Tag: mr Glyn

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Understanding HSS: Guitar Pickup Configurations Explained

You often come across the terms HSS in reference to guitar pickups but what does HSS mean? And while we’re at it, What do HSH and SSS mean too?

It’s all about the pickup configuration in a guitar (usually a Strat style guitar).

Put simply it means Humbucker, Single coil, Single coil and refers to the pickup configuration in an electric guitar.

Traditionally Stratocasters had 3 single coil pickups SSS – single, single, single. But there are other options – replacing the bridge pickup for a humbucker – HSS, humbucker, single, single. Or replacing both bridge and neck for humbuckers – HSH, humbucker, single, humbucker. I’m sure you get the point.

Why would you want a bridge humbucker?

Surely Fender know what they’re doing so why mess with it?

Well, the Stratocaster first went into production in 1954 and has barely changed since. Although the guitar is the same, music certainly isn’t. Changing the bridge pickup for a humbucker can give you way more options.

What does HSS mean?
HSS Strat

What is the difference between humbucker and single coil tone?

Humbuckers are generally more powerful and have a fuller tone. They will push an amplifier into overdrive more easily. The humbucker sound is fatter and less percussive.

If you’re interested here is how humbuckers work.

This is a great configuration but for rock players the bridge pickup can be a bit thin and weedy sounding.

There is a place for every tone but a lot of players do prefer having a bit more power in the bridge position.

SSS Strat with Lace Sensor pickups
SSS Strat

What’s the solution?

With the advent of replacement pickups players started fitting humbuckers in the bridge position. It can involve some routing (not always) but it really fattens up that bridge position sound. The HSS (humbucker, single, single) Strat was born.

HSS guitars are hugely versatile. You get the best of both worlds. All the lovely clean single coil tones but with a fat lead tone when you need it. It’s like combining a Strat with a Les Paul and can really open up possibilities.

By now you’ve guessed HSH – humbucker, single, humbucker . This is another hugely versatile set up but we’re getting further away from the original Strat tones here. This is really popular with rock players from the. 1980’s on. The neck position humbucker gives those lush thick fat lead tones associated with Gibsons – think ‘Still Got The Blues’.

HSH - Ibanez RG550
HSH

With all these extra tonal options come more wiring possibilities. Humbuckers have 2 coils. That gives the option to have those coils wired in series (conventional humbucker) or in parallel- similar to a single coil tone.

There’s also the option of coil tap where one of the 2 coils is turned off.

How those wiring options sounds is going to be the subject of another blog/video.

What is a swimming pool route?

If you have a conventional Strat type guitar it does require a bit of woodworking to fit a humbucker at the bridge position.

Here is what a Strat looks like under the pickguard. As you can see a humbucker won’t fit in that small cavity.

Strat Body routed for SSS
SSS Strat Body

But some Strats have what is known as a swimming pool route. With this type of body any pickup configuration will fit. SSS, HSS, HSH, you just need to change the pickguard. It looks like this:

Strat body with swimming pool route
Swimming Pool Route

There is a school of thought though that this ruins the sound of a Stratocaster. I’m not getting into that discussion here.

So What does HSS mean?

Well, it’s simply an option for pickups on (usually) a Stratocaster type guitar.

There are so many tonal options with a Strat, so many changes you can make. if you are getting into modifying (modding) guitars then a Strat is a perfect platform for experimenting.

Here are the options for my Strat pickups. And here are my humbuckers. There are too many variables to discuss here but if you have any questions about which combination will work best for you just get in touch.

I hope this has been helpful and answered What does HSS mean?

What does HSS mean?

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Mr Glyns Pickups Humbuckers
Stratocaster range of pickups by MrGlyns Pickups
Mr Glyns Strat Pickup range
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How do humbuckers work?

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The Duchess Tele set

Single The Duchess Tele – NZ$139 for NZ customers. If you’re overseas it’s GST free; $NZ120.87

Pair The Duchess Tele – NZ$269 for NZ customers. If you’re overseas they’re GST free; $NZ233.91

Alnico 5; Bridge 7.28KOhms, Neck 7.1KOhms

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The Duchess Tele set is for the Telecaster player in need of that distinctive smooth Tele twang but with none of the ice pick cut. The neck pickup is warm and balanced with a full clarity and string separation. This a medium powered set that sits nicely in my range between the Silver Lady and Cruel Mistress.

The Duchess Telecaster set by MrGlyns Pickups
The Duchess Tele Set

The Duchess Tele pickup set will do just about everything from ‘vintage’ Tele twang to a platform for pedals.

