"I received my Very Vintage (neck) pickup in November, but the holidays made it so I couldn't install it until just recently. After hearing the salesman's excitement about these pickups, I was excited (and a little skeptical) to see what he was talking about. I installed the pickup into my Epiphone Genesis, (the first guitar I ever bought, when I was 13, recently dug out of storage, 20 years later). The Genesis is a cheap, but solid guitar, a double-horned Les Paul type, and it's one of those models that turned out to be an unexpected treasure. The only problem is the stock pickups are absolute junk. I was hoping the Very Vintage would bring some life into this guitar. I had no idea the life it would bring! I expected to use this guitar for home recording every now and then, but now it's replaced my Strat for playing live! The tone is phenomenal, this guitar now sings and holds notes forever. I don't play with distortion, and I often have a problem getting my notes to ring out as long as I want, but this pick-up won't stop until I let go! When I dig in, the notes bites through, when strummed, it chimes and when I play with my fingers, it's mellow and sweet like a cup of hot cider. With the coil-tap, I get a great funky, in-between tone like on a strat. I couldn't be happier, except that now I'm going to have to buy a bridge position pick-up soon to complete this guitar. Thank you again, this is absolutely the tone I wanted. - Bryan Miller ------------------- PLAYING IMPRESSIONS: Guitar: Kevin's Blonde 335 Reissue with beautiful mahogany neck (Torres Guitar Shop Set-up too.) The pickups started as Gibson 57's but were completely disassembled and the coils rewound to Torres Blues (bridge) and Very Vintage (neck) specs. New Torres unpolished Alnico magnets were installed also. Re-assembled and all installed back in the guitar, including the Nickel covers on the pickups. Amp: Dan Torres's Fender Vibrolux Reverb with Super Texan mod, 2 x Celestion 10" Vintage speakers. Effects: None. Since I have a 1960 Gibson 335 with original Patent Applied For Pickups (P.A.F.) And had just been playing it, the obvious comparison was, how close are they? Well, it could not be closer! This new Gibson with the pair of Torres Humbuckers has all the clarity, character, warmth and stunning sustain found in the old guitar and old pickups. Tone may have actually been better, certainly was so good that any measuring of it is impossible - it is "all there", the guitar with the Torres Pickups could be played any way you wish and would deliver perfection all the time. With the amp on clean some R & B rhythms, or Stones-like chords come on like heaven on earth, with a big clean punch and solidity. I guess one of the greatest sound impressions of the pickup's clean sound is the balance and evenness - the even order harmonics around the notes, very musical and sweet. Crank the amp a bit and do some rockabilly and blues, maybe move into the Mike Bloomfield or Clapton areas and get that thrilling sustain and ring that is so hard to get with humbuckers. Switching over to the Super Texan's Overdrive channel I ran some aggressive blues and rock licks through the guitar, from Santana to Joe Perry, Clapton to Satriani, Van Halen to ZZ Tops. HUGE sustain!! Killed the PRS we had tried out earlier in the day - notes would just last forever, with warmth and big fat tone. The most surprising thing were the "pick harmonics" (A Roy Buchannan technique, picked up by Eddie Van Halen, Satriani, Vai etc.). They spring out of the guitar in perfect tune with lots of volume and sensitivity - they are hard enough on a 335, but to get them this good sounding, so easily and so strong made everyone jump back two feet! Crankin' out some new and old Santana licks on the neck pickup had that tone down perfectly, lots and lots, and LOTS, of sustain, big, fat notes on the high strings without being shrill or muddy, incredible sensitivity to vibrato, bends, and still retaining note distinction and clarity (a problem with lots of other pickups) even with chords and lots of distortion. Overall, a real rockin' set of pickups with all the cool tone in the world. I'll be taking the "BurstBuckers" out of my other 335 and putting in these babies ASAP. Dan Torres September 9, 2002 ------------- Another pickup impression: Rewound pickups Guitar: White Fender Robben Ford owned by Joey. These "Fender Les Pauls" are really beautiful guitars, but many have found the pickups to be just average/adequate, but not total knockouts. The Torres staff decided to see what could be done with them. The first thing we discovered was the "unusual" construction. It appeared to have a regular humbucking sized pickup fitted in a very ingenious way to a cover that looked like it was the size of a P-90. The pickups were disassembled and both sets of coils rewound to: Torres Rock Humbucker 8.5k for bridge Torres Very Vintage Humbucker 7.4K for neck Guitar staff member Jeff had the job of putting the pickups back together using the Torres Alnico Magnet, which is classic Gibson size - just a tiny bit wider than the old Fender Magnet. This was "cured" by carefully machining the metal "shoe" that holds the adjustable pole pieces, a delicate, and perfectly carried out job on both pickups. After this was done, the pickups fit back into the Fender covers and the guitar was reassembled with a new Torres RWRP coil cut switch (when both pickups have their coils cut, it selects the opposite coils so that one is RWRP in relation to the other) - quiet and cool sounding. Incredible funk!! Final impression: Wow, I gotta find one of these guitars!! The Robben Ford has always been famous for that feel - a solid, sustaining tone, and a great bluesy feeling