Epiphone OBL Single Coil

Set of three single coil, Strat-type pickups. Passive. Not sure of impedance or DC resistance, but based on comparisons to other, similar pups, I'd say in the range of 4.5 to about 6.5 DC ohms

Installed in a hard-tail Strat copy, MIJ. As they are a set, pups are installed in all three positions. Reason for change was this was a HUGE step up from the Yamaha Pacifica pups in this axe.

As I said in my previous review, these are quite "hot" for single coils- but my reason for reviewsing is because I was too conservative in my previous ratings- these are darn good pickuos. I rated them a 9 this time, to average out with my previous 7 to the 8 I genuinely believe these pups deserve.

Both neck and bridge pups are the same design, but they work in both positions- basic strat wiring, coupled with distance from the bridge, allows this to work for you. Mid pickup is reverse-wound, so in 5-way switch positions 2 and 4, you get a hum-canceling effect, which is quite pronounced, and works.

I play blues, rock and a bit of prog. country (always preferred Social Distortion's cover of "Ring of Fire" to Cash's laconic original), and these work well for that. I even get enough of that strat/tele twang in the bridge pickup- not much, but enough to pull off a passable imitation of Walon Jennings' Tele.

Gonna stay with my 9 rating here- these are good, but very little in this world deserves a 10.

Let me pause here and say that I do NOT buy Bill Lawrence's stated reasons for hating these pickups. I have heard that he is not the most genteel of men, and I suspect that he is at least as steamed about the monetary deal he got from Epiphone, as any so-called lack of quality or tone. These may not be the same pickups as you might buy from Lawrence's company- WAY too many guitarist parrot the BL party line and say these pups are crap- IT IS NOT TRUE. I did a little, non-scientific test, where I first played these pups for several months, then filed off the "////////" in front of "OBL" on the covers- that removed the visual cue that they were not from Lawrence's company. I got better "reviews" from other guitarist when they could not ID these as Epi's, and thought they were from Lawrence's company. Funny what pre-conceived notions can do to how things "sound."

Pretty straight-forward- a matched trio set of single coil pickups, for bridge/mid/neck, two wires coming out of the pickup- pretty much what you would expect from single coils.

Installed in a Strat copy, in place of a no-brand HSS setup, because I felt the no-brand HSS pups were uninspiring. I took a chance on these pickups- got them at Mars Music when they were going out of business, cheap, but nobody there could tell me anything about them.

Quite "hot" for single coils- the overall tone is good- not great, but good. Both neck and bridge pups are the same design, but they work in both positions- basic strat wiring, coupled with distance from the bridge, allows this to work for you. Mid pickup is reverse-wound, so in 5-way switch positions 2 and 4, you get a hum-canceling effect, which is quite pronounced, and works.

I play blues, rock and a bit of prog. country (always preferred Social Distortion's cover of "Ring of Fire" to Cash's laconic original), and these work for that. I even get enough of that strat/tele twang in the bridge pickup- not much, but enough to pull off a passable imitation of Walon Jennings' Tele.

Let me pause here and say that I do NOT buy Bill Lawrence's stated reasons for hating these pickups. I have heard that he is not the most genteel of men, and I suspect that he is at least as steamed about the monetary deal he got from Epiphone, as any so-called lack of quality or tone. These are not the same pickups as you might buy from Lawrence's company- and they never sold for the same prices, either. 'Tis true- you do get what you pay for- pay a premium price, get a premium pup; pay a modest price, get a modest pickup. WAY too many guitarist parrot the BL party line and say these pups are crap- IT IS NOT TRUE. I did a little, non-scientific test, where I first played these pups for several months, then filed off the "////////" in front of "OBL" on the covers- that removed the visual cue that they were not from Lawrence's company. I got better "reviews" from other guitarist when they could not ID these as Epi's, and thought they were from Lawrence's company. Funny what pre-conceived notions can do to how things "sound."

The guitar they are in will be for sale, soon, and the original pups will go back in- these are not an upgrade for the pups in the guitars that are replacing it, so they will be sold as a set, but separate from the guitar. Doing this to maximize what I get for them, is all- and somebody will get a good set of pups. I gave them a 9 because the VALUE is high, even if they are not the holy grail of single coil tone.