Emmons Pickups Wound at 22,000?

Chris Bauer · From: Nashville, TN USA

I played a LeGrande II that sounded unusually dark and uncharacteristically thin in spite of the guitar ‘ringing’ well. Turns out both pickups were wound at 22,000. Was that ever a factory option? (I also realize they might have been after-market pickups.)

I’ve always thought of 15,000 to 17,500 being the typical range for Emmons pickups but was that just for push-pulls or was that also LeGrandes as well?

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

I will never understand that.. Guys adore the tone of the great old pedal steel guitars used in the 60's and 70's and then put pickups wound like line transformers on their guitars.. Many of those great tones with perfectly good sustain were produced by pickups that were maybe 13-14 k, and often much less.. My Fender steels were typically 8-9 K from the factory.. I personally have always used pickups wound at around 12 K, typically with a tap around 9 k... I will never understand the need for ultra powerful pickups on ANY stringed musical instruments.. Guitarists are the same way.. taking out great sounding, well made pickups and replacing them with "high output" pickups.. I usually do the exact opposite... bob
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I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!

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Bill Ferguson · From: Milton, FL USA

Chris.
Is your Emmons pickup a 108N Humbucker? If so, mine are wound at 22,000 and I'm told when I play a show, the tone is 2nd to none.
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AUTHORIZED George L's, Goodrich, Telonics and Peavey Dealer: I have 2 steels and several amps. My current rig of choice is 1993 Emmons LeGrande w/ 108 pups (Jack Strayhorn built for me), Goodrich OMNI Volume Pedal, George L's cables, Goodrich Baby Bloomer and Peavey Nashville 112. Can't get much sweeter.

Jack Stanton · From: Somewhere in the swamps of Jersey

Buddy Emmons once said to me something to the effect that you can thank Jimmy Crawford for those overwound pickups.

Chris Bauer · From: Nashville, TN USA

Bill - no idea if they’re 108Ns or not. Not even positive that they’re Emmons pickups. They have good string separation and clarity but sound oddly dark and thin. Sat it next to a couple of other guitars and the contrast was striking. The other guitars all had a significantly brighter and meatier sound.

Jack - that’s interesting. Jimmy did tend to play with a somewhat dark tone at times but I’d say his sound was anything but thin.

Per Berner · From: Skovde, Sweden

Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

Make sure the pickups aren't too close to the strings, as that will give a thin sound, too. The thickness of two U.S. quarters is a good starting distance (between the pickups and the strings), but many guitars sound better with three.

And yes, those probably are humbucking pickups if they measure that high.

Mike Fried · From: Nashville, TN, USA

I had a pair of Emmons single-coils on a SKH LeGrande that measured that, from the factory (I was the original owner). They're up in my attic somewhere, I keep threatening to find them and have them rewound to 16k.
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