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kimball492
12-04-2016, 10:23 AM
The ones I hate the most where on a Gibson Les Paul I thought After reading how tremendous The EMG 81 and 85's where They are muddy and sound over compressed awful sound. Switched them out for some Lindy Fralin Pure PAF. Also again a pair of EMG 40 Hz bass pickups flat and lifeless may buy pre amp or will change for some Bensons.

Now to my Favourites
American Deluxe Telecaster I removed the originals and fitted a pair Bill Lawrence Pickups before he sold the business, stunning sound.

Fender American Strat fitted a set of John Benson JM pickups position 4 is amazing.

Fender Blacktop fitted a set of Custom John Bensons

Warmoth Precision Bass Custom Bensons Modelled on Pino Palladinos Pickup.

DB made strat body again John Benson Customs.

Love the Pickups on my ibanez SDGR SR900 Bass Bartolini Mk 1 with pre amp

wokkaboy
12-04-2016, 10:27 AM
good one KB, you are sponsored by Bensons pups !

might as well put a plug for DB hates GFS pups ! add it to the 55 terabyte DB hates document haha

kimball492
12-04-2016, 10:39 AM
Lol do you know it's funny you search through so many pickups that are harsh or muddy then you find something that shines you stick to em . Not sponsored by John at Bensons I've had to buy every one lol. But again you find something a bit special you have to recommend to others. Does anyone have DBs things not to buy bible in PDF format lol.

kimball492
12-04-2016, 10:40 AM
What's your fav and most disliked pickups Woks

wokkaboy
12-04-2016, 10:49 AM
haha KB, the pdf is too large to send or I'm waiting for a 100TB external drive to come out to get a copy.

I haven't played with that many pup manufacturers to comment KB, I've been happy with Toneriders and Entwistles for value for money. Have a set of TonyW pups being wound at the moment for a tele baritone.
I have a set of active EMGs (not sure the model #) in an Ibanez and they sound great, not too muddy.

I must try some Benson pups in a special build, got to save up for them !

tonyw
12-04-2016, 11:43 AM
Like: Very Very good are Bill Lawrence (Wilde Bill not the other bloke) and Harmonic Design, i also like the G&L MFD pickups designed by Leo.

Dislike: anyone that talks crap about their product, and or uses inferior materials.

kimball492
12-04-2016, 12:58 PM
I've met a Bill and his wife Becky both wind. Fabulous tele pickups. You have to be careful because there are two companies called Lawrence pickups only one of them that makes the genuine Bill Lawrence. Bill once stated that the other pickups where fakes. http://www.kramerforum.com/reviews/billlawrence.html Totally agree Tony nothing worse than people blowing there own trumpet and not backing it up.

Wilde Pickups, also known as "Bill and Becky," are manufactured by Willi Lorenz Stitch (Bill Lawrence) and his wife Becky. The family has long claimed that the pickups sold by EZ Wajcman are "counterfeit" and have implied that the trademark passed to EZ Wajcman unfairly.
Generally, it is not uncommon that a "named" brand passes to another person or company. In the guitar business, the Charvel brand was passed from Wayne Charvel to Grover Jackson, Kramer was passed from Gary Kramer to Dennis Berardi and Peter LaPlaca, etc. Examples of this are many and they don't imply that the quality is negatively impacted after the brand is contractually passed to another party or company.
Willi Lorenz was born in 1931 near Cologne, Germany and passed away on November 2, 2013. It is unclear whether his family will continue the business after his passing.Bill made sme stunning pickups for Gibson also. Sad loss to the industry real nice guy.

Woks DB has some great EMG bass pickups. I was unfortunate bought them just after they changed manufacturer from Stew Mac. The ones I have are the newer ones who knows where they are made.I should get the EMG 81/ 85s re wound.ill get round to it.

In truth Woks I've known John Benson when he first started building guitars and making pickups. He's just a really nice down to earth,hard working family guy that's very humble.

dingobass
12-04-2016, 01:33 PM
Used to love the EMG HZ's, but as Kimball said they are crap now.
What I have discovered is pups wound by guys like our Tony are, generally speaking, far superior to the big name ones.

