OffsetGuitars.com

Daitong II wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 28, 2024 5:34 pm

Would love to hear about your opinion on those. I was thinking about getting a set.

Will let you know how they are once they arrive! They seem to be going round in circles in the USPS system unfortunately...

Curiosity got the best of me so I ordered the opposite of an Iola set; Woody Neck and 5859 bridge + (9.1k)

So right now I have just the Woodys in my guitar. Woody neck and Woody + bridge. Here’s my thoughts…

First of all, my JM uses a 1 meg Volume pot and a 500k Tone pot. With the Woodys being A2, I think having a 1meg tone pot might be the way to go. Although, the middle position sounds really good with the 500k pot.

These A2 pickups make my Partsmaster sound more “vintage”. It has a slightly mellower tone but they are also very responsive. Meaning, if I dig and play a bit harder, I get a brighter sound. I really like the dynamics of this setup. I think I’ll try a 1 meg tone pot and see how I like it.

When I need to change the strings next, I’ll pop in the 5859 set and see how it goes.

Follow-up... I went with the 5859 set. They're a little more modern and I like the way they interact with my pedals.

The Woody set has a really sweet and vintage-y sound straight into amps, especially with Vox style circuits. The 5859 set just sounds a little more 'modern' straight in; more bass, mids and highs (without being harsh tho) but still has a vintage character. Compared to my vintage set from 1959, they're a little bigger/louder. Also, this is my first time using JM pickups with formvar wire and I'm now a fan.

In other related SHW news, I got a set of Tim's "JM in a humbucker" set for my Jaguar HH. I love them! They're built like a smaller JM pickup but the coil is a little taller. I went with A5 and Formvar. They're a bit thicker in sound, kinda like P90s in HB format, but still sparkle. They're perfect for making HH offsets sound more like a Fender without changing pickguards or adding back wood to the cavities.

lol, y'all are giving me GAS for the Iola's Can anybody compare the Freds or 5859's to an SD Antiquity II set? I love my current set but I'm curious if these are "better"?

PuppyGirlBelly wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 15, 2024 12:16 pm

lol, y'all are giving me GAS for the Iola's Can anybody compare the Freds or 5859's to an SD Antiquity II set? I love my current set but I'm curious if these are "better"?

I like them better than the Duncan Antiquity II set. My gf's JM has them. They sound great in that guitar but what I don't like about the SD sets is that the middle position sounds too scooped to my ears. IDK why that is. With the SHW sets, the middle position sounds fuller like the vintage sets i'm used to.

So I’ve had the Iolas waiting for their hour in a box for almost half a year. Today I snatched an AV65 Jazzmaster and I was planning to replace the pickups with Iolas but turns out I really love the sound of the stock ones. I didn’t care much about the sound of the pickups in the AVII Jazzmaster (swapped for Lollars), which is why I am a bit at a loss, as those are supposed to be the exact same pickups, right? And I am also curious about the Iolas.

Pelicashka wrote: ↑

Sun May 12, 2024 12:26 pm

So I’ve had the Iolas waiting for their hour in a box for almost half a year. Today I snatched an AV65 Jazzmaster and I was planning to replace the pickups with Iolas but turns out I really love the sound of the stock ones. I didn’t care much about the sound of the pickups in the AVII Jazzmaster (swapped for Lollars), which is why I am a bit at a loss, as those are supposed to be the exact same pickups, right? And I am also curious about the Iolas.

According to Fender the AV65 and AVII 66 pickups are not identical, but that may just be marketing. Some people have said they are only because they sound similar.

Even among AV65 pickups you can get some that sound "better" than others. Their output can range from 6.1k ohm to 7.5k ohm, and pickups on either end of this spectrum will sound a little different from those on the opposite end.

Pot values can vary from stock specs and this can affect the perception of the pickups too, making them sound brighter or darker than those in a different guitar.

A lot of other things affect the way a guitar sounds too.

sunburster wrote: ↑

Sun May 12, 2024 1:07 pm

Pelicashka wrote: ↑

Sun May 12, 2024 12:26 pm

So I’ve had the Iolas waiting for their hour in a box for almost half a year. Today I snatched an AV65 Jazzmaster and I was planning to replace the pickups with Iolas but turns out I really love the sound of the stock ones. I didn’t care much about the sound of the pickups in the AVII Jazzmaster (swapped for Lollars), which is why I am a bit at a loss, as those are supposed to be the exact same pickups, right? And I am also curious about the Iolas.

According to Fender the AV65 and AVII 66 pickups are not identical, but that may just be marketing. Some people have said they are only because they sound similar.

Even among AV65 pickups you can get some that sound "better" than others. Their output can range from 6.1k ohm to 7.5k ohm, and pickups on either end of this spectrum will sound a little different from those on the opposite end.

Pot values can vary from stock specs and this can affect the perception of the pickups too, making them sound brighter or darker than those in a different guitar.

A lot of other things affect the way a guitar sounds too.

I thought @timtam posted that the service manuals for the AO65 and AVII66 showed the same part numbers for the pickups.

That said, I've had the same set of pickups float between a few different guitars and each sounded different.

Whelp, I succumbed to GAS and got the Iola's today.

And I agree with what OffYourFace said above, these are way better than the Antiquity IIs. They feel the way I expect a good vintage jazzy to sound...

Well, make that two vintage jazzmasters. Because the tonal difference between the overwound AlNiCo 2 and low-output AlNiCo 5 pickups give the guitar such a different vibe in each position. Rude and mid-forwards in the bridge, while bright and percussive in the neck. And the middle position jangles without feeling thin at all. It's almost like a telecaster, with how you can get a wide variety of tones just from three positions, twiddling your volume and tone, and adjusting how you use your hands.

Big fan of everything Tim winds. I have multiple pairs of his pickups, but the Iola's are my favorite, for sure. The bridge is wonderful.