leonc
Member
I've owned a few Guilds with HB-1s and have played a number of others. My favorite is my 1971 S100. It has the original HB-1s. They are very low output, compared to Gibson humbuckers from the era. The neck comes in at 6.9K and the bridge at 6.8K. They have a very bright clear sound. With the original covers on them, they were too microphonic to use at higher volume/gain settings on my amps so I removed the covers. They are still a little microphonic..but in a good way, IMO, as they seem to be richer sounding than many other pickups. I don't know if these are "normal" pickups for that era or of they're just odd-balls but I love them!
I have no where's near the depth of knowledge of many members here; so I'm hoping someone (Hans? GAD?) will be able to jump in here. One thing I've noted is that in some later 70s models, the HB-1s were notably hotter...up in the 9K range. I just wondered if anyone has documented these variations in HB-1s? Are there any general way of telling how the picukups varied from year to year or perhaps model to model?
I have no where's near the depth of knowledge of many members here; so I'm hoping someone (Hans? GAD?) will be able to jump in here. One thing I've noted is that in some later 70s models, the HB-1s were notably hotter...up in the 9K range. I just wondered if anyone has documented these variations in HB-1s? Are there any general way of telling how the picukups varied from year to year or perhaps model to model?