Ibanez Benson replacement pickups?

[jzucker]

Anyone ever replace the pickups on their GB-10? Thoughts?

[Dana Olsen]

Hey Jack -

My first thought was maybe call Jason Lollar and ask him if they're rewind-able (is that a word?) I'm thinking that with the way they're mounted it might be easier to rewind them than to replace them.

Jason, or one of the smaller winders who do custom work like Jason, Jim at WCR, Wolfe. one of those guys could take it on as a project.

I've never seen direct replacements for a GB model Ibanez.

Good Luck, Dana O.

[mojocaster.com]

I agree with Dana... I would add Bryan at www.bg-pups.com :)

[jzucker]

Anyone have a contact # or email address for Kent Armstrong?

[jads57]

Try peter Biltoft at Vintage Vibe guitars/p/ups. He`s not only a great p/up winder, but really reasonable $

[jekyll & hyde]

Kent Armstrong is in Grafton Vermont: (802) 843-1065

[mojocaster.com]

Try peter Biltoft at Vintage Vibe guitars/p/ups. He`s not only a great p/up winder, but really reasonable $


and a gem of a man, to boot!

[Lucidology]

What's wrong with the stock pickups Jack ..
I luv those babies ...

However, Jerry Hahn had it carved out for a regular type of humbucker ..
Maybe I can find a photo somewhere

Here's a quote & some sound samples from his website:

http://www.jerryhahn.com/images/cd-timechanges.jpg Hahn cut Time Changes on an Ibanez George Benson with a rewound McCarty pickup, run through an Engl Straight and a Fender Twin, with a Roland SDE-3000 for chorus. The sound's modern warmth, like Hahn's wild bending and speed licks, may be an acquired taste for traditionalists. "I've had people tell me, 'You're a jazz player - you can't bend notes," he chuckles, "but I've always done that. I don't care to hear the standard jazz guitar tone. I like to get everything out of the guitar I can."

Time Changes
ENJA-9007
sample...Time Changes.mp3 (http://www.jerryhahn.com/jhahn1.mp3)
sample...The Method.mp3 (http://www.jerryhahn.com/jhahn2.mp3)

[gitman]

well, i have been down that road twice : the first time i had a luthier put in a 60's Gibson humbucker in a blonde '78 GB-10 and at the time it worked much better (for my young ears, in ca. 1979) than the tinny sounding stock pickups. i was after a rotund and warm tone like the ones i heard on Jim Hall, Pat Martino and Wes Montgomery records - little did i know....the guitar was stolen shortly after the mod so i have not had any real playtime with it, sadly. the next GB-10 was fitted with a Kent Armstrong floater (a larger pickup than the usual floater-types, with 12 polepieces) and that also brought some more oomph
and girth but in the end , i sold that guitar again because i realized, that when the tone is not in the guitar, no pickup will make up for it. the GB-10 is a great design, both visually and comfort-wise but no matter how thick the strings or what type of pickup, it did not yield the type of sound i was going for. today i wouldn't mind having one in my stable for some particular tones but then again, most of these can also be had with what i have already so ....good luck with your hunt !

[TonyV]

Anyone ever replace the pickups on their GB-10? Thoughts?

I have only played GB-10 in a store once so I may be off here but I thought the pups were floating. If so you can use these, at least for the neck position:

Benedetto S6 (it attaches to the pick guard)
http://benedettopickups.com/products.htm#s6

I had one on a Washburn Orleans jazz box, one neck floating pick up. (I strung with flatwounds)
The Washburn was a very nice guitar except for the stock pickup, the Benedetto was a huge improvement over the stock pickup in noise reduction and tone.
I thought the sound of the S6 was fantastic! Really nice warm jazz tone. Was very expresive, meaning it picked up your dynamics. At the time I owned the guitar I used it with a Fender Princeton Chorus and a Mesa Boogie Subway Blues. My guitar only had one volume so I can't say how well it responded to a tone pot.

[jzucker]

Not a big fan of the benedetto pickups. They sound dark to me. I like the brightness of the '70s Gibson Minis. I would prefer something like that.

I have only played GB-10 in a store once so I may be off here but I thought the pups were floating. If so you can use these, at least for the neck position:

Benedetto S6 (it attaches to the pick guard)
http://benedettopickups.com/products.htm#s6

I had one on a Washburn Orleans jazz box, one neck floating pick up. (I strung with flatwounds)
The Washburn was a very nice guitar except for the stock pickup, the Benedetto was a huge improvement over the stock pickup in noise reduction and tone.
I thought the sound of the S6 was fantastic! Really nice warm jazz tone. Was very expresive, meaning it picked up your dynamics. At the time I owned the guitar I used it with a Fender Princeton Chorus and a Mesa Boogie Subway Blues. My guitar only had one volume so I can't say how well it responded to a tone pot.

