
First of all I want to say "THANK YOU VERY MUCH" to Bill for manufacture these incredible pickups, to Becky for helping me at choosing the correct models, to nocaster for resolve much of my infinite doubts hohoho and to fuzzy bear for his help with the schematics.
My guitar is a Gibson Explorer '76 reissue manufactured in Nashville in feb 2005. Original pickups are 496R (neck) - 500T (bridge) and now the combination is L500R - L500XL. Pots are master volume and Qfilter. 9-46 round core strings.
My level as guitar player is "bedroom rockstar"
All of my opinions will be compared to original pu's, of course.
- First difference I noticed was about sound saturation. 500T is not a muddy pickup but his sound, as we say here, "has more sand". L500XL has no sand, output is so clean even in distortion that my very first thinking was "this pickup has no power". Played for a while with some emulations and then I understood the truth: the powerful output of this pickup is so natural and so defined that almost can feel a blade cutting in each string stroke.
- Then I tried neck position, and noticed that is very defined, much more than original. But my surprise came when i tapped one coil...THIS IS THE BRIGHEST AND CLEANEST SOUND THAT EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE. So sweet, so pure, so round... and no noise!
- The coil tapping option is very usable and has no noise in any of its position in both pu's.
- Qfilter works fine! I can reduce the impedance of the pickup and get an interesting range of tones, even a fender twangy sound!
I have to play more and through a real valve amp, but compared to the original sound now I have more definition, (i think) a lil more power and a much more versatile guitar.
