NGD! (yes again.......) 8-31-23 Demo Added

I award you "Biggest GAS Inducer on the PPCB Forum"

By gum, those are the tastiest Trifecta — as beautiful as the NGD-burst is, the gold-top P90 is still my Faberite — but still, damn! That burst!


So if it's a Murder of Crows, a Parliament of Owls and an Ostentation of Peacocks ...

What do you call a grouping of your Les Pauls?



I propose:

"A Tenement of Tokai"
 
A quick update.

I installed the set of Planet Tone hum buckers that I mentioned in my Mailbox post.

This is a set of his 1959 Specials. Which is is his take on a traditional PAF. Although wound a bit hotter than what I would consider "traditional".

So I had him underwind the neck pickup to ~7k. (It came in a 7.17k) and the bridge pickup is a fairly stout 9.3k (for a PAF) so it would be considered a "hot overwound" PAF.

I also had him build these with no potting. I prefer the "character" that potting sometimes will kinda of mute. And since I'm never in a playing situation where microphonics is an issue, I can get away with it.

The combination sounds fabulous! They're a tad warmer sounding than my Wolfetone Legends, still my A#1 top favorite PAF repro (at ANY price). So it's got a slightly different voice than my Goldtop Les Paul with the Wolfies in it.

I'm still messing around adjusting pickup heights and fine tuning it all but so far I'm loving these pickups! Raw Nickel finish, which is a must for me:)

While I had it apart I also installed a new Faber Tone Lock bridge kit. Aside from pickups, this is probably the single most advantageous upgrade (in my MOST humble opinion) if you have wonky or substandard TOM bridges.
The one that comes on the Tokai at this range and price point is their own make. It's well made and looks very nice but it's also obviously pot metal. I'm a huge proponent of lightweight aluminum tailpieces and the whole "locking" thing just makes the string to body contact 100% solid.

Oh and my proper fit control knobs arrived. I'm working on a demo for this set of pickups too. Stay tuned.....

IMG_5600.JPG
 
Oooo looks nice. Do you remember what magnets they used in the pickups? My Marshallhead in my SG Standard is about 9k and I swapped the alnico 5 magnet out for an alnico 2. I was worried it would be too dark, but it's not at all. There's just more of a midrange push without really sacrificing lows or highs. I'm all about that midrange in the bridge pickup.
 
cdwillis said:
Oooo looks nice. Do you remember what magnets they used in the pickups? My Marshallhead in my SG Standard is about 9k and I swapped the alnico 5 magnet out for an alnico 2. I was worried it would be too dark, but it's not at all. There's just more of a midrange push without really sacrificing lows or highs. I'm all about that midrange in the bridge pickup.
Click to expand...
They're both Alnico II. But he'll make them with any magnet you like.
 
Here's the demo I did for Jose at Planet Tone of these pickups.

Man they sound nice. I have a set of Wolfetone Legends in my Goldtop Tokai which is the identical guitar.
Playing them side by side and back to back comparing them, it's a tough call which I like better. The Wolfies sound slightly "bigger" with a bit more bass response.

For my personal tastes I think I like the Wolfetone Legends a skootch more but we're really splitting hairs here.

Both Jose and Wolfe are really giving the "big boi boutiques" a run for their money. I would put these pickups up against any of nosebleed priced winders (cough, cough, Thro-----bak). They are really that good. And stupid affordable.

 
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