What's under the hood of a mudbucker?

[Brendan]

On Epi, Gibson, and suchlike instruments, what kind of pickup is under the hood on a mudbucker? Is it something unique (winding or magnet wise, or other), or just a sort of generic humbucker in a shiny case?

Precisely what IS a mudbucker?

[metalstorm]

why its a humbucker covered in mud of course, actually, im curious about this to.

[rumblethump]

Pickup was an early Gibson design. It was overwound and puts out at least 28 ohms. Bass sound has been described as thick, wooly. Easily overdrove most bass amps at the time. Used mostly on the the EB series basses. I ran mine through an Acoustic 360. The ones today on the epiphone basses are not the same thing.

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by rumblethump

Pickup was an early Gibson design. It was overwound and puts out at least 28 ohms. Bass sound has been described as thick, wooly. Easily overdrove most bass amps at the time. Used mostly on the the EB series basses. I ran mine through an Acoustic 360. The ones today on the epiphone basses are not the same thing.

What are in the Epis?

[GlennW]

It's a double coil sidewinder design. It goes magnet, sideways coil, pole pieces, sideways coil, magnet. It's a HB, but only has one row of pole pieces (all the same polarity). The Ripper pickup is a smaller similar version.

[Johnny Crab]

An early 1970's specimen(now sold and powering a happy-camper's resto'd EB3):


The reading is 31.8 k ohms (31,800 ohms).

Rather large pickup for sure:



Since it had a ton of wire(windings) the signal(output) generated usually was quite large. The EBOL Crab had pushed an Acoustic 370 with 301 cabinet. Besides locating this monster right under the end of the neck for more fundamental/bass, the construction & number of windings affects the tone. Seymour Duncan's Q&A( http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/faq/seymours-q-a/ Click the numbers, LOTS of reading) along with other pickup how-to sites can help with that.

Even a good humbucker put in the neck location helps greatly with fundamental/bass output. The neck pickup below comes close but has more frequency response because it's basically a "bass-sized" regular humbucker:

[funkybassplayer]

Originally Posted by Johnny Crab

An early 1970's specimen(now sold and powering a happy-campers resto'd EB3):


The reading is 31.8 k ohms (31,800 ohms).

Since it had a ton of wire(windings) the signal(output) generated usually was quite large. The EBOL Crab had pushed an Acoustic 370 with 301 cabinet. Besides locating this monster right under the end of the neck for more fundamental/bass, the construction & number of windings affects the tone. Seymour Duncan's Q&A along with other pickup how-to sites can help with that.

Even a good humbucker put in the neck location helps greatly with fundamental/bass output. The neck pickup below comes close but has more frequency response because it's basically a "bass-sized" regular humbucker:

very very cool man. i too have been curious about these things. thanks for the pic too

[lunarpollen]

I just wish there were more replacement options available than that ugly graphite-colored brick, the DiMarzio Model One. Or I wish DiMarzio offered a chrome version. My reissue Rivoli's michrophonic mudbucker may sound like crap, but it looks so nice. I love chrome. I wish they made chrome fabric and chrome hair dye. If they made edible chrome, I would eat it every day.

[rumblethump]

LOL glad you brought that up. I changed out my mudbucker 30 years ago for the dimarzio. True, not as hot, but it reproduced the acoustic tone of the mahogany body a little more faithfully in my opinion

[meev992]

Originally Posted by lunarpollen

I love chrome. I wish they made chrome fabric and chrome hair dye. If they made edible chrome, I would eat it every day.

After working on 2 guitars, and 5 basses, please, take all of my chrome hardware, I've had enough chrome for one lifetime

[A9X]

Originally Posted by Johnny Crab

AThe reading is 31.8 k ohms (31,800 ohms).

Wow, that explains a lot. Never would have guessed it was that high.