Posted on March 19, 2025December 5, 2025 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Playmaker humbucker set

Playmaker humbucker set NZ$399 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$346.96

Playmaker humbucker Single NZ$219 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas it’s GST free; NZ$190.43

Cover NZ$20 ($17.39) extra each pickup

Bridge 11.9 KOhms Alnico IV – Neck 7.1 KOhms, Alnico II

buy Playmaker set

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buy Playmaker single

The Playmaker humbucker set is a clear sounding guitar pickup set made for genres from classic rock to heavy blues.

Designed for its dynamics, this humbucker set reacts to your playing style and volume settings. They clean up when you back off. They give you the grit you’re looking for when you dig in. The perfect pickup for classic rock or dirty blues. Whether you’re pushing an amp, using pedals or using amp modeling.

Playmaker humbucker set electric guitar pickup

The Playmaker was designed for players who need a guitar pickup with a little more than a PAF. But without being an over the top rock pickup set. They have a little more power and bite than a traditional PAF. The Playmaker’s dynamics and touch sensitivity help you stand out from the mix.

These pickups were designed around Gibson scale lengths. But they are also a good match for the Kokako Strat neck and middle pickups as a HSS set.

A big part of the testing process involved playing through various classic overdrive pedals as well as amplifiers. Both neck and bridge pickups had to work well with a Tube Screamer, Klon, Blues Driver and fuzz. Not to forget amp modelling, it’s a big part of modern playing.

Here Warren Mendonsa shows the dynamics of the pickups change when he uses the volume controls. The Playmakers respond to his pick attack, that creates huge possibilities for varying your tone and feel. Back off and the Playmaker backs off with you. Dig in and they sing.

Playmaker bridge pickup

The Playmaker bridge pickup was designed with pedals in mind. A part of the testing process was about voicing these pickups to be used with various overdrives. Tube Screamer, Klon and Blues Driver as well as natural amp overdrive were all used as test sounds.

Overdrive stacking is a big part of a lot of player’s sound. The Playmaker set was tested with this in mind.

The bridge pickup is wound asymmetrically and powered by an alnico IV magnet. This gives it better tonal balance than the slightly scooped alnico V magnet. But there’s more power than the alnico II in a PAF. The alnico IV delivers just the right amount of power. It is designed to respond well to variations in pick attack giving the dynamics that blues players need. It maintains its transparency and clarity when using the guitar volume giving you great onboard control.

Playmaker neck pickup

The neck pickup is also wound asymmetrically and uses an alnico 2 magnet to maintain a mid range balance.

The reason for the asymmetry is to give greater mid range clarity and that neck pickup chime. It loves clean funky rhythm lines as well as singing leads. This is a neck pickup that wants to be played, not just an ornament. It’s great for rhythm parts that stand out in a mix. But it’s not shy if you’re having a Gary Moore or Santana moment.

Here’s another example of the bridge and neck pickups.

Here is a short video showing some of my thoughts on the Playmaker and how they sound.

The Development of the Playmaker humbucker set

The idea behind this pickup came originally from Ben Sargent. He’s a well respected guitar repairer in Wellington NZ. He has fitted many sets of my pickups as well as using them himself.

He called me in late 2024 with an idea. He’d been thinking I should make a pickup between my Integrity PAF range and the Cloud Nine rock pickup set. Something that would react to changes in the player’s attack. A humbucker set that would be equally happy played clean or dirty.

It seemed like a great idea. We agreed it needed to be something different, not just an over wound PAF. So that summer the idea was churning around in my head.

Spending time thinking can often be more productive than time spent winding coils.

In February 2025 I got down to work making prototypes. As for all my pickups when I felt I was close I swapped the pickups into different guitars. Testing with various scale lengths and body woods is essential. I need to hear them in different situations.

I tested them with many different amps and overdrive pedals and with the band. At that time the band was auditioning for a new drummer. It was the perfect environment to try the pickups in different situations. The drummer makes a big difference to how the pickup’s low end responds in a mix. Within a month I got to test them with 2 different bass players and a half a dozen drummers. Its important to play next to a drummer and bass player. You just don’t know how a pickup will react until its up loud in a mix.

Playing live is an essential part of my testing. That is when you hear how the bottom end sits in a mix. It is easy to make a pickup too boomy. It is only in a band situation that you really know how it sits. A lot of makers skip this stage. It certainly makes the design process longer but I intend to use this design for the rest of my life. I don’t care how long the prototyping stage takes, it needs to be right.

When I was happy I sent a set down to Ben in Wellington to get his take on them. He’s a very different player to me so his contribution really mattered. He was happy with them – so I was too.

Available with 52mm or 49.2mm bridge pickup spacing, 4 conductor wire is standard but I’m happy to use braided if you prefer.

These pickups are happiest with 500k Ohm volume and tone pots and 50’s style wiring in Gibson type guitars. The choice of capacitor is up to you but I like 0.022microfarad. Great with either modern wiring or 50’s wiring though my preference is 50’s.

The bridge pickup is great in HSS Strats alongside either my Kokako or Tui single coils. The neck pickup is ideal as a neck humbucker with my Cruel Mistress or Duchess bridge pickups.

To celebrate NZ Music Month in May ’25 I recorded a riff every day for a month. Every riff was from a New Zealand artist. and they were all recorded using a Playmaker set in a Les Paul. I wanted to show the versatility of this pickup set. Here are all 31 riffs. I think you’ll agree this set of pickups will do just about anything you ask of them.

Cover options

Here are some options for the look of your new pickups.

Don’t forget, if you want your pickups aged you just have to ask. I’ll ask you for some pictures and do my best to match the ageing of your guitar. Here is some more info on guitar pickup ageing.

Humbucker cover options Mr Glyns Pickups

example of pickup cover aging by MrGlyns Pickups

buy Playmaker set

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buy Playmaker single

For video demos of pickups and more here is Mr Glyn’s Pickups Youtube channel.

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Integrity alnico 2 vintage voiced humbucker

Cloud Nine hot humbucker Mr Glyns pickups

updated 12 December 2024

Posted on November 15, 2023July 1, 2025 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Pickup String Spacing – choosing a humbucker

Pickup string spacing is something you need to be aware of when you’re buying guitar pickups, particularly humbuckers. Guitar bridges come with different string widths so pickups need to match that. In this blog post I’m going to explain what It’s all about and how to measure it.

