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Hey, those are pretty slick. A lot less expensive than I would've assumed, too -- I guess the expensive one is the Epi Historic '62 Wilshire (which I think is butt-ugly compared to these inexpensive "Worn 66" models).
Funny, I was just wondering today what happened to the Gibson (and/or Epiphone, I guess) mini-humbucker, like on the old LP Deluxes.
I really like minis, but there aren't that many guitars out there now that have them.
I played an Eastwood Ichiban that had them, aside from the looks I didn't like much about that guitar.
I was surprised by a Daisy Rock 12-string I played at a GC at least a year ago. It was a sort of metallic violet color :wah: semi-hollow, and had Firebird style minis. That was a fun, jangly guitar.
I think the old Epiphone minis and Gibson minis were quite different.
The first Les Paul that I ever liked was a cherry sunburst Deluxe with mini humbuckers in it. A guy brought it to a friend's house for a jam about 25 years ago. Before that I didn't like Les Paul's at all. They all seemed to heavy handed and insensitive to me.
Yeah, probably. I just meant Gibson/Epiphone minis in the sense of Epi copies of Gibsons that had minis, like the LP Deluxe. But I don't know for sure that Epi's ever made an LP Deluxe copy with minis, so I was really just trying to cover the bases. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Don
I don't know what the difference is, but I've read that the early "New York" humbuckers from 50's Epi jazz boxes are different from the later ones with a Gibson patent #.
But I'm pretty sure that by '66 when the guitar this one's mimmicking was made, the mini's found in a Willshire or Riviera would be the same ones as used in LP a few years later.
Considering the lineage, I wonder how similar Guild's first (smaller) HB are to Epi's New York pickups.
I played a 62 Starfire that had those, and really liked it. I pretty sure it inspired a cuurent mod project.
I'm working on turning some black dogear covers into mounting rings for a pair of 70's minis I've had for a while, to eventually put in my Casino. :D
Epi "New York" pickups are single coils with offset polepieces, not humbuckers. Early Gibson-made Epiphones had them, too before they went to P90's and minis.
If there's any lineage similarity between those and the NY/Hoboken Guilds, it would be with the Franz P-90-shaped pickups that Guild used before they went to DeArmonds. I suspect they're not very close to each other. I'm fairly sure that pre-Gibson Epiphone wound their own pickups.
Ah-ha!
This guy explains it.
I've never encountered the real Epi New York p'ups in person, but always figured they were HBs. I don't remember ever seeing then specifically called New York Single-Coils, but have seen Epi/Gibson mini HB's called New York min's plenty of time.
Similar to all amps with EL84's being class A.
Some nice-looking guitars at that link.
A good friend of mine from "back in the day", Rusty Young (no relation to that fellow from Poco), played a deluxe model Wilshire......
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...alResult14.jpg
Pretty close to the new re-issue except Rusty's had Epiphone's version of a Bigsby tailpiece, block inlays and binding on the fretboard, and "Sears Silvertone" volume and tone knobs. He played through a '68 drip-edge Super Reverb, with a Maestro fuzz tone. He had a great sound, even by contemporary standards.
(note bassist Mark Dillinger playing an honest-to-God all-original Fender Telecaster Bass in the pink paisley finish)
No one really of note played 70's Deluxes, besides Pete Townshend and Johnny Winter and the dude from Thin Lizzy. I suspect Townshend was looking for a hot Noiseless single coil sound in a Les Paul, way before any technology actually existed to do that.
Many people really look down on the '70's Gibson Mini bucker as thin and spikey, basically cause a Humbucker sounded so much better than a Mini, that is, to most discerning listeners. Some people swear by them minis though.
In my opinion, an 70's/80's original Gibson Minibucker is just about the worst pickup I've ever heard. It does nothing right. The Mini, nor the 'Bucker. Pete Townshend might beg to differ. Johnny Winter? Well, he's Johnny Winter. Nuff Said.
Now heres a modern Mini Firebird I could sink my teeth into. The neck clean sounds similar, but somewhat better than the GFS I have, but way more expensive.;
http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/mer...bucker-pickups
Yeah, they really suck. Nobody ever sounds good with them.Quote:
Originally Posted by jerryjg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_u-8jsnr-Ij...d-black-cu.jpg
My first rock and roll guitar was the Epiphone Crestwood, no bigsby and dot inlays. Great mini-humbuckers and pretty good tone for the day (1968). Of course I followed that with my 62 strat. And my current favorite mini, a Gibson Firebird. Love min-humbuckers.
that's actually a 60's era firebird pup kap, jerry's talkin about those 70's deluxes... the ones with the ugly sunbursts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kap'n
i think neil's is a 53 or 54 that's been bastardized.
Well, I don't really worship at the alter of Neil Young sound. I've never heard him live, but some of his recordings don't particularly strike me as the quintessential golden tone. Seems like most of his great sound is pretty basic; grab a vintage Paul, grab a vintage Tweed, turn it up to ten ..big wow!Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckocaster
As far as Firebirds Vs. Mini's...well that might explain why Johnny Winter sounds so good. I got the two ( Mini and Firebird) confused. Hard to argue that Pete Townshed didn't get fantastic tone with his modified Les Paul with the middle Mini 'buckers, but maybe he was using the middle Mini together with the neck and bridge bucker. I don't know. Thin Lizzy had some biting dual leads with one of the players using the Mini I think, so IDK. Maybe it was just the Norlin Pancake jobs that sounded terrible , and not the pickups, but I hate to open another can of worms there. Not that I would turn down a Norlin Mini bucker Les Paul. You've also got to wonder why so many of those original Deluxes' have been routed out for PAF's.
http://www.300guitars.com/articles/g...rebird-pickup/
Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckocaster
Right, but the only general difference is adjustable pole pieces. Very similar pickups.
right on guys, just making sure we're talking orange to oranges.
i personally like the minis, sort of like a hot tele lead pup to my ear. i dig that, then again i love esquires with nocaster type lead pups.
as for neil young, i dig his tone when it's on, and that means ragged and biting, like on the live version of powderfinger. i know not everyone is into it, but i like neil cause it is "no big" deal. he plays simply, writes some decent tunes, and just wants to rock out and get on that plane. even if you don't like the music you can at least appreciate a guy who still gets off on it. and that's what he seems to be about.