Q pickups, any opinions?

[eternal learner]

Already have a cij jazz with sd vintage for jazz master, love the guitar, love the pickups, they are said to be a rendition of the original 59 etc. Have a project underway with a squier mascis, refinish planned, tort guard, roller bridge and so so on. One maker of pickups offers a set at an excellent price even by the time it gets here in australia, they are Q pickups , hand made in croatia. Supposed to be true to vintage, just wondering if anyone around here is familiar with them?

[eternal learner]

One hundred lookers and nothing to add as to these pups!!!???

[andy_tchp]

The only mention of them I could find (aside from this thread) is this thread:

https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vi ... 5#p1416808

[eternal learner]

A fellow aussie to the rescue!, thanks for finding those references, i spent some time in "search" on this forum and failed to find anything. Price wise they are well under most offerings and research did show that his telecaster pups are considered very good.To put the pricing in perspective, i recently bought a pair of pliers from stew mac that cost more than the Q pickups landed here in sydney. Thanks again and stay dry.

[pikmin]

I love Q pickups .

I have many sets in Jazzmasters , Jaguar , tele and mustang .

Here is a video from our show last weekend where I play my CIJ Jaguar with Q pickups :

CIJ Jaguar with Q pickups

[ldp54002]

I just installed a pair of their "hybrid" Jazzmaster pickups (these) and I dig them thus far. I put them in a 60th Anniversary MIM JM that had 60s style pickups in it; I wanted something with a bit more grunt.

They are a good mix of P90 bite/growl and Jazzmaster clarity. They're not quite a dark as original black bobbin JM pickups, but they're not as bright as '65+ grey bobbins. They sound like if you combined the best qualities of late 50s and mid 60s JM pickups and then overwound them a bit.

[Surfysonic]

Q Pickups have been discussed quite a bit on OSG but unfortunately, constraints to the search function won't allow a search for "Q Pickups". I then tried, "Tiho" and came up with some results. Tiho is the name of the maker of Q Pickups.

This question was asked on the Surf Guitar 101 forums re: Q Pickups' '58 Jazzmaster pickups and I replied with this...

I have bought a few different sets of Q pickups and I've liked them all. I had forgotten but after looking through my Reverb Purchases list, I actually did get the Jazzmaster set you're asking about. They were in a Squier CV '60s Jazzmaster that I eventually sold. Not due to the pickups - just thinning the herd and I was too lazy to put back in the stock pickups, heh. I've also gotten Q's '62 - '63 Jaguar pickups, 1964 Strat pickups, and a set of Strat Foil pickups. All are terrific.

The '58 - '64 Jazzmaster pickups are (to me) darker than your average early to mid '60s Fender pickups. They sound similar to Fender '59 Strat pickups, which also have a nice, darker tone.

I've never owned Seymour Duncan Antiquity I Jazzmaster pickups (late '50s/early '60s sound) but I imagine these particular Q pickups probably sound similar. I have owned a set of the SD Antiquity II Jazzmaster pickups which are more similar to '62 and onwards Fender Jazzmaster pickups.

Tiho Pavlinović is the maker of Q Pickups and is very accessible, friendly, and helpful. I haven't checked lately if he makes any hum-cancelling versions of single coil pickups. If he does, I may have to check them out as I've been preferring hum-cancelling pickups lately although I wouldn't swap out my '63 Jaguar's original pickups. I've got hum-cancelling pickups from Lindy Fralin (Jazzmaster, Strat, & Mustang), Curtis Novak (Jazzmaster), and Kinman (Jazzmaster). Pricey but they're all terrific.

Hope any of this has been helpful!

[Larry Mal]

Excellent pickups and fantastic service. I would absolutely do business with Tiho again.

[Daitong II]

I’ve been interested in the goldfoils.

[Vinkie]

I used the '58-'64 set for my Oly White '61-style PartsMaster and am very happy with their sound. I was specifically trying to emulate the 'early' Jazzmaster sound I am familiar with. They sound really close to the pickups in my '60 JM and compare well to the SD Ant. I's I've used before to get a similar sound.

I am busy with another PartsMaster based on a '59, with gold anodised guard etc. I asked Tiho for a reliced vintage set with hotter wound coils (my original '60 pickups are wound to ca. 9kOhms) and he was very easy to talk to and built exactly I was looking for. I haven't tried those yet but I am curious how they will work out in my new build.

[HarktheUmpire]

I can confirm everything already written here about Tiho and add that his Firebird pickups are excellent as well. For me, it now makes little sense to order Novaks or Lollars like I used to, especially as I’m in Europe.

[windmill]

A bloke I know has used some in a tele build and was impressed with the quality and the price.

HTH
☺

[Nudger]

Had a hot mustang and 2/5 tele bridge from Q.
Great pups and good communication via ebay, this was about 5 years ago..

[NICQ]

I have Strat, Tele, Mustang and Firebird sets from Q pickups - they all are very high quality, have the vintage correct specs and sound great.
Never talked to him about custom winds tbh - just bought the "stock" sets and have been very happy.

If I don't fancy any particular pickup from a certain brand (Lollar, Fralin, Cavalier, Creamery or whatnot) I buy from Q pickups
For the price they are incredible value - also being in the EU is a huge plus with shipping times, custom fees etc

Only "downside" maybe is that selling his pickups second hand on the "market" is not as easy as the big names...
On forums like here selling JM pickups is probably not a problem - Tele or Strat pickups locally are just not that known (yet)

[level3]

I am busy with another PartsMaster based on a '59, with gold anodised guard etc. I asked Tiho for a reliced vintage set with hotter wound coils (my original '60 pickups are wound to ca. 9kOhms) and he was very easy to talk to and built exactly I was looking for. I haven't tried those yet but I am curious how they will work out in my new build.

Interesting. Are his custom wound pickups in a similar price range?