AndrewCE Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 These Taylor solidbody "3/4 size pickups"; are they just mini humbuckers? Is there anything different about them? The website said they were revolutionary, but they seem to be just mini humbuckers. Has anybody opened them up or found an article showing what's inside? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 I can't seem to find any real info on them other than in the GP review LINK they refer to various splitting functions so it is very likely they are essentially mini HBs. That is not to say they are the same...the pint of them really is to get some product definition between the taylor solidbodies and the gibson/fender/PRS that they are kind of pitching against. Ovation did some similar things (and some even looked a little like these) when they attempted ill fated solidbody excursions as did martin if I recall. The mini HB was never a popular pickup and came across to gibson from epiphone I think. I'm not sure if these taylor pickups are particularly desirable (the technology will be a typical coil and magnet HB configuration) compared to other smaller HB designs but they seem to have put more thought into the circuitry to make the most of them with enhanced tone controls and coil splitting. Part of the "problem" with mini HB's is they kind of lack character. They lack the midrange and power of a full HB yet don't have the girth of a P-90 nor the chime of a strat...the result is kind of neutral to my ears...even though gretch and others have made distinctive sounding mini HB's like the filtertrons. I'm not sure of the site that says "revolutionary"...but you will find few revolutionary designs out there annd many that do push the boundaries (like a lot of the Lace patents) don't work out so well in practice or against the HB and strat formulas by which everything is generally compared. pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddW Posted December 30, 2008 Report Share Posted December 30, 2008 I'm not sure of the site that says "revolutionary"...but you will find few revolutionary designs out there annd many that do push the boundaries (like a lot of the Lace patents) don't work out so well in practice or against the HB and strat formulas by which everything is generally compared. pete It's still nice that Lace and others pushing the boundaries some. I love some of the lace sensor single coils. I realize some people think they sound sterile, but I don't find that to be the case and I love the lack of noise. I haven't heard a lace dually or an Alumitone, and don't know that I see the point of a Lace dually. Bummer with the Alumitones is they won't work with other PUPS like the lace sensors will, so there's no way to try just one. I'll be interested to see what people think of those Taylor's once they're out for a bit. They look beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I played one of the Taylor hardbodies once. I'll say this. The pickups sound different. They weren't particularly to my liking, but they certainly weren't bad. The neck, on the other hand, felt amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewCE Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I played one of the Taylor hardbodies once. I'll say this. The pickups sound different. They weren't particularly to my liking, but they certainly weren't bad. The neck, on the other hand, felt amazing. yeah when i test drove one, i didn't get to play it through an amp. How would you say they're different? brighter, warmer? midrangier? more/less attack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 It was about a year ago, so my memory is sketchy. I remember them being pretty bright with lots of treble, but not much more. There are a lot of demo videos on YouTube that give a fair representation of the sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewCE Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 It was about a year ago, so my memory is sketchy. I remember them being pretty bright with lots of treble, but not much more. There are a lot of demo videos on YouTube that give a fair representation of the sound. yeah but to demo something yourself is so much more informative, ya know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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