Skatterbrane Pickups - Review

[Lee_M.]

Hey guys. My name is Lee Moore and I'm a long-time member on the LPF and other Forums. I'm a new member and I'm excited to find this Forum.

As a newbie, I'd thought I'd contribute by posting a review of Rod Kinkade's Skatterbrane Humbucker Pickups.

I purchased the Skatterbrane RAW NICKEL SET w/ A5 Mags about three months ago and installed them immediately into my prized '59RI that was overhauled by RS Relic and includes a real '59 Gibbie Wiring Harness.

Review:

As a huge PAF "s/ut", I like to think I've heard, tested and owned everything out there. I've used the RS Relic 'True Tone '60's', Fralins, Antiquities, Timbuckers, Rolphs, Wagner Pups (Fillmores, Crossroads, Goodwoods, Darkbursts), Gibson Pups (BurstBuck'rs I, II and III, Classic '57's, 490R/T), Seth Lovers, and Duncan Custom Shop Spec'd PAFs.

While they all have characteristics that are desireable and pleasing, NONE OF THEM HAVE THE TOTAL "VIBE" OF THE SKATTERBRANE A5's. Not only do the Skatterbranes have punch, clarity and warmth, they also have the subtle honk and double-tones of the real PAFs. I attribute it to Rod's parts selection and hand-picked magnets - the wind is wonderful, as well, but I think when it's all combined, the synergies emerge into PAF magic.

The bridge pickup, which is a lower output wind (just like some PAFs that varied in range), can do a convincing Duane from the Fillmore East....no lies.

The neck pickup, with the tone rolled back, can nail Duane's solo in Dreams from the studio albums...again, no lies.

The middle position.....well, it's just sick.

Conclusion:
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE PICKUPS for your Les Paul if you want the "new" PAF vibe (e.g. go back in time to 1959 and buy a set from Gibson). While I haven't test-driven the A2's - which I'm not a fan of in general - I'm sure they envoke a similar tone.

The Skatterbrane Raw Nickel Set w/ A5's is absolutely the best thing that's happened towards my quest for Duane's tone. Lord knows he's got some good PAF vibes!

-Lee Moore

[fillmore nyc]

First, welcome to the forum, Lee. You'll find it a cool place to exchange info with a LOT of knowledgable fellers!!
Thanks for the pup review. I've never tried Skatterbranes myself, but I've heard good things about 'em. Jim from WCR is a member here too, and he's a good source for pup info as well.
Im curious as to how you feel the A5's stack up against WCR Fillmore's themselves as far as nailing Duanes Fillmore tone? I have WCR Fillmore's in one of my guitars, and to my ear, it would be hard to come closer to the live Fillmore East tone than that, assuming the amp was correct for that sound.

[77custom]

What amp, speakers are you using to get Duanes tone. What are your amp settings?

I'm curious about these pups.

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks

[Roe]

I'm using a pair of skatterbranes in a tokai es155. I used the a4 magnets first but changed to the a5s later on. I'm quite happy with it. very nice lead sound

[electricskychurch]

i have a pair of skatterbrane raw set (i think they are stock A2), they are nice pu's .
when i had them i put them in my 96' les paul ri and have some t-tops in my 97' one.
the 97 is brighter, i might try the raw set in this one as they are a tad dark in my 96' one but they have a nice loose attack and nice overtones.
Rob said he likes burstbuckers, so i would tend to think (although i haven't tried bursbuckers ) that they are enhanced bursbuckers) .
i prefered my T-tops in my brightest les paul but teh raw set sound nice as well nd might sound better in that les paul

[jcmjmp]

Quick question. Have you ever tried the Thröbak pickups. It would be great to see what you think of them. They use NOS enamel wire and rough magnets.

[electricskychurch]

did you try the raw set with A2 mags ?

how would you describe the duncan antiquities compared to those and wcr crossroads A2 and darkburst a2 & a5 as well as bet set and fralin 7,5k/8k ?

do you mean your raw set bridge pu has a lower resistence than teh neck ?

i put the 8,6 k in the bridge and 7,8k or so in teh neck, sounded more logic to me but it might not be the way they were designed !

[electricskychurch]

i swapped the pu's in my les paul 59's and it's quiet better.
the T-tops fits better the darker sounding one with fuller tone whereas the RAW set takes away a bit of the piercing high end i had with the T-tops in the other one as it's a brighter sounding guitar.
the RAW set gives it a fuller sound but it has a bit more output as i had noticed and less clarity and quack/honk .
it has a bit more stiffness in the high mids than the T-Tops (doesn't feel exactly as much as an old pu as the T-Top) but it might be partly due to that les paul although i had noticed it as well in my darker / fuller sounding (with less high mids/ high end ) les paul 59' ri.
it's obviously night and day with the 57's i had stock in those guitars, it's like taking a blanket (or even a carpet ! ) off some speakers (especialy with the T-tops, teh RAW set beeing darker , with less clarity but enough high mids) ! LOL
i wonder how the RAW set sounds with A5.
i suppose it might have a bit more high mids and output for teh same winding.
maybe some more low end/ low mids as well.
the A2 might sound smoother but a bit darker depending on the high mids or high end added with teh A5.
there is more quack/ honk in teh T-tops (microphony ?) than the RAW set (potted ?) and they sound closer to some PAF tones i heard (some said as reference for PAF tones like clapton/ mayall , bloomfiled and a few others that are the purest maybe less overdriven than kossof or page ones even if i love them as much if not more ) but they really need the right guitar or they can sound awfull !
but the RAW still have that PAF sort of tone and is maybe closer to a PAF that's wound more (as teh bridge pu i have is about 8,6k whereas teh neck is about 7,8k if i remember well compared to some T-Tops that are about 7,5 to 7,8K).
both RAW set pu's have less clarity compared to a T-Top set in those guitars (knowing teh T-Tops have alnico 5 not A2 as i think i have in the RAW set).

[Coot Boy]

Hey fellow tone freaks, if I may offer some of my exp with pickups. I have been hand winding pickups for 5 years or so now. Recently I watched a Mr Duncan U tube thing where he states that while it is preferrable to hand wind single coil pickups, humbuckers sound best when machine wound. This had me thinking for a while and I now believe this to be true. Everything electricskychurch said about the Raw set sounds to me like they are hand wound. When you hand wind a pickup you lose some of the top end tone, this is a good thing with single coil pickups, however, when you combine two singles together as in pos 2 n 4 on a strat you can plainly hear the top end smooth out, this same phenomenon is what is undesirable in a humbucker, IMO at least. To get max clarity from two coils wired in series you really want the coils machine wound, each coil on it's own will have more tops than if they were hand wound, put two machine wound coils together as in a bucker and some of those tops are lost. So, this is why machine wound pickups have more top end compared to hand wound.
After watching the Duncan thing I bought a Duncan 59 bridge pickup and the thing sounded better to my taste than any bucker I have made myself, sad but true. Not to worry, I'm not trying to sell pickups, I've just been winding them for myself as I have made a lot of guitars for myself and most of them are strats so the hand wound thing works great for them. I just finished a lefty hybrid yesterday, the P-90s are hand wound be myself and they sound fantastic on this guitar. Anyway, just thought I'd share this little bit of info regarding hand wound hummers V machine wound. Obviously I'm not saying ALL machine wound hummers sound great or even good and a lot of hand wound hummers do sound good but just lose some top end clarity is all I'm saying and why. Cheers, here's the lefty hybrid for something different