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Tone seems to escape most guitarists; that is, good tone. During the 50s and 60s when there were not a lot of pedals and digital sound devices, pretty much everyone had good tone because they all had old stuff. Now if you aspire to be a guitarist and you are inspired by that era (50s, 60s, 70s), then the most obvious thing to do is to use the same instruments and gear they did.   However, at this time in history that equipment is not only hard to find but it is very expensive when you do find it.  Even the Fender and Gibson reissues are getting out of reach for the regular guy.   

With that said, allow me to go back in time a bit and explain to you how my life as a musician contributed to developing the tone of the late 50s and 60s at an affordable price.    My dear friend, Pete Criscolo, son of a very well known doctor in Palm Springs CA, had two 1959 Les Pauls and was a great guitar player.  We used to play music together and jam.  I had my 1976 Les Paul and he showed me how much better the older Les Pauls sounded.   He showed me the stark difference in tone between the two.  He pointed out to me that for the most part it was the pickups.  However, in retrospect the wood and construction of the original Les Pauls was much better.  So, he suggested that I put late 50s pickups in my guitar which were called PAFs (Patent Applied For).  And he told me he had a friend who could sell me some. His name was Frank Lucido.  Frank lived in Downey, CA and is mentioned in the book "Beauty and the Burst".  Frank was very popular among rock stars, one of which was Pete Townsend, supplying them with vintage guitars and pickups.  

I purchased two 1959 PAF pickups from Frank, soldered them into my guitar and I was like, wow, what a difference and I mean a stark difference.  With the 1959 PAFs combined with my 67 Fender deluxe reverb amp, there was no stopping the wide bandwidth of tone.  Guitar players constantly asked me how I got my tone.  My rig was simple, like it was in the 60s, one or two pedals, that’s it.  Later my quest continued, so I started finding PAF pickups on Ebay for parts or repair.   I would meticulously unwind them on a spool and repair all the breaks in the fine hair-like wire and rewind them.  And in doing so, I noticed there was no real obvious difference between these old pick up and the new Gibson burstbucker pickups, but of course other than the amazing tone!  But as for construction of it,  same base plate, same alnico magnet, same bobbins, same AWG 42 enamel coated copper wire.  I pondered on this for some time and it came to me that the wire then was different than now. You see electrons created by the magnetic field must flow through the copper winding and then reach the amplifier. However, there is ohm resistance. There must have been something that allowed the electrons to flow through easier with less resistance. If I had some of that wire I could over wind the coils and get the pickup louder but still maintain the high frequency. I knew the wire must have had other elements in it that were no longer available.  So in 2006 I developed a wire that I now call “dirty copper” with trace elements of other metals (patent pending).

Later in my research, I confirmed that copper in the 50s used in the United States contained numerous elements but in the early 80s when copper was flashed with a new smelting process, it purified the copper.  And, as a result of this flashing the high-end frequencies are lost in copper audio coils.  Hence, a complaint of most guitarists calling it muddy, especially in the rhythm pickup, whether it be a Les Paul, a Telecaster, a PRS, you name it.   

I’d like to mention Seth Lover.  Seth was the chief electrical engineer at Gibson in the late 50s.  He was commissioned by Ted McCarty (CEO of Gibson Guitars in Kalamazoo, Michigan) to design a guitar pickup that would not hum.   Prior to this electric guitars only had single coil pickups and they had an annoying 60-cycle hum.  The only way to eliminate the hum was to point the neck of the guitar parallel with the north and south poles of the earth; thus, canceling the hum. Seth then wired two coils together in series, which canceled the hum.  Hence, the humbucker pickup became a reality.  Little did he know how much it would affect the world in the 60s.  Later in Seth’s career, he was interviewed and he stated that “the louder the pickup the better!” But with modern copper, louder means more wire and higher ohm rating = more resistance which results in a very mid-range sounding pickup.  

However, right here, right now, Jimi Heil (the original inventor of the amazing silverbucker pickup) is now offering the Jimi Heil’s silverbucker pickup.  This pickup will give you the added high end that was lost in the original PAFs of the late 50s at a cost that is affordable to the working musician.  If you are inspired by the great guitarists of the 50s, 60s, and 70s and/or are pursuing such genres as blues, rock, country, jazz, classic rock, electric folk, this is the tone you are looking for.   

Please watch my video of Kal David endorse the silverbucker.  Kal played guitar for numerous major acts such as John Mayall of the Blues Breakers, Peter Cetera, and Johnny Rivers.   In the video, Kal uses an entry level, inexpensive Epiphone guitar to demonstrate what these pickups can do; nonetheless, what it will do for a high-end custom shop reissue Gibson or Fender, resulting in the tone of the great guitar heroes we all know and love!  Also please check out Andy Beech Famous Luthier who also has endorsed the silverbucker.

Thank you for reading, contact me if you have any questions.    Purchase one of my hand-wound boutique pickups for your guitar.  If you are not satisfied you can receive a full refund (less shipping) when you send it back.