie Sambora when Richie left Bon Jovi.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Dean on February 25, 2018 at 12:51pm

That's cool, I already subscribed, I'll be checking him out in the future

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Permalink Reply by BlueBird J on February 25, 2018 at 8:01pm

sometimes you can swap out the magnets without taking the backplate off just by loosening the screws and giving the magnet a gentle push with a stick and slide the new one in and tighten the screws back

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 8:25pm

That's true for regular humbucker style pickups and P90 pickups although the P90's have 2 magnets.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 8:43pm

The original Gibson Firebird pickups used Alnico magnets. Earlier models used A2 magnets and 3 pickup guitars had one with A4 magnets. Later models had the A5 magnets. All of them have subtle differences in tone. A5's are recommended for brighter articulated tone and A2's are recommended for sweeter/warmer tones.

I have since found a place that has all 3 level magnets for Firebird pickups. Mojotone.com

The difference between the Firebird and the Minibucker that is now on every Gibson Firebird Guitar(no longer make real deal Firebird pickups) is the minibucker will have screw poles on one coil and a rail pole on the other coil and magnet under the pickup between the poles. Older Gibson Mini-buckers found on their Deluxe model guitars had one Firebird style magnet in the bobbin instead of a rail pole and the big magnet slung underneath. Those minibuckers had a better sound than the new ones.

The more steel poles you have in a pickup, the stronger the magnet you need. I'm not knocking those type pickups, I've got quite a few of them that sound very good. Now that I know how good a Firebird can sound, I have to wonder how good would regular humbuckers sound if they were built like a Firebird?