1960s Antihum Pickups

[Norrissey]

I was just curious how consistent the sound of the antihum pickups was during the 1960s? Do the earliest ones sound about the same as the ones Guild was installing on guitars in 1970? Have people who own say, a 1964 Guild Electric with antihums found that it sounds very similiar to the same model with antihums from 1969? I ask because I know first-hand that the early '70s HB-1s sound distinctly different from mid and late '70s HB-1s. It seems other companies have this evolving pickup sound phenomenon too, the most famous example being Gibson's PAFs in the 1958-1962 period sounding different (arguably superior) to Gibson patent number pickups in the mid to late 1960s.

 

[GAD]

There are at least two different variations. Earlier ones measure ~7K DCR and later ones measure ~5k.

Guild Anti-Hum and LB1 Mini-Humbucker Pickups | GAD's Ramblings

One of my most popular articles is Guild Full-Sized HB1 and SD1 Pickup Variations where I put into writing all the nitpicky details about those pickups that I’ve learned over the years. I often get people asking me about the Guild “mini humbuckers” from the 1960s and thanks to a recent project...

www.gad.net

Edit - originally I had that backwards. Fixed.

 

[Norrissey]

Ah! Thanks Gary. I should have realized you would have written about this!
What impact does the difference in DC resistance (the 7Ks versus the 5Ks) of the vintage antihums have on their sound?

 

[GAD]

Ah! Thanks Gary. I should have realized you would have written about this!
What impact does the difference in DC resistance (the 7Ks versus the 5Ks) of the vintage antihums have on their sound?

Please note I got that backwards. ~7k earlier, ~5k later.

 

[GAD]

Please note I got that backwards. ~7k earlier, ~5k later.

DCR is not the be-all end-all for measuring pickups. It could be that they changed wire thickness and so there are more/fewer winds that affect DCR.

*Generally* a higher DCR translates into a "hotter" pickup (higher output). Hotter pickups tend to be darker. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone complaining that AnitHums of any ilk are "dark". I would just make sure that if you source a bridge pickup separately from a neck pickup that they're both in the same ~5k vs. ~7k range.

The problem that I've written about with Newark St. LB1 pickups is that they likely modeled them from a "set" with one from the ~5k era and one from the ~7k era which makes them unbalanced.

 

[Default]

The neck tone pot can be 200-250k on some of the guitars, so that would make the tone deeper.

 

[matsickma]

I would be curious to hear from the LTG on their experience with the 60's anti hum pickup balance issue. I'm not sure of the number of vintage guitar I have or had with them but I'm sure over a half dozen. And to my ear everyone had a balance issue between the neck and bridge pickup. I balanced them out the best I could with lowering the neck and raising the bridge pickup.

Sample guitars in my experience base is '65 CE100, '68 M75 Bluesbird, '67 hog SF5, '64 Thunderbird, early '60's hog SF3 ( no longer own) and a mid '60 wide body X-175 (no longer own). I suspect a few more but can't recall as they may have been duplicates like a '67 Bluesbird made from a left over Aristocrat body from the factory (no longer own) and more than one SF3.

 

[chazmo]

Veer: Every time I see this thread title, I read it as Anthium (An-thee-uhm)... I keep thinking that'd be a great name for something.

 

[chazmo]

Apparently, it's already an Italian wine.