Firebird pickups in offsets

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Embenny
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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by Embenny » Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:54 am

Interesting, I'm not aware of any other pickups with those specific dimensions...they don't seem to drop-in replacements for anything. I assume you just opened up the pickguard routs a little to fit them in?
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Telemnemonics
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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by Telemnemonics » Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:05 am

mbene085 wrote:
Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:54 am
Interesting, I'm not aware of any other pickups with those specific dimensions...they don't seem to drop-in replacements for anything. I assume you just opened up the pickguard routs a little to fit them in?
Yeah I had to rout the openings, or in one case I made an aluminum P-90 size plate from a road sign and hand cut/ filed an opening.
I don't have any mini hum guards but those would be easier to enlarge a little than starting from scratch.
More work to rout new openings but once you get into hybrid guitar assembling you really need a laminate trimmer, bit, and some double stick tape.
Then the only limit is your sick imagination!

Sadly I bought a stack of blank Strat guards for oddball pickup mounting and they are not quite correct.
Gonna try to make them work though...

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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by Ceylon » Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:25 am

Fuck's sake.
I've been on the fence about buying a set of Q Pickups Firebirds for a while now and this thread finally made me cave in. Now I have to figure out a way to mount them in my Jaguar, find someone that has the equipment to rout my VM Jag for them and maybe even consider getting a third one for the middle position. God damn you OSG.

For anyone else currently considering them, they're meant to be completely vintage accurate including the internal steel plates and the output is on the lower side with A5 magnets. Hand wound in Croatia, steel silver covers, Just above half the price of a Seymour Duncan...
Science Friction burns my fingers
Electricity still lingers

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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by Gavanti » Tue Dec 04, 2018 7:17 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Tue Dec 04, 2018 5:47 am

As for the Electric VI, it inspired me to do this with a Jaguar MJT/vintage parts guitar.

Image

Sorry for the derailment of my own thread here...
Further derailling...that's crazy nice! Makes me want a Jag with XII's in it. Really interesting description of the tones too.

I'm pretty sure after I had my first set in an El Hombre, I've thought about putting FB's in just about anything I've seen with a mini-hum, P-90, or pool route in it. I think Larry Mal's comparison to a Tele pickup in the bridge is apt when the tone is turned down some. It can get really bright, but Lollar adds a plate in the bridge to emphasize the lower end, which helps. The neck is strong in the upper mids. It can sound Jazzmastery, but the attack is different, a bit more compressed, and, again, they're more focused in tone. They stand out really well in a band context. I haven't tried many other brands, in part because I like the Lollars so much and also because they turn up with some regularity used with stable prices. I think I was buying or selling half of the used supply out there for a bit while I was convinced I was going to throw them in something but then would get diverted. I did, however, have a Timbo/SHW FB pickup for a bit, and it sounded good too. FB's aren't very strong pickups though, so they're not the best pickups for splitting if that's part of a wiring plan.

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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by Sid Nitzerglobin » Tue Dec 04, 2018 8:51 pm

I've love the combo of minihums or Firebirds in them personally.

I put a Lollar minihum at the bridge and a Firebird at the neck of my Andromedary build:
Image

I paired a Novak 3x3 minihum w/ one of his HB size WR in my Cyclone:
Image

And most recently, a Fralin Big Single Mini 43 at the bridge and a Firebird at the neck of the Pawn Shop Super Sonic:
Image

They all have a bit of their own character, and I love each of them. The Jag is probably the best for jangly crunch on the bridge pickup and a very bite-y but full neck tone, the Cyclone is pretty great all around but the 3x3 really is something special in there to my ears, and the Super Sonic does delivers great twang and a bit more muscular dirt on the bridge and really beautiful glassy saturated cleans out of the neck.

Edit: sorry to include the minihum impressions along w/ the Firebirds, but to me Firebirds sound pretty much like I'd expect a minihum w/ a second rail to sound and they sound a lot more similar to each other than to any other pickup type I've tried.

