Charlie Christian pickups and other CC style pups... pics please!

[AlohaJoe]

There was a request on another thread for pics of CC equipped guitars. There must be other fans of CC pups here. Got pictures of yours?

Or, what guitar would you LIKE to put a CC pup in?

I'm still happy with the one I got a couple years ago from Pete Biltoft (Alnico II magnets). I slapped it into a Guild X150 and it's been a simple, dependable gig box with a great sound ever since. The original pickup was OK, but I wanted a fatter sound for Swing gigs. To my ear, Pete's bar pups sound a lot like the old DeArmond 'Guitar Mike'. I also like that the whole rig was under $1500 and is new enough to be replaceable if damaged or stolen

[Melodic Dreamer]

I've posted it here before, but I'll post it once more. I have a Tele with two CC Riders.

[AlohaJoe]

I'll bet that sounds as good as it looksl! I plan on putting one in my Tele thinline clone.

[Franz 1997]

Slightly beaten up Slaman Jazz Junior, with Lollar CC. Mounted under a slotted HB cover.

I like the Lollar because it has a straight bar rather than curved, and is low resistance, wound with 38AWG wire. I've tried other CCs with much higher windings, but they sound less like CCs to me.

[pubylakeg]

Here's my Loar LH-600. I'm a dedicated convert to single coil Jazz guitar tone.

[ES125er]

Apologies for the mediocre smartphone photo. This is one of the 2000 Gibson Charlie Christian Model. I love it.

[rpguitar]

One of these Slaman "Sisters" begins its journey across the Atlantic to me on Tuesday. It has a CCa model with adjustable poles from CC Pickups in the UK.

[Para]

Lollar CC.

[vinlander]

My highly customized Epiphone Emperor Regent sports a Biltoft HCC



I am also a single coil convert for Jazz tone, I could never get these defined bass strings before.
Seriously considering getting back in touch with Pete Biltoft for a pickup swap for my Epiphone Joe Pass.
Thinking about maybe a P90 for bridge and of course a HCC for neck

[Para]

AF151 with a Lollar HBCC.

[Jabberwocky]

Apologies for the mediocre smartphone photo. This is one of the 2000 Gibson Charlie Christian Model. I love it.

You're too modest, my friend. It is not merely one of the 2000 ES-150 CC Reissues, it is Serial Number CC 001. Congratulations.

[Jabberwocky]

Here's my Loar LH-600. I'm a dedicated convert to single coil Jazz guitar tone.

That is very nice. Did you buy a Loar LH-600 and get the CC pickup, pickguard, wiring, pots and knobs installed? Pray tell.

[Jabberwocky]

My highly customized Epiphone Emperor Regent sports a Biltoft HCC
...I am also a single coil convert for Jazz tone, I could never get these defined bass strings before.
Seriously considering getting back in touch with Pete Biltoft for a pickup swap for my Epiphone Joe Pass.
Thinking about maybe a P90 for bridge and of course a HCC for neck

The double-holly motif on the tailpiece insert is a nice touch. Is it a MOP inlay or a sticker?

[vinlander]

The double-holly motif on the tailpiece insert is a nice touch. Is it a MOP inlay or a sticker?

Yeah it was my little homage to a guitar I would love to eventually own and play in the future...
Not having the talent nor the tools for proper inlaying, I have to confess I cheated...
However, it is real genuine MOP but it was simply applied on surface of the rosewood veneer.
With the use of clear varnish applied carefully around the MOP I could make the overall thing pretty nice and smooth under the touch.

[NSJ]

I think I'm the only one that ever put a CC (Lollar) on a semi-hollow.

Here it is, a pic from a few years ago with my ES-339. Rendered the bridge pup absolutely USELESS.

But. Then again, who in their right minds has a use for a bridge pup?

[pubylakeg]

That is very nice. Did you buy a Loar LH-600 and get the CC pickup, pickguard, wiring, pots and knobs installed? Pray tell.

That's right. Actually I bought the Loar specifically to do this project. I had seen John Moriarty's clip on youtube, showing how he fits CC pickups, so I contacted him and he had a UK made CC pickup in stock. I think he'd bought a batch when they came out.

