Guild X 500 small humbuckers

[jorgemg]

Hi,

I have an old Guild X 500 (1966).

This guitar has what were called Guild small humbuckers, which are smaller than regular humbuckers but bigger than mini humbuckers.

I use this guitar for jazz purposes only and I want to change the neck pickup, the old one is micrphonic, noisy and with very low output.

The problem is there`s no humbucker or mini humbucker that will fit the mounting ring. I didn´t want new holes on a 1966 guitar.

Can anyone help me? Does anyone makes humbucker with that size?

Thanks,

 

[Default]

Why not have it rewound and potted? That way you don't have to worry about fitting a new pup in? It's not terribly expensive. Looks like it runs about as much as buying a new pickup and you keep your guitar's value intact.

http://www.fralinpickups.com/rewind_repair.asp
http://www.lollarguitars.com/pickup-rewinding.shtml

 

[jorgemg]

Thanks for your reply!

Do you think that´s the best solution?

I live in Portugal, I would have to send the pickup to the US, pay the price of a new pickup, and have it sent back here again.

To be honest I am not sure it would solve my problem... maybe the noise would go away, but I still think it would have very low output and wont have the tone I want, which is pure jazz!

My luthier told me it would be easy to put a standard humbucker in the guitar, it would need new holes, bue it´s just a small readjustment... in fact a year ago he took away the bigsby and the metal bridge, to put a Benedetto bridge and tailpiece, and the guitar looks amazing... he is a great luthier, I think he would do a good job...

I can see your point about the original pickups, I am just affraid I would pay the price of a new pickup and wait a lot of time - I would have to send them to the US, they would have to fix them, and then send them back again - and I am not sure they would sound like I want them to sound in the end.

Anyway I am now positive I wont find humbuckers that would fit my guitar without some work done on the wood.

Thanks for your reply,

 

[mellowgerman]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but I'm sure Lollar or Fralin would be more than willing to put a fatter coil or a bigger magnet in it, if you asked them to. That way the pickup would still be the same size, but it would sound much bigger.

 

[Default]

Or you could pm Walter Broes. He has a guy that wound pickups for him. I didn't know which side of the Atlantic you were on. There has to be someone fairly close to you that will wind you one.

If it has lower output that the bridge pup, there's something wrong. They are bright-sounding humbuckers, but usually, the neck pickups are a bit louder than the bridge pickups. Not being a jazz player, I assume you want a bassier tone? You could have a larger value capacitor replace the old one on the tone control.

The problem is there are so many different styles of jazz guitar, that I'm not sure what you want.

 

[jp]

Good advice from Default. Either Walter or even Hans Moust are the ones to ask in Europe. It wouldn't surprise me if there were several German pickup specialists as well. I recall reading about that somewhere. . . :?

 

[Chris Metcalfe]

I sympathise with the problem, as I'm a jazzer, love x500s and AAs, and I agree that the small guild HBs just don't cut it for jazz, although they can be good for blues. It's mainly that they are bright with less midrange content than most pickups -I've had them on other guilds myself - and rolling off the treble doesn't fix it; it just becomes mushy. If the HBs were the larger size, there are quite a few replacements that would do a good job, but as others have pointed out the small HBs are an unusual size and there's no drop-in replacement.
In a way I hate to say this, since X500s are great guitars and a great value, but I think rather than devalue the guitar, you might have to consider trading it for a franz x500 ( ie an early one) or a later westerly X500, which have a pretty good jazz tone. Interestingly, the single-coil franz, although brilliant for blues, is also GREAT for jazz. I'm afraid I just don't think you'll ever be happy with the small HB for jazz - there's just too little middle in the sound, and there's no way of putting it back in if the pickup doesn't pick it up. I speak as an experienced pickup-swapper - I think the small HB is, sadly, unswappable!!
Sorry I can't give a more positive solution, but I think you may need to trade X500's if you want to be happy with the sound. Incidentally, as was said above, if it's also very low output, something is wrong with the pickup or the wiring. Normally there are about 50% of the output of a standard g*****on humbucker. Your guitar might well be worth the buying price of a later westerly X500, which I'm sure you'll like for jazz.
good luck!
Chris

 

[Walter Broes]

I vote have the pickups rewound, or have a custom pickup constructed from scratch.

A friend of mine had P90 -alike pickups made to fit Guild mini-bucker rings by vintage vibe guitars (http://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/pickup_hum.html), I'm sure he could probably do a humbucker for you too.
Postage to the U.S. is not that much, rewinds are fairly cheap compared to what U.S. made pickups tend to cost in Europe, and last time I checked, the Euro was still stronger than the U.S. dollar.

Another thing you could do is sell the guitar and get a more recent model X500, or even X700, which might be even better for L5-alike Jazz tones.

 

[JazzWest]

Before doing anything drastic like rewinding the pickup (not a good idea, save it to restore it back ), it'd be a good idea to know what gauage strings are you using? Being you have a 60's Guild X-500, w/shorter 24" 3/4"?? scale try a .12-.52 or .13-.56 set and adjust not only the pickup height, but the individual pole pieces for optimum string balance and volume.

Also, I've used both a Seymour Duncan Pickup Boost Pedal or even better....a Zvex SHO boost to transform weaker pickups into full PAF tone! These pedals can do wonders for pickups! Point is there are many choices nowadays to avoid altering a vintage guitar. Good luck...

 

[Chris Metcalfe]

Excellent point! Thomastic flatwound 13-50 nickel strings, the warmest available I think, can make even a telecaster give a reasonable jazz tone, so could well work here. Flatwounds give an ''instant jazz'' vibe, although many modern players use half-rounds because they ring more on the bottom. Ed Bickert, who Jim Hall admired for his tone, made a tele/ big strings setup work for him, as did Ted Greene, so on that basis this suggestion is well worth a try. ( the strings, I mean, not the tele!!)
Anything less than 12 on top is difficult for a jazz sound, even on a great archtop
Chris