Oily Towers: the latest from Oil City pickups

Ianb62 · September 2015

hope this is the right place to ask, im assembling a partscaster, p90 neck and std tele bridge pickup, what goes best with your firewatch p90 ?

im looking for bluesy , not too high gain tone ?

cheers

ian

OilCityPickups · September 2015

I personally use my HardMan or Diesel tap. The Hard Man balances nicely with a Firewatch and is warm without being super high gain. Classic punchy Tele with a bit more oomph than standard. The Diesel Tap is basically a HardMan with a lower output option that you can put on a push/pull switch. Traditional Tele or slightly hotter ... with no disadvantages.

Ianb62 · September 2015

ah thanks , hardman looks the one for me , though i just noticed the alligator p90! hmmm

i will head over to your online store, cheers

Elwood · October 2015

Hey Ash, are you still planning on assembling wiring kits?

OilCityPickups · October 2015

Yep ... what were you after?

Elwood · October 2015

Was thinking of doing up my LTD, it would be for HH with 2 volume, 1 tone and 3 way switch. It's an Eclipse (LP) shape so the 3 way is the maximum distance away from everything else.

It's quite thin and a flat top so I'm not sure of the shaft lengths required but will remove on and have a look.

OilCityPickups · October 2015

The ideal would be to send me the old harness, that makes lengths and distances really easy to copy.

Funkfingers · May 2018

@TheGuitarWeasel ;

I have a friend who thinks that he might want to change the metal cover on a pre-owned, out of warranty Winterizer II humbucker. How much wax has been used in the air gap between the bobbins and the cover?

equalsql · May 2018

Hi Ash,
What are the specs on your Winterizer picks ups? Neck and bridge DCR, magnet types and wire guage etc. Does the Winterizer incorperate the ferrous reflector plate and wood spacers as found in the early models?

Funkfingers · May 2018

equalsql said:

Does the Winterizer incorperate the ferrous reflector plate and wood spacers as found in the early models?

See the opening post of this thread. <epic facepalm>

equalsql said:

Neck and bridge DCR, magnet types and wire guage etc.

Some of the boring statistics used to appear on the OCP website. They vanished in the early 2018 redesign.

KKJale · May 2018

I know nothing of website design, but Ash, why does the Oil City site make my laptop have a heart attack?

A single page takes a tragic 30+ seconds to load, my CPU is running at 80% of its total capacity, the fan comes on like a turbo kicking in and somewhere not far away a flop-eared bunny dies.

Are you using massive resolution photos?

Funkfingers · May 2018

The mid-2018 OCP web site has a lot of photographic content. For instance, many of the Masterwound models are illustrated with two photographs rather than one. The second image is revealed only when your cursor rolls into the *frame* area. This trick is achieved with page layout code. Computers have to load all of the page content regardless of how much of it is required by an individual site visitor.

My guess is that the majority of potential purchasers find the replacement pickups that they think they want by sight rather than by comparing specification statistics. (Who is to say that they are wrong?)

equalsql · May 2018

Funkfingers said:

equalsql said:

Does the Winterizer incorperate the ferrous reflector plate and wood spacers as found in the early models?

See the opening post of this thread. <epic facepalm>

equalsql said:

Neck and bridge DCR, magnet types and wire guage etc.

Some of the boring statistics used to appear on the OCP website. They vanished in the early 2018 redesign.

I like boring statistics

I saw the reference to the Winterizer 2s but just wanted to confirm about the originals.

OilCityPickups · May 2018

Funkfingers said:

@TheGuitarWeasel ;

I have a friend who thinks that he might want to change the metal cover on a pre-owned, out of warranty Winterizer II humbucker. How much wax has been used in the air gap between the bobbins and the cover?

Quite a lot!
Re Winterizers: All Winterizers vintage size or HB size use a ferrous inductor plate as per the originals. The wire is 42awg plain enamel as with the originals, and the magnets are alnico 5 (twin bars in the bobbin centres ... exactly as in the original. DCR is around 6.7 neck, 7.5k bridge.

Funkfingers · May 2018

Gratuitous photograph.

https://i.imgur.com/Sq3KY9s.jpg?1

OilCityPickups · May 2018

Funkfingers said:

Gratuitous photograph.

https://i.imgur.com/Sq3KY9s.jpg?1

Have to say they look bloody lovely in their new home

Funkfingers · May 2018

This month, I have been mostly finding the combination of these pickups and the Paul Reed Smith S2 Singlecut more enjoyable than I expected. I worried that the maple cap might detract from the 'Bird sound I was after. Now, I suspect that the maple is contributing some of the hard/brightness that the walnut does in the Gibson.

equalsql said:
I saw the reference to the Winterizer 2s but just wanted to confirm about the originals.