The Duchess’ beginnings

The idea for this pickup started in 2021. I had some work at Roundhead recording studios in Auckland looking after the guitars of an American recording artist. During the process, the producer and engineer (working from the US) decided to send over their favorite ‘magic’ telecaster because they wanted that sound on the record.

The guitar arrived and it was an original ’61 Fender Esquire Custom, sunburst, double bound and just beautiful.

Although it was an Esquire it had a neck pickup that they told me had been added later. After taking the pick guard off it looked more like the neck pickup had been fitted in the factory so maybe it was a custom order. There are often strange anomalies with vintage guitars. We’re so used to models being standardized these days but it wasn’t always this way.

My job was to check over this guitar and set it up for the recording.

The Duchess telecaster - MrGlyns Pickups

I plugged it in and loved the sound immediately, now I understood why they’d shipped it over from the US for this session. So, I got my test meters out to analyze every aspect of the pickup. It was rather unusual for a Fender pickup of that time so maybe it had been re-wound at some stage. That didn’t matter, it sounded great, so I set out to make a Telecaster set in that style but with my own spin.

I made quite a few prototypes and did all the usual testing but didn’t quite get around to releasing the pickup. It often works that way, the last part, the part where I actually put the pickup on the website can take quite a while.

The Duchess Tele is finally born

Then in 2022 I had the idea for my Pandora 3-way pickup. I used the design for The Duchess bridge pickup as the middle position for the Pandora. I knew all along the Pandora was never going to be for everyone but was pleasantly surprised when the idea caught on.

An order for a Pandora came in from an old friend of mine in the UK. He’s called Darren Driver and he’s in a well-established Springsteen tribute band – The Boss and the Beeston Street Band

Darren had been a customer of mine when I had a guitar shop in Leeds in the late 90’s. He was a Telecaster player back then and it seems he still is. It’s always good to re-connect with people.

A couple of months later Darren got in touch saying how the mid position of the Pandora was his ideal Telecaster sound. Well, that was all it took. I got into the workshop and made a matching neck pickup for the Duchess. That week’s band practice I tested the set next to the drummer and was still really happy with it. So, I sent a set off to Yorkshire. I needed to make sure it was exactly what he wanted.

Darren said he was happy to make a demo of the pickups once he had got them into him number one Telecaster. That’s him in the video above.

And so The Duchess Tele set was born.

The Duchess – Tele set is great with either 250KOhm or 500KOhm volume pots. It’s really up to you – 500K will give more high-end Tele twang while the 250K will sound warmer. It really is a great pickup set either way.

The choice of capacitor is up to you. The more traditional 0.047 will roll off more treble with a lower value (0.022 for example) will be more subtle. I often get asked to recommend capacitors but it is a personal choice, there’s no right or wrong here.

The Duchess Telecaster pickup set explained

I have made a couple of short videos to explain my thinking behind these two pickups:

Check out our YouTube

The Duchess has been a useful addition to the Mr Glyn’s pickup range. Click on the links below to hear the other Telecaster pickups we make.

buy The Duchess set
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buy The Duchess single

updated 28 April 2025

Robot

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Silver Lady telecaster pickup set by MrGlyns Pickups
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updated 17 May 2023

The Duchess – Tele set

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Pandora 3 way Esquire

Pandora is NZ$165 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas it’s GST free; NZ$143.48

Pandora 3 way Esquire specifications: Alnico V – 10.07 KOhm 4.4H, 7.28KOhm 2.3H, 5.49KOhm 1.15H

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The Pandora 3 way Esquire pickup took its inspiration from my desire to fix a problem.

Pandora 3way esquire pickup - MrGlyns Pickups

I’ve never been happy with the switching options given on the Fender Esquire so I came up with a plan.

Rather than switch in some capacitors or switch out parts of the circuit and create sounds you can make anyway using the tone control, I thought it would be better to have a tapped pickup so the player could generate usable, ‘real’ tones.

It’s simply a case of ‘tapping’ into the winding at different points to obtain different strength pickups from the one coil.

This essentially gives the player 3 different pickups in one.

So in the middle position it’s an Esquire pickup, one way it’s less than that (I’m calling it ‘Gold Foil’ though it isn’t). The other way it’s more – my Cruel Mistress pickup. This gives 3 distinct tones going from jangly rhythm to fat lead without losing the distinctive Esquire/Telecaster character.

It makes use of the normal 3 way switch to achieve this.

Then, of course, I realized that the main use for this wouldn’t be in Fender Esquires but in single pickup builds. The single pickup movement is getting bigger and this is the perfect tool to give those guitars extra versatility while still using a single Tele style bridge pickup.

So the experiments and trials began, there’s a lot to test with this sort of pickup. There were a lot of trials to get the 3 sounds to work well together, that’s different amps, pedals and most importantly with different drummers and bass players.

