anyone played the "donocaster" don mare pickup ?

[cbnutt]

anyone tried the donocaster ? i think there alnico III , still have plenty of twang ??

[Georgeatt]

Originally Posted by cbnutt

anyone tried the donocaster ? i think there alnico III , still have plenty of twang ??

Tried to find some sound clips - no luck.

[ficklepie]

Yes, they still have plenty of twang. I have the "Spaghetti Western" set, which I believe is the same set, except that the bridge in my set is 6.4k, versus the Donocaster's 6.3k. Both the neck and bridge of the SW set are Alnico 3, as well. The neck pickups are the same in each set. The neck pickup is so full and rich and spacious and bold. There is so much happening within each note, if your fingers know how to make use of what's there. Sounds very Telecaster-y, especially when trying to play that way. I find myself using the neck pickup most of the time, for lead and rhythm. Very vibrant and alive.

Don't site says that the Donocaster set is his favorite set, and the neck pickup is his favorite neck pickup.

I have to tell you, though, that I am awfully tempted by the Big Box Archtop neck pickup of Don's, and will undoubtedly have to jump the gun on that one soon.

[Jellyroll]

I have the DonOcasters and they are magnificent. Plenty of twang yet rich and full AlnicoIII bridge pickup, a well balanced spanky middle position, and as stated above, a wonderful complex, deep, uniquely harmonic brass covered Alnico III neck pickup. I can see why these are Don's favorite neck pickups. The set is very versatile, easy to cop a Hendrix sound from the bridge pickup (yes with a tele!), groovy stax soul sounds from both bridge and middle positions, raunchy 50's sounding gutbucket blues from that magic neck pup, and country and rocknroll sounds jump out at you from any setting you choose. These pickups do whatever your playing tells them to do. Smooth and refined or raw and nasty are easily tackled simply by altering your playing style. Highly recommended.

[ficklepie]

http://www.syntheogen.com/misty.mp3


OK, I went ahead and recorded a clip for you, because it would have helped me out a lot when I was trying to make my decision. There still aren't many clips of Don's pickups out there, unfortunately, and fewer still that aren't overdriven. This should let you hear the pickup pretty clearly.

This is just my partscaster into an Emu soundcard in my computer, running in Sonar, through Amplitube Fender, the Twin Reverb amp, with the tone controls at 5. Just a little bit of reverb. No compressing or EQing or anything else, and I turned the accompanying "Misty" track down a couple decibels so you don't have to struggle to make out the guitar. The guitar's tone and volume knobs are both at 10.

I'm playing the entire thing with the neck pickup, using a thick jazz pick, until it gets to the middle, when I change to fingers for a bit (around 2:10), before going back to the pick. I really, really like how this pickup (and guitar) sound played with fingers.

I don't do it quite enough justice here, unfortunately -- this is just a once-through improv that I just got motivated to mess around on. But you get the idea. Hopefully my playing is also diverse enough to properly demo the how diverse the pickup is depending on playing style.

[Jellyroll]

Great clip ficklepie! I agree about the fingerpicking with these as that's all I do. They are so responsive, and with fingers, even more dynamic! I think the bridge pickup is magic as well, Don's pickups truly live up to the hype.

[Georgeatt]

that was a great jazzy clip - so archtop-like