So as soon as the guitar arrived I sent it to him, with the parts, for the fitting. He did a lot of work on it. New nut, new bridge, and he also altered the string spacing so that the outer E strings are taken in from the edge of the fretboard, more like an electric. The standard factory spacing on Loars are more like a flat top acoustic. I think he may have rolled off the fretboard/binding edge as well. Also, he fitted a replacement diamond type tailpiece, and the electrics, CTS pots and, I think, an orange drop cap.

Those are also the repro bakelite vol/tone knobs that you can buy these days. John actually made the pickguard himself and it looks fantastic.

John kept me updated throughout the project. He found that the top on my guitar was thicker (by about 20 percent) that the other Loars he had worked on, which is fortunate. I think it helps as an electric guitar (less feedback), and adds to the structural integrity, considering the weight of the pickup.

John is very crafty regarding the details. I had sent him a copy of Ingram's ES 175 book, as it contains a full frontal pic of an old ES-150. From the pic in the book, he was able to determine, by scale, the exact distance to fit the pickup, with reference to the blade polepiece.

I'd highly recommend John's work to anybody considering this job. In the past, John has worked on Louis Stewart's Gibson ES-150, which was apparently given to Louis by Bucky Pizzarelli, so he knows how these guitars work.

[Drifter]

Here's my pimped Epiphone Casino Coupe with Vintage Vibe blade style dogears.

[pubylakeg]

One of these Slaman "Sisters" begins its journey across the Atlantic to me on Tuesday. It has a CCa model with adjustable poles from CC Pickups in the UK.

Oh my goodness. I had seen mention about these on the Metheny thread, but didn't realise where the "sister" was going. That's incredible. I think I can safely say, several of us will await your NGD with great interest.

[Drifter]

Oh my goodness. I had seen mention about these on the Metheny thread, but didn't realise where the "sister" was going. That's incredible. I think I can safely say, several of us will await your NGD with great interest.

+1

Must have been a tough decision to not choose the one with the walnut back.

[fritz jones]

This is a Vintage Vibe floating CC style pickup on a 50's Guild.

[ES125er]

You're too modest, my friend. It is not merely one of the 2000 ES-150 CC Reissues, it is Serial Number CC 001. Congratulations.

Well, I did say that I owned "ONE of the...." didn't I?
Thank you for your kind words, Jabberwocky.

[jasonc]

Since I feel partly responsible for all of this...

A tele project that may get finished one day. It will be a '59-ish white translucent blonde with ebony fingerboard (no inlays) maybe a toploader bridge. It's a thinline with a Lollar CC.

[Melodic Dreamer]

I'll bet that sounds as good as it looksl! I plan on putting one in my Tele thinline clone.

Honestly, yes... it sounds superb clean or dirty.

[Herbie]

Nice to hear a lot of praise for Pete Biltoft's humbucker sized CC's because I just bought a second hand piece of them. I'll get it maybe next week so not pics yet!
Gonna put it in a 1959 Reissue ES-175. I think that a single coil pu might work in it better than a humbucker. At least I hope!

[rpguitar]

Must have been a tough decision to not choose the one with the walnut back.

Actually it was easy. I've been tempted by Slaman's output many times, but have had no problem resisting. The one I bought was built alongside Pat Metheny's guitar. Combined with the sexiness of the model itself, it was hopeless for me.

Yes, there will be an NGD report once it's been sorted and recorded.

[hanktx]

Here's mine. Loar 600 with a Biltoft Vintage Vibe CC. Found some NOS italian celluloid on eBay that I'll use to replace the pickguard at some point (another project for another day). The control knobs are NOS daka ware.

[Jabberwocky]

Hot off Reverb dot com , a modified 1952 ES-5, for that inner Barney Kessel in you.

[jazzbow]

Oh yes, love this thread.
This is a Vintage Vibe CC Rider. I bought the Squier Tele to put it in after selling the guitar it was already in...

[Jabberwocky]

Here's my Loar LH-600. I'm a dedicated convert to single coil Jazz guitar tone.