The ‘Cruel Mistress’ part was easy, it’s my best selling Telecaster pickup set. The middle position is based on a ’61 Esquire I once had the good fortune of getting to know. I was going for that clear, ringing bridge pickup tone we all know and love, a sound that stands out from a mix. I was so happy with how this pickup turned out that I have since made a Telecaster set from it – The Duchess. The third position I’m calling ‘Gold Foil’ but I could have equally called it ‘Lipstick’. It’s a tone in the character of that style of pickup though technically is neither.

I sat on the design for quite a while (about a year) thinking that although I really liked it the idea might be a bit complicated. I didn’t think people would want a pickup with all those switching options. I had done all the testing, was really happy with the sounds and feel but didn’t do anything about it.

Then on a whim I just posted on Instagram about it and received a huge response. It seemed players and builders liked the idea. So here it is, the Pandora 3 way Esquire.

Thanks to Reg Ayers for this demo : go and check out his YouTube channel – he makes some great pedals.

Pandora 3 way Esquire sounds great with a 500KOhm volume pot or to get the most out of it I recommend this wiring diagram:

Pandora 3 way Esquire suggested wiring diagram

Wiring diagram for Pandora 3 way esquire pickup, MrGlyns Pickups

The difference is that 1Meg volume pot (it’s usually 250KOhms) and those resistors. This enables each of the 3 pickup settings to ‘see’ the volume pot as a different value. It just emphasizes the good points of each setting, it’s subtle but it does make a difference.

Here is the wiring colour code for the Pandora tele pickup.

Wiring Colour code for Pandora pickup
Pandora Color code
Buy Pandora
Pandora

Check out Mr Glyn’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@MrGlynsPickups/videos

Pandora 3 way Esquire

updated 28 April 2025

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Kāhu hot Strat

Single Kāhu NZ$139 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas it’s GST free; NZ$120.87

Set Kāhu NZ$375 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$326.09

Specifications: Flat Pole AlnicoV – Neck 7.KOhms, 1.75H, Middle 7.6KOhms, 1.75H, Bridge 11KOhms, 3.98H

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Kāhu Description

The Kāhu hot Strat Pickups set is for blues/rock players in need of that bit more power. With cleaner neck and middle pickups and a hotter, grittier bridge pickup it’s a set that acts more like a HSS set than a conventional Strat.

Without loosing their distinctively Strat personality the Kāhu are definitely Strat sounding but with an ugly streak. This is a true single coil set so they retain all the dynamics and feel of traditional pickups but with a fatness and power to bring out something different in your Strat.

The heart of the Kāhu hot Strat Pickups set is the bridge pickup, it’s warm and punchy and sustaining with a much greater output than a traditional bridge pickup. The highs are smoother, mids honky and the bass full. They’re designed to push your amp into overdrive rather than for clean sounds.

Kahu contemporary strat pickup, MrGlyns Pickups

For the blues player the true single coil nature of these pickups gives the dynamics and feel you expect from a Strat but with the singing sustain from more powerful pickups.

Clean Demo

The bridge pickup is a true single coil but it could be used as an alternative to a HSS set. No need to route out the body and pickguard for a humbucker, this bridge pickup will give you the fat lead tone you need.

The middle and neck pickups were designed to match but with a cleaner vibe, again thinking of using this as almost a HSS set. With less high end and considerably more mids and lows than a traditional Strat set the Kāhu set is for a non-traditional Strat player.

Dirty Demo

With the volume control backed off a tad the Kāhu set cleans up creating huge versatility through a dirty amp.

250k or 500kOhm pots?

Although this set was designed around a 250k volume pot (my preference) they also work well (some might say better) with a 500kOhm volume pot letting through more high end. They work well with a treble bleed if you don’t want treble roll off when using the volume control. If you’re buying a set I’ll send you one.

If you are wanting ‘vintage’ low powered pickups then look at the Bellbird or Kokako sets.

An Explanation

Here is an explanation of this design in my own words:

The Kāhu hot Strat Story

The Kāhu story is the story of the struggles of many of my customers when I was repairing guitars. A lot of people have a hard time with Strat pickups in particular the bridge. Strats have comfort and balance, the controls are fantastic, the 5 way, the volume control in just the right place. It’s a guitar that has everything right but for many players, especially from a humbucker background, the ‘vintage’ voiced pickups just don’t do it.

But Strats can be modified in so many ways to make them your own.

The starting point for this set was my Cruel Mistress Telecaster set. It’s my most popular pickup set and really brings a Telecaster to life. It’s based around the early Fender Broadcaster pickup. I wanted to do similar for the Stratocaster but with it’s own uniquely Stratocaster voice.

