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Any experience with Jim Wagner pickups?

Adrian R

New member
Joined
Dec 19, 2021
Messages
3
I recently stumbled upon two very early sets of Wagner pickups which are both hand wound. I heard he now winds by machine and I would think tone wise that really shouldn't make any difference?

Anyway, the two sets I have are the Fillmores and the Darkburst. The Fillmores are now installed in one of my LP's. However, the guitar is not with me and should arrive later this week. My Luthier who worked on the guitar installed the Fillmores over the Darkburst claiming the maple top on the LP should balance out the fatter sound of the slightly over wound Fillmores. He said after the install that the guitar sounded incredible and there is no need to even try the Darkburst set.

He compared the tone closely to his '99 R7 with has his own hand wound A4(B) A5(N) set. He noted the Fillmores did have about a 5% more increase in the mids but that was IHO a good thing. His R7, which I have played and very much liked, is a shop favorite and sort of a standard others are judged by. Needless to say that comment has me dying to try my guitar!

I'd like to hear from others on their experiences with Jim's pickups. It would be great if someone has experience with both of the sets that I have. Also, has anyone tried the Darkburst set in a non-maple capped Gibson such as an SG?

I did a few searches and it seems the Crossroad set is/was very popular. However much of the info is quite dated which leads me to believe these are definitely not the flavor of the month. Thanks.
Hi, new member here, long time LP player. I saw this thread about JW's pups and felt I needed to express. I have tried so many pickups over the last couple decades, more specifically the last years or so out of sheer curiosity. I learned through time that like many of us, I like that PAF sound... It is what a grew up listening to... Players like Lifeson, Schenker, Rhodes, Moore, Montrose, etc... this is what has always inspired.

All my guitars thoughout the years cames equipped with high output ceramic style pickups, or high output Alnico pups like my fav Gibson 498t. Never really thought too much about the impact they had on my tone until I started paying closer attention. Without going into detail, I began really experimenting with many different PAF style pickups... Gibson, Dimarzio, SD, Planetone...Stewmac...etc. Then I stumbled on Jim's stuff. His website is quite boastful to some degree, but very confident sounding. After reading some reviews, I decided to give them a shot. Jim was very courteous and patient with my many questions, and told me that after time I would be equipping all my guitars with his pickups... I laughed to myself, but dammit if he wasn't right! I have tried the Fillmores, Darkbursts, and Godwoods, and all of them are SUPERB pickups. I cannot believe how much better they are then all of the aforementioned pickups.

They just sing in your guitar..period. Lead tones are beautiful, and you get so much clarity, warmth and control.. Couple them with a good quality wiring harness and pots and you get a ton of control.. I really never used my guitar's tone control before....but coupled with a CTS 550K pot you can almost get TOO much bite and treble... you just dial it back a skosh..and PERFECT...but yet you have that extra little boost...when you need it. The Fillmore has plenty of balls, and with my single channel 2204.. I just dial my volume back,..with the amp cranked...and even with modern wiring (I like the balls with modern wiring) when I dial back the volume the guitar still stays dynamic and bright...not muddy at all... but then turn the volume up for an awesome lead boost. I simply could not do this with any other pickup before I used in the past.

If I had to pick a set, the Darkbursts are VERY dynamic awesome pickups. They sound like imo, what a Gibson 57' Classic should sound like. All the clarity of the 57, if not more, but fatter, and stronger...articulation is excellent...and if you find it too strong, all you have to do is adjust it's height. JW's pickups are incredibly sensitive to height and pole position. Even in high gain positions, you can hear each note some clearly... Oh and one last thing, there never is any annoying squeals or squeaks...

Jim was right. All off my guitars have his pickups, and playing guitar for me has found a new level of inspiration.
 

Stephens

Active member
Joined
Dec 30, 2001
Messages
438
Glad you like them! Jim makes a great pickup. He really nails the warm PAF sound IMO.
 

relic

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Messages
92
some great discussion here. I will only add that I traded someone here a set of 57 classics for a Fillmore set and installed them in a 98 58 re-issue i used to have. i gigged with that guitar many many times and later eventually moved to a 2019 59 with a set of Tom Holmes PUs in it .

My experience with the Fillmores was they seemed hotter/warmer/less sizzle-y sounding but retained a very pleasing tone throughout the volume control range (I was mostly playing direct into a Savage Macht 12). I thought they really nailed the classic rock tones I was going for then. I have also noticed over the years that Jim Wagner seems to be a really ace guy.
 

Bluespower

Les Paul Forum Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
Messages
3,487
I will find out myself after my ES339 Trad Pro arrives on the 3rd with the Fillmores installed...
But I have to say, I just plugged my R9 with SD Antiquities into my Allen Old Flame and was very, VERY happy about it.
So, the Fillmores installed in the 339 Trad Pro (no F holes) should keep me happy too. Right? Different but Happy!
 

AndreasG

Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
688
I had a Darkburst/Crossroad set in my Oxblood Les Paul. Liked them very much, very great pickups. Then changed them out for RS Fralin Psychebilly‘s that were the s@%t. I always womder why those don‘t get more respect….
 

garywright

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 17, 2002
Messages
15,584
Then changed them out for RS Fralin Psychebilly‘s that were the s@%t. I always womder why those don‘t get more respect….
the emperors new clothes …I have an older set of RS/Fralin True 60s in my ‘69 sg standard..those were the talk of the town 10-15 years ago
 
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