neck. The longer 25.5 in scale contributes something that Les Pauls just do not have. With the new pickups this guitar had the smoothest, round, clean bass of any guitar we have ever heard. It was incredible. (the guitar is in our Shop in San Mateo - not for sale, but there to try.) The new pickup winding spec was perfect for the guitar. The bridge pickup sings with authority, never shrill and with a big punchy growl. It bites like my real '59 Les Paul, but a bit stronger because of the 25.5 in scale!! The neck pickup has a sweet, sweet, singing tone with distortion and a warm Jazz tone clean. Great highs in both modes - not muddy at all - and the overall guitar and pickup setup can hold a note forever!! Check it out with both pickups on for the perfect Mike Bloomfield classic tone. Robben ought to come in and try it out! Next stop - getting time to put in a new Torres "BluesBucker" wiring harness Dan Torres Sept. 18 2002 TORRES VERY VINTAGE STRAT SET "I'm a longtime Torres customer, I have a Super Texan and a SuperOverdrive Fender amp that I use when I play with my weekend Bluesband. We're all former Pro players who now have day jobs, so the quality of the music is high. I've played sessions in NYC, and country music in the band "Steel, Stone, and Silver," in Munich, Germany. Now I alternate between a clean, ringing country sound, and a more overdriven blues voice (I named my son after Rory Gallagher!) My main guitar is a beat-up '63 Strat I bought in high school for $300. Now it's worth a bit more, and I was looking for something to play everyday. I grabbed a beat up Fender '62 reissue off eBay, it felt OK, but the sound wasn't there. Dan Torres wound me a matched set of Very Vintage Strat pick-ups, I dropped them in the reissue....now I'm there! That's the sound I need...all the harmonics and chime I was missing. The cheaper reissue Strat now plays and sounds EXACTLY like my original 1963 Strat. Thanks a million!!" - Dave Knox, New York City "I compared your calibrated Strat (vintage neck and 2 blues at M and B) set against a Fralin Vintage Hot set in virtually identical Strats (Fender Japan E series serial # from 1985-87 and with vintage rout). The Torres wins clearly on the neck and middle. Torres neck is gorgeous, sweet, and clear. The middle is loud, clear, articulated. The Fralin bridge I prefer (for now) because it has the 'bassplate' to add some 'thickness' and punch. But if the Torres bridge is outfitted with the 'bassplate', I expect it will win out. For the money, Torres is the clear winner (and I mean clear!). BTW, I use the BluesKaster Deluxe on both guitars: that should be required equipment for Strats!" - Doug Henninger, Richmond VA "Any body out there searching for "that tone" try a set of the Torres Very Vintage calibrated set. It can be played clean or pushed with effects. Very quiet with excellent tone especially when compared to pups that will cost you twice as much. Please dont get me wrong, I like the Fralins, but they will dent your wallet. Having trouble nailing the SRV tone? Trust me these pups in my 62 reissue japan plugged into my little lanilei super 7 make me feel like I have an unfair advantage. Check these out you will not be dissappointed!" - Ken Eaton, Des Moines IA "Got my "Very Vintage" pick-ups in the mail and installed them. May I tell you that they are every bit worth the wait! They have tight bass response and crystal clear highs. Exactly what I was looking for in my strat. I hear every subtle nuance and every little harmonic I want to hear. I also had you shield the pickups and add the bluekaster wiring...these pickups are quiet! I am tempted to buy another strat just to put another set of these pickups in it! Thanks a bunch for breathing new life into my strat and thanks for making such damn good pickups at a fantastic price!" - Richard Mendoza, Jr. "The very vintage pickups make my 62 reissue strat sound richer and full of vintage tone.The harmonic bloom around the notes is a good way to describe the sound you get. I will buy another set of them very soon!" - Darren Helton "I only played these pickups for about a minute to know I had to have these in my strat. I have been through Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups, Fender Noiseless and Fralins. I couldn't believe the openess, chime and bass response of these pickups. The bridge pickup was the best I have heard. It actually has tone and not a nasal icepick kind of sound like most bridge pickups. My strat has never sounded this good. After hearing this pickup, all I could say was, "YOU GUYS SUCK!", because I knew I had to buy these pickups." - Kevin Ledbetter, Fremont CA. "Perfect SRV tone/chime. These guys just nail the tone that I'm looking for. I actually gamble for this pickup even without hearing it and the risk paid off." - Randy Denson, Maryville TN. TORRES BLUES STRAT SET "I have been a regular visitor to Torres Engineering for the last couple years and have purchased several Seymour Duncan pickups and countless guitar parts from them. I have always been extremely happy with their service and prices so when I heard they were winding their own pickups I decided to try a Blues neck single coil for my strat and a Very Vintage neck humbucker for my Les Paul. My order was received last week and I couldn’t be happier. I am not much of a single coil player but I really love the tone from the Torres blues in the neck. It has the openness and chime that you would expect but also adds the warmth that seems to be lacking from a lot of single coil pickups that I have tried. It nails everything from SRV to Clapton and also helped me dial in a great Rory Gallagher screaming strat tone that I have never been able to get from other single coils. I