I have no vintage original pickups or guitar with which to make A/B comparisons. I can report, however, that the Winterizers are sufficiently close that they reproduce that phenomenon of the bridge/Treble position pickup being ever so slightly less powerful than one might wish.

In my opinion, this apparent weakness is actually the pickup pair's greatest strength. Put the selector switch in the Both position. Roll the bridge/Treble pickup volume down to 8 or thereabouts. Revel in those Blues-Rock tones.

OilCityPickups · May 2018

Funkfingers said:

This month, I have been mostly finding the combination of these pickups and the Paul Reed Smith S2 Singlecut more enjoyable than I expected. I worried that the maple cap might detract from the 'Bird sound I was after. Now, I suspect that the maple is contributing some of the hard/brightness that the walnut does in the Gibson.

equalsql said:
I saw the reference to the Winterizer 2s but just wanted to confirm about the originals.

I have no vintage original pickups or guitar with which to make A/B comparisons. I can report, however, that the Winterizers are sufficiently close that they reproduce that phenomenon of the bridge/Treble position pickup being ever so slightly less powerful than one might wish.

In my opinion, this apparent weakness is actually the pickup pair's greatest strength. Put the selector switch in the Both position. Roll the bridge/Treble pickup volume down to 8 or thereabouts. Revel in those Blues-Rock tones.

The specs for the Winterizers came directly from vintage pickups I have had access to/rewound, or have had measurements taken from. Like you ... I love that middle position ... :-)

Jetfire · May 2018

@Funkfingers tell the class about them covers, they are lovely!
:

equalsql · May 2018

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Funkfingers said:

@TheGuitarWeasel ;;

I have a friend who thinks that he might want to change the metal cover on a pre-owned, out of warranty Winterizer II humbucker. How much wax has been used in the air gap between the bobbins and the cover?

Quite a lot!
Re Winterizers: All Winterizers vintage size or HB size use a ferrous inductor plate as per the originals. The wire is 42awg plain enamel as with the originals, and the magnets are alnico 5 (twin bars in the bobbin centres ... exactly as in the original. DCR is around 6.7 neck, 7.5k bridge.

Thanks Ash..
My order will be coming your way

Funkfingers · May 2018

Jetfire said:

@Funkfingers tell the class about them covers, they are lovely!

Bog standard "blind" nickel-plated humbucker covers. No need for polepiece screw holes because the Firebird-inspired pickup design has no adjustable polepieces.

I love the sound of a nice, old Gibson Firebird but I would be afraid of decapitating one onstage. Hence, the Smith S2.

hotpickups · June 2018

Funny it's kind of odd not seeing pole pieces but I kind of like it at the same time. Love to know what they sound like. PAF like?

OilCityPickups · June 2018

hotpickups said:

Funny it's kind of odd not seeing pole pieces but I kind of like it at the same time. Love to know what they sound like. PAF like?

They sound like a PAF blended with a punchy Telecaster ... sort of chewy in the mids, with lots of bite. They really don't sound like anything other than a Firebird. To my mind the Firebird pickup is one of Gibson's lost gems: they have never done an accurate re issue of it strangely .... just silly ceramic magnet and high output look alikes. And you can't see pole screws because there aren't any, the two magnets sit on their side down the centre of the (tiny) bobbins, unlike a mini humbucker that has a single conventional bar magnet under the bobbins. That twin magnet thing is what gives the pickup it's bite.

Funkfingers · June 2018

hotpickups said:

Love to know what they sound like. PAF like?

In the nicest possible way, I hope not.

TheGuitarWeasel said:
The Firebird pickup is one of Gibson's lost gems: they have never done an accurate re issue of it .... just silly ceramic magnet and high output look alikes.

The received wisdom amongst many guitarists is that a Gibson solid body electric guitar should sound and look a certain way. The Firebird never conformed to expectations on either count. It exists in its own niche.

TheGuitarWeasel said:
the two magnets sit on their side, down the centre of the (tiny) bobbins ... That twin magnet thing is what gives the pickup its bite.

The Skylark single coil pickup, used on the Melody Maker, is of similar construction. Makes you wonder what two Skylark pickups, connected in series and in phase, would sound like.

OilCityPickups · June 2018

Funkfingers said:

hotpickups said:

Love to know what they sound like. PAF like?

In the nicest possible way, I hope not.

TheGuitarWeasel said:
The Firebird pickup is one of Gibson's lost gems: they have never done an accurate re issue of it .... just silly ceramic magnet and high output look alikes.