What is a Pole Piece?

Pickups have pole pieces, think of these as magnets mounted in the pickup listening for string movement. Sometimes they are actual magnets, sometimes pieces of steel directing magnetism towards the strings. In this case they are steel screws.

This is what we mean by ‘pole spacing’ its the distance between the outer most poles, centre to centre.

Pickup String Spacing — Humbucker pole spacing

What you don’t need to know

Here’s how a pickup works. A the string sitting inside the magnetic field actually becomes a temporary magnet. When the string vibrates it disturbs this magnetic field. This creates an electrical signal in the coil of wire around the magnet.

It’s a tiny signal but enough to get through your guitar’s on board circuit and down a cable. It’s hard to imagine that such a small amount of electricity can produce such a lot of sound. Have a think about it next time you’re at a big gig. What you’re hearing is just that small amount of electricity generated in a coil of wire. It’s really cool stuff and I find it fascinating. But you don’t really need to know all that.

Pickup String spacing – what you need to know

The string needs to align with the magnet to get the best signal. Magnets are, however, not lasers, they generate a magnetic field and not a precise beam. If the string isn’t in perfect alignment it’s fine. If the slightest misalignment made a difference then string bending would cause a drop in volume. Have a look next time you bend a string how far the string moves away from the pole.

Guitar Pickup string alignment — String Alignment

As you can see, a little bit out of line makes no difference. Eddie Van Halen used a vintage PAF on Van Halen I with a Fender type bridge. PAF ‘s were 49.2mm (1 15/16″) spacing and Fender bridges are usually 52mm. If there had been a problem he would have noticed. So don’t get too hung up on this stuff. There are many more tiny details involved in guitar playing that you’ll be much better off worrying about.

Please remember that if a humbucker has 49.2mm spacing or 52mm spacing it’s outer dimensions are the same. The overall size of the pickup doesn’t change. So if you take out a 49.2mm humbucker and replace it with a 52mm it will still fit. It’s just the pole alignment to the strings that will be different.

As the poles can be further away the distance the winding wire travels to get around the bobbing is also longer. A 52mm pole spaced pickup will have a slightly higher Ohm reading than a 49.2mm spaces pickup due to this extra length. It is possible to under wind a longer bobbing to compensate for this but the result is a pickup that sounds thinner. Its the number of turns that is important not the Ohm reading. You don’t really need to know that either but it’s an interesting fact.

Guitar bridges come in various sizes giving different string spacing. A Gibson ABR Tune-o-matic your string spacing will be narrower than a Fender Strat bridge, for instance. It can get confusing when dealing with different Tune-o-Matic bridges. The older style ABR has a narrower spacing than the more modern Nashville bridge. Either could be fitted to a Les Paul. If you’re thinking of buying some Mr Glyn’s pickups and you have any doubt just email me. Yoiu can always send a pic and I’ll tell you which bridge you have.

By the time the strings get to the neck pickup the spacings are just about the same. So neck pickups don’t vary in width. We’re just talking about bridge pickups here.

Ideally we want the strings to line up as best as possible with the pickup’s poles. But we’re not getting too hung up on it.

How to measure string spacing

The measurement is the distance from the first to the sixth strings centre to centre at the bridge pickup. This diagram should help:

Strat Bridge spacing - 52mm — Strat Bridge

You can simply do this with a ruler, like I have.

As you can see this ’89 Strat bridge has 52mm string spacing. If you wanted to choose a bridge humbucker to make it a HSS Strat then choose the 52mm option.

If you’re buying a Mr Glyns Pickup and have any doubt just send me a pic of your bridge. I will be able to advise you.

What is F spacing?

F spacing simply means a wider spaced bridge humbucker – 52, 52.5 or 53mm. The F stands for either ‘Fender’ or ‘Floyd Rose’. It isn’t clear which and doesn’t really matter.

Why 49.2mm not just 49mm? You may well ask! It’s the metric equivalent of the pole spacing for a Gibson PAF. That is the pickup most humbuckers are based on. The original measurement in imperial is 1 15/16″ – which if you ask me is no less silly a number that 49.2. But we’re stuck with it.

If you a need for a new set of humbuckers you can find the Mr Glyns Pickup humbucker range here.

Here is a link to my YouTube playlist for humbucker demos.

If you have any questions about which pickup is right for you please get in touch.

Thanks for reading this blog post. Please contact me if there are any pickup based subjects you would like me to write a blog about. I’m always looking for new subjects.

Posted on July 4, 2023June 27, 2024 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Maxon humbucker?

I thought it was going to be a straightforward pickup repair but is this pickup actually a Maxon humbucker?

As part of my work I repair pickups for luthiers. Most guitar repairers don’t wind pickups and even the ones that do often send me pickups to repair, it saves them a lot of time. One such repairer is Auckland’s Ramsay Phillips.

For me repairing pickups is a really interesting part of my job. I enjoy seeing how the basic concept of a magnet and a coil of wire can be made in so many different ways. Back in the 1990’s I first learned about pickups by repairing them and I don’t think that instinct ever leaves. Most of my pickup repair work is very straight forward but occasionally something interesting comes along. This is one of those.

So Ramsay sent me a bridge humbucker from this 1970’s Antoria to repair. I was expecting something like the classic Maxon U-1000 but there was a surprise.

This is not the first Maxon Humbucker I’ve seen I’ve worked on a few old Maxon pickups in my time and they have always deserved their great reputation. So I had a good idea what to expect from this humbucker.

Maxon serial number dating

The number on the base plate of this pickup is a date stamp not a model number though it would be nice to have both.

So to translate the Maxon pickup dating code:

The first number is a production line code

second number is the year, so in this case 1974

third number, the month, so September

and the last 2 are the day, so the 17th

So that tells us its from Sept 17th 1974. I always wonder why manufacturers can’t just write the date plainly instead of a secret code but they all seem to do it.