The Kāhu was in the development stage for nearly 2 years. A lot of the prototypes were close but were not quite right in some aspect. I don’t know how many gigs I did with these until they were just right.

The Strat should have its own unique voice and that idea was a big part of the design of these pickups. I wanted to retain that Strat character but give it something different as well.

The bridge pickup is designed to be an all purpose crunch rhythm and lead pickup with the middle and neck acting as cleaner, more traditional Strat tones. Think HSS, that’s what I’m going for here.

Here are all my Strat pickup demos on YouTube.

All my Strat sets are named after New Zealand birds. The Kāhu is a large harrier, an opportunistic predator, I see them from my house every day, patrolling the fields and hedges for prey.

Strat pickup set, black covers. Mr Glyn's Pickups
Kahu Set
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Updated September 2024

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Kokako strat pickup
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updated September 2025

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Kōkako Strat Pickup

Single Kōkako Strat Pickup NZ$139 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas it’s GST free; NZ$120.87

Set Kōkako Strat Pickup NZ$375 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$326.09

AlnicoV – Neck 6.15 KOhms, 2.79H, Middle 6.15 KOhms, 2.79H, Bridge 6.64 KOhms, 3.08H

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The Kōkako Strat Pickup is is strongly influenced by the Fender Stratocaster pickups of the 60’s but with a little more. It has a full yet clear bottom end , smooth highs and clear mids. It’s aimed at players who love the sounds of Frusciante and Hendrix. I class this as a vintage Stratocaster pickup but with a little more.

If you take an early 60’s Fender Strat pickup, add a little bottom end, take a wee bit of treble off the top and add a touch more power then you’ve got the Kokako. Sometimes a vintage pickup isn’t quite what you need, there are many situations where you need just that bit more.

The magnets are specially made alnico 5’s with my own stagger to suit modern string gauges and fretboad radiuses. Most Stratocaster pickups have a much flatter radius that the traditional 7.5 inch and my special stagger reflects that.

The Kōkako Strat Pickup Story

The Kokako set was spawned by a few things coming together in November ’22.

For a while I’ve been offering my Bellbird Stratocaster pickup set with various winding options – 5% under, 5% over or 10% over wound. The Bellbird is based on the Stratocaster pickups of the early ’60’s and it’s an equally good pickup with a slightly different wind count. I’ve been playing with a 10% over wound set in one of my own Strats and for me they have ‘that’ vintage Strat tone that’s perfect with a little dirt be it fuzz or overdrive.

I was sent a Strat pickup to re-wind and the customer told me his ideal sound was Hendrix pickups.

I’d just read an article saying how Seymour Duncan had wound some pickups for Hendrix and the spec of those pickups looked very similar to the 10% over wound Bellbirds.

That got me thinking.

The same day a customer contacted me wanting advice about my pickups and which one would be best for a John Frusciante sound.

Well, it’s the Bellbird +10% again.

Kokako strat pickup

I thought this was too good to let go.

I could have left the pickup as a version of the Bellbird but decided it needed its own life. Since its release in late 2022 it has become more popular that the Bellbird pickup.

The Design

Here is a short video in which I explain my thinking behind the Kokako pickup design. I talk about what the 10% extra windings do for the eq of the pickup, the unique magnet stagger for modern guitar strings and the difference in the bridge pickup. I hope you find it useful.

Kokako Strat Pickups explained

My Stratocaster pickups are named after native New Zealand birds like the Bellbird and the Tui; I chose the Kokako because its song reflects the tonal characteristics of the pickups. I wanted a bird that has a song fatter and fuller sounding than the Bellbird but not as aggressive as the Tui – so Kōkako Strat Pickup it is.

Here’s the original Bellbird pickup

And YouTube demos of all my Strat pickups

I would love you to subscribe to our newsletter (below). A new one is published every 6 weeks or so and it includes news, new products and a giveaway.

Strat pickup set
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updated 22 Sept 2023

Kōkako Strat Pickup

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Cool 90

Single – Cool 90 P90 NZ$199 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas it’s GST free; NZ$173.04

Pair – Cool 90 P90 NZ$379 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$329.57

Neck- 6.4 KOhms, 5.45H, Alnico II. Bridge 7.25 KOhms, 6.42H, Alnico II

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The Cool 90 is a P90 pickup available in both Dogear and Soapbar. Designed with Jazz and Blues players in mind it produces a clear, full, well balanced tone. Never harsh, always full and musical.

The bridge pickup has an organic sound with a lower mid push ideally suited to dynamic lead lines and tight rhythm playing.

