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Welcome to the website of the ultimate tone tools:
Boutique, entirely hand-made pickups for guitar & bass!
But... hold on! WHY should you try GAS Pickups?
Well, we give you 3 simple reasons:
1. Improve the dynamics in the sound of an electric instrument.
2. Upgrade an electric instrument's tone with 100% handwound, hand-assembled pickups, made from the worldwide BEST, hand picked materials!
3. Expand the tonal range of an electric
instrument.
GAS Pickups.
Making guitar & bass players
happy...
Here is the current valid price
list (for 2018):
International customers (ordering, inquiries, info requests, etc,): Please e-mail us at gaspickups@gmail.com
Retailer for Attiki and Greece:
Music Accessories (www.musicaccessories.gr)
shop!
Please scroll down on this page, in order to:
- Read
our HOT NEWS,
- Find some interesting information about the design and production of our pickups,
- See some of our custom projects
Or be
sure to visit the website's subpages, by clicking on the relevant
knobs on top of this page:
-
"Singles", "Buckers", "Bass" pages are Product pages
and obviously feature more details on our
products.
- "Sound" page has lots of GAS Pickups' videos & soundclips.
HOT
NEWS
- Aug 14th: Our
final strike on GAS Legend PAFoids:
GAS PAFoid '59 N & B - the
ultimate tool for that specific 1959 PAF sound!
After months of designing &
testing, we managed to further optimize our basic N & B models
to the ultimate PAFoids, and that's why we dare now to assign them
with the specific '59 indicator!
Using heavy PVA wire, finding
the correct un-balance offset for both coils we ended up with the
sound that inspired generations of guitar players: Smooth, yet
tight, sweet, yet agressive, with all those specs at the perfect
balance.
We tested some prototypes on
REAL 50's LPs at our long time collaborator Bill Kottos, compared
to real '59 PAFs, and finalized the design. Now they are ready to
ship worldwide!
More on the technical specs are
on the Buckers product page.
Audio files coming soon!!
- Aug 1st: We are currently
optimizing our PAFoid Legend models.
A new version are our '57
PAFoids (57N & 57B), which offer nice, sweet jazzy sounds on
neck, and open twangy sounds on bridge!
Highly recommended for
semi-solid guitars.
Pictured here in double ivory,
aged version.
- April 6th: New GAS S Single
set.
GASlight '67 N,M,B
1967 was in the middle of a
transition period for Fender products, including pickups. During
this year, pickups with different output, bobbins, flat pole
diameter, etc. have been produced.
So, combining some features of that transition period for strat pickups, as wide A5 flat top rods, different output on the pickups, grey- and black-based bobbins, etc, we crerated a highly versatile set for traditional and contemporary strat sounds.
About GAS
Pickups
GAS
pickups
Elektrisola P155 wire
reels
A Mini coil winder by
CNC
Alnico bars in GAS (II, III,
V)
German Nickel covers (new and
aged look)
Frequency response curves on the
Pickup Analyzer screen
Different staggering on GAS S
singles
Wax potting of a GAStone S
single
Aged PAFoid M humbucker with
cover
We
knew...
When we decided to proceed with
the manufacturing of guitar pickups, we knew that it was a really
tough thing. But we made it even more demanding: We didn’t want to
be “just another” pickup manufacturer. We wanted to produce fine,
yet affordable guitar & bass pickups, covering a wide range in
the sound spectrum of the electric guitar & bass, so that quite
everyone would find his favorite one. And, further from that, we
wanted to be able to create custom models, in order to satisfy even
the most demanding players! Our main motto: "Get YOUR
pickup!"
And so, we moved
on.
Countless hours of studying
(again, after 25 years!) the Physics, in order to be able to design
properly: A guitar pickup is WAY MORE than just winding a
coil…
Whole weeks of researching the world market for the best materials…
Dozens of coffee mugs really
helped keeping our heads in place...
All GAS Pickups are designed here in our lab, and they are handwound and hand assembled! Further, all GAS Pickups' parts are made strictly in the US, Italy and Germany! We test all pickups one by one here in GAS, before shipping. And this is our main warranty to you!
We knew… …but we took our chance!
Wire: A
"fine" thing...
The wire, which is used for the pickup coils, is one of the most important materials for creating good pickups, and also for keeping the consistency of the production line on a high level.
After using for some short
period the traditional plain enamel wire, for GAS Pickups we
mainly use the P155 - Grade 1 "Polysol enamelled" copper wire from
Elektrisola™ (AWG 42 & 43), a world leader in industrial wire
manufacturing. The P155 is not just another copper wire. It
furthermore has a thin tin layer over the copper (tinned before
enamelling), that keeps the outer wire surface absolutely even, and
ensures constant resistance and capacitance over length unit (WAY
better than the plain enamel wire!!!). And this is a crucial
fact for perfect coils with maximum consistency.
