ASL From the maker of … Oil City!

OilCityPickups · June 2014

Well here it is ... after a couple of technical difficulties :-) ... a bit of an unveiling

Many of you will have guessed that Jonathan of Feline Guitars fame and I have had our heads together for months brewing a new range of pickups .
Well finally I can let you know more.
This will be a range of 'Milestone' pickups, referencing the signature sounds of great players from 'Randy' and 'Eddie' to 'Greenie'.
The new Ash Scott-Lockyer Pickups will be distributed via specialist dealers ... feline being the first, and also be available on fine, luthier built British instruments ... including Feline guitars of course!

Jonathan has proved to be a fantastic collaborator on this project, with his extensive knowledge of all things 'tone', we have racked up many hours of furious phone plotting (and even one pub crawl ... purely in the interests of science).

My normal Oil City range will still be available in the usual way, via my OCP site, and indeed more products will be popping up there soon!

Thanks to all my Oil city customers for your support so far ... do check out the new Ash Scott-Lockyer range range as it comes out ... I promise you they will be very special!
Ash

FelineGuitars · June 2014

Initially the aim was to fill in a few of the gaps in the range of pickups that you could easily buy - things not offered by other manufacturers and also a few twists on what is available to help deliver what I had been looking for.

Then we decided that there are certain staple tones that players would ask for or tone reference points - the sort f thing that players ask about when discussing what they are looking for.

Even whilst discussing these "milestones" Ash has had enquiries for exactly those pickups or players asking for pickups using those "reference" tonal landmarks .

We've already got one of the designs touring with The Treatment - currently playing stadiums in Europe with Aerosmith and Altar Bridge

monquixote · June 2014

Good luck guys.

Feline + Oil City has got to be a match made in heaven.

Adam_MD · June 2014

Excellent I hope you do really well.

TTony · June 2014

I wanted that the first time that you posted it.

And I still wants it now.

TTony · June 2014

@theGuitarWeasel

Big congratulations Ash - hope it's really successful for you both.

Dave_Mc · June 2014

Sweet

FelineGuitars · June 2014

Here is a trio of them going into a Gibson Les Paul that we are Souping up

We have an alnico 3 "Riot Act" in the neck, a Dyna-mite : Alnico 5 Pat Number/T-Top style pickup in the middle and a hot Alnico 4 rocker in the bridge

More details of names and stuff will emerge as things come together.

FelineGuitars · June 2014

And some prototype pickups in my Blackmachine B6 that are nothing short of breathtaking

Details on these may be unavailable for a while ...but things will emerge on these too

ThePrettyDamned · June 2014

transparent bobbins!

Congratulations guys, always good to hear a success story and I reckon it's a great pairing. Rock history in the making

OilCityPickups · June 2014

It is brilliant working with a total pro like Jonathan ... if you total his and my experience in instrument building, repair and now pickup winding with mine you get over 50 years!!! He's worked with several famous pickup winders in the past including Kent Armstrong ... so I feel pretty privileged really.

Loved creating the pickups for that triple-pickup LP ... it's going to be a tone monster!

gusman2x · June 2014

FelineGuitars said:

Initially the aim was to fill in a few of the gaps in the range of pickups that you could easily buy - things not offered by other manufacturers and also a few twists on what is available to help deliver what I had been looking for.

Then we decided that there are certain staple tones that players would ask for or tone reference points - the sort f thing that players ask about when discussing what they are looking for.

Even whilst discussing these "milestones" Ash has had enquiries for exactly those pickups or players asking for pickups using those "reference" tonal landmarks .

We've already got one of the designs touring with The Treatment - currently playing stadiums in Europe with Aerosmith and Altar Bridge

Oh. My. Word.

Beautiful.

FelineGuitars · June 2014

The white LP type guitar is one made by Rock and Roll Relics
Similar kits can be found here http://buy.precisionguitarkits.com/product/57-carved-top-single-pick-up-bandf

McToot · June 2014

Jonathan gave me a wee heads up on this collaboration a few weeks back. I'm glad it's OUT THERE now.

Having finally taken delivery of my first Oil City pickups (my delay, not Ash's) I can't wait to hear what the upper end ones must sound like. The 'regular' Stone Tones are blinking fab.

ThePrettyDamned · June 2014

Truth be told, I wasn't aware pickups got any better than his regulars...

OilCityPickups · June 2014

I've spent the last few months locating materials and polishing designs ... and I think the new range will set a new standard

ThePrettyDamned said:

Truth be told, I wasn't aware pickups got any better than his regulars...

That's very nice of you mate ... but improvements can always be made, and I've spent the last few months locating difficult to source materials and polishing designs ... and I think the new range will be a benchmark for me. For me making pickups is a way of life ... and life can always get better ;-)

juansolo · June 2014

Are the super distortion-a-likes going to be in this range?

ThePrettyDamned · June 2014

juansolo said:

Are the super distortion-a-likes going to be in this range?