Something unusual

But there’s something odd here. The pole piece screws don’t extend under the base plate. The 6 holes in the base where I expected to see the poles are blocked by something. Time to get the cover off and see what’s inside.

What’s Inside?

This is exactly what was inside – a single coil disguised as a humbucker! So Maxon humbucker? Well, it’s a Maxon but not a humbucker.

It has the typical floppy nylon bobbin I would expect to see in a Maxon but this one is sitting on top of a large ceramic magnet.

My job here is to fix this pickup so I remove the bobbin and start to carefully remove the sticky old tape.

I remove the hookup wires and try re-soldering them to the winding wire and the pickup comes to life. It was simply a dry joint. This one is showing me 8KOhms on the meter which is in the ballpark of a PAF though it would sound nothing like one.

You can see the metal plate mounted inside the bobbin that connects the short pole screws to the magnet.

So, Maxon humbucker? Well, certainly Maxon but not a humbucker. Beware – not all Maxon pickups are classics.

I’ve had a look on line and can’t find a model number for this pickup. It seems the only distinguishing feature from the outside is the lack of pole screws through the base plate.

If you are interested in vintage humbucker tones check out the Mr Glyn’s ‘Integrity’ humbucker. It comes in 4 flavours or both bridge and neck.

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Gibson P90 — Integrity -vintage humbucker

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updated July 2023

Maxon humbucker?

Posted on April 11, 2023November 21, 2023 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Hofner Pickup – an interesting repair

I came across a blog I wrote in 2010 about a repair on an old Hofner pickup, thought you might be interested:

I had a visit from Paul Crowther the other day (always a pleasure to see him). He’s rather a legend for amongst other things his ‘Hotcake’ overdrive pedals and the ‘Prunes and Custard’ (my favorite for theremin).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emlyn_Crowther

He wanted to know if my coil winding machine was up and running – he had an interesting pickup for me to wind.

Its an old Hofner pickup which I guess is from the 50’s. The guitar has 3 of them and this one has a break in the windings so needs to be re-wound.
This would normally be a straight forward job except for the design of this pickup.

This is the inside of it. The windings (around the outside) are not wrapped around a bobbin. They are just sitting in the pickup and have been wrapped in tape to protect them. In the middle you can see the magnets sitting in a hard putty. There are incidentally only 5 magnets.
So the problem Paul left me with was how to wrap about 5000 turns of extremely thin wire into a coil and therefore make a pickup.
After a long brainstorming session with Sheena we came up with a plan.

Very tricky re-wind, Hofner pickup

We figured that the wire had to be wound around a bobbin and then somehow the bobbin removed.

So I made this bobbin. The sides are plastic from a Strat pickguard (white) and the centre has been carved from candle wax.

The bobbin bolts together and is attached to another plastic plate which in turn fits to the winding machine.
The idea is to wind the pickup on this and then warm the completed coil up and melt the wax. The wax should seep into the coil thus potting it as well. Then the sides can be unbolted and voila a copy of the original coil.

Winding the coil wasn’t any different from any other pickup – so now for the tricky bit.

I warm the coil ever so gently with a heat gun. I put my free hand next to the work to judge the temperature – if it gets too hot the plastic will melt and I’ll be starting again.

When I see some wax oozing out I ever so gently remove the top plate.

With the wax exposed I can apply more heat and watch it flow into the coil and as it cools becomes solid.

Then I wrap tape around it to hold everything in place. I cannot emphasize enough how fiddly this is. There are a few stray wires and if any of them break I’m starting again.

It may not be much to look at but its taken hours of quiet patience. The slight curve is to match the shape of the pickup casing. I’ve tested it and I’m pleased with it at 5.5Kohms.
In the background you can see the magnetic lugs – I had to dig them out of the putty.

I put the whole thing back together using ‘friendly plastic’ instead of putty then fill the casing with wax, solder the back on and its finished.

Its been quite a task fixing this old Hofner pickup but I’m happy with the result.

It was so satisfying breathing new life into this old Hofner pickup, it should be good for another 50 years.

Glyn

Hofner Pickup – an interesting repair

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updated July 2023

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Posted on December 21, 2022July 31, 2025 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Customer Testimonials on Mr Glyn’s Pickups

In the last week I have received 2 emails with customer feedback with YouTube demos attached showing how Mr Glyn’s Pickups are working for them. Customer Feedback is always gratefully received.

If you like their YouTube channels don’t forget to Subscribe.

Reg in Christchurch NZ

Firstly, Reg in Christchurch NZ with a set of Cruel Mistress Telecaster pickups:

Customer Feedback from Tasmania

Then Antonio from Tasmania who has a Cloud Nine bridge pickup.

Here is the email he sent me along with the links to his YouTube:

Hi mate.

Just wanted to give you some feedback on the cloud nine i recently installed.

Firstly, thanks for the amazingly fast service.

Secondly the pickup sounds fantastic, especially alongside the dimarzio hs4s that were already installed on the guitar. I got the cloud nine to replace the paf pro which was only standard spacing but needed to be f spaced. I absolutely love the paf pro, but im so glad i went with the cloud nine.

Even in coil cut mode it sounds fantastic.

Anyways i wanted to send you a couple of links to videos i made with the finished guitar.

The cold chisel one i used the humbucker in full mode on the second solo.

As for the Europe cover, all the rhythm guitars were recorded in coil cut mode including the parts of the solo when i switch to the bridge. Because the hs pickups are such low output pups, the cloud nine in coil cut mode is a perfect output match.

Im definitely going to give more of your pickups a go.

Exceptionally well made mate.

Regards

Antonio

Here is my YouTube channel

Customer Feedback — Mr Glyn’s Pickups Logo – Roboguy

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Cruel Mistress tele Mr Glyns pickups — Pandora 3 way Esquire

Customer Feedback

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Posted on October 21, 2022October 13, 2025 by mrglynspickups — 1 Comment

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

Buy Cool 90 set

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Buy Cool 90 single

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.

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

Buy Cool 90 set

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Buy Cool 90 single

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Sassy traditional P90 pickup by Mr Glyns Pickups — Les Paul Jr P90 from 1955

Les Paul Jnr P90 1955 repair — Les Paul Jr P90 from 1955

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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Posted on September 6, 2022March 24, 2025 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Series Parallel switch

You may have heard of Series Parallel wiring in guitars, here’s how to do it.