John Moriarty (love that deliciously diabolically sounding name, call me MAW-Ree-ARHH-TEEE, Mwaaah, Haaaa, Haaaaa) did a wonderful job on that Loar LH-600, pubylakeg. It looks like the real ES-150. What a deal. He had a YT video out where he showed a template that he made and installed a CC pickup on a Loar with cutaway.

I wonder how it sounds through a Fender Princeton Reverb. Hmmm....

Edit: Found it,

[Franz 1997]

For anyone interested, it's a 2001 Slaman Jazz Junior, from the days when Daniel was making a range of modern guitars.

He made it on spec., and sold it to me at an attractive price. It is a carved, 141/2" body, with some nice touches like bound scratch plate etc, ebony board. Originally he made it with a PRS-style 'sweet switch' rather than a tone control, which I needed and later installed. This left a small switch hole, and I tried several times to plug the hole 'invisibly' and re-lacquer, but eventually gave up and put in the black plug you seen in the pic, on the basis that poor concealment is worse than an obvious black plug... It has been gigged a lot, has been knocked about and scratched, and has had several pickups over the years. I have treated it as very much a working guitar, rather than a collection piece.

I have added a short -hinge 175 tailpiece at some point, to replace the rather plain ABM tailpiece.

Daniel has made one other, plainer, Jazz Junior guitar, but I'm not sure that he still offers the model.

The tone is on a par with the L5's I've owned, but obviously in a very compact package.

[feet]

i see pictures but i don't hear sounds.

that lollar cc under the humbucker cover looks awesome. how did that come about?

[Franz 1997]

i see pictures but i don't hear sounds.

that lollar cc under the humbucker cover looks awesome. how did that come about?

Take off Lollar cover, take old HB cover, careful measurement + marking of blade slot, dremel tool+ cutting disk, needle file, rubber cement, soldering wire to ground the HB cover to the pickup...it did take an hour or two.

[dallasblues]

Here's my Loar LH-600. I'm a dedicated convert to single coil Jazz guitar tone.

Wow! Love the CC vibe on your Loar. I can't imagine how that pickup was installed.

[dallasblues]

Here's mine. Loar 600 with a Biltoft Vintage Vibe CC. Found some NOS italian celluloid on eBay that I'll use to replace the pickguard at some point (another project for another day). The control knobs are NOS daka ware.

What a beauty! How'd you get that pickup in there?

[Hammertone]

This one was nice:

[hanktx]

What a beauty! How'd you get that pickup in there?

Very carefully....

Seriously though, I didn't do the work but, followed the process.

Basically involved a custom template for the pickup route and aligning it between the braces. The pickup carriage will fit through the pickup route with a little finesse.

The remainder was standard archtop wiring and controls.

Very similar to the Moriarty video posted earlier. Biggest difference was in the bracing. The L-600 has parallel so it did not require any brace cutting or additional top support like the 650 in the video.

Not that there weren't challenges. The pickup is actually the floating CC that Vintage Vibe offers. Only my guitar has a shallow neck angle (apparently not all L-600s have this issue). The floating pickup would not work with string clearance.

Faced with punting on the project, buying another CC with the mounting bracket or adapting the floating CC, we adapted the floating CC with an aluminum carriage. Not vintage spec. But, sounds very cool. All worked out in the end.

[ruger9]

This ain't mine, but I wish it was....



I do have future plans to do a partscaster (tele) thinline, w/o a pickguard (rear-loaded).... and will definitely have a CC up front, probably from Biltoft, because he can customize anything.

[garryrenfro]

I have also used a VV CC on a Loar 600.

[Franz 1997]

Not worth starting a new thread for, but I am very impressed with a Finnish HB CC pickup called CC bar.

I was and still am a fan of Lollar CCs, both HB size and full size, but this pickup seems to do it a bit better. It is a bit different in that the top bar is longer than the Lollar, so the top & bottom strings don't get too near the edge and thin out, and he uses unoriented A5 magnets, which give more power than the Lollar's A2 mags. It's a heavy pickup, but not heavy as the real thing..I really like it. It's a purist design, with the original 38 gauge wire. The fact that it's powerful is useful, 'cos it increase signal/ hum ratio. It also seems better balanced than the Lollar, due to a different internal design.