[gitman]

if the Benedetto pups sound too dark to you then what is it that you don't like in the Ibanez pups ? i would guess that the Benedetto's will do a pretty fine job balance and volume-wise on a GB-10. that guitar has not much lower mids and bass due to it's small body and the extremely rigid construction but higher mids and highs where always there in abuncance ... YMMV

[jzucker]

if the Benedetto pups sound too dark to you then what is it that you don't like in the Ibanez pups ? i would guess that the Benedetto's will do a pretty fine job balance and volume-wise on a GB-10. that guitar has not much lower mids and bass due to it's small body and the extremely rigid construction but higher mids and highs where always there in abuncance ... YMMV

The ibanez pickups are high output ceramic. I just want the vintage LP Deluxe mini sound, not a stylized "jazz" guitar pickup sound.

[Blues Fuse]

About a year ago someone on this board posted about being friends with a person who was working as Benson's guitar tech. He said the pickup(s) on Benson's GB 10 had been rewound to 7.5K at Seymour Duncan. I think they charged $200 which is pretty stiff.

[jzucker]

About a year ago someone on this board posted about being friends with a person who was working as Benson's guitar tech. He said the pickup(s) on Benson's GB 10 had been rewound to 7.5K at Seymour Duncan. I think they charged $200 which is pretty stiff.

Interesting. I think I remember that. That's basically what I want but I'd like 6.5k like the vintage mini-buckers. Shouldn't be too hard really.

[KRosser]

I like the brightness of the '70s Gibson Minis. I would prefer something like that.

I love those pickups. Love them...

I was thinking of putting a pair in my '56 Reissue Goldtop and pulling out the p-90's...I love the guitar and love the p-90's but I think I need to go 'noiseless' with it and I'd vastly prefer a good set of Gibson minis over a 'noiseless p-90' of some kind.

Anyone know how loyal the currently made Gibson mini's are to the late 60's/early 70's ones? I'm tempted to not go the Lollar route - I've played them on a few guitars and Lollar makes a great pickup, I'm just growing a little tired of the boutique-y vibe/sound

[jzucker]

I love those pickups. Love them...

I was thinking of putting a pair in my '56 Reissue Goldtop and pulling out the p-90's...I love the guitar and love the p-90's but I think I need to go 'noiseless' with it and I'd vastly prefer a good set of Gibson minis over a 'noiseless p-90' of some kind.

Anyone know how loyal the currently made Gibson mini's are to the late 60's/early 70's ones? I'm tempted to not go the Lollar route - I've played them on a few guitars and Lollar makes a great pickup, I'm just growing a little tired of the boutique-y vibe/sound

The lollar minis are great. As good and possibly slightly better than the original minis.

[KRosser]

The lollar minis are great. As good and possibly slightly better than the original minis.

Agreed, Lollar makes great pickups, of which I use several - the Imperial humbuckers and P-90's. They're great but they don't sound and feel like Gibsons to me, and that's what I'm looking for.

Anyone A/B the current Gibson minis with the early ones?

[rwe333]

Bartolini for the GB? http://www.bartolini.net/

[stan p]

I have always been intrigued with their products but I heared you cannot get any support for Bartolini pickups?

[jzucker]

I have always been intrigued with their products but I heared you cannot get any support for Bartolini pickups?

Same here. BTW, I emailed several of the companies suggested who do rewinds. Most won't do a mini humbucker or they don't have the tooling to even test them.

[gitman]

why would you have one custom-made ? do you already know how the normal, readily available models will sound like on your particular guitar ? i'd try this : get a "regular" mini humbucker and
have a jeweller or someone who's handy with a soldering iron fasten a bracket to the pickup cover to fix it onto the fingerboard (or underneath the pickguard a la Benedetto etc.). my guess is this would be cheaper than a custom wound job ... in the end you might find the tone less than you thought it could be.... i still believe that certain tones are just not to be found within that guitar. YMMV

[jzucker]

why would you have one custom-made ?


One reason is that I'm not sure you can get the gold mini humbuckers anywhere. Anyone who can make a mini humbucker ought to be able to just install the guts into the ibanez shell I would think.

[Dana Olsen]

One reason is that I'm not sure you can get the gold mini humbuckers anywhere. Anyone who can make a mini humbucker ought to be able to just install the guts into the ibanez shell I would think.Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Dana O.

[arnie65]

Anyone have a contact # or email address for Kent Armstrong?


PM sent with Ken's Number..

[arnie65]

Anyone ever replace the pickups on their GB-10? Thoughts?


Save yourself a headache, just send them to Kent Armstrong and he'll duplicate them with ones that sound better or he'll rewind them customized to the sound you like. He's done a lot of work for me and I've never been dissapointed.


Cheers, Arnold

[stan p]

Any thoughts on TV Jones?

[jzucker]

Any thoughts on TV Jones?

Heard nothing but great things but they wouldn't go on a GB10 without major surgery.

[stan p]

Maybe Tom could figure something out .. he offers many different form factors and configurations.

[jzucker]

Maybe Tom could figure something out .. he offers many different form factors and configurations.

It'd be an expensive experiment unfortunately...

[stan p]

Then Kent ... or maybe this guy - http://www.fralinpickups.com/jazzblues.asp

[stan p]

http://archtop.com/ac_access.html - came accross this stite featuring KA pickups that seem to match your needs.