There are numerous ways to wire a humbucker. The standard way is in series, its the sound we all know, with that pushy lower mid tone.

Some players like to coil tap their humbucker to get the option of a thinner more Fender type tone. That is essentially switching one coil off.

A less well used way to thin the sound is with a series/parallel switch. A humbucker wired in parallel with itself is more single coil like than in standard wiring, there’s less volume drop than coil tapping and it still hum cancels. I much prefer it.

So what is Series/Parallel all about?

The standard way of wiring a humbucker is in series. PAF’s are wired this way and it gives the traditional full sound with plenty of mids and bottom end. Its simply one coil following the other, the end of one coil connected to the beginning of the next.

Wiring a humbucker in parallel is quite a different sound. It’s much more similar to a single coil sound but the pickups is still hum cancelling. There is a drop in volume though not as much as with a coil tap (switching one coil off). And the pickup is still hum cancelling. It’s like taking away the lower mid range push that a series wired humbucker has and being left with more clarity.

This humbucker series parallel diagram shows how to do it with a push/pull switch. With the series parallel switch down and the humbucker is wired in series (normal), pull it up and it’s in parallel. The wiring colour code is for Mr Glyn’s Pickups (I use the same colours as Seymour Duncan).

Series Parallel diagram

Series Parallel switch for guitar pickups humbucker

Not such a hard diagram to follow is it? I’m not sure why this modification isn’t more popular. Maybe it’s a little harder to understand than coil tapping, maybe it’s because its a little more complicated to wire up. I certainly prefer it in my guitars to give an extra tonal option without taking anything away from the original sound.

Another example of 2 pickup coils wired in parallel is a Strat on position 2 and 4 of the switch. That sound is often incorrectly referred to as ‘out of phase’ but it actually is the sound of 2 coils wired in parallel with each other. So think of the chimey clarity a humbucker would have wired that way and that will give you an idea what a series parallel switch might do for you.

As with all guitar mods its worth having a play around and see if it suits you. It certainly works for me.

It would be great if you could subscribe to this blog (below) so you don’t miss out on any other pickup related articles.

I’m going to be posting a few more wiring diagrams in the near future. Keep an eye on this blog or my social media:

Have a look at Mr Glyns Pickups YouTube channel. There are lots of demos and ‘how to’ videos there.

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Mr Glyns Pickups is a small business which means I can communicate with my customers one to one. I’m always happy to discuss your requirements, answer questions and give advice. I want to know about the guitars my pickups are going in, send me pictures, send me recordings.

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Series Parallel switch

Posted on June 20, 2022December 22, 2023 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Epiphone Les Paul pickup upgrade

Integrity humbuckers. PAF Alnico 2 vintage voiced pickups

The biggest difference you can make to an Epiphone Les Paul is a pickup upgrade. In this video Ben Neal does just that.

Take a look at his YouTube channel for more great videos – https://www.youtube.com/c/BenNeal

There are many ways to upgrade a guitar, changing the pickups is the most significant.

Epiphone pickup upgrade

He goes through every aspect of what these guitars are capable of. I think he proves that these can be great guitars with just a few extra tweaks.

If you need help choosing just get in touch. Just go to this page and answer two simple questions and Ill get back to you with a recomended pickup.

pickup upgrade

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Posted on February 16, 2022July 8, 2024 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Integrity humbucker in a HSS Strat

Had some fun today making a short stop-motion movie of Roboguy to demonstrate an Integrity humbucker in a HSS Strat.

The ‘real’ guitar is being played by Warren Mendonsa aka Blackstratblues.

HSS Strat

Of course, any of my humbuckers will work as part of a HSS Strat set but I think the Integrity matches single coil pickups best.

For more demos of this pickup have a look here: https://mrglynspickups.com/2020/03/29/integrity-vintage-humbucker-2/

Inspired by the early Gibson PAF pickups the Integrity-vintage humbucker give the classic full, balanced tone we all love. Asymmetric coils give an open sounding mid range and the Alnico II magnet gives clarity and balance. A rich bottom end, characterful mids and sweet treble make this a pickup set for every situation – Jazz, Blues, Rock, it does it all.

The full and honest sound of the Integrity-vintage humbucker along with it’s timeless tone inspired the name “Integrity”. https://mrglynspickups.com/

Integrity humbucker in a HSS Strat

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Contemporary humbucker for the modern player

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Posted on November 12, 2021October 13, 2025 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

‘Mini’ – mini humbucker

Single NZ$219 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas it’s GST free; NZ$190.43

Pair NZ$399 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$346.96

AlnicoV – Bridge 7.25 KOhms, AlnicoV – Neck 6.6 KOhms

Buy Mini set

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Buy Mini single

The ‘Mini’ is inspired by the Gibson mini humbuckers of the 70’s used in the Les Paul Deluxe.

The ‘Mini’ is a clean clear sounding mini humbucker with the warmth and clarity from an alnico II magnet combined with low winding strength. This gives them a full, smooth, chiming bass, clear mids and an almost jangly treble, present but never harsh.

Great for jazz, funk, blues, pop or any genre that requires a clean, low powered humbucker set.

Mini humbuckers are great pickups, lower in power than their full size sisters their clarity comes from less windings around a smaller bobbin. The smaller size of the pickup means they ‘hear’ less of the string length than a full size humbucker. The result is a clearer tone with less of the lower mid range push that you get from a PAF.

Mini humbucker set - deluxe style mini humbucker by MrGlyns Pickups

The neck pickup has a clear voice ideal for funk or jazz. The neck and bridge pickups together have a perfect balance when used together, ideal for clean rhythm playing. The bridge pickup alone has a cheeky ‘cut through’ quality pushing you to the front of any mix.

Although he Les Paul Deluxe was a short lived guitar in the Gibson range the mini humbucker has lived on. It is a very popular pickup in custom guitars particularly the neck pickup and is a great match for Mr Glyn’s ‘Cruel Mistress’ telecaster bridge pickup.

