I came to my own realization that pickups make a HUGE difference when I compared two very different guitars. The Physics and experimental data clearly show this, but the ultimate proof is in the TONE on REAL guitars:
These guitars could not be so opposite! Different design, shape, woods, hardware, pickups (single-coil vs humbucker, Alnico vs ceramic), etc.
I then played them through this setup:
Amp
Bill Krinard 50W Guitar Tube Amp
"Custom Reverb Signature Plus" (has a Kimock preamp front-end, is an R&D prototype, in a Custom Reverb Artist Chassis)
Signed on the back by Bill Krinard (W Krinard 7-07-06)
ARTIST S/N: 033
TAD 6L6 power tubes
This is one of Bill’s prototypes when he was experimenting with different amp configurations, options, etc. It is an incredible sounding clean amp in the Dumble style.
Cabinet
Two-Rock vertical 2x12
Speakers: Eminence Tonespotters, early prototypes owned by Taku Sakashta.
Eminence used Celestion G12-65s from Taku as a model for these. These are 16ohms (rare, not available) wired in parallel for 8 ohms.
This setup is very high-end and mimics similar setups used by noted Dumple amp players like Steve Kimock and Robben Ford.
Cable was 15ft George L cable -- straight nickel connectors.
The amp was setup to play clean, with good volume.
Grosh Retro Classic ~$2900 USD
Pickups: Lindy Fralin SSS
Neck impedance: 5.91K
Middle impedance: 6.03K
Bridge impedance: 7.06K
Neck: there’s a jangly quality to the sound, very sweet high-end chime with no bass looseness. It is a tight bass, with all notes well defined with crispness, clarity, and compression. On the attack, there’s a metallic-like tone like on a great acoustic. Great tone.
Neck+Middle: there’s a glassy sound due to the phase additions and more compression. It sounds like a comp and a stronger chorus turned on. One of my fav sounds. Slightly less volume and punch.
Middle: Brighter than the neck with less jangle and sweetness on the high-end. A drier sound.
Middle+Bridge: similar to the Neck+Middle with the glassy, chorused compressed tone, but skewed a bit more to the treble side due to the bridge.
Bridge: more top-end but never harsh or ice-picky. Still retains the sweet high-end chime, but not as much as the neck or neck+middle. I was surprised how great this sounds in the bridge. No harshness at all.
2021 EART W2
$366 USD
GFS pickup upgrades: $95 USD
Total: $461
GFS Crunchy Rails Neck and Bridge
Neck impedance: 10.1K
Neck split impedance: 5K
Bridge impedance: 15.4K
Bridge split impedance: 7.92K
Neck+Bridge both coil-split: This is quite an incredible surprise as the sound is very close to the Grosh Neck+Middle, but with more attack, volume, and punch. There’s a jangly quality to the sound, with the sweet high-end chime. It has more bass and punch than the Grosh but still well defined, with a very crisp attack and compression, and clarity you expect from single-coils. The Grosh might be slightly sweeter in the highs, but doesn’t have the punch and bass as the W2.
This was a revelation. You could get very close to that sweet, jangly, phasy Strat quack tone with the W2 with split coils! It was as good as the Grosh. And this is through a very high-end tube amp.
Note that this was only comparing the Neck+bridge split position. Something about this combo works! The split-coils themselves were good, but not as sweet and chimey as the Grosh. Note that the humbuckers were searing and perfect for lead tones in progressive metal. So with the W2, you could get incredible chunky humbucker tones, but also great split coil cleans. It's the pickups! Oh and the W2 guitar -- stays in tune incredibly well, has low action, and the neck is amazing -- and plays as well as the Grosh. For 1/6th the price!
I surmised that the split-coil on the GFS crunchy rails get you an impedance that is 5K in parallel with 8K which give you an impedance of about 3K -- lower than a vintage wind of 6K. But compared to the Fralins 6K neck+middle in parallel, this is also 3K ohms! Most likely the frequency response curves on this setting are similar, yielding similar tones.
What this says is that with the right engineering, design and pickup choice, you can get a huge range of sounds that have much larger impact than changing the woods. It's really the pickups that make a HUGE difference in the sound! Not the bridge, woods, etc. It's the ELECTRONICS that seem to matter most when it comes to actual TONE.