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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Tue Dec 04, 2018 10:19 pm

I've never played anything with Firebirds or minihumbuckers. I know that they're not the same as each other, and mini-humbuckers are different than humbuckers, but what's the rough difference in sound between Firebird pickups and Mini-humbuckers?
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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by epizootics » Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:17 pm

The best way I found to describe pickups with bar magnets in the coils (as in Firebird pickups) vs. slugs + bar magnet underneath (as in mini-hbs, including the slugs + steel blade variation) to my customers is that they have more 'sizzle'. Bot have a thick attack, that 'thump' associated with humbuckers, but bar magnets used in lieu of pole pieces tend to have that slightly diffuse, crackling quality to them, especially in the early overdriven stages. Think Danelectro or Gold Foils. Mini-hbs tend to be closer to P90s in the roundness of their response; all of this is to take with a pinch of salt, because they are many variations of those out there, including the 16K, hi-gain FB pickups that were designed for metalheads (and seem to work great for them...but not for everybody!)

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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by NICQ » Wed Dec 05, 2018 1:18 am

Ceylon wrote:
Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:25 am
Fuck's sake.
I've been on the fence about buying a set of Q Pickups Firebirds for a while now and this thread finally made me cave in. Now I have to figure out a way to mount them in my Jaguar, find someone that has the equipment to rout my VM Jag for them and maybe even consider getting a third one for the middle position. God damn you OSG.

For anyone else currently considering them, they're meant to be completely vintage accurate including the internal steel plates and the output is on the lower side with A5 magnets. Hand wound in Croatia, steel silver covers, Just above half the price of a Seymour Duncan...
I bought a set from him and they are great - used them on a Les Paul Junior kit/build this summer:
Image


I've also build a firebird this year and found David Barfuss Firebird pickups on our local craigslist - they are great too

Image

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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by antisymmetric » Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:36 am

I've always loved Firebirds and would love to get some pickups.
mbene085 wrote:
Mon Dec 03, 2018 8:45 am
He also has a pickup called the Big Bird, which is a Firebird pickup in a PAF-sized housing, which seems like such an insanely good idea that I can't believe nobody else is doing it.
A used one of these (bridge position) came up for sale here recently at a decent price. Because of the full-size format, I couldn't initially think of a way to use it- when I did, the listing had expired. :squint:
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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by Embenny » Thu Dec 20, 2018 3:26 pm

Just wanted to update this thread to say, first off, thanks to everyone for posting their experiences along with all these gorgeous FB-equipped offsets!

As for my own adventures in Firebirdland, I've now got two sets coming - a regular-sized A5 set destined for either my Blacktop Jag or my Eastwood Deerhoof, and a PAF-sized set of "Big Birds" for my HH Jag Special, both from D'Urbano ("Mr. Fabulous" on Reverb) in Australia.

The Big Birds are gonna be asymmetrically wound with 43g wire and A5 magnet on one coil and 44g wire with a 10% overwind and degaussed A5 magnet so that I can throw them in some Triple Shot rings and mess around with different split tones.
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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by wooderson » Thu Dec 20, 2018 4:23 pm

Lollar makes Firebirds that fit in a P90 soapbar space. Love them, they're just great pickups - bright and clear like a Telecaster but they push my amp harder than even the Gibson 61s I have in an SG.

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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by ThePearDream » Wed Mar 13, 2019 8:26 am

Hey, mbene085, have you had a chance to try out the "Big Bird" set yet? I'm considering getting some, and was hoping you could let me know what you think.
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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by Embenny » Wed Mar 13, 2019 10:31 am

I've installed the regular firebirds but not the Big Birds yet. I'll try to get on that ASAP for you. I had him wind the coils asymmetrically - I had a pair of Triple Shot rings sitting around from an aborted project, so I figured it would be most usable if each coil was a bit different. He demagnetized the A5 magnets on one coil (to get them to sound more like A2) and gave them a slight overwind with 44 AWG vs the 43 AWG he uses as standard.

He seemed very excited about that, he felt like it would sound at least as good in standard series mode as his standard wind.
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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by ThePearDream » Wed Mar 13, 2019 6:03 pm

Don't rush on my account. Are you happy with the standard FB set you got?
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Re: Firebird pickups in offsets

Post by dugwolf » Thu Mar 14, 2019 6:43 am

This thread reminded me of my friends guitar. It’s a Patriarch Duke with Firebird mini humbuckers. Pretty sweet guitar.

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