This isn’t really a demo but it shown you how the ‘Mini’ neck pickup sounds in the hands of a pro:

mini humbucker

If you’re looking for a pickup that is clearer than a PAF, has a less prominent lower mid spike with an even balanced tone then the mini humbucker could be the pickup for you.

The Mini has a more powerful sister – the Minx https://mrglynspickups.com/2021/11/11/minx-mini-humbucker/

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mini humbucker https://www.youtube.com/c/MrGlynsPickups/videos

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Minx hot mini humbucker by MrGlyns Pickups

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Posted on November 11, 2021October 13, 2025 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Minx mini humbucker

Single Minx mini humbucker NZ$219 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas it’s it’s GST free; NZ$190.43

Pair Minx mini humbucker NZ$399 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$346.96

Minx mini humbucker specifications: AlnicoV – Bridge 10.5 KOhms, AlnicoV – Neck 6.6KOhms

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The Minx mini humbucker is a hot mini humbucker designed for the blues and rock player.

Minx - hot mini humbucker Mr Glyns pickups

The Minx has plenty of that mini humbucker clarity and tonality but with more power and more grit.

If you love your mini humbucker guitar but want a bit more power than standard Deluxe style pickups the Minx mini humbucker is the pickup for you.

The ‘Minx’ is a clean clear sounding mini humbucker but with more power than the vintage Gibson’s. There is warmth and clarity but with more powerful windings than the ‘Mini’ along with an alnicoV magnet they will push your amp harder.

With narrower coils than a PAF mini humbuckers ‘hear’ a narrower part of the string resulting in cleaner highs, a less pushy lower mid range and a distinctive clear bass that’s never woofy or wooly.

The neck pickup has the same coils as the ‘Mini’ but with an alnicoV magnet they have a fatter power and make a great match to the Minx bridge pickup.

The bridge pickup has a characterful mid range with a bite and fullness that is lacking in most mini humbuckers. You wouldn’t describe this pickup as polite and it will certainly put you towards the front of any mix.

Minx mini humbucker set by MrGlyns Pickups, New Zealand

Great for the blues or rock player after dynamics – tickle it and it’s clean but when you dig in there’s enough power to push the front end of your amp into break up when you ask it to.

If you’re looking for a pickup that is clearer than a PAF, has a less prominent lower mid spike with an even balanced tone then the Minx – mini humbucker could be the pickup for you.

For a lower powered mini humbucker take a look at the ‘Mini’ https://mrglynspickups.com/2021/11/12/mini-humbucker/

Mr Glyns Pickups YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@MrGlynsPickups/featured

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TheTron filtertron style pickup set by MrGlyns pickups

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updated 8 May 2023

Posted on September 13, 2021July 18, 2024 by mrglynspickups — 2 Comments

Gretsch FilterTron – a look inside

The Gretsch FilterTron is something rather special. Originally designed in 1954/5 by Ray Butts for guitarist Chet Atkins who wasn’t satisfied by the DynaSonic pickup he was using. It has become a classic but often misunderstood pickup.

What is the Filtertron sound?

It has left a distinct mark on the sound of Rock’n’Roll. It’s the sound of Malcolm Young, Brian Setzer, Billy Duffy and plenty more. That unmistakable ‘Clank’ on the attack of the note is the essence of the FilterTron.

I started playing guitar because of the sound of a Gretsch FilterTron. Listen to Malcolm Young on the intro to “Jailbreak” – that’s what I’m talking about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRo2m6RYJpI

But you don’t only find FilterTrons in Gretches, there’s the rather cool Fender Cabronita Telecaster for instance.

So what’s inside a Gretsch FilterTron?

So how does it make that distinctive sound? What makes it so different from a PAF?

Here’s a vintage Gretsch FilterTron from 1961, let’s take a look under the hood.

With the cover off it looks quite different from a PAF. There are 2 rows of adjustable poles and they’re bigger than on a Gibson. The top of the bobbins are rather neatly hidden by a thin plate.

The Technical Stuff

Here’s where it gets really interesting. Those are very narrow bobbins and this one measures only 4.2KOhms. Not a lot of coil strength there but look what they’re sitting on. That is one fat magnet. It’s an Alnico V and literally twice the thickness of the magnet that you’d find in a PAF. So not only more powerful magnetic material but double the amount of it compared to a Gibson. That makes it quite a different beast.

So that Gretsch FilterTron sound consists of a weaker, thin sounding coil so lots of highs and twang from the windings and getting the aggression, attack and ‘clank’ from the powerful magnet. A powerful magnet gives an immediacy to tone. You can really feel it when you play a guitar with a larger magnet.

This is the original Gretsch FilterTron, the design didn’t change much through to the late 60’s although there are plenty of inconsistencies. They can have a dc resistance from 4KOhms up to 5KOhms.

By the 1970’s they had changed the design and really they just didn’t sound like Gretsch’s any more.

A lot of the modern ones are simply small Gibson style humbuckers with cool looking covers and just miss the whole point of the FilterTron sound. This tone is not for everyone but for some of us it’s simple the best sound an electric guitar can make.

It’s all about those weak coils and that monster magnet. There is more than one way to make an electric guitar pickup.

The work I did on this original set of Gretsch pickup really inspired me to design my own take on the Filtertron pickup. I call it ‘The Tron’. It has the same magnet as the original to give it that character but with slightly different coils. I have wound the bridge pickup to be on the upper end of the old ones to balance it with then neck pickup. Back in the day the bridge and neck were identical.

The Tron is available with a few different insert colors – for more information follow the link below.

Updated July 2024

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My own version of the FilterTron is now available:

TheTron

Feel free to get in touch for pickup repairs or new pickups mrglynspickups@gmail.com. 021 912 678 https://mrglynspickups.com/

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Posted on August 20, 2021October 13, 2025 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Clear View humbucker

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

Cover are NZ$20 ($17.39) extra each pickup

Alnico V, Bridge 3.58KOhms, 2.43H, Neck 1.96KOhms, 1.16H

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Buy Clear View single

The “Clear View” humbucker is something different. It’s a humbucker for players that don’t like humbuckers.