Oh god, will buy!

OilCityPickups · June 2014

We will have a 'ceramic powered high output ...' unit in the range to get all those luverly 70s over-the-top-rock tones. Jonathan has a prototype or two of those ...

FelineGuitars · June 2014

And very nice they are too - I've had to dust off my Kiss riffs (again) to channel some 70s Frehley

juansolo · June 2014

Smashing!

Mick · June 2014

Good luck guys. Looks like a excellent combo, so hope it all goes well for you. Many a youtube vid to follow no doubt.

FelineGuitars · July 2014

Okay - a quick bit of an update - albeit small

Ash and I have been pushing a couple of designs back and forth refining what we want to get out of each of them and I confess it's been interesting.
Experimenting with slightly differing types of copper wire from different manufacturers, even though the gauge of copper remains the same and noting small changes and altering the winds .

I have to confess today has been silly grin time as the latest of the two pickups that we have been pushing around (the TOUR 84 and the "Eruption") have both gone into two of my main reference guitars and have certainly ticked most of the boxes as far as my own tone quest goes.
The TOUR 84 is wonderfully balanced, yet bordering on the slightly rude with a fair amount of top end sizzle making it sound amazing in my 20th Anniversary Lion. Still a 42 gauge wire creation with an Alnico 5 magnet.

The Eruption seems like a contradiction : overwound and fat sounding yet lots of low end and top end response (like the perfect melding of a PAF and a single coil)...but that is pretty much what the old Brown Sound seemed to be.

So far I've tried it in an all mahogany guitar which made it seem a bit warmer but it's tonal character shone through.
Looking forward to trying a few out in alder and ash superstrats

Finally we have been having some fun with a 3 pickup LP trying for a somewhat 1970s vibe:

The 1970s were an overlooked era in guitar tones - often not considered classic like the late 50s and throughout the 60s (and certainly both Fender and Gibson lost their way in this decade). However there were an awful lot of great rock bands in the 70s making music that has stood the test of time - many using new instruments rather than having an old 50s LP.
So we thought we'd explore some of those classic tones too.....

Experimenting with what we are calling a RIOT ACT in the middle position - reflecting that time in the 1970s where alnico 3 was used in Gibson humbuckers (Alnico 3 which had no Cobalt content - as cobalt was in short supply due to it's use in nuclear warheads)

These pickups had a clear tone with a less aggressive top end - likely to have been what Randy Rhoads had in his LP Custom.

The neck pickup is aDYNA_MITE: a version of a Patent number era pickup (after Gibson had it's patent awarded).
Later veraions of these vbecame known as T-Top humbuckers because of the letter T molded into the bobbin platicto show the factory workers the right way up for the coil, and wasn't expected to be seen as a metal cover would be soldered in place.

The bridge unit was going to be a "TRANSONIC 70" , which is like the early super distortion pickups to come out of New York in the mid 70s. However we also tried out another design that isknown to have frquented a few LP customs with a 43 gauge wind in the 13k region...we tried it with an alnico 4 magnet in this one to give it a more vintage vibe (alnico 5 would have been a bit more aggressive but the guitar's owner thought that the A4 might give him more of a crossover appeal for tunes where an old a4 PAF may have been used on the record). At this stage we're tinkering and having fun bt ideas are definitely coming together.

ThePrettyDamned · July 2014

Very cool! Sounds like nothing has been left alone!

Have you done any experiments with ceramics?

I quite like the sound of a randy rhoads era sound. That's my benchmark for solo tone really, some folk find it a bit middy but I love the raw aggression, yet the top end is always musical, not harsh.

hubobulous · July 2014

@FelineGuitars and @TheGuitarWeasel

All sounds like its moving forwards well, so congrats to you both.

I wonder what a clear bobbin pair would look like in one of your 20th Anniversary models? Especially if it matched the sort of stain that some of them have. The Eruptions for example......

DrBob · July 2014

Soooo, will the Eruption be available in 'F' spacing and double black bobbin ?
And I don't suppose it's gonna be available prior to my departure from London mid August is it ?

FelineGuitars · July 2014

Yes - I can get you one Bob

Gimme a call

Whilst we haven't done a big formal roll out for the different models yet - I don't see any problem with models where we are happy with the R&D

DrBob · July 2014

Will do mate !

FelineGuitars · July 2014

For those Facebookers on here there is an ASL Facebook page too

https://www.facebook.com/ASLPickups

EdGrip · July 2014

Age/Sex/Location?

HIGH FIVE WHO'S WITH ME, 90s KIDS!

I have heard a couple of these pickups. They are pretty and they've got it goin' on, especially the Eruption model! It's a real corker.

OilCityPickups · July 2014

As far as I'm concerned it's difficult to pick favorites as they are all my babies ... but the Eruption puts a wicked grin on my face ...

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ASL From the maker of … Oil City!

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