The neck pickup is clear and chiming with enough clarity to always be heard in the mix. It has that lovely woody tone especially in an archtop.

Table of Contents

Cool 90 P90 pickup by MrGlyns Pickups, New Zealand

For ‘full fat’ P90 tones have a look at our “Sassy” P90 pickup set.

Demos

Thanks to Brett Kingman over in Melbourne for this great demo.

Brett has played a few of my pickups and in May ’25 got in touch looking for a dogear P90 for his Tokai Les Paul Junior.

Here is what he said about it:

“I love my little Tokai Junior. It was relic’d by my friends Joel and Colin at Nepean Music and they fitted a Dimarzio Phantom in it.

That’s not a bad pickup but I really wanted a lower output affair – more of what a traditional P90 offers.

I had this conversation with another friend, Glyn Evans of Mr Glyn’s Pickups, who are located in the smaller paddock across the creek (New Zealand) and he said I should give his Cool 90 a shot. I did and I’m really impressed!

He even shipped it with a selection of 3D-printed height spacers so I could nail the nominal pickup height. Nice touch, Glyn! So, here it is – This one’s a keeper.”

Here’s a demo of the Cool 90 sent to me by one of my customers. Go check out his band – The Bull Kelp Surfers

Why Alnico II?

I use rough cast alnico II magnets in my Cool 90 set for its smooth, well balanced tone. My other P 90 pickups use the more conventional alnico V giving them greater attack and power but I didn’t want that with this pickup. Alnico II has a very balanced tonal range, the lows aren’t to boomy, mids are present but not too far forward and the highs are smooth. It is a magnet with less power than the alnico V so suited for less aggressive playing.

The Cool 90 Story

Like many of my pickups the this one started with a repair job. A customer sent be a faulty Gibson P90 out of a 1955 Les Paul Junior. Naturally, I took measurements and completely analyzed every detail of it. Unlike the information in the books (and internet) it had less windings and Alnico II magnets instead of Alnico V.

And what a great sounding pickup it was.

I decided to make my own version of it to compliment the ‘Sassy” P90 pickup I was already making. The Sassy has the classic “full fat” P90 tone, plenty of growl and cut through.

The idea was to make a lower powered version for the cleaner player. Still keeping the classic P90 character but with less grunt.

I experimented and tested and eventually came up with this design.

Cool 90 P90 dogear Alnico 2 by MrGlyns Pickups
Cool 90 P90 soapbar Alnico 2 by MrGlyns Pickups

updated 13 October 2025

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Les Paul Jr P90 from 1955
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Roboguy Logo - Cool 90

I also make a humbucker size P90 set – the “Black Sand” if you need some P90 goodness in your humbucker guitar, here’s a link to them: https://mrglynspickups.com/2020/03/29/black-sand-humbucker-sized-p90-neck/

For a full range of demo videos of Mr Glyn’s pickups go to my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/MrGlynsPickups/featured

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The Tron

Single The Tron – NZ$249. If you’re overseas it’s GST free; NZ$216.52

Pair The Tron – NZ$479. If you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$416.52

Mounting adapter plates are $10 each ($20 with a set) , if you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$8.70 ($17.39 for a set)

Alnico V – Bridge 5.32 KOhms, 1.96H .Neck – 4.36KOhms, 0.88H

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Buy P90 size – TheTron set
Buy P90 size – TheTron single

The Tron pickup set is based around the legendary Gretsch Filtertron pickups of the 50’s and 60’s. To say To say it has character is an understatement. It is full and rounded with a well balanced mid range. It has that distinctive ‘Clank’ that separates it from other pickups. The neck pickup is clear and fat and the bridge stands out from the mix without ever sounding harsh.

This is a unique style of pickup and quite distinct from its Gibson cousin the PAF.

Available in standard size with traditional ‘through cover’ mounting. 2 or 3 screw humbucker style mounting. P90 size.

The Tron demos

Here’s the full demo from Brett:

Who is it for?

The Tron is the perfect Filtertron pickup as a Gretsch upgrade. For the modern player wanting something other than Gibson style humbuckers For the rockabilly player after that traditional tone. For the jazz player or, like me, Malcolm Young fans. There’s so much you can to with The Tron.

Tele caster Cabronits with Mr Glyns Pickup
Cabronita

As you can see from the demos it’s not just Gretsch guitars, the Tron are great in Telecaster Cabronitas. or any guitar for that matter.

For the modern player with one foot in the past.

Stratocaster with Mr Glyns Pickups
Strat Tron

P90 size Tron

The Tron is now available in P90 size. This is the same pickup, same bobbins, same magnet. So if you need some Tron goodness in your P90 guitar this is the set for you.