This pickup set is all about pure clarity. There are no pushy lower mids that make your clean sound a mush. The highs are clean and clear but not harsh, the bottom end is clear but with none of that humbucker woof.

Demo in a Les Paul

Upgrading a Squire

If single coils are too harsh and unforgiving, conventional humbuckers too powerful and muddy then here’s the solution. The “Clear View” humbucker is low powered and balanced, designed for the textural player, great with reverbs and modulation, sits its the mix without getting in the way.

If you want a low powered ‘Vintage’ humbucker with all the character of a PAF get a MrGlyn’s ‘Integrity’ humbucker. If humbuckers sound too thick and you crave extra clarity then the ‘Clear View’ is for you.

And, of course, it’s hum cancelling.

This is not a pickup born to rock, it’s more than that.

Here’s a short video, clean with no effects, to show the clarity and balance of the “clear View” Pickups.

The Clear View humbucker Story

It started with a phone call from luthier Ramsay Phillips.

I’ve got huge respect for Ramsay, he’s worked all over the world and has a great client list (including Steve Vai). He knows guitars, knows tone and he’s a thinker. So when he calls to talk about a new pickup idea I listen.

He was interested in having a humbucker for people that didn’t like humbuckers (his phrase). A pickup with clear tone and low powered but not like a PAF, clearer than that. He wanted a mid range more like a single coil than a traditional humbucker. At first I thought my ‘Black Sand’ humbucker size P90 would suit him but as he talked I realized he didn’t want the grit of a P90. He’s very well practiced at describing sound so I felt I understood what he meant. He assured me he had customers asking about such a pickup.

He wasn’t in a rush which meant I could have a good ponder over what he’d said before making anything. It’s often best just to let a project sit rather than wade in and make a load of prototypes that don’t quite do it. Thinking time is important.

Then one morning about a week later I was out on the beach with the dogs. There was quite a big swell (the sea is never calm at Muriwai) and I was listening to the sea. When there’s a big swell the sea produced the full range of frequencies, it is pretty much pink noise. I was trying to figure out which frequencies in that sound I would need to remove to make Ramsay’s pickup. I often ponder problems this way and for me it often works. By the time I got home there was a plan.

I made a set of pickups, sent them to him and a few days later he called to say they were spot on. It isn’t usually that easy.

And the Clear View humbucker set was born.

Chrome humbucker cover — Clear View humbucker

Here are some cover options for the Clear View humbucker set. If you would like your cover relic’ed please add a comment at the time of purchase.

Selection of humbucker cover options, MrGlyns Pickups — Humbucker options

Slider humbucker cover style, by MrGlyns Pickups

Gatsby humbucker cover, by MrGlyns Pickups

example of humbucker cover aging by MrGlyns Pickups

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Black Sand, humbucker size P90, by MrGlyns Pickups

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/https://mrglynspickups.com/

https://www.youtube.com/c/MrGlynsPickups/videos

Posted on August 11, 2021July 18, 2024 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Yamaha SA30 pickup

This Yamaha SA30 pickup came to me for repair the other day and I decided to take some photos and share my thoughts on it with you.

Yamaha SA30 pickup

The Yamaha SA30 pickup is becoming a bit of a legend and getting rather sought after. Gone are the days you could pick one up cheap – the word is out. Thank you internet 🥴.

If you don’t know about them here’s some info: https://tymguitars.com.au/blogs/blog/1966-yamaha-sa-30t

The Repair

This Yamaha SA30 pickup was sent to me with an intermittent fault. It would work if you tapped it but stop a minute later. That pointed towards it being an internal wiring fault, maybe a dry joint, rather than a broken coil, I needed to investigate.

With the cover off you can see the hook up wires – these were my number one suspects. Sure enough, there was a dry joint where one of them was soldered to the connectors on the base plate. Just to make sure I re- soldered all the joints and the pickup is fixed. It is pretty common for pickups to just have dry joint problems. Most of the pickups I receive for repair don’t need re winding.

What’s inside a Yamaha SA30 pickup?

But that’s not the interesting part – look at those bobbins. They’re different sizes. They each measure in the 4.5 K Ohms range but they’re clearly wound with different gauge wire on each coil. These pickups are renowned for their clarity – so what’s going on?

The smaller coil on the left must be wound with thinner gauge wire and less of it than the one on the right. Thinner wire have a greater resistance for the same length.

The coil on the right looks like a conventional humbucker coil like an overwound PAF but the coil on the left would have a less full sound. It will have less bottom and lower mids and a lot less power. But that’s just the windings. The windings are only ever half the story.

Turn the pickup over and you can see a ceramic bar magnet but it’s how it connects to the poles that’s interesting. The bigger coil has a larger piece of steel coupling the poles to the magnet than the smaller coil. Measuring the strength of the magnetic field on the top of the poles the smaller coil is about 20% weaker. So this again gives the big coil an overwound PAF sound and the smaller coil still thinner.

So with the Yamaha SA30 pickup they’ve created that clarity by having one coil doing most of the work – 4.5k Ohms with a ceramic magnet has a bit more grunt than one half of a PAF. But the other coil on it’s own would have more of a weedy gold foil type sound. Then they’ve been combined in series as a humbucker. Smart stuff eh!

I find it fascinating how many variations there are of electric guitar pickups. They might just be a magnet and a coil of wire but there are so many ways to vary that basic plan. I’m not sure if i will ever incorporate this idea into one of my own pickups but it’s worth keeping at the back of my mind, you never know…

Feel free to contact me for pickup repairs or for a chat about my range of new pickups. mrglynspickups@gmail.com

And here’s a great site for all things Yamaha SA, heaps of information here https://www.thesupposedstringmeister.net/?page_id=644

https://mrglynspickups.com/

https://www.youtube.com/c/MrGlynsPickups/videos

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‘74 Precision Bass Pickup Re-wind — ’74 Precision Bass Pickup re-wind

Gibson T-Top pickup repair — ’74 Precision Bass Pickup re-wind

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Posted on July 6, 2021August 22, 2025 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Understanding How Humbuckers Cancel Noise

So How do Humbuckers Work?

By a clever quirk of physics humbuckers manage to cancel out the hum they pick up. So how do they do it? Here’s a simple explanation with some help from Sammy the dog.

