Pickups for MM Guitars

[robn]

I'm after some help from forum members. After the sad death of Hermann Attenberger last year I'm no longer able to supply the Flatbucker pick-up. I have tested many p/u models, both internal peizo and external mag but have not had a great deal of success.

I'm looking for a p/u that I can fit to MM Blues and MM Lightning models when requested. Although I have done plenty of testing I may have missed out a p/u that would actually perform well. So I'm interested to hear the experience of forum members. Specifically, I want to know if any of you have found a good system (internal peizo or external mag). The system would need to be still available to buy wholesale - being told that the 1984 Barcus Berry mag is the best thing since sliced bread is not going to do me much good

If you don't want to post anything public then drop me an email through the contacts page on the Busker Guitars web site.

Many thanks,

Robin
Busker Guitars, Wales

[slidenpickit]

Hi Robin,
I've just had a Headway piezo pickup fitted to my Lebeda spider bridge resonator which has a fixed eq. They do a biscuit bridge version as well. John Alderson recommended it to me. I've always liked the Lollar Tele type pickup on the Hotplate as well. Jason Lollar is making a Teisco type Coodercaster style pickup which he said would sound good with a resonator if there was enough room. Here's his take on various suggestions for pickups:

"I will make the assumption that you don’t want to cut a hole in the top of the guitar. A tele pickup like national uses on the biscuit type is ¾ inches deep.
We are just starting to make a pickup that isn’t priced out yet but it’s a teisco gold foil pickup like on the coodercaster if you know what that is and its .36 tall which is slightly under 3/8 inches. The stock pickup has a lead wire that exits under the pickup so you would have to drill a 1/8 inch hole for it or I could make one where the lead wire comes out the side the idea being maybe it can surface mount if you have enough string clearance above the body in front of the resonator.
The only other thing I know of is the old barcus berry pickup they don’t make anymore- for good reason- its only .25 tall. I think it was a barcus berry, lace made a copy of it for national at one point and national had me look into making it when lace no longer wanted to but its just too difficult and there are too many rejects to be able to make it profitable but you might be able to find a used one
Actually – it looks like they redesigned it to be .275 tall and they make it again" www.adirondackguitar.com/pickups/lace/ultra_thin.htm

That’s really your best option if the teisco is too tall.

Jason Lollar
Lollar Pickups

[blueshome]

Robin, you could speak to this guy, at least he's in the UK:
www.armstrongpickups.co.uk/

[slidenpickit]

Bareknuckle pickups in Devon might be worth a call as well.

[televiking]

The finnish resonator guitar maker Versoul uses this on his guitars.

And since he makes them for Billy Gibbons, Ronnie Wood etc, and his guitars sell from 6000€, I think you might want to give this a try.

And yes, I have tested the guitars with an amplifier and like the sound very much.

www.schertler.com/homepage_schertler/resocoil-en.html

Here are a few soundclips of how it sounds like in use.







Hope this helps at all.

Televiking

[daddyslide]

The Flatbucker is back!
Thomas Grassl is making new ones!!


www.flatbucker.com

[Deleted]

John Alderson's buddy Robin Page was doing coil winding, and I wonder if John uses him for his pick-ups, e.g. in the Les Pauls he makes? Ian McWee might know??

addit: I just checked out this clip. The headway piezo makes this cutout dread sound like a cutout dread. The fishman blend makes it sound like a dobro.


TT

[robn]

Many thanks everyone! I have tried out most of the options mentioned in your posts but I did want to check that I hadn't missed anything obvious. The one system I have yet to try out I will get on to testing on our guitars.

However, I had an email in my in-box this morning from Thomas Grassl and he is indeed going back into production of the Flatbucker. So thank you to whoever gave him a nudge!

Robin

[snakehips]

Hi there !

A really neat sized humbucker pickup that fitted under the strings on a reso guitar was the Dave King branded pickup (that I think was made by Benedetti pickups). He did two versions a chrome covered one (eh, chrome doesn't look good on a nickel-plated guitar !) and a good deal thinner matt black one.
I had at least one of each but never actually checked if they sounded exactly the same - but assume they are the same.
I sold mine eventually - but this was more to do with me going off magnetic pickups.in general.
My bandmate Prof Scratchy uses one on his wood-bodied National Triolian sunburst and gets a good sound, straight into a PA. Mind you, he can make a garbage can sound like £10,000 guitar !
I'm very much a Highlander pickup man.

Is there anything different/special about the Highlander piezo pickup strip, that differentiates it from other piezo strips ?

Could you not use a Highlander biscuit, or route a slot on the underside of a standard biscuit, and fit a generic piezo strip, and the customer could use whatever preamp they want ?

A musician I greatly admire uses a Highlander-piezo loaded Highlander biscuit, wired up to a mono jack socket, and uses it with a Professional level, custom-made preamp system - and gets a great sound out of it.

[robn]

Thanks Snakehips - I have Benedetti on my radar and am in touch regarding a pb balance unit.
The Highlander is great but not cost effective for me to fit to our guitars. All peizos are not equal in this respect. The peizo needs to be a tight fit in a routed slot for it to balance well - and that is half the problem with most cone or busicuit/saddle fitted systems, the peizo is not under pressure.

Still, I have a couple of mag p/u possibilities now that I didn't have yesterday - so thanks again to you all.

[daddyslide]

Hey Robn,

Nice to hear that you get in touch with Thomas.
This is for me the best solution for a real humbucker sound.
www.flatbucker.com

[karlos]

Hi Daddyslide/Robin,

what is the difference (in sound) between Flatbucker and Lace USA sensor. I've got Lace on my guitar and doesn't sound bad but I wouldn't say it is the real "humbucker" sound compared to e.g. Gibson '57. On the other hand Lace USA seems to me slightly microfonic - it adds a touch of acoustic sound to otherwise electric sound. And perhaps sounds better through acoustic amp.

Karlos

[daddyslide]

I don't know if it's rigth - never opend a lace one.
But the Flatbucker is a real Humbucker - two coils - 12 pole pieces.

It is not a "humed singlecoil with a dead coil".

After that - I think, it is thinner and looks better on an old National ;-)

[bluesbottle]

I put a Lace on my spider coned dobro and it sounds pretty good to me. No feedback problems either.
Very reasonably priced.
I think Lace developed theirs in conjunction with National Resophonic.

[Deleted]

Hi Brian
I've seen a couple of clips of lace sensors, for a DM33 and for a MM blues - not great clips. Does it give an authentic sound?
TT