T.W. Doyle Pickups?

[maddtapper]

Anybody familiar with these? I have this pair that I accumulated and can't find any info on them....

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h284/maddtapper/HPIM1468.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h284/maddtapper/HPIM1469.jpg

[buchla300]

I like the look!
Try here
http://www.twdoyleguitars.com/about_us.htm

[Jon C]

Tom Doyle is a terrific luthier and guitar player (and a friend). He is also Les Paul's sound engineer each week at his NYC gigs. He makes great guitars and has done work on the Chinery Collection, George Benson's guits, Sting's etc. (and mine but I'm nobody).

His pickups are very crystalline sounding, the most naturally "acoustic" sounding of any I've ever heard. They are made to go with his pickup system, which also includes a tone control with a variety of positions that either roll off treble or shift EQ, I don't remember which.

He's located now in Sussex County, NJ, about an hour or so from NY.

[Rossl]

I know they were low impeadance and came with some additional switches and a vari-tone looking switch. Haven't seen these in a long time very clear/crisp sounding

[ManliusGuitar]

Geez, I haven't seen those in forever. If memory serves me well, I liked the tone from them with all the gadgets, but I know little about the build wise b/c I never took one apart. Very Nice!

[maddtapper]

Thanks guys! I knew someone on here would be familiar with them...

[usamike]

I took my tele to him in 1986 to get a Seymour Duncan Jazz put into the neck position and he talked me into his pickup instead. 25 years later it's still my favorite guitar and that pickup is a big reason why. I kinda wish he had wired in the five way switch.

[norumba]

I found a Samick jazz box with these in them, did a little research -- couldnt find much on them, but did discover they were highly regarded , so i snapped it up:
http://gretschpages.com/media/img/board_pics/2012/samick_jpg_480x480_q85.jpg

The doyles have a pretty bright clean sound, and the varitone switch gives some interesting flavors of mid boost, though i dont use them all.

that said, I'm thinking of swapping these into the Canton, which currently house GFS Surf 90s (pseudo-Dynasonic), and putting the Surf90s into the Samick.
http://gretschpages.com/media/img/board_pics/2012/canrtonsurf90s_jpg_480x480_q85.jpg

The Surf bridge particualrly can be a little harsh and icepicky in the Canton, (and yes i do use the tone knob to help it) and dynas and hollowbodies are a classic combo.

The samick is a big box -- 17" bout, about 3 1/2" deep, lam spruce top. The Canton is 60 percent chambered, maple top, Goncalo alves body, bubinga neck. warm, woody and resonant, nice articulation, rich in the mids.

any thoughts?

[Jon C]

wow, very cool on both counts, I bet they will sound fine in either, Lou Pallo (my friend and longtime teacher/mentor, and Les Paul's genius rhythm guitarist) used a set of Tom's pickups in his Les Paul when he played with Les, so I've heard them in a solid body guitar as well as Tom's hollowbodies and they sounded great in each, so probably will in your chambered guit too.

[norumba]

Jon, thats a good of vote of confidence to make the switch, thanks... I'll have to look on youtube, see if there arre any clips that would give me some sense of how these operate in a non-hollowbody setting...

[mdog114]

Tom's a great guy, I used to use him for my guitar work back in the early 80's. He had a little shop behind his house in, I think it was, Washington Township, NJ. My good Bud from high school had him put one of his systems in an SG back when we were in HS. He did a fret job for me a few years back. He's up in Sussex, NJ now.

The last time I was at his place, I think he had some of the original recorders the Beatles used on some of their records sittin' in his living room.

His old shop had some real nice stocks of some serious wood!

[norumba]

he was very helpful over email when i first got the Samick -- no one at the shop I got it from knew how it was wired, so he helped me decipher a little of how it works. They sound great in the Samick, so im a little reluctant to put them elsewhere, but I think they'll work well in the Canton.... least, that's my gamble :)

[DrumBob]

Tommy lives about 15 minutes from here. He still works on guitars, but also gigs with his wife, doing a Les Paul/Mary Ford type gig.

[norumba]

Of course, the caveat is whether there is enough room in the body control cavity to fit the extra tone switch rotary pot. The Canton is chambered, so we may have to be careful there.

Structural considerations aside, Im wondering how close a pair of Filtertrons would be to the TW Doyles in the Canton. Im familiar with filters, but its a little hard to extrapolate a comparison of either in this build. Anyone who had these in a solid or semi-solid body guitar who also knows filters care to chime in?