SGD Lutherie Pickups

[SGD Lutherie]

At the moment just some new form factors; 4 & 5 string MM, Bart BC4 & BC5 sizes, and a guitar humbucker size. Same pickups on the inside as the EMG soap sizes.

Next up is a side-winder design in those same cases, and stacked and dual blade humbucker Jazz pickups.

 

[synaesthesia]

Congrats. They look good and I've heard your some of your sound samples - sounds good though I think it would be a guess how that might transfer in my instruments - best to check it out in use in any particular instrument - a bit too busy with work now to even retrofit pickups into existing basses or guitars, but I look forward to when I have some time/ space to work on a couple of new build basses, I'd certainly check these out.

 

[renniw]

I have (I think) one of david'S firts 6 string bass pickup and all that has been said is true.

Pickups are a mix of high and low that, when soloed is sounding fantastic. In a band setting, the sound jumps out really well. I use the serie/parallel swich as a "solo boost" option.

Between the 2 settings, there is just the right amount of "something more" to the sound that makes me happy when I want to bug my guitard player.

String to string response is balanced.

The best money I've invested in my bass.

Oh, and I paid for my pickup, this review is honest and has nothing to do with David posting here and reading my post.

I love this pickup. If my ex-wife could stop spending my money , I'll build another bass and David's pickups will go in....

 

[SGD Lutherie]

I have (I think) one of david'S firts 6 string bass pickup and all that has been said is true.

Yes, that was one pickup from the very first six string set. They had no logos. They were made for FullRangeBass, but the neck pickup developed a short, and he wanted to wait for the logo covers... which I just got last week. It was a long and drawn out affair.

Between the 2 settings, there is just the right amount of "something more" to the sound that makes me happy when I want to bug my guitard player.

Ha!

I love this pickup. If my ex-wife could stop spending my money , I'll build another bass and David's pickups will go in....

Glad you love the pickup! You must send me a photo of the pickup in the bass.

.

 

[Versatek6]

At the moment just some new form factors; 4 & 5 string MM, Bart BC4 & BC5 sizes, and a guitar humbucker size. Same pickups on the inside as the EMG soap sizes.

Next up is a side-winder design in those same cases, and stacked and dual blade humbucker Jazz pickups.

No CF4? I'm heartbroken!

 

[SGD Lutherie]

No CF4? I'm heartbroken!

No need to be heartbroken!

The CF4 (39mm x 104mm) is pretty close to the EMG-40 size (38.1mm x 101.6mm), and I have been making those for a while now.

So if you bass is routed for CF4's, my Link Removeds will fit nicely.

 

[fast slapper]

These look nice.

Do you think they would play nice with Q-tuners? I have one in my MTD kingston meant for the neck position. I was thinking of routing a new hole for the tuner and putting a nice fat bridge pickup in.

I love the high-end clarity. It sound like these get there at a better price.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

These look nice.

Do you think they would play nice with Q-tuners? I have one in my MTD kingston meant for the neck position. I was thinking of routing a new hole for the tuner and putting a nice fat bridge pickup in.

I love the high-end clarity. It sound like these get there at a better price.

I think they would. I had a Q-Tuner to try out, but unfortunately I just never got a chance to try the two together.

These run about 9K for the neck, and around 12K for the bridge, so the medium Z neck Q-Tuner would probably work well with the ND3 bridge pickup.

 

[mikezimmerman]

Is that 5 string MM sized to fit the Lakland 5-string? I notice it has ears, unlike the actual SR5 pickups...

At the moment just some new form factors; 4 & 5 string MM, Bart BC4 & BC5 sizes, and a guitar humbucker size. Same pickups on the inside as the EMG soap sizes.

Next up is a side-winder design in those same cases, and stacked and dual blade humbucker Jazz pickups.

 

[Jamie_Funk]

Hi David,

Quick question - I see your pickups are setup for neck or bridge - what about a SINGLE pickup in the MM Stingray position?

I currently use an EMG40DC in my ATK305 - I really like it, but wouldn't mind a bit "meatier" sound with a bit smoother high end.