Further upon, Grade 2 PVA AWG 42
copper wire from Elektrisola, is also used on some GAS models. This
features a thick insulation from the same material as the old
Formvar® wire!
A nice
turn...
When deciding on the coil
winding machine, it was clear that we needed a really professional,
reliable solution, that would allow precise creation of the
designed coils, as well as easy, perfect recreation of any of
them.
That's why we finally went for
the CNC mini coil winder®.
That small unit, operated entirely from a PC, allows not only
precise coil winding, but also perfect reproduction (since all coil
designs are saved in its library directories). Further upon,
automatic-, manual- and also scatterwound winding are offered. It's
easy to operate and needs very limited space due to its small
footprint.
Magnetic
issues...
Magnetic material sets the
prerequisites for the main dynamic behavior of a pickup. In GAS
Pickups we use AlNiCo II, III and V cast magnet bars & rods,
and also OX Ceramic bars.
AlNiCo material affects also the
inductance of the coils, and therefore the final frequency response
of the pickup. Our A5 magnet bars are made by the world's top
manufacturers in the US, the same ones who delivered magnet bars in
the 50's & 60's to the top US music industry
brands!
All magnet bars and rods are
strictly magnetized by our suppliers on our specs. Although, during
our extensive quality control, poor magnetized bars & rods are
trashed, and replaced with proper ones, in order to ernsure the
required field strenth and homogeneity.
Base,
Roof & in-between...
Metal parts used in humbuckers,
like baseplates and covers, can be really disastrous for the sound,
since these may sigificantly increase the Eddy currents and thus
decrease the upper mids and treble response of the pickup. The
effect appears mostly (but not only...) on cheap
pickups.
The baseplates and covers used
in the GAS humbuckers are made exclusively from high quality German
Silver (copperles plated!), a material with extremely high
impendance, in order to keep the Eddy currents as low as possible.
Other small tricks, as inslulating the magnet bar & poleshoe
from the baseplate, do also help on reducing those
currents.
Further upon, also all other
metal parts in our humbuckers (fillister screws, slugs, poleshoes,
mounting screws, etc.) are of the best available quality, ensuring
proper function of the designed magnetic circuit.
The naked
truth...
The assembled pickup needs to be
measured, in order for its correct functionality to be verified.
However, to just measure its R-L-C data it's not enough at all. The
frequency response is the main measure that will show if the pickup
really works as it was designed to.
For this task we use the
Lemme Pickup Analyzer, a PC based
tool that allows precise measurement of the frequency response of a
stand alone pickup, but also when connected to a volume and/or a
tone control, with a cable, etc.
Correct
staggering...
For proper balancing between
strings and best response, we set the correct pole staggering on
our pickups, which is almost unique for every
guitar.
While for Humbuckers and G-Singles it's fairly easy to set up the screw height anytime, S- and T-Singles, GAS-Masters as well as Bass pickups require a very careful staggering, depending mainly on their position on the relevant guitar. Currently, most of our single coil bobbins arrive already with our GAS Custom staggering.,
Wax against
howling...
In order to keep GAS pickups as immune as possible against feedback, we do pot them inside a wax mixture (paraffine & bee wax).
Wax potting, however, affects
the resonance frequency by lowering it for a few hundreds of Hz
(depending on the model, the wax mixture and the potting time).
Therefore, we have to consider this side effect into the initial
pickup design, so that the final, potted pickup delivers the
desired frequency response curve.
Note: We always pot our pickups
in the old fashioned way, taking the desired time and temperature,
ensuring the best results. No vacuum potting is used in GAS,
because the pickup needs some time to get in the (higher) potting
temperature too, apart form the wax, in order to allow to the wax
to perfectly fill any space inside. This is not possible within the
few seconds of the vacuum potting.
Lookin'
old...
Since Aging was (and still is)
core business for G.A.S., we can deliver any of our pickups in aged
look. Just ask!.
GAS Pickups on
social media:
Disclaimer:
All company names used here (Gibson, CNC, EMG, Elektrisola, Lemme, Fender), and also all product names (Strat, Telly, Jazz-Bass, Precision Bass, Les Paul, P90, P155) that are mentioned in the website, are registered names of the relevant companies and in no way related to GAS pickups.
Limited
Warranty:
GAS Pickups have a limited
warranty of 3 years after purchasing (as dated on
the pickup warranty card). We will either repair or replace your
pickup with a new one (same model) in case that your pickup fails
due to improper production/quality control from our side.
Installation of the repaired/new pickup is included. After the 3
year period, we will replace a failed pickup by charging ONLY the
replacement costs.
The limited warranty does
not cover damaged pickups due to any
further cause (improper installation,
re-installation & de-installation, exposure to
heat/humidity, coil deformation, exposure to high magnetic field,
improper electrical connection). Freight costs during pickup
replacement are on the customer. Warranty is not valid without the
relevant pickup warranty card.
All trades are imposed to the EU
law.
Copyright: Guitar Aging
Studio
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