Product: Seymour Duncan Antiquity Firebird
Price Paid: US $100
Submitted
06/27/2003
at
07:09pm
by
Randy McFarland
Email: rhmcfarland at yahoo<dot>com
Features
:
Pickup features: passive humbucker
Impedence or other specs: bridge = 7.55kohm, neck = 6.71 and 6.37
Instrument
:
Model of guitar or bass: Fender American Standard Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: single coils
Other pickups on guitar: all the same
Artists using this pickup: not sure
You musical style(s): blues, blues rock
Reason for pickup change: wanted the classic Firebird sound, but didn't want to buy a Firebird guitar
Sound
:
No Opinion
Perceived output level: the output in ohms is medium-to-low, but they sound much louder than a PAF
Tone: brighter than PAF with good string seperation
Sonic evaluation: The Am.Std. Strat was equipped with 3 Firebirds. The amp is a Soldano SLO100 played through a Mesa half-back 412 w/ Soldano X12000 speakers. I got a pickguard routed for 3 mini's from Warmoth.com. The controls are stock in configuration, except that I am using 500k pots. The lead pickup sounds like what I think a Firebird really always should have been: Leads absolutely scream, and the low end is tight. The original mini's were too thin and microphonic. The neck tone is excellant, especially for blues leads: Not as "bloopy" as a PAF, but it is a humbucker and has excellant sustain. The 3-pickup configuration works quite well, with plenty of "cluck" in the 2 and 4 positions. I notice that these are not real compressed sounding, like the SM3, and they are not microphonic, which is a major plus.
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I don't know if you would want to use these for heavy metal, but that's not important to me.
Overall Rating
:
10
Comments: My main guitar has been a 1970 Les Paul Deluxe with a humbucker in the bridge. I always liked the chime of the bridge position mini, but it was too thin and microphonic to play rock and heavy leads with. Also, I don't think the original Gibson pickups were calibrated. I played a reissue LP Deluxe and noticed that the sound wasn't at all the same. I think they switched to Alnico II magnets, and totally changed the wind so that it's not what I was hoping to hear. These are great, and I don't think there's anything I would change. The leads really sing and sustain. Its very musical, and joyful... quite unique. Kind of gives me this fiery, soaring sensation...
