Minihumbuckers... whatta are they good for?

[Spike Li]

Awesome, thanks for all the replies guys

I asked because ive been curious for a while about minis. I love p90s and they would be my favourite bridge pup if it wasnt for the noise...

I also thought it would be a cool idea to get a p90 guitar and put minis im them, like that new Gibson 50s studio

[leftystratman]

my dream guitar would have a bridge mini humbucker and a neck p-90!

[Wyatt]

my dream guitar would have a bridge mini humbucker and a neck p-90!

 

 

A lot of people prefer the other way. They want the much meatier P-90 at the bridge, where mini's often sound too thin. And the mini makes a great bright, tight neck PU that doesn't get muddy even with the tone rolled way back.

[Elias Graves]

P90 bridge, mini neck. A terrific combination.


EG

[Radar-Love]

The Firebird PU is constructed differently. Instead of steel pole and the bar magnet underneath, it uses a big, block AlNiCo slug in the middle of each coil as the pole (like bottom right corner of the pic, but AlNiCo instead of steel), the way Fender uses magnetic pole pieces.

 

 

 

Firebird pickups do not use slugs at all. Each of the two humbucking coils

inside the pickup are wound around a ceramic bar magnet. One magnet + coil

assembly has its north pole pointing up at the strings, the other magnet + coil

assembly is reverse wound with its south pole pointing up at the strings.

 

Otherwise, yes, these pickups use the same principle as Fender pickups in

that the pickup's magnets point up directly at the strings without using

screws or slugs to transfer magnetic flux towards the strings.

 

 

 

 

[Pine Apple Slim]

The mimis are why the Deluxe is my favorite all around LP. Nice all around pickup.
Good cleans, bottom w/out being muddy, they sound good w/overdrive & distortion to.

[Radar-Love]

I own guitars with both of the mini-humbuckers mentioned.

The mini-humbucker used on the Les Paul Deluxe (I usually just call these
"Mini-PAF" pickups) have tonal characteristics that are typically cleaner and
slightly brighter than regular normal-strength large PAF pickups.

The Firebird pickup is fairly hot and definitely brighter with more definition and
complex harmonics than a PAF humbucker. Compared to other humbuckers,
dare I say that Firebird pickups sound... beautiful?

[Radar-Love]

By the way, a Firebird neck pickup in the neck position on a Telecaster is
just simply one of the finest Tele setups ever. The Firebird neck pickup matches
up with that big Tele single coil bridge pickup perfectly.

[Wyatt]

Firebird pickups do not use slugs at all. Each of the two humbucking coils inside the pickup are wound around a ceramic bar magnet . One magnet + coil assembly has its north pole pointing up at the strings, the other magnet + coil assembly is reverse wound with its south pole pointing up at the strings. Otherwise, yes, these pickups use the same principle as Fender pickups in that the pickup's magnets point up directly at the strings without using screws or slugs to transfer magnetic flux towards the strings.

 

 

Semantics. What you call a bar is is often referred to as a slug, any cut, unshaped piece of raw material. And on original Firebird PU's, it was made from AlNiCo II or V (they seemed indiscriminate at the time). I think the RI's use ceramics, but they aren't the same size (the bar or the PU).

[mightysasquatch]

my dream guitar would have a bridge mini humbucker and a neck p-90!

 

 

Neil Young agrees.....

http://stevenhartsite.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/old-black.jpg

[Radar-Love]

Semantics. What you call a bar is is often referred to as a slug, any cut, unshaped piece of raw material. And on original Firebird PU's, it was made from AlNiCo II or V (they seemed indiscriminate at the time). I think the RI's use ceramics, but they aren't the same size (the bar or the PU).

 

 

 

I only use the term "slug" to refer to the short non-adjustable steel rod stock

pieces used in typical PAF humbuckers. Slugs used in PAFs aren't magnets,

they're just passive steel used to transfer magnetic flux from one of the poles

of the bar magnet on the bottom of the pickup up towards the strings.

 

 

 

 

[john_p_t]

Absolutely nothing. They ain't nothing but a heartbreaker; they only good to the undertaker. Good god y'all.

[Roy]

anyone know if johnny was using his firebird on this 1970 track?

[YOUTUBE]_FwdIctMjkA[/YOUTUBE]

[Willyguitar]

I've only ever played one in a hotrod 52 tele reissue... and it was superb in the neck position.

[Spike Li]

So I tried out a guitar with minis today - specifically a Gibson Explorer Studio with Seymour Duncan minis, like this:

 

 

Was interesting - while I LOVED the neck pup - sounded very warm and acousticy - the bridge was just thin and weak, even after raising it as close as possible to the strings... which was funny considering the neck pup was very far away - almost flush to the body - maybe whoever modded it put them in the wrong positions?