Had a Guitar in last week, owner was complaining that the pups had no balls.
They were one of the big name brands that retail for an arm, leg and your left testicle.
As an experiment, I dropped a set of Tone riders in for him to road test. He rang me last night and after a few minutes of heavy breathing announced they were miles ahead of the sd's...

As for gfs, well, they are no better than the stock PBG pups. Probably come out the same factory in China.

wokkaboy
12-04-2016, 01:49 PM
wow DB, so what model Toneriders did you put in and were they humbuckers or single coils ?

dingobass
12-04-2016, 01:50 PM
Rock songs, Woks.

tonyw
12-04-2016, 01:54 PM
I've met a Bill and his wife Becky both wind. Fabulous tele pickups. You have to be careful because there are two companies called Lawrence pickups only one of them that makes the genuine Bill Lawrence. Bill once stated that the other pickups where fakes. http://www.kramerforum.com/reviews/billlawrence.html Totally agree Tony nothing worse than people blowing there own trumpet and not backing it up.

Wilde Pickups, also known as "Bill and Becky," are manufactured by Willi Lorenz Stitch (Bill Lawrence) and his wife Becky. The family has long claimed that the pickups sold by EZ Wajcman are "counterfeit" and have implied that the trademark passed to EZ Wajcman unfairly.
Generally, it is not uncommon that a "named" brand passes to another person or company. In the guitar business, the Charvel brand was passed from Wayne Charvel to Grover Jackson, Kramer was passed from Gary Kramer to Dennis Berardi and Peter LaPlaca, etc. Examples of this are many and they don't imply that the quality is negatively impacted after the brand is contractually passed to another party or company.
Willi Lorenz was born in 1931 near Cologne, Germany and passed away on November 2, 2013. It is unclear whether his family will continue the business after his passing.Bill made sme stunning pickups for Gibson also. Sad loss to the industry real nice guy.

Woks DB has some great EMG bass pickups. I was unfortunate bought them just after they changed manufacturer from Stew Mac. The ones I have are the newer ones who knows where they are made.I should get the EMG 81/ 85s re wound.ill get round to it.

In truth Woks I've known John Benson when he first started building guitars and making pickups. He's just a really nice down to earth,hard working family guy that's very humble.

Becky and Shannon are still winding, Becky a top winder in her own right, i just got a set of L90's of them, you wait 5 weeks but if you know that in advance you wont be let down becuase they tak awhile, like all good things they are worth it. I learnt alot of Bill over the years, used to pick his brains, but he called a spade a spade and you got what he said you were getting.

wokkaboy
12-04-2016, 01:55 PM
yeah ok cool DB, I've put Rocksongs in a couple of builds and there is no lack of balls haha

tonyw
12-04-2016, 02:06 PM
Alot of people have their pickups made in China some of the better ones come from Korea, Entwhistle and Tonerider are both Asian

Toneriders are made by Artec, who's one of the largest Asian pickup manufacturers. Artec makes pickups for tons of different guitar manufacturers. Artec will make pickups to whatever specs the "name brand" company wants them made to, and then stamps their name on them. they also make the GFS pickups GuitarFetish sells. Also Entwistle has the pickups made in the exact same factory as GFS, Duncan Designed in Korea and BHK in China.

The Asian market keep churning them out by the 100000000's

kimball492
12-04-2016, 02:43 PM
Bill Was an amazing guitarist in his day too http://youtu.be/rHIZMuNhF5s.

Fuzzbeard
12-04-2016, 08:06 PM
I bought one of these 500xl years ago before I knew there was someone else using the bill lawrence name still a decent but I've never used the bill and becky version to know the difference.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160412/7cb835ce04b8c79d5d851d9a06014cc3.jpg
Apart from that I have tonerider pickups in a few guitars and I am happy with them especially the rebel90s I put in my st-1, I can't put that guitar down!

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

kimball492
12-04-2016, 11:49 PM
If your happy with it Fuzzbeard that's all that matters.

tonyw
13-04-2016, 02:11 AM
I bought one of these 500xl years ago before I knew there was someone else using the bill lawrence name still a decent but I've never used the bill and becky version to know the difference.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160412/7cb835ce04b8c79d5d851d9a06014cc3.jpg
Apart from that I have tonerider pickups in a few guitars and I am happy with them especially the rebel90s I put in my st-1, I can't put that guitar down!


Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk


They were partners, but had a big falling out, but as above if your happy with it what does it matter :cool:

DrNomis_44
13-04-2016, 12:32 PM
The pickups I hated the most were the Infinity 1 and Infinity 2 Humbucking Pickups that came stock with my Ibanez S420WK Superstrat, they're high-output pickups and to my ears they sound very muddy with a cloying Extreme Metal tone that has an annoying ear-fatiguing quality when put through a distortion effect, there's also an over-compressed quality in the tone too.

In contrast the Entwistle HDNs I have installed in the guitar seem to sound more open with more midrange, liking them a lot more than the Infinitys.


I'm also liking the Entwistle ASN57s that are in my Strat, they don't have a high output but put them through a clean amp setting and they do shine, especially with a bit of reverb and delay, very Strat-like.

kimball492
14-04-2016, 12:53 AM
Here's a question for Tonyw what causes the EMG 81/85s to sound so compressed is it a magnet type, the windings.or a combination of the both.

DrNomis_44
14-04-2016, 04:04 AM
Here's a question for Tonyw what causes the EMG 81/85s to sound so compressed is it a magnet type, the windings.or a combination of the both.


It might just be because they are active low-impedance pickups, but I may be wrong.

tonyw
14-04-2016, 04:42 AM
Here's a question for Tonyw what causes the EMG 81/85s to sound so compressed is it a magnet type, the windings.or a combination of the both.

Some people love them some people hate them, i wouldnt personally touch them because i dont like active pickups, they always seem to be lacking something to my ears.

kimball492
14-04-2016, 12:11 PM
Yep I certainly don't like the sound. Worst buy ever.

wokkaboy
14-04-2016, 12:15 PM
Hey KB we will put EMG pickups in the KB document of hated products so you are up to 15kilobytes mate, a bit shy of DB's 55 terabytes bwhahahha

kimball492
14-04-2016, 12:22 PM
I'm gonna have to work on it Wokka. Can I add Schaller locking tuners to the list. They ought to call them string breakers, locking tuners my a**. Are you camped out here again Woks your like a dude at a musical festival. Waiting for the diff bands to show lol.
P.s where's the beer tent.

kimball492
14-04-2016, 12:25 PM
I did ask DB, for a PDF version of his dislikes alias the Bunnings Bible he referred me to you Woks being tech support on the hard drive size and specs lol.

wokkaboy
14-04-2016, 12:34 PM
haha good one KB, I haven't got a great deal of work on at the moment so I can prey on the 'what's new page' even more haha
Yes you will find me at the beer tent hopefully on the customer side of the bar.
I'm having trouble getting a copy of DB's hate bible mate, whenever a large enough external hard drive comes out. Also the bible is evolving as we speak could have reached 60 TB by now haha

kimball492
14-04-2016, 12:41 PM
I thought you'd be on the serving side with a tube attached to the beer tap lol. So your saying the DB Bible is as yet unavailable or unprintable. What work do you do Woks

wokkaboy
14-04-2016, 01:14 PM
haha KB I serve beer at the naughty warehouse almost 24/7 so be a good break to be on the customer side.
To print the DB bible would take about 10 huge trees and yes I am still waiting to get a copy.
My job I am a design draftsperson for an Irrigation consultant

kimball492
14-04-2016, 06:59 PM
The rumour I heard Woks was you were seen in the naughty room tearing pages out of a DB shaped book and throwing them on the fire shouting if DB hasn't got the book he can't have anything to dislike lol.

wokkaboy
14-04-2016, 07:05 PM
haha you are funny KB, I am a step ahead I put a cover over all the webcams watching so DB doesn't know anything about the fuel for the bonfire hahha

FrankenWashie
18-04-2016, 11:35 AM
I kinda wish I'd found this thread before I went and bought a Set of EMG's. Oh well, I'll see what they sound like if I ever get the EXA-1 finished.

wokkaboy
18-04-2016, 11:46 AM
hey Franken, you never know you may like the sound of the EMGs.

kimball492
18-04-2016, 12:05 PM
Franken I'm sure EMG make some great pickups just dislike mine. Which ones did you get. You may love em to pieces. I guess it depends on your style and the guitar type.