The received wisdom amongst many guitarists is that a Gibson solid body electric guitar should sound and look a certain way. The Firebird never conformed to expectations on either count. It exists in its own niche.

TheGuitarWeasel said:
the two magnets sit on their side, down the centre of the (tiny) bobbins ... That twin magnet thing is what gives the pickup its bite.

The Skylark single coil pickup, used on the Melody Maker, is of similar construction. Makes you wonder what two Skylark pickups, connected in series and in phase, would sound like.

the kicker would be how narrow two Skylark pickups would be sandwiched side by side. The other sound factor in the Firebird is the narrower coil spacing due to the narrow cover and mini bobbins. This leads to the coils 'reading' a shorter span of string than a PAF for example, which again gives preference to treble and upper mids with the Firebird.
I have tried Winterizers and Winterizer II (HB sized) in lots of guitars, and they essentially keep the Firebird character in pretty much all of them. They are lovely in an SG, Flying V and in the Epi Firebird copy, as well as being great in a Strat (three of them with a five way selector sounds awesome) and in the neck position of Telecasters.

Funkfingers · June 2018

TheGuitarWeasel said:
the kicker would be how narrow two Skylark pickups would be sandwiched side by side.

Sorry. I had in mind how two Skylark single coils would sound, in series, in their normal positions on a two pickup Gibson Melody Maker or a vintage Epiphone Olympic.

hotpickups · June 2018

TheGuitarWeasel said:

hotpickups said:

Funny it's kind of odd not seeing pole pieces but I kind of like it at the same time. Love to know what they sound like. PAF like?

They sound like a PAF blended with a punchy Telecaster ... sort of chewy in the mids, with lots of bite. They really don't sound like anything other than a Firebird. To my mind the Firebird pickup is one of Gibson's lost gems: they have never done an accurate re issue of it strangely .... just silly ceramic magnet and high output look alikes. And you can't see pole screws because there aren't any, the two magnets sit on their side down the centre of the (tiny) bobbins, unlike a mini humbucker that has a single conventional bar magnet under the bobbins. That twin magnet thing is what gives the pickup it's bite.

Can they be coil tapped I.e. 2 or 4 wire?

OilCityPickups · June 2018

hotpickups said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

hotpickups said:

Funny it's kind of odd not seeing pole pieces but I kind of like it at the same time. Love to know what they sound like. PAF like?

They sound like a PAF blended with a punchy Telecaster ... sort of chewy in the mids, with lots of bite. They really don't sound like anything other than a Firebird. To my mind the Firebird pickup is one of Gibson's lost gems: they have never done an accurate re issue of it strangely .... just silly ceramic magnet and high output look alikes. And you can't see pole screws because there aren't any, the two magnets sit on their side down the centre of the (tiny) bobbins, unlike a mini humbucker that has a single conventional bar magnet under the bobbins. That twin magnet thing is what gives the pickup it's bite.

Can they be coil tapped I.e. 2 or 4 wire?

Of course they can be coil split like any humbucker ... but there is little point, the two coils together add up to about the same output as a moderately overwound Strat pickup ... one coil alone is therefore sub 4k and weedy in the extreme. You get a pretty close to single coil sound with both coils on and the pickup is silent ... why would you need to coil split?

hotpickups · June 2018

TheGuitarWeasel said:

hotpickups said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

hotpickups said:

Funny it's kind of odd not seeing pole pieces but I kind of like it at the same time. Love to know what they sound like. PAF like?

They sound like a PAF blended with a punchy Telecaster ... sort of chewy in the mids, with lots of bite. They really don't sound like anything other than a Firebird. To my mind the Firebird pickup is one of Gibson's lost gems: they have never done an accurate re issue of it strangely .... just silly ceramic magnet and high output look alikes. And you can't see pole screws because there aren't any, the two magnets sit on their side down the centre of the (tiny) bobbins, unlike a mini humbucker that has a single conventional bar magnet under the bobbins. That twin magnet thing is what gives the pickup it's bite.

Can they be coil tapped I.e. 2 or 4 wire?

Of course they can be coil split like any humbucker ... but there is little point, the two coils together add up to about the same output as a moderately overwound Strat pickup ... one coil alone is therefore sub 4k and weedy in the extreme. You get a pretty close to single coil sound with both coils on and the pickup is silent ... why would you need to coil split?

Maybe not for me then

victorludorum · July 2018

@TheGuitarWeasel ;There've been a few mentions on here about the Hardman pickup. Could you explain any differences between the Hardman and the Liquidator, or are they pretty close sound wise? I'm particularly thinking about the neck pickup.

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Oily Towers: the latest from Oil City pickups

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