Anyone else can please share what is their pickup height with unpotted custombuckers.
Thanks
Yeah, with the long scale length on strats and teles, you generally get "larger" string vibration, right? I think that's part of why they're more susceptible to odd sonic artifacts (e.g., "strat-itis")...backing the pickups off really helps with that. I definitely have much larger distances from pickup pole to bottom of string on my Strats and Tele! Way further! And definitely bigger distances on guitars with higher output humbuckers (e.g., my ES-137C). But I have a '61 ES-335 with PAFs and I keep them quite close to the strings too.
I've totally acclimated to this, FWIW, and absolutely love the clarity of the neck pickup and snappy funkiness of the bridge pickup on my two Custombucker-equipped LPs. Like I said, these are two of the best sounding LPs I've ever played. For reference, some of my favorite LP tones are Billy Gibbons on first 3 or so ZZ Top records, Peter Green (and Danny Kirwood's) tones on FM's Then Play On and Boston Tea Party records, Page's tones on Zepp II, II and IV, Bloomfield on Super Sessions, Dickey and Duane on Live at the Filmore...i.e., not high gain stuff.
Hey Leon!!! I just recently stumbled into a CC#14. My first historic in over 10 yrs. and the first one I actually like the pickups in. Both 7.2k and really do sound pretty great, both of them. Had to take that bigsby off though! Hope all is well out west!
Hey Mark, congratulations! I played mine w/o the Bigsby until I ran into CC#28. After getting the second one--which doesn't come with a Bigsby--I decided to put the Bigsby back on my #14, because I do like having one with and one without. In both guitars, the custombuckers sound fantastic, AFAIC and I have no interest in swapping or trying anything else.
How do you think your #14 compares with other LPs you've owned?
My issues with the bigsby are mainly that it kinda gets in the way of working the knobs, the downward pressure on the bridge is a lot using .011's, and I really don't have much use for it. I will say for the few days I left it on I no tuning issues whatsoever.
I'm surprised how great the pickups sound. It's been so long since played an Historic that was setup the way I like I really can't compare. My buddies use super light strings and super low action. I'm a Neanderthal and can't do the light action. On an another note I have been able to compare it to several vintage Gibsons and this guitar has really surprised me with them. I love the neck, the feel and the range of tones. It's at least as good and maybe better than the dozens of old historics I've burned through.
Gotcha. Yeah, that big hulking spring contraption is a bit of a nuisance w/rt getting at the knobs quickly...but I've managed to acclimate to it. I "grew up" playing strats so using a vibrato bar is kinda ingrained in my style to some degree. Bigsbys are different...but I still like being able to giggle chords a bit here and there. Having the option of removing it + the 60s neck carve were two of the CC#14 features that really appealed to me when I first started considering getting a CC. I got to compare this one to my '61 335 and was surprised at how well the CC#14 compared. Really, I like the neck pickup even better in the CC.
Same with my CC#28; both pickups sound fantastic when compared to actual old Gibson HBers. I've played perhaps 5 or 6 Historics and I prefer these two CCs because they sound as good or better; they play great...but I dig the way they feel and look. Plus, I'm not as concerned about every little ding or scuff that these may pick up.
Both pickups in this LP are 7.2k. The neck carve is very cool and it's really easy to play. And, like you mentioned, who's gonna notice another tiny ding!
Hey Mark, FWIW, when I was researching CCs, I became interested in the degree to which Gibson appeared to consistently build the pickups for each model. I wanted to see if there appeared to be some consistency within a given model. I.e., if they were presumably modeling each guitar after a specific old guitar and were attempting to capture the sound, you'd expect there to be some degree of consistency.
So I made a spreadsheet to track some basic attributes and I've shared it as a google document here.
If you have a chance have a look. It'll take a few secs to load. The first page just lists all the models and includes some basic specs where Gibson published them...they were pretty inconsistent about the info they provided from one model to the next.
There are tabs on the bottom for each model that I've collected info on. So far mine is the only CC#14 -- #36; and my pickups read 7.2k and 7.21k. :salude
I'd like to add yours too. If you feel like it, please send me your SN and I'll add it into the spreadsheet too.