New Pickups

I’ve put new pickups in my Washburn Hawk C-Model, with a bit of help from my son. After a lot of humming and hahing, I plumped for a set of Axesrus Classic 50s Humbuckers, Alnico 3 magnets, and DC resistance of 8K in the Bridge pup, and 7k in Neck pup.

Wow, do they ever sound different to what was in there before. So much more rounded, nicely defined clean tones, good bass, mid and treble, with a bridge that can bark and a neck that can be so smooth with a bit of gain.

The previous pups were the stock original Washburn Power Sustain. It is in fact a matsumoku (Japan)  made guitar, 1984, and the pups are more than likely, matsumoku  mmk45. Both pups have ceramic magnets and DC resistance of 11.5k. Equal coils with a split coil option. They were OK, nothing to shout about. Better in split coil mode. They had a huge output, approx 2V peak to peak, so really were ideal for el distorto sounds. But they were harsh and aggresive sounding, and I never really warmed to them.

So all in all a really good change.

Now if only my playing would improve… not likely to  with continuing hand weakness from HNPP, 15 minutes playing and it feels like I’ve had my hands walloped with a 2lb lump hammer. Not to mention the dead legs, gripey shoulders, and a riddle for my middle. But I dont want to give up and I just love guitars… I was born in the 50s…