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The Cherry Burst Gibson Les Paul  that Duane used on “At Fillmore East” had a set of Gibson humbuckers that both measured in the low 7’s. This set was originally in a Gold Top he used when he tracked the slide guitar parts on “Layla” by Eric Clapton. I make an “off the menu” set call LoLo’s that match these.  Message me if you want me to build them for you. The dark burst Gibson Les paul he purchased in 1971 had a 8.3 in the neck and an 8.7 in the bridge.  Again, I have an “off the menu” set I can build for you.  Just message me.

Thank you. I appreciate that. But I do tend to agree with you.  And it comes down to the tension on the wire when us builders wind the coil. You take any of us builders, and if we were to use the same exact components and build a humbucker, they will still sound different and that difference is from the tension. The tension is where the magic is hidden.

Congratulations rkitect79! You have been selected as this month’s winner.  You get to receive your choice of one set of Sheptone pickups or strings at no cost.  Please reply to the separate email I sent you with what set you want, the options you’d like, and your complete mailing address.  Thanks for subscribing to the newsletter.

There are a few key factors:

·        The gauge and coating of the coil wire needs to be 42 AWG with a plain enamel coating.

·        The number of turns of wire per bobbin which tends to be around the 5000 mark.

·        The material the bobbin is made of which needs to be butyrate.

·        The magnet needs to be AlNiCo.

·        The baseplate needs to be nickel silver

·        The lead wire needs to a braided single lead

·        A wood spacer

·        And the most expensive part of the whole equation…the cover.  The cover needs to drawn and it cannot have a layer of copper underneath the plating – this is a huge differentiator.

While they never stopped producing their humbucker, drastic changes from what was initially built occurs in 1961 when then change the material used to make the bobbins and the coating on the coil wire and is ultimately an entirely different pickup come 1968.