DEATHBUCKER VOODOO

[toomanycats]

Before you dismiss this post as just another offering of Death Spells and Black Magick services, please hear me out.

I recently had the opportunity to install a set of Lace DEATHBUCKER humbuckers in a Schecter Omen Extreme.

But first, a brief backstory. The guy who owns the Schecter is a casual acquaintance. I know him because I'm a customer at the local Mom-and-Pop grocery store where he works. He had recently gifted an older Epiphone SG to the teenage son of one of his co-workers, with the caveat that the neck pickup was broken. Upon being made aware of this situation, I offered to look at the guitar to see if I could fix the problem. I suspected that the issue could be redressed in five minutes with a soldering iron, and that was indeed the case. Once I had addressed the electronic issue and had properly set up this plywood, MIK, bolt on neck, Epiphone Special, it revealed itself to be a real player. The serial number stamped into the neck plate indicated that it was made in 1987. The cover for the control cavity was cut by hand with scissors.

When this man, who had given a free instrument to a teenage kid who was interested in guitar, asked how much I'd charge to install a set of pickups in his Schecter, I answered, "Not a penny." His actions had demonstrated that he had a generous soul and I couldn't take any money from him in good conscience.

Knowing that he played in a heavy modern metal band, I assumed that these would be very hot ceramic humbuckers, and quite possibly actives. When he said that they were "Lace" I somehow didn't make the connection with the single coil pickups I'd previously heard about.

When I think about guitar pickups the variables that come to mind are the various types of ALNiCo alloys, ceramics, resistance readings, henries, winding patterns, wire tension, the gauge of the wire, balanced vs uneven coils . . . you know, that kind of stuff that we cork sniffers whack each other off about here.

When I got the guitar and pickups home and opened the box I encountered a real black swan. The pickups had no bobbins, no poles, and no copper windings. I was completely confused and mystified. What kind of voodoo was this? How did these even work?

An internet search revealed that they operated on the principle of voltage rather than resistance. What does that even mean? An EMG 81 has voltage from the 9 volt battery. How do these make voltage? Is there a magnet field which senses the vibration of the strings?

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[BatUtilityBelt]

I've seen Alumitones in videos, but never in person. Hopefully you can give your opinion on them after figuring out the installation.

[toomanycats]

I've seen Alumitones in videos, but never in person. Hopefully you can give your opinion on them after figuring out the installation.

I got them installed with no problems. They are very high output. The intended use of these pickups is maintaining tightness and note separation under high gain. They deliver in spades. The owner of the Schecter requested that I tune the guitar to drop C (entire guitar tuned down one full step, then drop the low E string to C), and even in that tuning, with gobs of distortion, everything sounded razor sharp. The closest thing I could compare the Lace Deathbucker to is an EMG 81 . . . which is pretty amazing considering that they are not an active pickup.

The Lace website advises that the Deatherbucker may need to be set lower than traditional humbuckers, and I followed that guidance. They also say that 250K ohm pots are sufficient. I know that a lot of people prefer that value with other bright humbuckers, like the Seymour Duncan JB for instance.

Supposedly, part of the way in which these pickups operate is on the principle that aluminum is more conductive than copper, which still doesn't give me much insight into exactly how they work.

Another oddity about the Lace Deathbucker is that there is no bridge or neck model per se, which is confusing when you're used to the bridge being at least slightly hotter than the neck. There is only one pickup offered for both positions.

[BatUtilityBelt]

Supposedly, part of the way in which these pickups operate is on the principle that aluminum is more conductive than copper, which still doesn't give me much insight into exactly how they work.

All interesting, but on this part, I disagree with them. I'm pretty sure copper is more conductive than aluminum. I wonder whether there might be some sort of dielectric effect resulting in more of specific frequencies (audible). But I don't know anything about the pickups themselves, just that they're low wind copper, and part aluminum.