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Pickups


Ray

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Posted

Ray, you can get about any pickup you want on a Heritage guitar. While you have asked an excellent question, the answer has filled volumes of books.

Posted

Hey, Ray - welcome to HOC. Pegleg's right that you can order a new Heritage with any pickup you choose. If there's a 'standard' humbucker pickup, that would probably be schallers that are evidenced by the 2 per side height adjustment screws. HRWs are 'Heritage Ren Walls', Ren being a key Heritage employee that designed them. These being modified schallers also have 2 per side adjustment screws and can sometimes be indiciated by a dot on the top of the pickup selector switch. Seymore Duncan SD59s and Seth Lovers are also pretty common.

 

What are the differences?... tough to describe. HRWs get good press. I favor seth lovers, but it likely depends on what type of music you prefer.

Posted

As with all pickups, everyone has their favorite. The Seymour Duncan 59s though are well regarded, wax-potted, and are good for variety of applications. You can't really go wrong with those. The Schaller Golden 50 pickups are also nice, though some don't like them in solid bodied guitars, and they aren't for everyone. the HRWs are suped up Golden 50s that people love. Not quite sure what the difference in sound is.

 

Seth lovers are another choice, and are very vintage sounding and relatively low output. also they are not wax potted so if you are going to put them in a semi-hollow body, or even a solid body, high gain is not a good idea.

Posted
As with all pickups, everyone has their favorite. The Seymour Duncan 59s though are well regarded, wax-potted, and are good for variety of applications. You can't really go wrong with those. The Schaller Golden 50 pickups are also nice, though some don't like them in solid bodied guitars, and they aren't for everyone. the HRWs are suped up Golden 50s that people love. Not quite sure what the difference in sound is.

 

Seth lovers are another choice, and are very vintage sounding and relatively low output. also they are not wax potted so if you are going to put them in a semi-hollow body, or even a solid body, high gain is not a good idea.

 

So, does anyone know if the Schallers are potted like the 59s or unpotted like the Seth Lovers?

Posted
So, does anyone know if the Schallers are potted like the 59s or unpotted like the Seth Lovers?

 

I believe the Schallers are potted.

Posted

All Schallers (including HRWs ) are potted, to my knowledge.

Posted
As with all pickups, everyone has their favorite. The Seymour Duncan 59s though are well regarded, wax-potted, and are good for variety of applications. You can't really go wrong with those. The Schaller Golden 50 pickups are also nice, though some don't like them in solid bodied guitars, and they aren't for everyone. the HRWs are suped up Golden 50s that people love. Not quite sure what the difference in sound is.

 

Seth lovers are another choice, and are very vintage sounding and relatively low output. also they are not wax potted so if you are going to put them in a semi-hollow body, or even a solid body, high gain is not a good idea.

Just to add a little more to the mix, as I found out on my 575, the factory sometimes even fit Stewmac Golden Age humbuckers, presumably if they have stock shortages on their more regular pups> They sound fine but don't have the cred that some of the other makes have.

Posted
Just to add a little more to the mix, as I found out on my 575, the factory sometimes even fit Stewmac Golden Age humbuckers, presumably if they have stock shortages on their more regular pups> They sound fine but don't have the cred that some of the other makes have.

 

I seem to remember hearing on the forum that Stewmac Golden Age humbuckers are actually the same as Schallers.

 

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Posted
I seem to remember hearing on the forum that Stewmac Golden Age humbuckers are actually the same as Schallers.

 

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Unlike Schallers, they dont have the twin adjusting screws. It is possible the mountings are changed for the Stewmac brand.

Posted
So, what is the best pickup for Jazz?
Charlie Christian pickup!!!

 

Or maybe the duncan Jazz pickup, or maybe the schaller golden 50s. it depends on what kind of guitar you have it in as well. Semi-hollow and fully hollow guitars will get a nick thick sound no matter what you put in there (within reason).

Posted
Charlie Christian pickup!!!

 

Or maybe the duncan Jazz pickup, or maybe the schaller golden 50s. it depends on what kind of guitar you have it in as well. Semi-hollow and fully hollow guitars will get a nick thick sound no matter what you put in there (within reason).

 

 

I've never used the Duncan Jazz pickups, but have always heard that they're a bit of a misnomer.

 

While the CC pickup and the Dearmond RC are inconic, its interesting that all the big names use humbuckers today. The only guy who stuck with a CC pickup decade after decade is Barney Kessell. Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow, Johnny Smith, etc... all switched to humbuckers by the end of the 60s. It's curious how nobody has switched back after the rise of boutique winders. The retro pickups seem more popular with the Blues and Rock guys.

 

For a humbucker for jazz, you'd be hard pressed to do better than the hand made Kent Armstrongs: http://www.archtop.com

These are what Benedetto used before he started producing his own pups. The cheaper mass produced Korean versions are stock on D'angelicos, Strombergs, and Eastmans. I really think Heritage should switch.

 

I just got a Bambino Deluxe and the Benedetto A-6 pickup is pretty great. Plus it has a neat coil tap for the single coil sounds.

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