P90 size Filtertron guitar pickup.
P90 Size Tron

As the Tron pickup fits inside a P90 cover there are no compromises. This is the true Tron tone for your P90 guitar.

The P90 version has its own base plate. These are designed and made in house. This has an extra earthed shielding layer for that bit extra noise reduction.

P90 size filtertron base plate.
Base Plate

The mounting screws are located at each end of the pickup. They come with screws and springs.

They are available in 49.2mm or 52mm spacing and with either cream or black covers.

P90 size filtertron set
Tron P90 set

There is a a link to the shop at the top of this page.

Development

Over the years I’ve repaired a fair few old Gretsch Filter-tron pickups. I have noticed the best sounding ones are at the upper range for ohms. I’ve taken that design and tweaked it until I got the fullness I was looking. But paying attention not to loose the essential clarity and clank.

Most of my pickups are made in collaboration with a professional player, but not this one.

I started playing guitar at the age of 16 when I first heard Malcolm Young. That’s the sound of a Filtertron through an almost clean valve amp. I didn’t feel I needed another set of ears for this one, I knew exactly what I wanted.

I needed this pickup set to be crystal clear with a clean amplifier but to come into its own when pushing an amp to clip.

I think that’s what it’s all about with this design – how it makes an amp clip.

The neck pickup needed to be clear, full and chiming in both a big archtop and in the neck position of a Telecaster. The bridge pickup needed to have no shortage of character, a clean almost jangly tone when played gently but with enough go in it to push the front end of a valve amp to clip when you dig in.

The design of The Tron Filtertron pickup

Here are my thoughts on the design of this pickup set. In this video I talk about the differences between Filtertron pickups and Gibson PAF’s.

In summary, the filtertron has a big magnet with low dc resistance. The PAF had a smaller magnet and higher dc resistance. Filtertrons get most of their power from their large magnet giving them a distinctive ‘clank’. They have an immediate feel under your fingers. An instant attack.

The magnet is very important. I get mine specially made for me to my spec. I am very fussy about my magnets.

In comparison, a PAF is smoother and less percussive sounding.

Mounting options

I’ve made this one to fit what you play.

TheTron pickup comes with the standard mounting screws for the ‘soapbar’ style mounting known as the ‘universal mounting’.

If your pickup is mounted on a humbucker style ring, you can fit it using one of my adapter plates.

I’ve developed two adapter plate options: 2-screw to mount to Gibson-style humbucker rings,

or 3-screw to mount to the ring found on some Gretsch guitars.

Adapter plates are $10 each ($20 with a set). Ypou can find the options to order tham at the checkout.

TheTron by Mr Glyns Pickups. Filtertron guitar pickup, blue.
TheTron black insert
TheTron gold foil mr glyns pickups. Filtertron pickup
TheTron blue top Mr Glyns pickups. Filtertron guitar pickup

And as for the name “TheTron”? – I think you have to be a Kiwi…

Dimensions

The Tron Filter-tron pickup is a slightly different size to its ‘Gibson’ style humbucker cousins.

It is 71.5mm x 35mm where as a Gibson shape humbucker is 70mm x 38mm. It is possible to get adapter mounting rings to fit a Filter-tron type pickup in a Gibson type humbucker loaded guitar. I don’t sell these.

The P90 Tron is standard P90 size so 35mm x 85.5mm.

The Tron is available with a 52mm pole spacing to fit with Fender style bridge spacing.

Feel free to get in touch with any questions.

Buy TheTron set
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Buy P90 size – TheTron set
Buy P90 size – TheTron single

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mini humbucker set Mr Glyns pickups
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Gretsch Filtertron 1961
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For the full range of pickups https://mrglynspickups.com/

Take a listen to all the demos https://www.youtube.com/c/MrGlynsPickups/videos

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‘63 Jazzmaster pickup re-wind

I recently had this ‘63 Jazzmaster pickup re-wind at the workshop and thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about what gives them such a unique sound.

63 Jazzmaster Pickup - Mr Glyns Pickups
‘63 Jazzmaster pickup re-wind - Mr Glyns Pickups

What gives a 63 Jazzmaster pickup that smooth, full ring? The simple answer is ‘coil geometry’.

As you can see it’s a very thin pickup. That means that less of the winding is close to the magnet.

A Strat is a much taller pickup, the windings are closer to the magnets and so has a more immediate, snappy tone. You could say a Strat is more efficient.

The gauge of wire and number of turns is very similar to a Strat but this geometry makes all the difference. The further away from the magnet a winding gets the less treble and the less response.

And to accommodate enough wire in such a thin pickup it needs to be wide.

