FB-1s

[adorshki]

Oh?

Yeah that "Wig" version turned out to have some bugs. Sorry, Keith.

 

[adorshki]

And now for the latest invention, the portable Faraday cage to protect that all important gray matter from harmful radiation, you can still wear the gold foil over it ;]

The Faraday cage in my back yard, makes a great bugzapper ;]

I heard those also serve well against Land Sharks?

 

[Default]

As said above: "I am not an H(F)B-1 hater. They are pleasant enough PUps, if lacking a truly distinctive voice - but more like HB-1s (although most definitely not the same) than, say, PAFs."

In the videos above, I like the sound of the X-150 more than that of the ES-175. I like the greater openness of the Fender HB-1 which does sound more similar to an original HB-1 than not. I like the even much more open sound of the X-170 more, though.

I have never tried the Thomastik round-wound$. I have always baulked at their co$t. Maybe I should cough up.

My Fender HB-1s work well enough for me. To my ears: they sound best with heavy gauge strings; they sound best with a tube amp with a 12AY7 in the pre-amp and 6L6s in the power amp; they sound best with a warm and sparkly ribbed speaker - something classically Fender-ish. But the originals sure do sound nice, don't they?

I've often wondered what they'd be like with a magnet swap. Yeah..., a little bit too many things on the plate at the moment to get to that.

 

[Canard]

I've often wondered what they'd be like with a magnet swap. Yeah..., a little bit too many things on the plate at the moment to get to that.

Inspired by GAD's example, I have phoned around locally. Nobody local wants to do a rewinding/rebuild job on these pickups, and if they were to do it, they would want a vintage HB-1 to study in order to know what effect they would be aiming at, and they would charge a prohibitively large amount of money, all the while offering no guarantee that I would be happy with the results.

I like the "FB-1s." I just like the vintage HB-1s better, a lot better.

And I don't think the two are the same size, so a drop-in replacement is not feasible even if I were to find an affordable set of HB-1s.

Also I suspect that some Corona Guild models are not common. Guitars generally keep a higher collectors' resale price if they are in stock condition. So no woodwork.

 

[Default]

I was just referring to the Fenderbucker, not the HB-1. I think they are standard sized, but, as GAD said, the bobbins are different. I have them on a Starfire, but I don't have space in the que for a teardown on those. I have to finish the single coil thread first.

 

[GAD]

Inspired by GAD's example, I have phoned around locally. Nobody local wants to do a rewinding/rebuild job on these pickups, and if they were to do it, they would want a vintage HB-1 to study in order to know what effect they would be aiming at, and they would charge a prohibitively large amount of money, all the while offering no guarantee that I would be happy with the results.

I like the "FB-1s." I just like the vintage HB-1s better, a lot better.

And I don't think the two are the same size, so a drop-in replacement is not feasible even if I were to find an affordable set of HB-1s.

Also I suspect that some Corona Guild models are not common. Guitars generally keep a higher collectors' resale price if they are in stock condition. So no woodwork.

Tell them to wind them like vintage PAFs and you'll likely get great results.

 

[Canard]

Tell them to wind them like vintage PAFs and you'll likely get great results.

I probably won't do this with the originals in the guitar which are gold finished. I will keep them as is, I think.

But I will probably start making low-ball offers on the ones that come for sale now and then.

Or I could try selling my children to get the cash to buy a nice vintage archtop with the original PUps.

 

[Canard]

I have just noticed the Guild HB-2, Cordoba Guild's own attempt to put the classic HB-1 sound into a standard humbucker form (with coil splitting as an option).

Guild HB-2 Neck Pickup - Nickel | Guild Guitars

Based on Guild’s vintage spec HB-1 full-sized humbuckers, the HB-2 Humbucker packs the rich, vintage tone of its predecessor into a standard sized humbucker enclosure. Using Alnico II magnets at its heart, this vintage output humbucker is the perfect sonic platform for rock, R&B and every genre...

shop.guildguitars.com

The product blurb above says they are available in both gold and nickel, but unfortunately the website only offers the nickel pups. They are very affordable.

They are used in the current Starfire I DC. There are two clips below: one is a review of the Starfire I DC; the other is just (italics and bolding indicate an ironic use of the word just) Greg of Greg's Guitars playing the guitar. The reviewer says the HB-2s in humbucker mode sound more like P90s than humbuckers - this is promising - hum resistant P90s.







And hey, I could even buy a whole guitar for the price (or less) I might pay for a decent, clean set of original gold HB-1s or for a bit more than twice the price people seem ask for a set of Fender HB-1s.

Guild Starfire I DC Semi-hollow Electric Guitar - Cherry Red

Semi-hollowbody Electric Guitar with Mahogany Body, Mahogany Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard, and 2 Push-pull Humbucking Pickups - Cherry Red

www.sweetwater.com

Does anyone have experience with the HB-2s?

 

[SFIV1967]

Look into GADs reviews, he also shows the HB-2s opened and compares them to the HB-1.
HB-2 is a typical wrong naming of the new Guild owners as HB-2 was historically a bass pickup from Guild...

Ralf

 

[chazmo]

Dunno.

Looks dangerous to me.

No ground wire connection.

No three-pronged plug.

No isolating transformer.

Looks like a widow-maker death cap to me.

And the Mazda goes HUMMMM..........

 

[Canard]

And the Mazda goes HUMMMM..........

Only cause it doesn't know the words.

I have a fondness for Mazdas, although I have never owned one. The bus stop I used to get off at to go to work in Japan was in front of a Mazda dealership. The stop was announced as "松田前" (Matsuda Mae - in front of Matsuda - 松 matsu pine tree - 田 da field). I had this drilled into my subconscious (or given the time of day "unconscious" - not a morning person) six mornings a week for about two years. My mechanic has stifled my desire to buy a Mazda - "Lovely cars but very, very expensive parts." But I find myself choosing them at car rental agencies when they are available. Without exception, they have so far proven themselves as joys to drive. Zoom Zoom!