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'Q pickups' small boutique pickup maker based in Croatia. Any

Sol

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Oct 26, 2001
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Just got off the website. Basic info on all single coil and 'bucker pickups available to date with the option of placing custom orders on any pickup.

The bulk of business is currently done through ebay, the range and options available look good and I'm quite intrigued and considering placing an order out of curiosity.. Anyone beat me to it ?..
 
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Sol

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Oct 26, 2001
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775
I was sort of hoping that someone had tried these things out and could provide a review.
My curiosity is piqued.. May have to dive in and place an order..
 

AA00475Bassman

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I'm very happy for you, care to expand on your Q P90 experience? Thanks again.
I believe the pickup was delivered in two weeks from order , Hi quality parts & construction . I would purchase from Q again!
 

Sol

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I'm very happy for you, care to expand on your Q P90 experience? Thanks again.

The 'I'm happy for you' was not a sarcastic comment BTW !

Many thanks for your response. It maybe time to place an order. Should I do so, I will provide a full review.
 

AA00475Bassman

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The 'I'm happy for you' was not a sarcastic comment BTW !

Many thanks for your response. It maybe time to place an order. Should I do so, I will provide a full review.
You were being polite Thank you!
 

Drayve85

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Jan 30, 2019
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I just bought a set of double white PAF’s and a set of early ‘60’s tele pups, about a month or two ago. They are phenomenal pups, both sets. Though my experience with boutique pickups are extremely limited, I know what good pups sound like. They definitely work for me. They’re low-ish outputs. The PAF’s reading are: neck-7.18 kohl’s and bridge-7.87kohm. The teles are : neck-7.38 bridge-6.8kohms. The readings were taken at around 70’ F. All pups are mad to order, and you can order whatever you want. I had very good service, and very quick feedback with my questions. The PAF’s are AIV magnets. I’m still getting them dialed in to where I want them, but that’s no fault of the pups, just my fault for always tinkering and wanting to squeeze a lil more out of my pups. I have them in my 2015 TH58 lemonburst. I wanted a more pronounced chirp in the middle position than what I had out of the custombuckers that it came with. I had a late T-top or early Shaw bucker in the bridge position with the neck CB and that gave it a pretty good middle position, but seriously lacked in the bridge for my tastes. The Q set of PAF’s are great! I’m still working on the middle position, but they are VERY promising! The neck pup is great, no mud at all, very articulate! Sounds just like a slightly beefier bridge pickup. And, the bridge is very chewy, articulate and very bright, but not at all harsh!
The Tele set is awesome! I’ve put them in a Glarry “Tele” and these pups have run laps around the stock pickups that it came with. I didn’t/don’t have too much faith that it will become a GREAT guitar, but I definitely wouldn’t have any qualms with gigging with it! I would definitely buy from Q pickups again, without hesitation. Production and shipping time was exactly as advertised. It took him 3 - 4 days to build them, and I think it was exactly two weeks to ship to northern Michigan, from Croatia.

hopefully, more people will buy from him, and write reviews online here, because I couldn’t find very much about them before buying the pups. Everything that I did find tho, was positive.
 
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Sol

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That was a great review, with good detail so thanks for sharing this with us. I've a few questions if that's okay?
Why did you go with lower output PAFs from Q ?
 

Drayve85

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I went with the lower output because I like the clarity and articulation. They seem to not mud up in the neck position as much. Also, I have plenty of dirt pedals when I need them, so I don’t need the higher output to push the amp. Like i said, I don’t have that much experience with pickups, not as much as many people here, so have your salt ready. These are all just my opinions. I do like these pups though, and consider them a substantial upgrade the the CB’s that came in my guitar.
 
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Sol

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Given that Gibson's CB's are about the most popular PAF type pups Gibson have produced for quite some time, and that many are familiar with their tonal character it would be interesting to hear your views as to how they differ from your 'Q' PAFs ?

Your review would be the first comparison I'm aware of between Gibson's Custom Bucker and the 'Q' PAFs..
 

