NEWS: Sheptone prewired Strat pickguards
PRESS RELEASEPort Orchard, WA May 18, 2011 – Sheptone Guitar Pickups announced today the release of their complete assembly for strat-style pickguards. The new harness comes fully assembled with Sheptone pickups and upgraded hardware. The assemblies are hand wired in the United States and are designed to improve the performance of stock components but also provide the musician with more versatility in their pursuit of tones. The harness will fit onto most strat-style pickguards allowing the player to maintain the vintage or stock look of their instrument.
REVIEW: DiMarzio Injector Paul Gilbert signature pickups
Paul Gilbert has been using DiMarzio pickups for, yikes about 25 years now, but in all that time he’s never had a signature pickup. Instead he’s preferred to use various humbuckers such as the Tone Zone, PAF Pro and PAF Classic. DiMarzio pickup designer Steve Blucher even told I Heart Guitar in 2009, “It would be difficult to do a pickup for Paul, because he goes between a large number of guitars with different pickups. I don’t think he’d care to be limited to one model.” So it came as some surprise late in 2010 when DiMarzio announced that not only was Pablo Gilberto getting a signature pickup, but that it would be a – gasp! – single coil. Gilbert uses his Injector set all over his most recent solo instrumental album, Fuzz Universe
Gilbert had been using DiMarzio Area 67 single coils in one of his Ibanez Fireman models for the past few years, and the new Injector neck and bridge single coils are still paired with an Area 67 in the middle position in his Fireman. The bridge model (DP423) is one of DiMarzio’s hottest hum-cancelling single coils, with an output of 185mV and a DC resistance of 11.35k. It’s built with six individual Alnico 2 magnets and about 40% less magnet pull than a standard single coil. The tone chart on DiMarzio.com puts the treble at 6.5, the midrange at 7 and the bass at 6.5.
REVIEW: Seymour Duncan SH-15 Alternative 8
Seymour Duncan rates the pickup’s tonal response as Treble: 9; Midrange: 8; and Bass: 7, with a resonant peak at 4.46 KHz. In contrast, the famed Alnico II humbucker favoured by Slash has a DC resistance of 7.6k, and its tonal response breaks down to Treble: 8; Midrange 4; and Bass: 7, with a resonant peak at 7.1KHz, resulting in a more open, airy tone more suited to bands with multiple guitars.
Options include a nickel or gold plated cover, if you don’t like the exposed coil look, and the pickup can be ordered in standard or trembucker size (more info here), the latter spaced for Fender-style or Floyd Rose-equipped guitars. It’s important to buy the right size for your guitar, because if the pole pieces of the pickup don’t line up with the strings, you risk a cataclysmic mismatch in volume from one string to another.
This is one of those pickups that rewards the player for putting in a little more detail and finesse. Every little phrasing choice is presented loud and proud for the audience to hear, which can be either intimidating or liberating depending on your approach. But if you have the guts to take on this monster, it’s well worth the tonal payoff.
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), Blunt, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Bandcamp or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com