kimball492
18-04-2016, 12:47 PM
This reminds me of an English TV program called room 101. Maybe we should have a section called room 101 where you have to justify why things that we hate should be condemned to oblivion lol.

http://youtu.be/7-iTqEMUyfg

wokkaboy
18-04-2016, 01:03 PM
good idea KB a room 101 but DB would overtake me and reach 10,000 posts in about a week haha

kimball492
18-04-2016, 01:11 PM
Yeah but Woks you will feel,inspired by having some competition to push you along and make you even more creative lol

wokkaboy
18-04-2016, 01:13 PM
hahah good one KB, if I had 1% of many hates as DB I'd be posting on the room 101 thread every micro second haha

kimball492
18-04-2016, 01:14 PM
Lol but he's the master grasshopper. How's your weekend been Woks what you been up too.

wokkaboy
18-04-2016, 01:20 PM
haha you are dead right KB, I had a productive weekend thanks, got most my lawn edges done (perimeter takes much longer than the area - work that out) got some work done on some wine barrels we are doing up, and got work done on 3 projects that haven't had much done on them, gold tele last clear coat, baritone tele first DT final coat and 1st clear coat on the 7 string iceman, and watched footy, V8 supercars and Formula 1, don't think I can pack much more in the weekend

how was yours KB ?

kimball492
18-04-2016, 01:37 PM
Sounds like you had a great action packed weekend Woks. I recorded a band Friday. Friends over on Saturday for dinner and spent Sunday evening with the daughter so fantastic weekend. Oh and cut headstock shape on the Gretsch style kit. polished up a guitar body.

wokkaboy
18-04-2016, 01:42 PM
sounds good KB. So you building the GR-1SF kit ?

kimball492
18-04-2016, 01:54 PM
Yeah Woks I don't get much free time. So building kits is always a long process. Especially as I change 90% of what's on there.With parts from here there and everywhere. I never like headstocks that look like Bart Simpsons hair cut.Not that I don't like the Simpsons just don't think they belong on a guitar lol. Then there's the tuner holes I guess I'll have to fill and refill.

wokkaboy
18-04-2016, 01:58 PM
so KB you must hate Mosrite headstocks then, you share that with DB haha

kimball492
18-04-2016, 02:00 PM
Yep awful love the bodies but that headstock spoils it. But that's the great thing about guitars we all love different things. Yep Mosrite and Gretsch head stock shape put em in Room 101 lol. They kind of remind me of "What shall we do with the headstock. I don't know lets make it look like we've snapped a bit off and leave it at that" ha ha ha. Sorry to all you Mosrite fans.

wokkaboy
18-04-2016, 02:03 PM
haha well since you are the president of starting new threads fan club KB you might as well start the Room 101 thread LOL

Don't worry KB, Mosrite fans have thick skin haha

kimball492
18-04-2016, 02:04 PM
Come on Woks tell me your favourite 101 items

tonyw
18-04-2016, 02:25 PM
Hate the Fender Elctric XII headstock with a passion, that one looks like Marge Simpson.

WeirdBits
18-04-2016, 02:53 PM
Right with you there Tony, horrid.

wokkaboy
18-04-2016, 03:01 PM
Come on Woks tell me your favourite 101 items

hey KB, I don't have too many hates, but the bulk of the guitars in the ugly thread and any cheap product that doesn't perform or sound like a half decent product.

kimball492
18-04-2016, 03:35 PM
Jeez Tony thats an awful headstock shape. Thank goodness they didn't reverse it the other way around , could of been even worse. Almost like Aladdins slippers.
Yeah there have been some butt ugly guitars Woks

FrankenWashie
20-04-2016, 06:44 PM
Franken I'm sure EMG make some great pickups just dislike mine. Which ones did you get. You may love em to pieces. I guess it depends on your style and the guitar type.

I bought the ZW set, 81/85, it is intended as a thrash the funk out of it vehicle, so they may fulfill the brief. We shall see.

FrankenWashie
09-05-2016, 02:12 PM
Has anyone any experience with Seymor Duncan Nazgul, Sentient or Black Winter HB PUPs?

Alm_63
09-05-2016, 05:05 PM
Id like to spruke Mike Brierley's work
The pickups I bought for my TL-1 are wonderful
http://www.brierleyguitarpickups.com.au/