You can go to the Mr Glyn’s Pickups website to check out some humbuckers I make.

Mr Glyn’s pickups are hand made in New Zealand.

I make a few flavors of humbucker:

The Integrity

A full, clear sounding Alnico II pickups in the style of the best of the early PAF’s. Balance and clarity – a humbucker for every situation.

The Cloud Nine

A mid to hot, pickup made specifically for blues/rock players who want to push the front end of their amps. Plenty of grunt, plenty of mids and enough cut through for you to stand out in the mix.

The Attitude

A pickup for the modern metal or fusion player. Articulate and balanced, smooth and clear.

The Draig

A humbucker set designed for Doom metal.

You can dint more useful videos on my YouTube channel

How do Humbuckers Work?

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Repair of Fender "Wide Range" Humbucker — Fender ‘wide range’ humbucker repair

Rock/Metal pickup — Fender ‘wide range’ humbucker repair

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How do Humbuckers Work

Posted on June 16, 2021October 10, 2023 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Gibson T-Top repair

I’ve been repairing a few broken old pickups recently so thought I’d share some pictures and thoughts on this classic old Gibson T-Top.

The T-Top is a fairly common pickup on my workbench. Not because there’s and common fault with them but simply there were so many made and they’re all getting quite old now.

The “T-Top” simply refers to the molding on the top of the bobbin. They were Gibson’s standard humbucker from 67/8 until around 1980 replacing the legendary PAF.

Mr Glyns Pickups Gibson t top — Gibson T-Top Mr Glyn’s Pickups

What is a Gibson T Top?

There were a few subtle changes from the PAF but enough to make a difference.

Although the bobbins look different the important dimensions were unchanged and they are still made of butyrate making it impractical to wax pot them. Butyrate distorts with heat.

The wire is poly insulated instead of the plain enamel used on PAF’s. Pretty much all T-Tops have a dc resistance of around 7.5 KOhms, neck and bridge the same. The coils are wound symmetrically and are unpotted so beware of squealing with high gain.

The magnets varied, often Alnico III, V or even Ceramic so not all T Tops sound the same.

T Top repair — Gibson T-Top Mr Glyn’s Pickups

This one came to me with a dead coil in need of a re-wind. the magnet is a rough cast Alnico V and from the good coil the finished dc reading I was after was 7.4 KOhms.

Gibson T-Top repair — Gibson T-Top Mr Glyn’s Pickups

After the re-wind I gave it some new cloth tape so it looked the part and it was ready to ROCK.

Gibson T Top humbucker — Processed with Focos

Get in touch if you have any old pickups in need of repair. Although most of my day is spent making new pickups I do enjoy repairing classic old pickups.

www.mrglynspickups.com

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les paul wiring diagram 50's. How to wiring Gibson Les Paul — Yamaha SA 30 pickup

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updated 3 October2023

Posted on October 2, 2020June 28, 2024 by mrglynspickups — Leave a comment

Seymour Duncan JB Re-Wind

Seymour Duncan JB humbuckers are such a classic pickup, loud and aggressive with no shortage of high end attack. This particular one has had a hard life and finally gave up so it arrived at my workshop for repair. It’s not the first Duncan JB Re-Wind I’ve had to do but this time I’ve taken some pics.

Duncan JB

This one had stopped working altogether. With the tape off the hook up wires are exposed and it’s possible to identify which coil has the problem. It’s usually just one coil.

It turned out to be the coil with the screws in this case.

The coil with the lugs in fine and showing 8.42KOhms and from that I can figure out what size wire they used and calculate the number of turns needed to re-wind the duff coil.

Pretty routine stuff this Duncan JB Re-Wind but always nice to have a look inside a classic pickup. https://mrglynspickups.com/

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

Pickup re-winds are a big part of what I do.

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Posted on March 29, 2020October 21, 2025 by mrglynspickups — 1 Comment

Integrity-vintage humbucker

Integrity-vintage humbucker Single NZ$219 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas it’s GST free; NZ$190.43

Integrity-vintage humbucker Pair NZ$399 for NZ customers, if you’re overseas they’re GST free; NZ$346.96

Cover NZ$20 ($17.39) extra each pickup

Alnico II – Bridge 8.02 KOhms, 6.43H. Neck 7.41 KOhms, 5.57H

Buy Integrity set

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Buy Integrity single

Inspired by the early Gibson PAF pickups the Integrity-vintage humbucker give the classic full balanced tone we all love.

Asymmetric coils give an open sounding mid range and the rough cast Alnico II magnet gives clarity and balance. A rich bottom end, characterful mids and sweet treble make this a pickup set for every situation. Jazz, Blues, Rock, it does it all.

Every pickup manufacturer makes a “Vintage” humbucker based on the Gibson PAF, of course they do – old Gibsons sound so good.

So how come they all sound so different? Well, the simple answer is that PAF’s were all different. Of any guitar pickups you’ll come across these are possibly the most variable.

I’ve been a full time luthier since 1995, whenever I come across an old humbucker I test the ohms and the gause and have a good listen. They’re all different. My conclusion is that pickup manufacturers have taken the PAF they like and based their own version on that. Old PAF’s vary so much so modern ones do as well.

Here is Nik Dobbin show off an Integrity set. The guitar is an all mahogany PRS Santana SE II from the early 2000’s.

Integrity-vintage humbucker requirements

I have designed my own version to be clear sounding, have obvious string separation and definition and to keep clarity no matter how much gain. The mids must be strong and woody, this is not a “scooped” pickup. The clean sound needs to be chimey and clear with no mush; through a valve amp I want clarity. When I tickle it I want clean and vocal sounding when it clips. The bridge pickup needs to be well behaved with high gain and clear with enough cut through so the drummer knows you’re there. The neck smooth, clear and articulate. Warm but with none of the boom you get with a more powerful pickup.

I don’t want much do I.

My “Integrity”-vintage humbucker has a rough cast Alnico II magnet. It uses plain enamel insulated magnet wire with asymmetric coils to open up the mids, just like the originals. Asymmetry in the coils creates a clearer mid range.

