Music Master pickup is hot.

Sidney Vicious · Post by **Sidney Vicious** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 2:08 am

I find my Music Master plays hot - some grit comes out - in a good way - even when at not-great volume. Is this common for these pickups?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:41 am

I assume you're talking about a vintage musicmaster? what year? what are you plugging it into?

Sidney Vicious · Post by **Sidney Vicious** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:06 am

It's a 76 - lately plugged into a 6aq5 Music Master Bass Amp.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:14 am

sounds like a cool setup! afraid I can't shed any light on the pickup though. I would like to learn more about these pickups myself. specifically mid/late 70s - early 80s.

Sidney Vicious · Post by **Sidney Vicious** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:19 am

It is a fun set up - just wonder about that pickup myself - are earlier vintage Music Master/Duo pickups weak strong hot or what?

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 1:02 pm

Mine is the same way. You would expect it to be thin, but it's snappy and no waiting.

blankfield · Post by **blankfield** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:29 pm

Waiting is for Communists.

Pullover · Post by **Pullover** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 3:27 pm

I think it's pretty common for older pickups to be a bit micro-phonic and gritty. All of my guitars made before the 80's range from really hot and slightly micro-phonic to kinda weak and really micro-phonic. I'm not an expert but I think being micro-phonic adds to the grit.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 3:44 pm

Sidney Vicious wrote:are earlier vintage Music Master/Duo pickups weak strong hot or what?

i posted in another thread about this, but my comparison of 3 similar guitars with original pickups yielded the following:

64 duo-sonic- loudest and fullest sounding.

72 mustang- slightly quieter than the duo and very bright.

76 mustang- noticeably the quietest, not particularly trebly (this was the ash-bodied one). tended to screech rather than feedback, unlike the other two.

but overall they're quite similar.

Post by **Doog** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 3:57 pm

Is it the same with different amps?

Sidney Vicious · Post by **Sidney Vicious** » Sun Dec 06, 2009 5:15 pm

I will do a side-by-side-by-side comparison in the coming days of my '76 Music Master, my partscaster Stratocaster with Custom '69's, and my stock 60's Classic Telecaster played (clumsily) through my '64 Epiphone Galaxie, '68 Champ-Amp, '70 Music Master Bass Amp, and '71 Princeton Reverb and will report back.