10% overwound PUs

[st.bede]

I keep getting suggestions that what I want is a 10% overwound PU, because I want a little more warmth. I have no experience with getting a PU and then having it overwound. I trust the sources, bit still it would good if someone who has experienced this suggestion, could offer a deeper insight into the outcome. (Both guitars (SC PU) this has been suggested for, are a bit bright in nature. I do not want to lose the clarity and extension, just want to have a little more weight and punch).

[pcjazz]

You might be able to achieve this by changing strings rather than pickups. Just a thought.

[st.bede]

That is good to always remember. I forget that every now and again.

Also depending on things, adjust the PU height can help.

I have done both so far. Both have had positive impacts.

Thanks for reminding me… sometimes the desire to find the “best PU”, can lead to hasty choices.

[Cunamara]

Well, it's easier just to buy a pickup that's been wound hotter to begin with, rather than buying a pickup and later having it rewound. Basically, a PAF style humbucker reading in the 8.5K – 9.5K range of DC resistance will put you right there; the classic PAF is around 7.0K - 7.5K. Slightly overwound PAFs are very common pickups. Personally, I think pickups with alnico 2 magnets have a warmer and more even sound than those with alnico 5 magnets; I tend to hear the latter as having a much harder attack that I don't particularly care for, but alnico 5 is much more common in the marketplace. They probably sound better with distortion, which I never use.

But there are certainly things that can be done before dishing out for new pickups such as already mentioned: different strings, raising or lowering the pickups, etc. Tweaking the knobs, of course. Also trying a different pick (I find that Fender tortoiseshell picks and Pro Plec picks have the warmest tone with the least harsh attack; I also find that a small pick like a 358 or 451 size sounds a little warmer to my ears than the standard 351 size). Picking hand placement can make a profound difference. Increasing the setting of the volume knob on the amp and rolling back the volume on the guitar tends to warm up the sound; picking more lightly will warm your sound up and turning up the amp can compensate for creating less volume at the string. Basically, my observation over the years has been that picking technique that produces good acoustic sound tends to produce poor electric sound, and vice versa.

[st.bede]

That is some really interesting information. I never thought about the size of the pick, and some other things you have mentioned. Thank you.

[Bobby Timmons]

If you use single coils what you could do is put another single coil in series with the main pickup and use a spin a split to control the level. For example a lipstick in series with a tele. Lipsticks are only 3k so won't bog down the tone, just give a boost. It depends on how the pickups mount on the guitar tho. Pickguard is best because you can just route it easily for the 2 pups to be right next to each other.

[Greywolf]

While an overwound pickup will produce a "warmer" tone it is at the sacrifice of dynamic range.

Another simple and elegant option is to use a booster . I use an Xotic Super Sweet which can add up to 20db of clean buffered boost with 4 selectable frequency options. Bass Low mid/High mid boosts and Top cut .

Just a touch and it REALLY warms it up

[Helliger]

Agree with everything mentioned about pickup height, strings, different pick etc.. I'd try all that at first but pickups do sound and behave differently and at the end of the day they may have pickups you just don't like so much.

In general hotter pickups are warmer but if it's too much they can be muddy. 10% overwound begs the question "10% over what?"

Is SC PU the model of the guitar(s)? Was wondering what model and pickups are currently in the guitars.

[st.bede]

First guitar: I have an Eastman Romeo LA. It has a SD phatcat P90. I have been enjoying the PU, but I already have two guitars with a P90, so I want to try something different. I am going to get some Gabojo dynasonics.

Second: I have a Fender Jazzmaster. It is not typical one. It is the one they made with a bigsby. I want to give the Fralin Jazzmaster PUs a try. The overwound bridge PU is very popular. I figure for my uses, getting both overwound would make sense. I have read that overwound bridge does not lose the JM type sound.

Part of the issue is that, my hands are small and wimpy. Basically with roundwounds, 9s are my max before there is too much blood. That is more when I am doing other stuff then jazz, but with CTS, I really need to keep tension down.

[Skip Ellis]

Funny, the ones I've ordered (rarely), I prefer 'underwound' by a little bit. It seems that a lot of people want stronger pickups for a hotter signal going into the amp for an overdriven sound which is exactly what I don't want - I'm a 'clean freak' - probably from 40+ years playing pedal steel with 500 watt SS amps (Webb, Evans, & Peavey) into JBL 15s. I really haven't custom ordered many pickups except Charlie Christians from Pete Biltoft and I tell him what I'm doing and what it's going in, and he always comes through. Since I build Teles, I either use CS No Casters or Bill Lawrence Keystones. Different strokes.....

[sgosnell]

SD Benedetto pickups have pretty high output. I prefer those with the volume rolled back to somewhere in the neighborhood of 50%, give or take. But as noted, the cheapest and easiest change you can make is the pick. Different thicknesses, different materials, can give very different sounds, and picks are not the most expensive accessories you can buy, even if you get Blue Chips or something equivalent. I find that picks make more of a difference to my sound than strings or pickups. This can become a very deep rabbit hole, but still manageable economically.

[Gitterbug]

In my 50+ years of playing electric guitar (admittedly with a 25-year hiatus), PUs have been my least concern. I usually take them as they come, and tweak everything I can/need to make them sound all right. Overwound over what? Isn't that just a hotter PU, available as a replacement, which again may be underwound compared to a yet hotter PU, again offered by many vendors?

While I have you guys on the line, a question: In one of my earliest posts here (2009), I praised my then Yamaha 2200 SA, yet noting I had replaced the original Sah-Saig PUs with milder Seymour Duncans. Does anybody happen to know the Sah-Saig specs?