The 40DC fits fine, so I assume your "40" version would too - just wondering if you would recommend the "neck" version or the "bridge"....or maybe something else?

I suppose also it would be too much to ask to get one shaped EXACTLY like an ATK pickups? The ATK is 4 inches long but much wider than an EMG 40DC (currently there are gaps around the 40 in my ATK)....

J

 

[SGD Lutherie]

Is that 5 string MM sized to fit the Lakland 5-string? I notice it has ears, unlike the actual SR5 pickups...

That I'm not sure about. I'll be putting detailed specs up for the sizes when the pickups are ready.

Yes, they have the tabs. Unfortunately I'm at the mercy of what size pickup covers I can get. I haven't been able to find any SR5 covers.

I'm working at casting my own covers for the shapes I can't find, but this all takes time. I'm also working at offering covers made of wood.

The MM5 covers I have measure 105.4mm x 48.6 mm.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

Hi David,

Quick question - I see your pickups are setup for neck or bridge - what about a SINGLE pickup in the MM Stingray position?

I currently use an EMG40DC in my ATK305 - I really like it, but wouldn't mind a bit "meatier" sound with a bit smoother high end.

The 40DC fits fine, so I assume your "40" version would too - just wondering if you would recommend the "neck" version or the "bridge"....or maybe something else?

I suppose also it would be too much to ask to get one shaped EXACTLY like an ATK pickups? The ATK is 4 inches long but much wider tahn an EMG 40DC (currently there are gaps around the 40 in my ATK....

J

I've sold single pickups in both the neck and bridge models. The neck model works good in single pickup basses, as does the bridge model. The neck has a rounder tone and a bit of a Ric growl. I use thinner wire for the bridge pickup, and wind each coil differently, and it's wound hotter. The bridge has more mids, and the offset coils give it a wider tone. This is the one I called "Big Fat Bridge" because I wanted something I could use solo, with more lows and highs. Ironically I now use the neck pickup solo a lot more!

I think since the pickup is so close to the bridge on the ATK, the bridge model would probably work best.

I'm also going to be reintroducing the original bridge design as an option. That had matched coils and a more pronounced midrange with nice Jazz type burp. The newer model does that tone also, but they are just different.

I also have some variations of the pickups which I'm going to be putting up on the site soon. I'm always tweaking things, and trying out new ideas, so over the course of developing the pickups I had some underwound versions which have a flatter tone (maybe a little blander) and I also have different core materials. So I can do smoother sounding pickups or pickups with more growl and texture.

I just didn't want to have two million versions in the beginning. That's kind of confusing! I do custom winds as well. It's all hand done by me... just a one man shop. Plus I need sound clips for each one, etc. I do the website myself too... always something to do.

My EMG size pickups are exact size replacements. I started out with EMG-40 shapes because that's what I had in my basses.

I'd love to offer an ATK size at some point. I'm having a lot of parts laser cut now, so I have some ideas for doing new pickup sizes.

 

[Jamie_Funk]

I've sold single pickups in both the neck and bridge models. The neck model works good in single pickup basses, as does the bridge model. The neck has a rounder tone and a bit of a Ric growl. I use thinner wire for the bridge pickup, and wind each coil differently, and it's wound hotter. The bridge has more mids, and the offset coils give it a wider tone. This is the one I called "Big Fat Bridge" because I wanted something I could use solo, with more lows and highs. Ironically I now use the neck pickup solo a lot more!

I think since the pickup is so close to the bridge on the ATK, the bridge model would probably work best.

I'm also going to be reintroducing the original bridge design as an option. That had matched coils and a more pronounced midrange with nice Jazz type burp. The newer model does that tone also, but they are just different.

I also have some variations of the pickups which I'm going to be putting up on the site soon. I'm always tweaking things, and trying out new ideas, so over the course of developing the pickups I had some underwound versions which have a flatter tone (maybe a little blander) and I also have different core materials. So I can do smoother sounding pickups or pickups with more growl and texture.

