M3 pickups

[mark1]

I have a Kurokumo Mosrite copy that sounds ok.Would putting a set of M3 California replacemet pu's make it sound that much better? Would it be worth the cost to do so?I have a Mosrite to compare it to but my stock Kurokumo pu's are missing something.

[MWaldorf]

M3 pickups are very close replicas of vintage Mosrite pickups. If you've got a vintage Mosrite and you like the sound, you'll like the sound of the M3s.

[mark1]

Thanks Mel. I was hoping that you would chime in . Do you have anything on you tube with the M3's that I could hear with those pickups?

[MWaldorf]

This is my Gruggett with the early version of the M3 pickups. The new ones sound even better!

[mark1]

Thanks for your help Mel . Wow,talk about an in depth demo.They sound great! May have a convert here . Thanks again.

[kgruggett]

Thanks for sharing Mel. I really enjoyed that. You and that Gruggett guitar of yours are a great combo! Hope to meet you soon!
Kathy (Gruggett)

[slapshot]

M3 or Novak rework?

[EFElliott]

Hi, you may have over looked these as an option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OzAT1pwkFU


http://www.ebay.com/itm/E-F-Elliott-Cus ... 1c330a7377

[raygun85]

We usually recommend Ed or Curtis besides the pickups that we offer. Some of our customers have had pickups from either two or all three of us. Most of the time, everyone says that they all sound the same, at least when we're talking about a comparison to our RH-100's. We only had one person who preferred our pickups after having tried Curtis and Ed's pickups and to this day I don't understand why. Actually, I was hesitant to take the job because he had used Curtis' services first, wasn't happy and went to Ed. He didn't like Ed's and then came to us. I stalled him for about 6 months. The last time he asked us to take on the job I cautiously asked him why he didn't like Curtis or Ed's. With Curtis, it had something to do with the gauge of wire. With Ed's pickups, he said he just didn't like the tone. This is very, very, very subjective...I'm not touting our pickups as "better" than Ed's. He told me that he felt the pickups sounded "too muddy" when comparing to the Ventures albums he was listening to. I suggested he play with his amp settings - to no avail. Finally, we agreed to take on the job. He was used to playing Fenders so I assumed that maybe the ultra-hot tone of Mosrites were just not his cup of tea. When we started, we were winding our RH-100's around 9-10K, more like the ones in the early 60s. People started requesting them hotter, so we started going with the more mid-60's resistance of 11-12K. He said he was going for a Live In Japan '65 tone, so I recommended going with the 11-12 and opting for the Dual Tones, and tapping them closer to 10 or 10.5 just in case. He didn't like the idea of the Dual Tones so I recommended something around 10.5K for the neck and 11.5K for the bridge. Whatever the deal is, he ended up raving about the pickups, said he sat up all night and was late the next morning just from playing his guitar. My guess is that the lower output was more to his taste.

I think a lot of people are confused as to what a "hot" pickup sounds like. Personally, I like my pickups more typically around 11K as a good middle-of-the-road Mosrite tone. But really, a "hotter" pickup translates into more output and more volume, but ultimately more accentuated midrange and less highs. 13K was probably too much for him. Unfortunately, we've started winding over 13 and 14K simply do to the popular misconception. However, I recommend 11-12K for a more balanced tone. Otherwise, again, everyone else who has owned all three of our pickups has claimed they hear no difference. So honestly, I think its a toss-up between the three of us. And don't overlook Bob Shade - his handmade pickups are also pretty awesome when it comes to delivering the authentic tone.

[Hydra19]

I have a Hallmark C60 and replaced the stock pickups with a set of M3 rh100 pickups and it did improve the tone. It's seems clearer, or sharper. It's not a huge difference but it's improved in every aspect, but I also changed the pots to 500k and changed the cap so that could be it as well. The stock pickups didn't sound bad, better with dirt, as these seem to be as well, since they're hot-ish. That's all compared to my Jaguar on clean though, so not much of a contest.

It took me a week to get used to them, set them up to my specs but now they're really good, The Hallmark sounds great acoustically and with the pickups, a bit of dirt and a lot of treble it really stings. P90-ish but clearer, not so ragged. I asked for a set of pickups as close as possible to the Live in Japan 65 tone as well, and it gets there, but I like to push them further still. I set my amp to 0 bass, 0 mid, and 10 treble, and it sounds great, just a weird eq setting for me, never tried that before, but it really does make this guitar sound great with moderate distortion. Better for the live in japan 65 tone too.

The Hallmark now is also coming close to being my favorite guitar, taking over from my Les Paul and I like that so much that i'm buying another Les Paul and planning to put M3 dual tones in humbucker size. The lower output should be more P90-ish, and that is what I'm looking for but having the option to go hotter is a definite plus so am really excited to finalize this project. I am planning on making this guitar new Les Paul a keeper, and from all the P90 humbucker sized pickups I'm going for M3 even thought they don't claim to replicate P90's but if they sounds as good as they do in the Hallmark then I'm sure I'll be happy, I realize the tone will be different due to the wood but I'm so interested to hear what they sound like in a Les Paul.

To me they were worth the money I paid, they should sound better than your stock Kurukomo pickups, but you have to decide whether the price is right for you.