'63 Jazzmaster Pickup - Mr Glyns Pickups

Please feel free to contact me about any faulty pickup by email (mrglynspickups@gmail.com) or by phone (021 912 678). www.mrglynspickups.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcDggiRTQyFec5KAVHsC2xA

Jazzmaster pickup re-wind

Mr Glyns Pickups
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An Amazing Fact About Guitar Pickups

The wire in guitar pickups is pretty thin. Numbers like 0.063mm diameter are hard to imagine so I thought I’d put it another way – here’s an Amazing Fact About Guitar Pickups…

To find more about Mr Glyns Pickups go to the website.

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcDggiRTQyFec5KAVHsC2xA

P90 pickup windings
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Attitude Humbucker

6 string Attitude Humbucker NZ$219 (set NZ$399) for NZ customers; if you’re overseas it’s GST free NZ$190.43 (set NZ$346.96)

7 string Attitude Humbucker NZ$240 (set NZ$449) for NZ customers; if you’re overseas it’s GST free NZ$208.70 (set NZ$390.43)

Cover NZ$20 ($17.39) extra each pickup

6 String – Alnico V – Neck 13.5 KOhms, 7.38H, Bridge 18.6 KOhms, 12.63H

7 String – Alnico V – Neck 14.5 KOhms, Bridge 21.8 KOhms 14.65H

Testimonials
Buy Attitude 6 string set
Buy Attitude 6 string single
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Buy Attitude 7 string set
Buy Attitude 7 string single

The Attitude Humbucker is a powerful, well balanced pickup set designed for modern metal or fusion players. Sensitive enough to hear the detail in your legato. A smooth present mid range to push you forward in the mix. Bass that stays tight whatever you throw at it. The Attitude makes a great 6 or 7 string pickup set.

I’m delighted to have Nail Vincent from the band Devilskin using the Attitude pickup both in the studio and live.

Nail Vincent from the band Devilskin using Mr Glyns Pickups
Nail Vincent – Devilskin

The story of the Attitude Humbucker

In 2019 I was working on extending my range of humbucker pickups for rock players. The Cloud Nine will do just about anything but I wanted to offer a more specific pickup for modern rock/metal.

I decided to start with a 7 string which is a slightly unorthodox way of going about it but I was concerned with getting the bottom end right. If there was any sogginess in the bottom end a 7 string would show it up more than a 6 string.

7 string pickups are not like others. The low bass string reacts so differently, there’s a lot of string deflection and low harmonics. My mission was to tame this bass and keep it tight but not to sacrifice the sound quality of the treble strings. The treble still needed to be sweet and singing. The mids needed to be balanced and noticeable. I didn’t want this pickup scooped; the mids had to stand out from the mix when needed to.

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Attitude Humbucker development

So in October 2019 I got back in touch with my old mate Graham Young in Yorkshire. He’s an amazing player and really knows his gear.

Back in 1998 I wound a 6 string humbucker for Graham. In those days I had a guitar shop and repair business in Leeds in the North of England and he wanted a bridge pickup to suit his style for a parts caster.

Years passed and he became a 7 string player, so when I decided to develop a 7 string pickup Graham was the person I asked to be test pilot. We’d very loosely kept in touch over the years and it turned out he was still using the 6 string pickup I’d made for him back in the 90’s.

We had a chat via messenger and it turned out he’d tried a lot of pickups but none quite did it for him. So I listened to his thoughts, came up with a design and went away and made a prototype.

The first one wasn’t quite right, so he sent it back and I changed a few things and returned it. I don’t know how many adjustments I made but that pickup accumulated quite a few air miles between NZ and the UK over the next few months.

Every time we got closer, every adjustment less than the one before. When you get that close you know you’ve got a good pickup. I was at the point when I felt we really had something great but I just needed that confirmation.

Then Covid 19 happened, the mail got too unreliable to send stuff overseas with any confidence of it arriving and the process was put on hold.

Attitude Humbucker set is born

At the end of June 2020 I got a call from Gabe Dovaston in Papamoa. He’d done some demos for me with some of my other pickups and was asking if I did a 7 string, just in case, for an Ibanez of his. Well, this seemed like a chance to test my new pickup on fresh ears. I made a copy of the last one I’d sent Graham, the one I was happy with, and got it off in the post. I sat back and waited. It only took a few days and I got a very happy call, he loved it and he’d already made a demo that he’d put on YouTube.

Great news, but what was I going to call it? The pickup was already on YouTube, it wasn’t on my website yet and it didn’t even have a name!

I got on Facebook and asked people to come up with a name; there were so many excellent suggestions but nothing quite did it. In the end this pickup that had taken so much work to develop, traveled so far and refused to go away I called the Attitude Humbucker.

