Learn me 'bout 'Trons.

[Rich_S]

So I'm on YouTube, watching an old Garbage concert from 2005 and I see that Steven Marker is playing a single-pickup Gretsch, which I assume is the nice, no-empty-neck-route version of Malcom Young's guitar. Garbage is not really the kind of music I associate with Filtertrons, but then again, neither was AC/DC. Then there are Neil Finn of Crowded House and Jim Moginie of Midnight Oil, both guitarists I respect and who play solid-body Gretsches.

It got me to thinking... I have a MIK Sunburst that I hardly ever play. I'll never sell it; I'm a huge Hamer fan (because James Honeyman-Scott, Rick Nielsen).  It presently has Gravelin humbuckers in it (I told Josh, "Double cream/zebra and make it sound like Budokan, and he took it from there.)   I have similar pickups in my "other" humbucker guitar: a Duncan '59 set in my Schecter goldtop PT (with a MIM Fender neck).  Probably due to the maple neck and the longer scale, the PT sounds more right to me.  The Hamer by contrast is kind of dull or flat sounding.  If I want the old '70s fat Les Paul sound, the Hamer does it but that's a place I rarely go.

What would 'Trons do in a guitar like this?  How do Filtertrons compare to standard vintage-ish humbuckers?  There are hotter types of 'Trons, to, right?

I'm totally out of the 'Tron loop, so you experts please share your wisdom. What sort of HB-sized 'Trons would add a bit of snap and dare I say twang to a Gibson-scale all-mahogany guitar? Bonus points for bang-for-the-buck, I'm unlikely to put high-$$$ booteek pickups in a $200 Korean Hamer.

[tommy p]

I have two Malcolm Young Gretsches and play in an AC/DC tribute band so here's my perspective:

I had a natural two-pickup MY that came with Filtertrons stock and they worked perfectly for that.  I could get Mal's slightly broken up, grunty, grind easily through a cranked clean channel, but I really wanted one of the MY Gretsches with holes where the other two pickups used to be like Mal's.  I eventually found one for a great price NOS at an online shop in Illinois.  I figured I could keep the 2-pickup as a backup so I got it.  (Later I found a red two-pickup and got that and sold the natural two-pickup to somebody from here.  The red one actually doesn't sound QUITE as good as the one I sold but I felt like the red would represent the "early years" and the holey one the later years.)

The holey one came with a Powertron stock and I was never able to get as authentic a Mal sound out of that one as the 2-pickup.  I was bummed.  Eventually I replaced the Powertron with a TV Jones Classic and that got me a lot closer.  I still think that first 2-pickup natural one sounded the best.  The Powertron was just too hot I guess.  I know that Solo Dallas has a version of the Filtertron that I've heard is really nice and now Lindy Fralin makes one too.  There's another pickup maker that makes one that people seem to like but it's like $400 or something so I didn't even look into that one.  Gretsch now has other 'tron models like Broadtron, Fulltron, and Hilotron but I haven't heard any of those.

So my limited 2 cents' worth boils down to: Filtertrons are great for an authentic grindy Mal sound, Powertrons are a little too hot but may suit what you want to get out of a pickup.  I'm sure others here will be much more knowledgeable about them.

[JGravelin]

Here's a great explanation of the differences between pickup styles: https://guitarinsighter.com/filtertron-vs-humbucker

As for the less expensive hb-sized F'Tron types, none of them really sound like authentic Tron because they're just putting a low wind on standard hb parts, and inexpensive cheap parts at that.

A set-neck 24.75" scale 'hog neck/body guitar won't ever sound like a 25.5" bolt-on maple neck but there are a few things one can do to squeeze more treble and presence out. I'd try swapping the 500k Vol pots out for 1 meg pots first. With the treble frequencies open and not attenuated, you'll get plenty of sparkle and chime as well as increased range with both the sweep of the Vol control itself as well as with the Tone control. For some guitars and some players, this is exactly the right trick and should put it more in line with your bolt-on.

Lowering the overall pickup height a bit and raising the screw poles up is worth playing around with too. Also, I've got pole screws in 4 different grades of steel and would be more than happy to send you 12 of the brightest sounding of the bunch. Let me know if I can help!

 

 

[cmatthes]

The original Gretsch MY model (before the tribute version came out).  It came in Flame Maple, Plain top Natural, Chinese Red and also in a two-pickup version.