[marcwormjim]

I bet Duncan and DiMarzio both have single coil and Humbucker models with the same exact winds but they modified/lowered the magnetisms which created a different pickup model.  Wills Easy Guitar (You Tube) recently had a video “dummying down” a single coil pickup to change the tone and output.  It only took a rare earth magnet and a few seconds of time.  When the rare earth magnet repelled against the top of the pickup the output decreased and tone got thicker.  When the rare earth magnet was flipped over the pickup got more powerful and brighter.  Pretty impressive video.

Will also used to have a video “debunking” the effect of magnetic pull on strings by holding industrial magnets near the strings and A/Bing note sustain. I’m not claiming to take one side or another - It just puts the other video in a different perspective.

[BluesJam]

Will is a very intelligent guy.  With the proper earth magnets, people can alter their pickups at any given time.  To go to a hot to vintage pickup by  gaussing and de-gaussing is an interesting concept.  Magnets are very cheap, and to be able to alter your pickups for $10 is a great concept.

[Guitar74]

Wow! I can remember when the list was much lower than what was quoted in this thread. I just put a Heavy Blues II in the neck of one of my axes. After playing it for two hours, I thought to myself how far noiseless single coil pickups have come. I can find no fault at all with this pickup. I can remember when the noiseless line consisted of the hs series and that was it...period...

[darkbluemurder]

I well remember when the HS series came out. Liked the sound of the HS-1 but they were very very very very low output - much lower than a regular single coil. Switched then to the Duncan Vintage stack (STK-1) which restored the output to normal vintage single coil level but sacrificing the tone IMHO. Then tried a set of Kinmans (the Hank Marvin set) - loved them in the shop guitar but when they were installed in my guitar I just hated them. The first pickups I found that fulfilled both requirements to a satisfactory extent were the Wilde by Lawrence. I preferred the L-200s over the L-280s but I have happily gigged with both. But now the Areas are my favorite, especially the strat style pickups and the tele bridge pickups. For noiseless tele neck pickups I prefer the Lawrence L-202TN over the Area T neck though. Never was into the EMG stuff.

But I fully agree - noiseless pickups have come a long way, and I also agree on the VV HB2 - this is a great fat strat pickup for the neck position - great complement for a guitar with a H-S or H-S-S pickup configuration.

Cheers Stephan

[Guitar74]

Never tried the duncan stacks and don't have a lot of experience with Kinmans or Bill Lawrence with the exception of borrowing a friend's guitar for a gig one night that was loaded with l500s. I really dug how they sounded and cleaned up with the volume. I might have to take a look at their singles.