 

Still looking around, although I did see something else that I quite liked, a Gibson 335S, which Ill mention in another thread.

[TruSlice]

Minis sound heavenly in the neck an all-mahogany body.

 

 

Slide Blues anyone? :poke:

[jerry_picker]

There are two basic families of Gibson-style mini's but dozens for variations. There is the Epiphone/Les Paul Deluxe Mini, which is built similar to a PAF-style humbucker. It has adjustable steel screw pole piece on one coil and a big, block-y steel slug on the other (bottom right corner of the pic), and the magnet is a single bar underneath, just like on a PAF. Output and tone falls somewhere right in the middle between Strat/Tele PU's and vintage-output PAF. They don't have the output of a P-90 because they don't have to ouble magnets for umph! (but then neither does a vintage PAF) and they don't have the big midrange the wide P-90 coil gives it. It's narrower design means it reads a narrower length of string, so it has less of the thick, phase-y midrange of the PAF and more of the definition and note-to-note clarity of Fender style single coil. There is something vaguely bright and Fender-esque about the tone (a LP Deluxe's bridge mini is as close as a LP will ever get to sounding like a Tele), but much beefier and a little more rock. They are great for clean to medium gain playing, have been very popular in the alt. country genre, but are useful for just about anything you would use a vintage-output PU. The Firebird PU is constructed differently. Instead of steel pole and the bar magnet underneath, it uses a big, block AlNiCo slug in the middle of each coil as the pole (like bottom right corner of the pic, but AlNiCo instead of steel), the way Fender uses magnetic pole pieces. The difference is that the Firebird has a huge upper-midrange push and a tone that has a tight, hot sizzle to it. Less clear and well-balanced than the Epiphone/LP Deluxe style, this PU has more cut and ability for more raunch. Now fro there, everything dilutes. While Syemour Duncan's mini's may look like Firebird PU's, they are actually built like the Epiphone/LP Deluxe style, and then SD adds their own flavors in the hotter versions. IIRC, DiMarzio prefers Firebird-style construction. And then everyone else has their own take on it, so there are lots of varieties available.

Excellent post.

[jerry_picker]

I'd guess not.
JDWIII used a variety of guitars around 1970 (pre-"JW And") including a Fender Mustang, Epiphone Wilshire, Fender XII (strung 6), with the occasional SG, Les Paul, and Flying V.

Check out this interesting website:
http://www.vinylrecords.ch/winter/winter_guitars.html

[Wyatt]

I'd guess not. JDWIII used a variety of guitars around 1970, including a Fender Mustang, Epiphone Wilshire, Fender XII (strung 6), with the occasional SG, Les Paul, and Flying V. Check out this interesting website: http://www.vinylrecords.ch/winter/winter_guitars.html

I can't rule out the Firebird, because there is no reason they have to be excessively bright. BUT, all the tracks I've heard with Johnny Winter on Firebird have had shrill, harsh, icepick-in-the-ear tone IMHO, and that track does not.

[Muddslide]

It's odd that I've played for decades but have very limited experience with mini-hums.

I actually have a Gretsch double jet with mini-hums, but it's in storage thousands of miles away.

I didn't get to play it a whole lot before I packed it up, but I'll echo what most have said here...nice sparkly cleans (and deep jazzy tones from the neck) while handling crunch and grit nicely.

[Radar-Love]

And on original Firebird PU's, it was made from AlNiCo II or V (they seemed indiscriminate at the time)...

 

 

 

My bad. I was thinking of the Thunderbird (bass) pickup -- it had ceramic

bar magnets. The Firebird pickups used AlNiCo bar magnets.

[jerry_picker]

I can't rule out the Firebird, because there is no reason they have to be excessively bright. BUT, all the tracks I've heard with Johnny Winter on Firebird have had shrill, harsh, icepick-in-the-ear tone IMHO, and that track does not.

 

 

It is possible, as Winter came to be associated with the Firebird about the time of formation of Johnny Winter And (1970).

[Rex Machete]

A les paul junior modified with a mini-hum in the neck.......... MY GOD

[Rex Machete]

seems like an ideal neck pickup. pair that with a bridge p-90 and you've got a formidable combo

[NashSG]

I've never had a guitar with the vintage style Firebird pickups, but I have a current Gibson Firebird. The current pickups in the Gibson are really, really hot. They don't clean up very well when you drop the volume from my experience, but they sound really edgy and cutting compared to a regular humbucker but they still have some girth.

I've heard the vintage Firebird pickups are kind of a midpoint between a PAF and a Tele pickup in sound. I kind of like what I get on my Firebird, so I haven't gotten a set of Lollars or something else to see what the difference is myself.