I know a lot of people here like the Biltoft CC pickups, so just as a point of reference, this one is deeper, heavier, and about twice as powerful as the Biltoft I've got. I say 'the one I've got', because I know his specs can vary a lot.

Have a look if you're thinking about a HB CC:

CCBar - handcrafted pickups & guitars

140€, 150$, £100. And, from Finland...

[petermelton]

Here's my jazz tele. Warmoth chambered walnut over ash body. Lollar CC in the neck and Fralin Blues Special in the bridge.

[Herbie]

Here's my 2013 ES-175 '59 RI VOS with Pete Biltoft's HCC-pickup (fallen 90 degrees left for some reason...).
After some experiencing I came to a conclusion that humbucker is not necessarily best pickup for this guitar.
HCC sounds just great with my 70's Mini Brute IV but sometimes I can't help thinking how would this guitar sound with a P90 pickup...

[rhanchin]

I've been thinking about putting a Lollar CC in neck position of my Tele. Pardon the newbie question, but it would require routing to install wouldn't it?

[petermelton]

It usually does require some routing but I know Lollar has a template and instructions for his online, not sure about the others though.

[greasy0015]

This is my 2013 American Standard Telecaster which has a Lollar Charlie Christian neck pickup and a Lollar Special T bridge pickup.

[woodpecker]

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen - my first post ever...

as i´ve never seen a pick-up like the one on my ES-175/CC (written on the trussrod cover)
which has two narrow blades
is this an original part(/guitar?), or even a chinese-master-copy?
i tried to post a pic, but failed....sorry
the guitar plays and sounds good enough for me, no reason to try another es175
....but the mystery still exists.....

be happy

[vinlander]

Today I got back in touch with Pete Biltoft for another project.
I like so much what the routed HCC did to my Regent, I am really sold to single coil type pickup for jazz now.
This time I want a HCC with the traditional hex shape and pickup ring for my Epi Joe Pass.

I decided to rewire the whole thing as a single neck pickup only guitar as the bridge is pretty much useless to me.
I plugged (in a reversible way) all the empty holes with some ebony taint wood plug hold in place with some foam to prevent buzzes and minimize weight.
Here she is waiting for the HCC...
I might use one of the empty bridge pot hole for a 3 positions rotary switch for cap value changing, not sure it is worth it but will see.
More picture to come when the job will be done.

[jazzbow]

I want a HCC with the traditional hex shape and pickup ring for my Epi Joe Pass.
I decided to rewire the whole thing as a single neck pickup only guitar as the bridge is pretty much useless to me.
I plugged (in a reversible way) all the empty holes with some ebony taint wood plug hold in place with some foam to prevent buzzes and minimize weight.
I might use one of the empty bridge pot hole for a 3 positions rotary switch for cap value changing, not sure it is worth it but will see.
More picture to come when the job will be done.

I like modding and I like what you're doing here matey!

Taliking about using empty pot holes how about this..

Top pickup selecter as a two throw? Position one direct to amp, no tone circuit. Position two, tone circuit engaged.
Then the 4 pot holes as;

1. Volume
2. Bass tone boost and cut
3. Treble tone boost and cut
4. killswitch (when not playing so as to cut single coil hum between songs)

I put a 5 way switch on my VV CCRider equiped jazz Tele and one of the positions has a tone cut which makes for a nice rhythm tone with a slight output drop.

[vinlander]

Interesting suggestion jazzbow, I might give it a try or wait for my future project a customized HCC equipped Jazz tele.

[Para]

What a coincidence I recently did the same to my ES175 except I used blank rubber grommets.

[surdopickups]

Ultra slim magnetic pickups


6.8 x 3.8 x 0.6 cm
neodymium magnets
B string attenuated
Reel screen by the use of steel plates
output balanced XLR plug
low impedance <300 ohm
no background noise
cover in brass or silver gold color base (a different choice if desired)
fixing the guitar via magnetic clip on gypsy guitar hole oval
fixing with double sided tape on the guitars in buga big D