The Attitude Humbucker is available in 6 and 7 string, for neck and bridge positions.

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There are a number of cover options for the 6 string so you can choose how your Attitude looks: uncovered options are black, double white, double cream, and zebra or reverse zebra (in either cream or white) at no additional charge. Or you can add a cover to your purchase in: black, gold, chrome, nickel, sliders, gatsby or open raw nickel.

The 7 string bridge pickup comes in one size (61.2mm). You can have your pickup in uncovered black, double white, double cream, and zebra or reverse zebra (in either cream or white) for no additional cost, or add a nickel or gold cover for $40 for the set.

Selection of humbucker cover options, MrGlyns Pickups
Slider humbucker cover style, by MrGlyns Pickups
Gatsby humbucker cover, by MrGlyns Pickups
example of humbucker cover aging by MrGlyns Pickups

Attitude 7 string humbucker by Mr Glyns Pickups
“Attitude” Humbucker 7 string
"Attitude" Humbucker Mr Glyns Pickups
White humbucker bobbins
Chrome humbucker cover
Buy Attitude 6 string set
Buy Attitude 6 string single
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Buy Attitude 7 string set
Buy Attitude 7 string single

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcDggiRTQyFec5KAVHsC2xA

Attitude Humbucker – updated 5 May 2025

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Cloud Nine hot humbucker by MrGlyns Pickups
Integrity humbuckers. PAF Alnico 2 vintage voiced pickups
Tumatauenga signature guitar pickup of Lewis de Jong, Alien Weaponry. By MrGlyns Pickups.
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Cruel Mistress hot Tele

Single Cruel Mistress hot Tele NZ$139 for NZ customers. If you’re overseas it’s GST free; $NZ120.87

Pair Cruel Mistress hot Tele NZ$269 for NZ customers. If you’re overseas they’re GST free; $NZ233.91

AlnicoV – Bridge 10.65 KOhms, 4.96H. Neck 7.25 KOhms, 2.48H

Testimonials
Buy Cruel Mistress set
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Buy Cruel Mistress single

Mr Glyns Cruel Mistress hot Tele Pickups are designed for the Tele player who wants more than the traditional country twang. They have a full bottom end, cut through mids and a top end that is strong but never harsh. They’ll push your amp that bit harder without losing that Telecaster character.

Brett Kingman demos (I think he likes them)

More Cruel Mistress hot Tele demos

Description

There is nothing like the high end snarl of a good Tele bridge pickup. However, Telecaster Pickups are complicated. It’s a sound that needs to be just right. Too much treble and it can sound grating and obnoxious, too little and it just isn’t a Tele. The treble needs warmth while still cutting through a mix like a zombie banjo.

I wanted to make a pickup with more power to drive an amp harder while keeping the Tele character. My biggest concern was not losing what a Tele is all about.

In my repair work I came across a lot of replacement Telecaster pickups that just don’t sound like Teles. Bridge pickups need grit and the neck a chimey clarity and together they should be full and open and matched well enough to create almost a reverb sound with the switch in the middle position. Good Telecasters have a very distinctive tone and I felt I needed to retain that but at the same time offer more.

The Cruel Mistress hot Tele uses Alnico V magnets to help with the attack and AWG43 wire for the snarl.

A Tele neck pickup needs to be smooth and warm and have a great balance with the bridge pickup so that the middle position rings with an almost reverb-like tone. The difficulty with Telecaster neck pickups is there just isn’t much space under that cover. As a result it can be a hard pickup to get right and there were a lot of experiments and disappointments on the way. Eventually I came on a design that has enough bottom end to sound full but not so much to sound boomy. And the final pickup was a great match to the bridge.

I had help from the ears of a couple of pro players who were generous enough to let me load their guitars with prototype pickups for testing. The whole process takes time and only after many road tests and versions did I fix on a design. As a result, each of my designs have been developed over many years of subtle changes and road tests. Having help like this means my pickups are trialled by different players, through many different amps and playing styles. The neck/bridge balance as well as dynamics/compression need to be tested in as many situations as possible to find a pickup that will work for most players.

So if you need some grit and aggression from your Telecaster Pickups this is the set for you.

Cruel Mistress Tele pickup set on stage with Rob Lock
Rob Lock
Telecaster Bridge pickup, MrGlyns Pickups
Telecaster Neck pickup, MrGlyns Pickups

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcDggiRTQyFec5KAVHsC2xA

updated 19 May 2025

Buy Cruel Mistress set
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Buy Cruel Mistress single

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Integrity alnico 2 vintage voiced humbucker
Silver Lady telecaster pickup set by MrGlyns Pickups
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