Members snarly Posted February 13, 2016 Members Share Posted February 13, 2016 Recently decided that I didn't really have a need for 2 teles that had similar tonal characteristics... One of my teles was a home made body made of 100 year old pine barnboard that a friend gave me.. It had a cheap but pretty decent 3 tuner on each side neck, and Duncan pickups.. Jerry Donahue in the bridge, and Alnico II in the neck... I bought 2 budget Alnico nickel cover minis on ebay.. They were about $30 each I think.. They were LP Deluxe style units with pole pieces, not Firebird style, most of which are ceramic... After getting the routing done, and farting around trying to get the holes covered right, and the guitar looking presentable, I went through it, and did a complete set up, neck adjustment etc.. This is now my favorite guitar.. The minis in both position configuration is rarely if ever seen.. You still get a lot of the standard tele twang, and bite, but its thicker in the middle, and is very more useful for most rock/blues stuff than a standard SC tele is.. Best way to explain it its this.. To me it sounds like a tele, but with some Gibson SG characteristics added... A touch of snarky, raucous mid range that tele SC guitars don't have... The nick pickup is so much more useful than a standard tele neck.. Thick and bluesy, but NO mud.. Clear as a bell, but overdrives very sweet.. If you have a crappy tele that sits around but plays pretty well, try installing a couple of Alnico minis.. It really transformed this beater tele into a snarling but still twangy beast, that really could go from snappy country, to blues, to hard rock with no effort.. Actually I am really surprised no mass tele builder ever used 2 minis to give tele players another option.. At least none that I am familiar with.. It works really well... bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted February 15, 2016 Members Share Posted February 15, 2016 I like the idea. This could become a future project. Thanks for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted February 15, 2016 Members Share Posted February 15, 2016 I built a semihollowbody tele with minis. I also have a TOM bridge and Tailpiece. It's got a cross sound between a Fender and Gibson. The all Maple neck does give it some Tele spank. The bridge and pickups give it a Deluxe Les Paul drive tone. The semi Hollowbody with its walnut top and rosewood back gives it a brighter tone then either a Tele body or a Mahogany Paul. I can say its been my #1 player for about 5 years now. The Minis are highly addictive. You can gets tones between a single coil and Full Humbucker which really cut through nicely. There are some great deals one generic mini's being sold now too. Actual Gibson Mini's are still around $100 each. Artec and a few others are making quality generics, but your have to look carefully at the specs. 90% of what's being sold on EBay are wound way too hot and the pickups sound like complete mud. If you buy generic make sure thay have Alnico II magnets and as close to vintage DC resistance as you can get. The Gibson's have a neck that's around 6.1K and bridge that's 6.4K. Gibson got the winds right on these. Allot of generics have between 7~12K which is ridiculous. Complete mud and practically no musical tones come through. The generic firebird pickups are even worse. You can find a few generics with these vintage winds and they do sound very close to the originals. Duncan does have some with hotter winds but they know how to balance the magnet strength vs winds to maintain tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve2112 Posted February 15, 2016 Members Share Posted February 15, 2016 That's odd...I came here to start a tele pickup thread...and voila...one already here. I may still start a new one because I am probably not gonna do minis. My question was n regard to Bill Lawrence or Wilde Bill? Particularly keystones. The name keep popping up but I cant find "keystone" but other variations of Bill's pickup designs. I did find this but it's the ONLY place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve2112 Posted February 15, 2016 Members Share Posted February 15, 2016 Oh WR...sorry to hijack your minis thread...thought i might try here first! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members speakerjones Posted February 17, 2016 Members Share Posted February 17, 2016 OP, pics? I'd love to see it. Big fan of mini-hums here myself. I have a Hamer Special that has two Duncan mini-hums (I think they're both SM-2's. Anyway, it's a super versatile guitar just due to the range I get out of those pickups. Very sweet sounding axe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members r0bo01 Posted February 17, 2016 Members Share Posted February 17, 2016 "wilde bill's keystones" on that pagehttp://wildepickups.com/Wilde_Bill_s_Keystones.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted February 17, 2016 Members Share Posted February 17, 2016 Great sounding pickups for $30 is a score! What brand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Steve2112 Posted February 19, 2016 Members Share Posted February 19, 2016 Thanks for the link r0b0 but I already linked THAT link in my post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted February 22, 2016 Members Share Posted February 22, 2016 I've never owned mini's but think I would like them, given how you described them Snarly... Do you know if they would be any different than say a noiseless P90? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted February 22, 2016 Members Share Posted February 22, 2016 snarly - is this thing on? 1...2... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted February 22, 2016 Members Share Posted February 22, 2016 Here's a Fender-ish guitar with 3 mini humbuckers. They sound quite P90 to me, but with a bit less sparkle. Video is in German but the playing isn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted February 22, 2016 Members Share Posted February 22, 2016 Here's a Fender-ish guitar with 3 mini humbuckers. They sound quite P90 to me, but with a bit less sparkle. Video is in German but the playing isn't. I do like that tone. If someone could play in German, what would it sound like? Clipped, abrupt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members r0bo01 Posted February 22, 2016 Members Share Posted February 22, 2016 link points directly to keystone p'ups page... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted February 23, 2016 Members Share Posted February 23, 2016 Precise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members snarly Posted February 23, 2016 Author Members Share Posted February 23, 2016 Sorry guys. forgot about this thread.. These are the pickups... Never heard of the seller, but took a chance.. They are wound on the hot side at over 8K each, but really do sound nice... You can HEAR the difference between the Alnico magnets and ceramics.. Alnico to me sound warmer and more vintage.. Also like the fact that these units have Nickel covers... The pickups and covers did NOT look cheap, they really look well made... Probably come from the same factory as GFS/ Artec, can't say for sure... They really woke up a weak sounding tele.. Honestly, my crappy barn board tele can cross over from straight out tele twang. right into SG/Firebird territory with ease... It sounds exactly like you would expect.. A tele and SG cross breed, incorporating the best elements of both... bobhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Humbucker-Pickups-4-conductor-wiring-Nickel-Covers-Rings-/322009503179?hash=item4af94315cb:g:q0gAAOSwoydWmodr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted February 24, 2016 Members Share Posted February 24, 2016 Thanks for that. Just wanted to make sure you didn't fall off the bus at that last corner! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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