50s Vintage Tone – HomeToneBlog.com

16th October 2021

First Impressions: Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele Bridge Pickup

This photo shows the Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele bridge pickup, fitted to my Squier Esquire known as The Squirrel.

We can see that the pickup has six flat pole pieces (ie no raised pickup poles at all), in a black bobbin.

The pickup has been distressed to make it look old. So have the screws that came with the pickup. — The Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele bridge pickup fitted to The Squirrel.

I recently bought a new bridge pickup for one of my cheap-and-cheerful Esquire guitars.

How did I get on with it? Read on for my First Impressions.

22nd September 20194th January 2020

CoffeeAndKlon #17: Fretboards And Tonewood

This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.

Good morning! Hope you’re having a great weekend. And, if you’re that way inclined, that you’re starting your Sunday with a great cup of coffee.

This week has been all about pickups for me. Because the new pickups for the Vintage Lemon Drop arrived 🙂 I dropped everything off at my local guitar shop on Thursday, and I imagine it won’t be too long before I get the guitar back to play with.

I have a theory as to how it might go. I’m excited to see whether or not it holds up to the test. To explain the theory, I need to provide a bit of context …

16th February 201829th March 2018

What’s More Important For Les Paul Tone? Saddles Or Bridge?

Johan Segeborn is back with another of his comparison videos – and minus his beard. Today, he’s comparing the difference between bridges and saddles from the 50s and 2008.

There are whole sections of major Les Paul forums devoted to the endless discussion – and decrying – of trying to capture that legendary 50s Les Paul burst tone with modern instruments. (Yours truly might be a lurker and occasional contributor *cough* to those debates …)

Johan’s comparisons are always interesting, and certainly add fuel to the debate 🙂

I don’t chase that 50s tone per se. I’ve never played an original Les Paul burst, and likely never will. And if I did, I’d need to have it through my rig (that I’m most familiar with) and have the chance to A/B it with my own Les Pauls to really understand the difference anyway.

The key thing I chase is the 3D aspect of those old vintage tones. That’s the magic for me. My own experience is that sometimes a pickup upgrade will unlock that without any other changes at all. How much of it is the pups, and how much of it is the guitar they’re going into, I don’t know.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Johan’s video. Or if you miss the beard – which seems to have generated the most comments so far!