Mini Humbuckers and Their Variations

[humfree]

I'm building a Korina Firebird kit and am looking for an exceptional set of mini hums.

This cat had me thinking I had found the grail with Lollar Firebird minis:

I listened to many - McNelly, Porter, Fralin, Barden, and then I saw this little clip..

Does anyone have any experience with Duncan Antiquities and does the bridge pup really sound like this?

I'm not super familiar with minis - I bought a set of Paul Gilbert's PG13s for a Slammer Series Eclipse during their Black Friday - sort of a budget thing - $160 shipped.  They had one of the lowest outputs of any of their minis, but had a high resistance, so that triggered something that made me bite.  Plus Paul likes touch sensitive pups, so I figured I'd get a baseline on what to expect.  They took a little while to get used to - not at all what I'm really looking for in minis, but hey are damn good pups - nice lively clean tone with both pups on, and just enough roundness and focus so you know their minis.  

At any rate, I was hoping I could get some real life experiences or links to sounds that might sway my opinion.  I had Antiquity humbuckers years ago in a Korina Standard that I had to let go for financial reasons, and that one still haunts.  I could swear I could hear those maple spacers.. hehehe.

All info is good - really appreciate all input.. thanks for reading.

[Dutchman]

Johnny Winter!! And Allen Collins(skynard) come to mind as my favorite Firebird players!

[tbonesullivan]

There is a bunch of variation regarding the internal construction of the Mini Humbuckers, particularly the Firebird style vs the style used in the Les Paul Deluxe.

The LP deluxe of course, is just a scaled down PAF design. The Firebird instead has a bar magnet inside the bobbins themselves, and no pole pieces. Then there's the weird stuff that Bill Lawrence did, which involved the "sidewinder" design, which was also used in some basses, and I think based on a Seth Lover design?

INFOS: http://www.heliotricity.com/firebird-pickups.html

[hamerhead]

I always post this picture when the subject comes up:

Don't use mini humbuckers if you want the 'Firebird' sound. Use Firebird pickups.

And if you want exceptional pickups, Josh is the first (and probably last!) guy you talk to. For a Minnesotian, he's pretty sharp.

[cynic]

All the Lollar pickups are very nice but the intent seems to be to deliver the Lollar sound.  To his credit, it's a sound most seem to love.  I have the Antiquity II mini-hums in my LP Deluxe and they're clearly meant to play in the same ballpark as the original Gibsons.  As with most things, the difference is subtle, but theres' a little better balance between the two, better clarity on the neck, and the bridge sounds a hair more mid focused. 

To be clear, I have these:

not these:

I also have a set of Rio's Baby TX BBQ minihums that I'm excited to someday try in my Sheraton but the Deluxe is pretty much perfect with the Duncans.

[EricS]

I put the Antiquity II mini hums in my Eclipse and like them a lot. Made the guitar a lot sweeter sounding than stock Firebird style. 

[humfree]

I'm already a little leery of Lollars - I had a set of P90s in a Special years ago and initially loved them, but found myself wanting the sweetness and clarity to growl a bit.  

That second YT clip surprised me - I know it's an ash bolt on, the tone he gets was like nothing else I've heard from minis.  Having the Gilbert set, I am open to Firebird style pups, but I'm not sure Korina is the ideal platform (even though Korina is the perfect platform for anything).  This is pretty close to a Grail guitar for me, so I will get it right eventually, it was be nice if it was on my first try.  If only I could have two of everything, right?

Actually forgot about Josh somehow.. I'll have to find some clips.

I love Rio Grande singles - it's tough having pups in a drawer.. I have an old L90XL that I pull out every year or so and drop it into something and play the hell out of it for a few months, then something else strikes me and back in the drawer it goes, only to mock me relentlessly until it finds a new temporary home.  

The Andersons looked interesting as well, but they use a 3-point system for height and they won't drop into anything without routing.  I bought a second hand LTD Les Paul that had an HS-1/HS-3 set installed that were awesome.  I'm not a high output pup guy, but the HS-3 is outstanding.  

At any rate, I'm just meandering now - appreciate the input, it's always nice get other perspectives.

Peace

 

[mrjamiam]

Another plug for Josh - I wanted to change out the pickups that came in my Eclipse, but I didn't want a straight Firebird set.  I don't like what sounds to me like the ice-picky bridge pickup, even when Johnny Winter plays.  We settled on a mini-hum for the bridge and a Firebird type for the neck, and that suits me.

[HamerCustomEr]

I had a Japanese Ibanez George Benson from the Terada factory with Super 58 mini-humbuckers, and they sounded awesome!  I have heard that the new Super 58s are different, but I am not sure what the differences are.