Hammer
Senior Member
My search-fu may be horrible and I missed it, but are there any comparison videos with the newer, full-sized HB-1s?
My search-fu may be horrible and I missed it, but are there any comparison videos with the newer, full-sized HB-1s?
My search-fu may be horrible and I missed it, but are there any comparison videos with the newer, full-sized HB-1s?
The newer, Tim Shaw assisted, full sized pickups. I've seen them referenced as HB-2, but Guild has them for sale in their online shop as HB-1. *shrug*
Don't know where and when this "rumour" came up first, I read it from somebody with a user name "S-100 Addict" on the Guild site in a #AskRen post around October of 2014. The HB-1 re-issue was first used in the S-100 mid of 2014 when FMIC already had sold Guild shortly earlier that year. Definitelly the end of 2012 re-issued mini-humbucker were reverse engineered by BHK in Korea and the Koreans did all the material analysis of the wires, magnets and so on, based on the FMIC provided vintage originals. That was what I learned from talking to Mike Lewis (FMIC project leader for the Newark St.™ Collection) when I met him at NAMM 2013. So I'd assume that was exacly the same what they did with the HB-1 at FMIC at the same time, especially as Mike Lewis said, Guild/FMIC told the BHK crew to not change anything, no change in materials or design was allowed. No change to magnets, wires, windings,... Mike said to me: "The new pickups are real Guild® pickups but just not manufactured in USA." Well, it went that far that they recreated a defective pickup as we all know from the one mini-humbucker...The newer, Tim Shaw assisted, full sized pickups.
The 5K LB-1 isn't defective, just different: thicker wire, fewer winds. The vintage set in my Bluesbird are IMO magical.
-Dave-
Are people confusing the HB-2 with the Little 'Buckers?
Am I wrong or are the HB2s a new pickup that is an HB-1 in a Gibson sized case?
Sorry to be that guy that picks nits. (Why be sorry? Picking someone's nits is actually a very kind act.)
Anyway, the original HB-1 bobbins wouldn't fit under a standard size cover, so according to the laws of physics as I understand them it's impossible to have a standard size HB-1.
I don't know what's under the covers of NS HB-1's or HB-2's...
And you saw from my tear-down thread how chimp-simple this would be to do. I fume at the marketing bs to cover the mismatch.If Guild was smart (which I'm convinced they are not) they would offer a 5k set and a 7k set. Problem solved!
I assume the BHK HB-1 should look inside exactly as a Westerly area HB-1. Don't know if GAD opened one yet. The BHK HB-2 is too new to say. Both use Alnico II magnets. In any case the HB-2 naming for a guitar humbucker is stupid as it was the Guild bass pickup in the past...CMG marketing didn't know...I don't know what's under the covers of NS HB-1's or HB-2's...
I'd expect an HB-2 to sound very much like but not identical to the current HB-1.
Well then do that, and buy some, then!I need to get a pair, because if they sound like HB1s then they're a consideration for those of us that dislike the Fender HB1s!