- Grosh Retro Classic from 1996. Alder body, maple neck with Rosewood fingerboard. made in SoCal before he moved to Colorado. Vintage trem. Has Lindy Fralin single-coils in a SSS configuration -- most likely similar to Vintage Hots today. This guitar is >$3K today
- EART W2 headless guitar from 2022. Roasted Padauk body, laminate Maple/Padauk neck with Rosewood fingerboard. SS frets. Headless fixed bridge system. Replaced the stock pickups (most likely made by Artec) with GFS Crunchy Rails. Guitar is about $450 USD with the pickup upgrades.
These guitars could not be so opposite! Different design, shape, woods, hardware, pickups (single-coil vs humbucker, Alnico vs ceramic), etc.
I then played them through this setup:
Amp
Bill Krinard 50W Guitar Tube Amp
"Custom Reverb Signature Plus" (has a Kimock preamp front-end, is an R&D prototype, in a Custom Reverb Artist Chassis)
Signed on the back by Bill Krinard (W Krinard 7-07-06)
ARTIST S/N: 033
TAD 6L6 power tubes
This is one of Bill’s prototypes when he was experimenting with different amp configurations, options, etc. It is an incredible sounding clean amp in the Dumble style.
Cabinet
Two-Rock vertical 2x12
Speakers: Eminence Tonespotters, early prototypes owned by Taku Sakashta.
Eminence used Celestion G12-65s from Taku as a model for these. These are 16ohms (rare, not available) wired in parallel for 8 ohms.
This setup is very high-end and mimics similar setups used by noted Dumple amp players like Steve Kimock and Robben Ford.
Cable was 15ft George L cable -- straight nickel connectors.
The amp was setup to play clean, with good volume.
Grosh Retro Classic ~$2900 USD
Pickups: Lindy Fralin SSS
Neck impedance: 5.91K
Middle impedance: 6.03K
Bridge impedance: 7.06K
Neck: there’s a jangly quality to the sound, very sweet high-end chime with no bass looseness. It is a tight bass, with all notes well defined with crispness, clarity, and compression. On the attack, there’s a metallic-like tone like on a great acoustic. Great tone.
Neck+Middle: there’s a glassy sound due to the phase additions and more compression. It sounds like a comp and a stronger chorus turned on. One of my fav sounds. Slightly less volume and punch.
Middle: Brighter than the neck with less jangle and sweetness on the high-end. A drier sound.
Middle+Bridge: similar to the Neck+Middle with the glassy, chorused compressed tone, but skewed a bit more to the treble side due to the bridge.
Bridge: more top-end but never harsh or ice-picky. Still retains the sweet high-end chime, but not as much as the neck or neck+middle. I was surprised how great this sounds in the bridge. No harshness at all.
2021 EART W2
$366 USD
GFS pickup upgrades: $95 USD
Total: $461
GFS Crunchy Rails Neck and Bridge
Neck impedance: 10.1K
Neck split impedance: 5K
Bridge impedance: 15.4K
Bridge split impedance: 7.92K
Neck+Bridge both coil-split: This is quite an incredible surprise as the sound is very close to the Grosh Neck+Middle, but with more attack, volume, and punch. There’s a jangly quality to the sound, with the sweet high-end chime. It has more bass and punch than the Grosh but still well defined, with a very crisp attack and compression, and clarity you expect from single-coils. The Grosh might be slightly sweeter in the highs, but doesn’t have the punch and bass as the W2.
This was a revelation. You could get very close to that sweet, jangly, phasy Strat quack tone with the W2 with split coils! It was as good as the Grosh. And this is through a very high-end tube amp.
Note that this was only comparing the Neck+bridge split position. Something about this combo works! The split-coils themselves were good, but not as sweet and chimey as the Grosh. Note that the humbuckers were searing and perfect for lead tones in progressive metal. So with the W2, you could get incredible chunky humbucker tones, but also great split coil cleans. It's the pickups! Oh and the W2 guitar -- stays in tune incredibly well, has low action, and the neck is amazing -- and plays as well as the Grosh. For 1/6th the price!
I surmised that the split-coil on the GFS crunchy rails get you an impedance that is 5K in parallel with 8K which give you an impedance of about 3K -- lower than a vintage wind of 6K. But compared to the Fralins 6K neck+middle in parallel, this is also 3K ohms! Most likely the frequency response curves on this setting are similar, yielding similar tones.
What this says is that with the right engineering, design and pickup choice, you can get a huge range of sounds that have much larger impact than changing the woods. It's really the pickups that make a HUGE difference in the sound! Not the bridge, woods, etc. It's the ELECTRONICS that seem to matter most when it comes to actual TONE.