I just didn't want to have two million versions in the beginning. That's kind of confusing! I do custom winds as well. It's all hand done by me... just a one man shop. Plus I need sound clips for each one, etc. I do the website myself too... always something to do.

My EMG size pickups are exact size replacements. I started out with EMG-40 shapes because that's what I had in my basses.

I'd love to offer an ATK size at some point. I'm having a lot of parts laser cut now, so I have some ideas for doing new pickup sizes.

Very cool David!

I am basically looking for a Stingray-style tone, as that is what the DC in the Ray spot offers well IMO. And on the ATK, it is in the "Ray" spot. Just might want a bit more low mid meatiness.

May I offer some feedback?

In regards to offerring tons of pickup winding/tone options - IF you do, especially if you use EMG-sized cases, can you consider some form of labelling that idicates the differences?

One thing I believe EMG REALLY dropped the ball on (as have other manufacturers), marketing-wise, is the extended series pickup housings - a 40CS, a 40P5, a 40J, and a 40DC ALL look exactly the SAME. When you pick up a bass in a store, all you really know is it has EMGs.

Those models can sound quite a bit different than each other for sure. At least with a "traditional" pickup casing, like a P, you KNOW you have a P configuration, but with "soapbar" generic cases, it is anyone's guess. I have heard someone say they hated EMGs when in fact they hated the 40P5, but loved the tone of the 40DC in my bass. This is confusing when they both look like the same pickup.

Not so much an issue for those buying your pickups for retrofit and such though.

If you COULD make an ATK-size pickup casing, I think you'd have quite a few customers.

Cheers,

J

 

[SGD Lutherie]

The EMG bass soapbars do all look alike on the outside. In kind of an opposite way from EMG, all the various shapes I'm making all have pretty much the same pickups on the inside. Except some are wider than others. So they look different on the outside, but they are the same pickup on the inside.

I'm going to be extended the design to J and P pickups. I have the parts for the J made, and it's basically a really thin version of my other pickups... a tiny humbucker. I think it qualifies for the first neodymium Jazz humbucker. I'm really excited about it and should be winding the first prototype later this week. The first neo pickups I made were a custom order, and were almost as narrow as a Jazz, so it should be a very similar tone.

I know EMG used to have different color logos for the various guitar pickups, like silver and gold and red. Maybe they stopped doing that. They don't do that for the bass pickups though.

 

[renniw]

I know EMG used to have different color logos for the various guitar pickups, like silver and gold and red. Maybe they stopped doing that. They don't do that for the bass pickups though.

The only bass pickup I've seen with a different logo from EMG is the TW serie wich has red lettering.

All others have silver lettering.

If not, someone please correct me.

 

[SGD Lutherie]

The only bass pickup I've seen with a different logo from EMG is the TW serie wich has red lettering.

All others have silver lettering.

If not, someone please correct me.

I seem to remember that they used to do different colors (gold or silver) on the guitar pickups, but now they are all silver, except the 60 and the dual pickups. That was 20 years ago, so my memory might be a bit off. I seem to remember the 58 was gold.

Ever seen one of these? An oldie.

 

[renniw]

Glad you love the pickup! You must send me a photo of the pickup in the bass.

.

Here it is...

This pickup looks older than me....

 

[demolisher]

Make anything aggressive for metal? on the same level as an emg dc?

 

[SGD Lutherie]

Make anything aggressive for metal? on the same level as an emg dc?

The bridge pickup can be very aggressive. I had a DC in my bass before I made these. I can get a lot of that edge, but with more girth in the middle.

I'll try and fine some clips of more aggressive tones. I've been recording bass on a metal project.

 

[alexlotta]

The MM5 covers I have measure 105.4mm x 48.6 mm.

it's the size of my gb75 humb.(by quick measurements i did back then that differs in 1-1\1.5 mm terms )
gb75 has 19mm string distance ,and i assume that should be lakland size as well.
I dunno if the cover you own have alreay-exposed hole for the poles ,or are closed,though