Pure Vintage '64 upgrade: worth it or not?

[monkeybanana]

I do not have a gaussmeter, so I can not give you empirical evidence but I hear no difference in pickup volume whether north or south. I will say that these magnets are very strong and from what I understand, give the alnico rods a full "charge".

In my 37 years of guitar playing, including many vintage guitars, I have never heard of or know what a "strident sounding" pickup is, let alone know of it having such characteristic because of pickup magnets that need to be weakened. Lower the pickup if it means that the pickup is too strong?

New pickups are magnetized by passing them between magnets. Do pickup manufacturers test the pickups with gaussmeters after magnetizing the pickups?

I think some winders do degauss magnets to make it more "vintage".

 

[monkeybanana]

Interesting. Ever have issues with the result leaving the mags more or less powerful than b4? And have u used it to weaken them to calm a strident sounding pickup or to strengthen a weak sounding pickup?

You may have to flip both magnet polarity and wind direction as both need to be reversed w/ respect to the other pickup. Get a compass to check polarity and if one needs to be flipped a cheap hardware store neo mag works.

For flipping the wiring it's easiest if you add a third wire to the neck pickup so that the cover has its own ground. I would not recommend flipping the wires at the eyelets until you have done it a few times on a less valuable pickup as you can snap the start wire and that's a bummer as you can't unwind from the inside of the coil. You still have to unsolder the wire from the black to cover but it's less risky than unsoldering at the eyelet. Just a thought.

 

[Kevin Wolfe]

Short answer to the OP’s question is a vehement “No”.

 

[Sax-son]

I have a set of 64's in my Paisley Telecaster, and they sound wonderful in that. As previously mentioned, the Bootstraps are a great choice, and they have an assortment of winds to choose from. Still one of my fav's are DiMarzio Twang Kings. A little more money than Bootstraps, but they are killer.

 

[ETMusic777]

I am looking to get a set of 64s for my G&L Tribute Classic. I absolutely love the guitar as the neck is perfect. Its a Bluesboy so I need to put a humbucker in the neck and am considering a 64 for the bridge.

 

[Minivan Megafun]

64’s are my favourite Tele pickups. I had to stop myself from putting them in everything I have.

 

[Matthias]

+1 on experimenting with pick-up height. If the tone feels brittle and you aren’t getting much sustain, they might be set too high. A thin tone also comes from having action set too low for your playing style.

Also I’ll be the tone control guy… vintage-style Fenders, I have come to accept, are designed with a slightly extreme treble at 10 on the bridge. Think of it as a high-treble tone option on 10, not the best all-purpose tone. Your everyday tone is probably with the knob backed off a little. Therefore, do not dial in your pick-up height with the tone on 10! Try backing off to 8 or 9 and setting your pick-up height there. Realising this has transformed some guitars for me.

 

[Textele]

+1 on experimenting with pick-up height. If the tone feels brittle and you aren’t getting much sustain, they might be set too high. A thin tone also comes from having action set too low for your playing style.

Also I’ll be the tone control guy… vintage-style Fenders, I have come to accept, are designed with a slightly extreme treble at 10 on the bridge. Think of it as a high-treble tone option on 10, not the best all-purpose tone. Your everyday tone is probably with the knob backed off a little. Therefore, do not dial in your pick-up height with the tone on 10! Try backing off to 8 or 9 and setting your pick-up height there. Realising this has transformed some guitars for me.

Good stuff right there ^^