[PaulS]

Has anyone tried either Joe Bardon or lollar Pickups. I have been doing a lot of research on then but i'd like to hear some reviews from here. The ones I have been thinking about are for my Lado TL80 if I don't sell it. It's a lovely guitar with a lot of fine work put into it and topnotch hardware. A few years ago when I played with more a rock act this guitar fit the bill quite well. Very versatile with a dimarzio HB in the bridge and a SD hot rail in the neck with coil splitting available by pulling up the tone knob. Sort of a tele/les paul configuration. Now that my collection has grown and my venue of music is a little broader I find that this guitar gets neglected...:frown: I was looking at the Joe Barden Danny gatton Neck pickup (hot rail) and the two tone HB for the bridge. They look pretty cool especially the HB. Then I looked at Lollar for a Charlie Christian neck pickup with a P90 in the bridge. Any suggestions other than these ? I'm looking for a bluesy jazzy kind of sound. I have a pic of the guitar in the FS/FT forum at the moment..... :thanks5qx:

 

[Tarbender]

I have a set of Joe Barton pickups in my '52RI - the original Joe Bartons - best pickups I ever bought or heard in a Tele. They go for @ $500.00 USD and up on ebay these days. if you can find them. Alot of people have tried to copy them but no one has come close. They are the warmest, smoothest pickups I've ever heard and don't loose the twang factor that tele's are famous for. My description doesn't do them justice but I can tell you I've tried just about every Tele pickup out there and these have absolutely no competion. I ordered Lollars at the same time as I bought these - the're supose to be dynamite also - I don't know; I haven't even taken them out of the package. That is how good the original Bartons are. Now, Joe Barton went out of buiness a year or two ago for unknow reasons (and thats when the prices went through the roof), and has now re-entered the business under a different corporate name. Are they the same pickups - I don't know. Some say yes, and some say no, but they all say they are alot more expensive than other pickups out there. I have a couple of Tele's - one with Fralin Blues specials and I love playing this guitar and the sounds are incedible. Then I have another with Bill Lawrence pickups which I can't put down once I start playing it. Then there's my 52... all I can tell you is that you have a fine looking guitar and if I had extra cash it would be mine by now. That aside, I wouldn't touch your pickups - one thing - you'd have to change the bridge to go with a standard Tele bridge pickup, but it's all moot cause it's you guitar for now! Dam that is a hot looking Tele ))

 

[sysexguy]

Never played Barden's but I'm a BIG lollar PU fan. Got P-90's in a Eggle single and Imperials in a Hamer Standard....both unbelievable!

Andy

 

[PaulS]

Actually tarbender I'm looking at either putting a HB style back in the bridge or a P90. The guitar is routed and set up for a HB. Another pup I've been looking at is the Fralin P92 availabe as a direct HB replacement but the Joe Barton have really caught my eye and they would look good in the guitar.
His website is still up and I have seen them advertized for sale. Have heard a lot of good things about the lollar pups. I haven't checked out Bill Lawerances offerings but maybe I will. The guitar plays like a dream, the ebony board on the neck is like a skating rink. The fretwork is A+ and it's heavy, like the les paul it is mahagony (lovely grain). It's well balanced though, doesn't tend to move around much when bending over etc. Well the quest continues.

 

[PaulS]

I was checking things on ebay and I have seen these Kent Armstrong pups and was wondering if anybody has tried them.....

 

[Robert1950]

Haven't tried them but they seem reasonably priced:

http://www.kentarmstrong.com/

 

[PaulS]

I checked out his site and he does offer some nice looking pickups, the kentron G kind of caught my eye...

 

[Yerffej]

the barden pickups really are a cool sound in teles. roll the treble off on the neck pickup with some original bardens and you can get that sweet organ backing tone that danny had, while still retaining some decent twang in other positions.

My guitar teacher swears by them (gatton nut), he is close with joe, and just had some new slightly hotter pickups made for him (a bit closer to the gatton sound, pushing the amp a bit more) which he is very fond of. can't say if they are the same as the new ones barden is putting out, but my teacher definately prefers the newer set he got.

 

[sw686blue]

Never played Barden's but I'm a BIG lollar PU fan. Got P-90's in a Eggle single and Imperials in a Hamer Standard....both unbelievable!

Andy

Andy,

Can we see some pix of the Hamer Standard? How does it sound with the Imperials?

Thanks.
Nick

 

[PaulS]

Yea how does the P90 sound. I have heard good things about there P90's and i like the look of the Charlie Christian model. Also interested in how there HB sounds ....

 

[PaulS]

I have been thinking of this pair of pickups for the guitar.
A joe barden two tone HB in the bridge

a lollar Charlie Christian in the neck

Any opinions. These pups are expensive so I am kind of checking out second opinions.. thanks

 

[sysexguy]

I'll work on some pics for y'all, unlike the Barden or the Charlie Christian, you're looking at a standard P-90 and humbucker...maybe I should do some clips????

How do they sound.....extremely articulate, rich and full yet with a single coil's attack. Both PU's really shine when backed off either volume and/or tone and really dig in when required.

Andy

 

[sysexguy]

Lollars in great guitars!!!!!

Bigs pics=big sound :rockon2: :2guns:

Andy

 

[sw686blue]

Thanks Andy. The Standard looks just like mine except my pickups are exposed.

 

[sysexguy]

Yup, that's how mine came...with Duncan's, the Lollars have less gain and density but they get me there faster.....kinda like comparing the acceleration of a Japanese car to a German high performance car.....only, I can afford the Lollars. In every other aspect, the Hamer is beyond belief.

The Eggle is also gorgeous but has some issues (we were importing these for North America but pulled the plug). This one has a slight neck twist and the Wilkinson bridge is weird but it has a unique chambering system (it's hollow) and a 25" scale that's super confortable. The original pickups were good (may even be early bare knuckles) but the balance was off and they were a touch strident. The Lollar P-90 gets many raves so I figured I'd give it a try and the result is stellar.

I'm a big fan of high end pickups (a new hobby).....and will likely add more to my company's product mix as opportunities arise.

Andy

 

[PaulS]

I'll work on some pics for y'all, unlike the Barden or the Charlie Christian, you're looking at a standard P-90 and humbucker...maybe I should do some clips????

How do they sound.....extremely articulate, rich and full yet with a single coil's attack. Both PU's really shine when backed off either volume and/or tone and really dig in when required.

Andy

The guitar is routed for a HB in the bridge and a single in the neck. At the moment it has a stack HB in the neck and normal HB in the bridge. I'm looking for a different sound from the guitar that's why I was looking at the Joe Barden for a bridge HB and the Lollar CC for the neck. If you can think of anything that will give me a more mellower blues and jazzy sound then I'd like to hear about them, I was thinking of a lollar p90 or Hb for the bridge but still leaves me with the neck pickup, I'd rather not have to do any routing.

by the way nice guitars....

 

[sysexguy]

why not ask Jason Lollar? He's been really helpful to me

Andy

 

[PaulS]

probably not a bad idea, I've also took a look at the Fralin P92 it looks very interesting. Thanks for the tip.

 

[sysexguy]

You could ask Lindy Fralin as well. afaik 12th Fret are dealers and know the product very well

Andy

 

[Robert1950]

Can I have this one,... Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzze!!!

Andy