Drayve85

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That’s true, I’ve yet to see any in depth reviews of Q pickups, really. There’s a lil bit online, but not much. The CB’s that came in my TH58 were/are great pups, but there was always a “staleness”, for lack of a better word, to them. I swapped the pots and caps in it for a set of VIPots and a bunch of different Mylar black beauties and PIO’s. That upgrade was great! It was like taking a wet blanket of the sound. But, it still wasn’t where I wanted it. So I swapped the neck pup in the bridge spot and the bridge pup in the neck spot. That made some difference but not enough. I always had a problem with the neck pup being way louder than the bridge. When I would get them dialed in there would always be a marked drop in volume going to the bridge. My CB’s are semi-potted too. I don’t think they’re fully potted, but there is wax on the coils. I believe that makes a HUGE impact on the feel, and the sound! I love the tone of a CB in the neck position, but it’s still somewhat muddy. Whereas the Q pup in the neck position is not muddy at all. I was kinda on the fence with the Q neck pup at first, because it was something I’d never dealt with, having a neck pup that sounded like the bridge, but was fuller. I had heard that that’s what it’s supposed to be like, but I’d never had that before. The Q’s have more complexity to my ears. More overtones. I finally understand the “double tone” thing, where you can hear two distinct notes. The CB’ in the bridge spot were weak sounding to my ears. They never jumped out at me, and got my blood pumpkin’.
I also couldn’t ever get a middle position tone that I liked with the CB’s, but I’m liking the Q’s middle position. They also have that “honkiness” and “chirp”. Sometimes the neck and/or bridge will sound like the middle, will have that chirp. I like it!lol

A lil OT here, but I’ve been wanting to ask this on here. Has anyone ever noticed that there guitars tone changes sometimes with the weather? For example, I’m in northern Michigan, and for the past 4 or 5 days we’ve had 70’ - 80’ F weather, and the tone of my middle position on my guitar didn’t sound right. Then today the temp dropped to around 55’ F, and the middle position sounds awesome! Idk, I do know the temp changes the ohms reading on the coils, but I’m wondering if the temp, or barometric pressure, or humidity can change other aspects of the pickups. Or maybe it’s the wood that changes. Or maybe I’m just going senile!lol apologies for the extra long post! That’s all I can think of at the moment.lol
 
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Drayve85

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P.S. I’m not saying that the CustomBuckers are at all bad pickups! I could EASILY gig with my set. The ohm readings on mine are: Neck - 7.97kohm Bridge - 7.78kohm. So maybe the fact that the reading are so close to each other has an impact on why I wanted to change them. Maybe it’s some of the other measurements: inductance etc... and just the variations of the CB’s. The custombuckers are AWESOME pups tho! So good that I won’t be selling mine. They will be going in my ‘98 1963 SG/Les Paul Custom, hopefully they’ll sound better in that.
 
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Sol

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I think the detail you've supplied will inform anyone considering a change from their C B pickups.
I very nearly sold the 490r and 498t that came with my 1992 Standard. I'm so grateful I didn't because almost 30 yrs on the value of my guitar would be greatly affected without its original pickups, so hold on to your CB's even if your not using them.

Your description of the contrasting tones between your CB's and Q PAFs reminds me of a statement someone mentioned regarding alnico 3 magnet PAFs, that being that they can lack the dynamic range of other alnico types.
Your tone descriptions don't mention this directly, but reading between the lines, its clear your enjoying a tonal complexity with those 'double tones' others have mentioned when talking about great PAF style pickups.
Major thanks for your review.
 

Drayve85

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Thank you for the kind words, I appreciate it! No, the CB’s won’t be going anywhere.lol you’re exactly right about alnico 3’s, I did notice that I got a lot more touch sensitivity with the Q’s. So that makes sense given what you’ve said about alnico 3’s.

if you wouldn’t mind, if you end up getting pickups from Q, I would really like to hear your views on them, good, bad or indifferent.
 

Sol

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At this point it's just a matter of time before I do make an order from Q pickups. I will give a full and detailed review for scrutiny by the forum, but will happily contact you with personaly with my findings and impressions etc. No problem.
 
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