Vintage Vibe Guitars PAF/Filtertron

I don't really know how you can have that many features on a pickup but these came back with four-conductor wire for coil-tapping so I'll say 10. These pickups are actually stock Filtertrons that I had Pete rewind and replace magnets.

These came out of and went back in a 1994 Gretsch 6120. Both positions. Replacing the stock ceramic Filtertrons with a Gibson style PAF in the neck and a more convincing Filtertron to match in the bridge. The reason for the change is that I play a lot of jazz and those ceramic "Filtertrons" were way to harsh. No matter what I did I couldn't get the sounds out of that box that I knew were in there.

I'm playing through a 1965 Ampeg Gemini and a reissue Ampeg Jet. I seldom use effects but when I do it's a Danelectro slap-back delay and for some dirt I use the ubiquitous Digitech Bad Monkey. The tone is exactly what I was looking for. I asked Pete to give me a Gibson ES-175/L5 straight-ahead jazz tone from the neck and that, my friends, is exactly what I got and under the stock covers no less. The bridge sounds like what the stock pickup was supposed to sound like, bright but full not harsh and thin. I knew this box was capable of making these sounds as it has roughly the same dimensions and materials as an ES-175. I'm sure some of you are wondering "Well if he wanted an ES-175 so bad why didn't he sell the Gretsch and get one?" It's simple, now I have both. I have Jazz coming out of the neck pickup and I have Country, Rockabilly, Surf and whatever else people do with Filtertrons coming out of the bridge and both pickups cost me less than some single pickups cost. What I play has pretty much been covered...Jazz and roots styles like Rockabilly etc...

I would have these replaced in a heart beat. I've been playing for 15 years. I also own a Highway One Tele with one of Pete's CC Rider Charlie Christian-style neck pickups and DiMarzio Twang King in the bridge and a D'Angelico New Yorker (NYL-2) reissue with a Kent Armstrong handmade floating single coil pickup. What I love about it is that it's like I bought my Gretsch all over again. I chose Pete because I liked my CC Rider so much I figured he can wind that kind of magic on that pickup he can do it for these. Yeah I wish I had stable full of vintage Gibson amps, got any cheap? If you are reading these reviews trying to figure out what pickups to get well stop right now open your email and send Pete a line telling him what you need and it'll come back killer.