Monty's: any experience with this pickup maker ?

[cyberprimate]

He's based in the UK.

https://www.montysguitars.com/collections/humbucker/products/montys-jazzmaster-sized-54-p90

 

[corpse]

I have never owned a set but played their Humbuckers installed in a Banker guitar. They are a high quality PAF replacement- authoritative with a sizzle of their own- like all the AM PAF's have. I would not call them a recreation- they are their own.

 

[grimlyflick]

Great product, great guys.

I have Monty's Retro Wind Humbucker (formerly known as the Humdinger), in my 2016 Les Paul and I’m really happy with them. A friend of mine has their single coils in his Strat and he is also very happy with the results, they did all the wiring for him also and did a great job.

If you’re unsure before taking the plunge message or call them and have a chat I’m sure they could make you very happy too.
:salude

 

[cyberprimate]

Thanks.

 

[duaneflowers]

I have a prototype set that he wound for Phil Harris back when he had Greeny on his workbench. They are good, but to my ears they are not really anything special. Phil was going to mass produce them, but I guess he lost interest somewhere along the line. :salude

 

[Martin_UK]

I have a prototype set that he wound for Phil Harris back when he had Greeny on his workbench. They are good, but to my ears they are not really anything special. Phil was going to mass produce them, but I guess he lost interest somewhere along the line. :salude

Hi Duaneflowers, as someone who is seriously considering a pair of Monty's, please can you do me (and maybe some others) a favour by substantiating your claims that they "are not anything special"? I.e what was it you were looking for from your particular setup, and what was lacking about the Monty's?

Thanks

 

[LeonC]

They made it into one of Doug & Pat's HB shootout clips on youtube, FWIW. You'll get a youtube-quality comparison of them with several other AM humbuckers and there may have been actual PAFs in that shoot out too...don't quite recall.

 

[duaneflowers]

Hi Duaneflowers, as someone who is seriously considering a pair of Monty's, please can you do me (and maybe some others) a favour by substantiating your claims that they "are not anything special"? I.e what was it you were looking for from your particular setup, and what was lacking about the Monty's?

Thanks

At the time I was interested in recreating that Peter Green magic and had tried several sets of Greeny pups in my CC#1 Greeny fiddle. When I first put these in they sounded worlds better than the stock Gibson Burstbusters they replaced and they stayed in for a little while. After a while I became disillusioned with them as they seemed to lack any top-end or chime in the neck and so I flipped the magnet in a a set of Ox4 'Hot Duanes' I had on the shelf and those sounded much better as Greenies than Skydawgs. After a little while those didn't sound half as good as a set of Stephens Design HD-59/HD-PG set I had in another guitar, so with another magnet flip those found their way into my Greeny and lasted a few years before I assisted Wizz in the development of a Peter Green set. I received 3 sets of prototypes... the bridges were all the same but the necks were done differently in an attempt to see which sounded closest to Greeny. One was wound in reverse with poly wire, one had a magnet flip with poly wire and the other had a magnet flip with PE wire. I really couldn't tell the difference between the two poly wire ones but either was much better sounding in the middle position than any of the previous ones I had tried and so the magflip PE set went into Greeny and has been there ever since.

As far as 'substantiating my claims' it really is all subjective and comes down to touch responsiveness and overall sensitivity as much as overtones and tone in general. Its perhaps a bit unfair that I compare all pickups to my original set of killer sounding PAFs as they are rather hard to come by (as opposed to the millions of modern PAFs out there) but with the exception of several vintage wire sets I have, modern wire just doesn't respond the same as old wire to my ear and touch, which with the proper wind pattern and materials can sound and respond pretty near to 'real' PAFs for my money. The rest of the electronics, bridge, nut, even the pickup surrounds all add to the total equation so looking at any of the components of the complete system in isolation is disrespecting the big picture, which is much more important. All I can say is that the Monty's didn't mesh with all the other components to give the results I was looking for, but, of course, YMMV.

Happy hunting!!

 

[metropolis]

I've known Monty's for a while, they've worked on a few guitars of mine and a friend from college worked there for a period so I trust them a lot.

Pickup-wise I fitted the PAF replicas to my 2002 Les Paul replacing a set of Bareknuckles, and I also fitted the original Burstbuckers to compare. They are much better than both, much brighter and more articulate so a huge plus from me. I also have Lollar Imperials in another guitar and I'd say the Monty's are a bit brighter and more 'fat tele' sounding than the Lollars, especially the neck.

 

[grimlyflick]

Hi Duaneflowers, as someone who is seriously considering a pair of Monty's, please can you do me (and maybe some others) a favour by substantiating your claims that they "are not anything special"? I.e what was it you were looking for from your particular setup, and what was lacking about the Monty's?

Thanks

Give Matt at Monty’s a shout, he’ll be happy to chat pickups with you. You won’t be dissapointed.
:salude

 

[metropolis]

I'd echo that - he's a really nice guy and super knowledgeable. They're running a site-wide discount at the moment too you'll find on their social media.

 

[scovell001]

I bought a set which I put in my les Paul traditional ‘14 - My favourite kind of pickups are with a2 magnets & I like my pickups very even sounding tonally I don’t want any added flavour from the pickups themselves. Well the montys were just terrible, really really terrible. So horribly over flavoured, they falsely coloured the sound of the guitar. I also didn’t think much of how they looked either they seemed built down to a price. Customer service from Montys wasn’t that great either.

I would honestly look elsewhere like sheptone tributes. My personal pickups are a set from electric city, sadly no longer available

 

[El Gringo]

www.throbak.com

 

[Ndavis1971]

Just installed in my True Historic and love them. Never heard original PAFs but have read that a comparison to the real thing is as accurate as any PAF out there. Understand they’re low output like PAFs. Bridge was a little lower in volume so I had to raise it slightly. That’s about it. Love them.

 

[mrbeasty]

Happy hunting!!

Out of curiosity, what kind of pot values do you use?

 

[Ndavis1971]

Out of curiosity, what kind of pot values do you use?

Bare knuckle pots and caps all the way. Closest to original per some article I read on LP upgrades.
https://guitar.com/guides/essential-guide/vintage-les-paul-tone-guide/

 

[duaneflowers]

Out of curiosity, what kind of pot values do you use?

In my main playah I have '59 Centralabs (with '59 Bees and '60 PAFs). In the other guitars in order of preference are Alessandros/PEC/VIPots with an assortment of TVT, Bare Knuckle, RS Super Pots and regular old CTS. All my pots, caps and pups have to stand up to the originals. :salude

 

[joebloggs]

I have had a set of Monty's PAFs in my '16 Les Paul for almost 4 years. They sound fantastic. I actuality think they have improved over the years.....also, purchasing from Matt was a pleasure. He always responded to all my questions. All in all, a very positive experience.
P.S. I also had vintage wiring installed. Killer sounding guitar now.

 

[metropolis]

As this has been resurrected I thought I'd update my earlier post too. I'm in love with my Monty's PAFs, they really sound brighter and more articulate than my Lollar's so it's my best sounding Les Paul.

I've also picked up his '54 Strat set for a hardtail Bonnie-like partscaster I'm making, instrument food and his relic wax which I've used to darken the fretboard on a strat neck.

 

[MarkPritchard]

I have a set of Monty's PAF's in my Les Paul and they are great, very bright and articulate.

Here's a video to hear them, I have plenty more on my YouTube channel.