The very first pickup I ever made back in 1995 was a PAF style and I’ve been tweaking the recipe ever since.

Studying the intricacies of this pickup design have given me a huge respect for Seth Lover the designer of the original Gibson PAF. My version is not an exact replica of the originals, rather my own take on them. I have worked on countless PAF pickups over the years. I feel I have a good take on what makes them tick.

Its hard to imagine the guitar world without the PAF. Would Gibson be such a popular band without Seth Lover’s contribution? Its hard to say.

Like all my pickups I’ve used a number of test pilot players in its development as well as gigging it myself. Countless hours have gone into the testing stage of this design.A huge thanks to all the players and engineers involved in the development.

These pickups were played in studios and on stages in the hands of numerous players long before I gave them a name or built this website.

I made my first PAF type pickup in around 1995. It wasn’t until 2015 that I finally settles on this particular design. It has been a very long road for the integrity humbucker set. I am delighted to be offering them to you.

Here’s a great little demo of the Integrity’s in a mix. I encourage you to go and subscribe to this YouTube channel.

A Pickup in 4 Flavours

This pickup is available in 4 flavors to cover the various applications of this versatile pickup. You can select your option at the checkout.

The idea behind the 4 flavors is to simplify things for you. Rather than have 4 separate pickups with a similar vibe I’ve put them all under the umbrella of ‘Integrity’.

All 4 flavors fit within the range of the original PAF pickups. If you’re a Jazz or a rock player there’s an Integrity that will suit your style. All the pickups within this range use the same alnico II magnet, it’s just the windings that differ. If you are unsure which will work best for you just get in touch. I’m always happy to discuss your requirements.

The Standard wind –

This is the one I feel is the best balance between output and tone. All the demos are of this version unless otherwise stated. After my years of experimenting this is the version I like the best and use myself.

5% Underwound –

This has 5% less winding than the standard pickup. Less wire means less power but it also reduces the bass and gives a little more high end sparkle. If you want a low powered very clean humbucker this is for you. This one is all about clarity. Especially suited to archtop guitars. Here’s a nice little demo from TheSuperFunAwesomeHappyTimePedalShow.

Alex wanted a vintage vibe from his ’70’s Yamaha. He isn’t a rock player so was more concerned about the clean sound and light break up.

Integrity 5% under wound

A customer sent this little demo of his 5% under wound set. This is a great example showing how they respond to both clean and dirty sounds.

5% Overwound –

More winding mean a little more power but more significantly an increase in bass. Ideal for players wanting a classic rock tone or in HSS Strats.

Here is Nick Granville talking about his 5% over wound Integrity in the bridge position of a Strat.

He went for the Double Cream bobbins to match his single coils. I think you’ll agree it looks great.

10% Overwound –

An increase in power and bass from the standard pickup. Still very much the PAF vibe but with a bit more. This is a great rock pickup with the dynamic range to clean up nicely but with the power to push you amp. Suited to players using dirtier sounds from classic rock to Slash to early Van Halen.

The Integrity comes with 4 conductor wire to give you all the switching options. I very lightly wax pot the Integrity to reduce microphonic feedback but to retain some of the microphonic character of the originals.

The thinking behind the Integrity set

Here are a couple of short videos to explain the thinking behind the Integrity pickup set and its variants.

Integrity Neck Pickup

Integrity Bridge Pickup

In a HSS Strat

Here are a few videos showing the Integrity in different situations.

The full and honest sound of the Integrity-vintage humbucker along with it’s timeless tone inspired the name “Integrity”. https://mrglynspickups.com/

There are a number of cover options so you can choose how your Integrity 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 at $20 per pickup ($40 for a set).

Feel free to inquire about variations of these cover options. I can, for instance use gold screws with the black covers.

If you would like your pickup aged don’t hesitate to ask. I can do any degree of ageing from just reducing the glare to the full steam punk treatment. If you are matching your new pickup to an old guitar I will ask for some photos of your guitar. That’s the best way for me to match the degree of ageing to suit you. I always enjoy working with my customers to achieve what they want.

Buy Integrity set

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Buy Integrity single

Integrity-vintage humbucker

Testimonials

I put the integrity pick ups into my Jim Root Jazzmaster last week.
I gigged with the guitar on Sat night and am so happy.
They have the versatility that I’m looking for.
Thanks

Bought a set of Mr Glyn’s Integrity humbuckers and they are awesome! These pickups do everything from clean to blues rock to screaming distorted rock tones. So great to just roll off the volume, have it clean up but still stay loud and defined. My guitar is now super versatile and sounds great! Thanks

https://keningtonmusic.com/

Integrity-vintage humbucker – updated 21 Oct 2025

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Follow the links if you would like to know more

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Table of Contents

Playmaker bridge pickup

Playmaker neck pickup

The Development of the Playmaker humbucker set

Cover options

Table of Contents

What is a Pole Piece?

What you don’t need to know

Pickup String spacing – what you need to know

How to measure string spacing

What is F spacing?

Table of Contents

Maxon serial number dating

Something unusual

What’s Inside?

Maxon humbucker?

Very tricky re-wind, Hofner pickup

Table of Contents

Reg in Christchurch NZ

Customer Feedback from Tasmania

Enjoy this? You might also be interested in…

Table of Contents

Demos

Why Alnico II?

The Cool 90 Story

Table of Contents

So what is Series/Parallel all about?

Series Parallel diagram

Epiphone pickup upgrade

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HSS Strat

mini humbucker

Table of Contents

What is the Filtertron sound?

So what’s inside a Gretsch FilterTron?

The Technical Stuff

Table of Contents

Demo in a Les Paul

Upgrading a Squire

The Clear View humbucker Story

Table of Contents

Yamaha SA30 pickup

The Repair

What’s inside a Yamaha SA30 pickup?

So How do Humbuckers Work?

What is a Gibson T Top?

Duncan JB

Enjoy this? You may also be interested in…

Table of Contents

Integrity-vintage humbucker requirements

A Pickup in 4 Flavours

The Standard wind –

5% Underwound –

5% Overwound –

10% Overwound –

The thinking behind the Integrity set

In a HSS Strat

Testimonials

Follow the links if you would like to know more