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Hey Hammer .....I'd usually defer to your wide guitarological knowledge.
But just this once I know something you don't
....the '68 Goldtop RI came with a pair of
cream colored P90's.
I know....I bought one of the the first ones ...in Sydney, Australia first week in '69.
I really wanted the black beauty with full size HB's....but I couldn't quite make the $$'s
Turned out that the Standard Goldtop with soap bars just killed through the plexi 50 watt Marshall I'd also just got....
....the one with the looking but amazing sound of 8 X 10" speakers in a single tall cabinet with the top 4 speakers angled back sort of
like a mini stack.
Whew! ....I've never got over that guitar....so it is etched in my mind .....you don't forget that kinda thing, ever.
OK ....I got a bit off topic there....but I seem to recall the mini HB's were not installed in LP's until C. the early Norlin period.
Some of those LP's in the early 70's were as heavy as sea anchors, and often sounded a bit like them too.
Now I go back to deferring to your greater historic knowledge.
Last edited by Moonray; 05-17-2017 at 12:46 AM.
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05-17-2017 12:43 AM
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You are correct - the '68 Goldtop RI started off with P-90s. Mini-humbuckers were installed on the Les Paul Deluxe, which came out in late '68.
Originally Posted by Moonray
Hey Hammer .....I'd usually defer to your wide guitarological knowledge.
But just this once I know something you don't ....the '68 Goldtop RI came with a pair of
cream colored P90's.
I know....I bought one of the the first ones ...in Sydney, Australia first week in '69.
I really wanted the black beauty with full size HB's....but I couldn't quite make the $$'s
Turned out that the Standard Goldtop with soap bars just killed through the plexi 50 watt Marshall I'd also just got....
....the one with the looking but amazing sound of 8 X 10" speakers in a single tall cabinet with the top 4 speakers angled back sort of like a mini stack.
Whew! ....I've never got over that guitar....so it is etched in my mind .....you don't forget that kinda thing, ever.
OK ....I got a bit off topic there....but I seem to recall the mini HB's were not installed in LP's until C. the early Norlin period.
Some of those LP's in the early 70's were as heavy as sea anchors, and often sounded a bit like them too.
Now I go back to deferring to your greater historic knowledge.
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Man, this is the best guitar tone I have heard in a while. Hopefully I can get there with what I already have. Spectacular. Thanks for sharing. Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
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I agree, that is one sweet tone! Originally Posted by rhoadsscholar
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There's a Jason Lollar article from 2009, that talks about the construction of JS pickup. Article can be found here.
Humbuckers and Mini-Humbuckers
Some one had once set me an interesting message that I can no longer find about response / saturation to a greater string amplitude / volume. Kicking myself that I can no longer find it.
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If JL is right (and I have no reason to doubt him) this confirms that there is a structural difference between a mini and a JS. I think I had read this somewhere once before, but I've never been a fan anyways, I've always felt that there wasn't anything a mini (or JS) did that a regular PAF style didn't do better. Originally Posted by DanielleOM
Its always interesting to consider which design choices Gibson made based on cost versus performance, being able to use the mini in the P-90 route (with the plastic surround) is probably some clue of something. There is also somewhere a story about why the JS has a different construction than the mini.
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[QUOTE=stringmaster;769608]Those are all great clips but more on the "Jazzy" side of things ('cept for Otis). I was thinking more along these lines--like vintage Blues, Western Swing etc where guys might have used a monkey on a stick/QUOTE]
A DeArmond Guitar Mic is, strictly speaking, not a Johnny Smith type pickup, but it is a floater that is usually mounted via a monkey on a stick, but not always. Check out Whit Smith from Hot Club of Cowtown as an example of Western Swing. In this video there is lots of rhythm chunking and a guitar solo about 1:40:
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Whit can play. He intentionally uses a very vintage tone, via the guitar, pickup, and amp. I really like his album with Bruce Forman and Rich O'Brien, as the "High Plains Riffters". First-class pickin' and grinnin'.
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You make a really good point about Whit's sound--the amp is a big part of the sound. Same with the clip of Junior Watson. Besides the vintage guitar and DeArmond pickup, you really need an old tube amp turned up to get that blown sound.
BTW, the cat playing harmonica and singing in the Junior Watson clip is William Clarke. Just plain great bluesman. Unfortunately, like many others, he left us way too early.
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Check out Duke Robillard - he uses guitars with that type of pickup often.
I think it all depends on your ability and imagination - there are no rules !
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The article about the different internal construction of the mini humbucker v.s. the Johnny Smith is correct. I have disassembled each of the pickup types discussed.
The Gibson Johnny Smith can be made to sound different if you remove the pole pieces. The early Johhny Smith pickups were without pole pieces.
Another Gibson floater is the BJB. This was a replacement for the Johnny Smith. Internally it is like the firebird. It is not wax potted (as is the case with early Gibson pickups). It is a good sounding pickup.
I had a Bartolini 5j (Johnny Smith style) on a 1949 L-7. It sounded pretty fat to my ears.
I also have used the dearmond fhc (the one Junior Watson was playing). It can sounds good for a blusey tone.
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Jimmy Smith at Newport ('72) Kenny Burrell on guitar
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