have never been this happy with a single coil pickup and now I find myself playing my strat more and more. Fresh off of the excitement of the single coil, I couldn’t wait to get the Torres Very Vintage neck humbucker into my Les Paul, and, as I expected, I was not disappointed. The Very Vintage is the tone that I was looking for in a neck humbucker. I originally tried a Duncan Seth Lover, and although I liked it, it was a little too bright and chimey and I found myself rolling off the tone to about 5 before I found a good starting point. From there I tried a Burstbucker and a Duncan Pearly Gates, and although these pickups rocked they tended to be a little too muddy for my tastes and didn’t allow me much use of the tone knob. The Torres, on the other hand is the perfect mix. It has the openness that I wanted and the perfect balance of clarity and bass response without being too bright or too muddy. It allows me full use of my tone controls to dial in all the sounds that I want. Although I have never played and real PAF, this is what I imagine vintage tone should sound like. At this point, my only regret is that I didn’t order full sets of the blues single coils and humbuckers, cause now I have to place another order and wait my turn. These are great pickups at great prices. Good work guys!" - Bill C., Brentwood, CA. "I was really looking for a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage until I heard these pickups. I was amazed by the openess, fullness and warmth of these pickups. Probably the best sounding strat pickups that I ever heard! I've already played about 4 or 5 gigs with this pickups and 2 or 3 guitar players already noticed how good my strat sounds with this pickups." - Sam Haun, San Mateo CA. "I initially brought my Mexican Strat to my guitar tech and ask him how can I get a good SRV tone out of it. He told me to get a GOOD pickup. I talked to Torres Engineering and I was actually looking for a different set but I changed my mind and end up with this set after the conversation. When the pickup arrived, I immediately brought it to my guitar tech. When he first saw the pickups, I know that he had doubts about it because he never heard one before and he actually asked me "What is this?" I just told him to install it because I trust Torres Engineering. After about a day, I received a call from my guitar tech and asked me again where did I bought the pickups because he was FLOORED when he heard it. I was floored too when I heard my guitar. I was very happy and felt that I own a $1,200.00 Strat. It really has the SRV tone, chime and quack that I was looking for." - Stewart Fennell, Greensborough NC. "I travel all the way up from Salinas to San Mateo (1 1/2 hour drive) just to hear these pickups. I'm a kind of person that don't get impressed easily. I've tried and heard almost all kinds of pickups. I have to admit that these pickups are amazing, great blues/rock overdriven tone without a pedal. It's worth the trip." - Richard Peters, Salinas CA. "In my lifelong quest for tone, these pickups have brought me to a place I have searched for, for years! These pickups made my other strats practically unplayable." - Ed Fernandes, Livermore CA. TORRES VERY VINTAGE TELE SET "I'm replacing my HD vintage+ pickups on my Tele. Believe it or not, the HD vintage+ didn't do it for me. They are loud, and have their own "modern" Tele tone, but I wanted the vintage bridge "cut and twang", sweet neck and middle position blend that everybody loves. The Torres Very Vintage Tele bridge is plenty loud and VERY clear. Both are quiet. Neck is not syrupy sweet, but "refined". The bridge can go from thick and nasty to clean twangy: responsive to tone/volume mix and the tone capacitor choice (go fo .022 or .010). My Tele is from USACG parts and they are remarkably well machined and finished (by CNC milling machinery). Forget Warmoth and go where the experts are! Mine is 1-piece medium light swamp ash (with a natural chevron in the grain of the lower bout), birdseye maple on maple, Gotoh Brass/chromed bridge and Kluson style Gotoh machines. All electronics top grade and the guitar was assembled and laquered by an expert: Fralin's own luthier (Thos. Rodriguez), in Richmond. Excellent pickups, especially the bridge pickup. I am not wild about the neck, but it's very good: strong and has character and really works well conmbined in the middle position. It could be a touch clearer,, but there is no mud at all. I wanted a bit sweeter neck tone alone, but with the right tone cap (.010 or .022),you can get what you want. Both pickups are very clear and quiet, the notes 'bloom' and have a real character to them. Nobody will accuse Torres of second rate pickups! I go through a Princeton Chorus, so you know I want it clean! These are right there with the best Fralins and HD. My one complaint: the neck pickup leads were too short and I wailed on the guy who builds them in the Torres shop. Yours will have plenty of lead, I assure you! If anybody has played the Torres Very Vintage Tele bridge and swears by another pickup that he has played in the same guitar, tell me! I can't believe a Tele bridge can get much cleaner and more versatile. I rate these a 10 because 'fantastic value' is $115 for a high quality Tele SET that sounds damn good to great! Fralins are about $160 and worth it, but a lot of guys are going to prefer Torres. I can't say how they stack up head to head, but I am fully satisfied." - Doug Henninger, Richmond VA |
FREE SHIPPING ON ANY ORDER OVER $60.00 - FREE! (in the U.S. only)We can install any and all of our kits in our custom workshop - email for info.Check out Torres Guitars.com our new info site
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