Well, my initial reaction to the new pickup is great! I actually liked the stock Guild humbucker that came with my single-pup Guild X-150 Savoy quite a bit. It was clear, clean and very quiet with a nice warm, jazzy tone, but I was interested in trying a single-coil Charlie Christian type sound. I didn't want to alter the guitar so a drop-in to a humbucker route was imperative. There are several on the market if you look for them, but after continually running across rave reviews for pickups made by Pete Biltoft of Vintage Vibe Guitars (now in Hood River, Ore.) I ordered his HCC blade pickup.
I had the HCC installed on the X150 with a mini-jack between the pickup and the pots so the pickups could be easily switched out, and got it back from Paul Stroh in Seattle about a week ago. Paul did a very nice job of installing it with the custom tortoise rings Mr. Biltoft was kind enough to make for me. A matching faux-tortoise pickguard in the classic Guild stair-step design is on the way.
Tonally, the first word that springs to mind is FAT. This is a very thick, warm sounding pickup with lots of overtones and plenty of sustain. The VV-HCC pickups ship with two readily interchangeable sets of magnets! I had mine shipped with AlNiCo ll magnets installed (and an add'l set of AlNiCo Vs). They give a really rich vintage tone to this pickup that is similar in some ways to the old DeArmond Guitar Mikes and 1100s, but with better note separation and more clarity. As clean as a P90 but thicker.
With the Polytone (MBll) it is sophisticated jazz heaven in a black tie. Polytones do color the sound and make everything sound a bit more generic to my ear, but the richness was there in spades and there was an elegance about the tone that made me want to keep playing.
Through the Fender ('65 PR) at modest volumes it was crystal clear and just amazingly rich. When pushed enough to give it some bite I was astonished! The overtones were enough to make me drool. :lol: It is everything I'd hoped it would be.
To my ears, this pickup is perfect for the vintage jazz sound or classic blues. Charlie Christian, Oscar Moore, early Barney Kessel etc., and it's a great match for this guitar. I couldn't hear it before I bought so I thought I'd take a chance and I'm really glad I did. Pete was great to work with, his prices are very reasonable and he is very fast.
All in all a very positive experience, and I feel like it is going to make me a better player.
I haven't made very many modifications to this Corona-built blond other than what's mentioned above, but when I got it, it was too shiny and had a bit too much chrome on it for my taste. I did recently take the finish down to a satin which looks better to my eye than the polyester super-duper-gloss and I added ebony tuner keys and knobs to tone it down a bit.
I'll post some pics when I get the new pickguard installed if anybody's interested.
I had the HCC installed on the X150 with a mini-jack between the pickup and the pots so the pickups could be easily switched out, and got it back from Paul Stroh in Seattle about a week ago. Paul did a very nice job of installing it with the custom tortoise rings Mr. Biltoft was kind enough to make for me. A matching faux-tortoise pickguard in the classic Guild stair-step design is on the way.
Tonally, the first word that springs to mind is FAT. This is a very thick, warm sounding pickup with lots of overtones and plenty of sustain. The VV-HCC pickups ship with two readily interchangeable sets of magnets! I had mine shipped with AlNiCo ll magnets installed (and an add'l set of AlNiCo Vs). They give a really rich vintage tone to this pickup that is similar in some ways to the old DeArmond Guitar Mikes and 1100s, but with better note separation and more clarity. As clean as a P90 but thicker.
With the Polytone (MBll) it is sophisticated jazz heaven in a black tie. Polytones do color the sound and make everything sound a bit more generic to my ear, but the richness was there in spades and there was an elegance about the tone that made me want to keep playing.
Through the Fender ('65 PR) at modest volumes it was crystal clear and just amazingly rich. When pushed enough to give it some bite I was astonished! The overtones were enough to make me drool. :lol: It is everything I'd hoped it would be.
To my ears, this pickup is perfect for the vintage jazz sound or classic blues. Charlie Christian, Oscar Moore, early Barney Kessel etc., and it's a great match for this guitar. I couldn't hear it before I bought so I thought I'd take a chance and I'm really glad I did. Pete was great to work with, his prices are very reasonable and he is very fast.
All in all a very positive experience, and I feel like it is going to make me a better player.
I haven't made very many modifications to this Corona-built blond other than what's mentioned above, but when I got it, it was too shiny and had a bit too much chrome on it for my taste. I did recently take the finish down to a satin which looks better to my eye than the polyester super-duper-gloss and I added ebony tuner keys and knobs to tone it down a bit.
I'll post some pics when I get the new pickguard installed if anybody's interested.
