Wilkinson soapbars for EX-4 kit

[Fuzzyworbols]

Howdy gang

I’m currently in the middle of building my first kit (EX-4) and thinking about buying some different pickups.

I don’t want to spend too much and found these Wilkinson MWJH5s that should be a good fit and are cheap. Does anyone have any experience with these?

I’ve read lots of good things and seen some videos of them and other makes (p&js mostly). Im pretty much ready to pull the trigger, but just wanted some feedback or suggestions before I make the final decision.

Cheers
Fuzzy

[wazkelly]

Never seen them before.
The stock kit pickups have good specs but didn't seem to have much too much grunt and output and I bought some Benson Customs a few years back. Quite expensive, even more so now as they are in USD. Sound great and work well with coil splits too.
As for Wilkinson pickups, i have a set in a Tele plus some P90's in a Jazzmaster style guitar and they sound great, better than stock units.
If the price is low to medium compared to EMG or similar probably worth a chance.
Cheers Waz

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[Simon Barden]

I presume you meant the MWJH4, rather than 5, as you have a 4-string?

Have you measured the size of the kit pickups, as soapbars can vary a bit in size. There are a couple of common ones, and then a few oddballs

[Fuzzyworbols]

Nah I mean the 5 because the 4 is too small and will leave large gaps, but the 5 has similar dimensions to the pickups routings.

[Rabbit]

You may want to check what the internal structure of those pups are. Some soap bars have a long mag across the poles and some have individual pole pieces, all hidden under the cover. A 5 sting pup may work if a single mag is used, but it will be pretty crap if individual poles used and in the wrong place for the string positions. The Bartolinis I used state the size is a replacement for a Mighty Mite pickup, so you may want to see if Wilkinson have a Mity Mite replacement equivalent.

[Fuzzyworbols]

Thanks rabbit the thought definitely crossed my mind, but can’t find much information on them.

[Simon Barden]

At the low price they go for, they won’t have individual alnico pole piece magnets. Almost certainly a ceramic bar magnet. It’s then a matter of whether it’s got steel slug pole pieces or two steel bars. Steel bars will be fine. And with metal slugs the strings will all sit between the poles, so they will all have a pole either side. It’s not the ideal situation, but apart from maybe having to have the pickups slightly nearer the strings to get an equivalent output, it should be OK.

[lunaticds]

How did the Wilkinsons turn out for you? Looking for an upgrade for my TB-4 kit. I don't find the kit pickups at be terribly inspiring looking.
Tossing up between the budget Wilkinsons and importing a set of EMG 35HZs.