Bentbucker (high output) - A complete redesign of the humbucker

Bentbucker (high output) - A complete redesign of the humbucker

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 Solderless setup with all required wiring available here.

 

An entirely new humbucker design, creating a pair unrivalled in clarity for the highest gain applications. The high output bentbuckers should be the first humbucker set on anyone's mind when drop tuning is considered.

 

You've probably heard the line 'These are the clearest, most articulate humbuckers ever!' from multiple manufacturers on multiple occasions. The aftermarket humbucker started in the 70s. That's 50 years in which manufacturers have had to work out the best humbucker recipes for such a claim. When utilising the age old format of the PAF humbucker, that design has been created. To actually push the boundaries of humbuckers, rather than a marketing team, we need to tear down the design and rebuild it.

 

And that's exactly what's been done here! The Bentbuckers are quite literally that, the humbucker construction, bent onto it's side. Inspired by single coils, which inherently have a very small string spacing window, the Bentbuckers have a smaller string sensing window to simulate a similar effect. The small string spacing window results in the pickups picking up a smaller spectrum of harmonic information, therefore they are much more articulate than any standard humbucker design. By turning the bobbins on their sides, the string sensing window is now 25mm instead of the typical 35mm.

 

The high output bentbuckers incorporate a trio of alnico 5 magnets in the bridge, and ceramic in the neck. Similar to how the magnetic field in a Jaguar single coil pickup works, the magnets are placed one on each outer side of the bobbins, and one in the middle (of opposite polarity facing upwards). This creates a strong, focused magnetic field, as the magnetism is directed from the top of the two outer magnets directly to the top of the inner magnet - similar to a Jaguar claw. This strong, focused magnetic field means that the bass is razor sharp and the treble is as clear as a bell.

 

This new design happens to have a lot of things in similar with a Firebird pickup - a string spacing window between that of a single coil and a humbucker and alnico magnets are used to magnetise the strings. These things inherently give the Bentbuckers a beautiful clean tone. Not just by high output humbuckers standards, but by humbucker standards in general! These close aperture coils, similar to a minihumbucker, are also shared by active pickups - which is one of the reasons they're commonly regarded as being the most clear pickups around.

 

The pickups are wound with 42.5 AWG wire, this results in the treble being bright but not shrill, a balanced mid range and a super-tight bass end. The neck is wound the same way to a slightly more modest amount. The combination of a mid pushed wind with a strong magnetic field allows this pickup to very closely mimic the tone of a Stratocaster single coil pickup. It's punchy, dynamic and, most importantly for a high output set, thrives with high levels of gain. 

 

Specifications (neck/bridge) -
Resistance (Ohms) - 9.5k / 10.3k
Magnets - trio of ceramic bar magnets / trio of alnico 5 bar magnets
Spacing - universal / universal
Lead wire - 4 conductor + shield / 4 conductor + shield
Base plate - short legged nickel silver / short legged nickel silver
Wax potted
Supplied with mounting screws and springs.

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D
Dave Mc
Bentbucker High Output Bridge Pickup

I replaced the EMG 81 in the bridge position of my Jackson Dinky with the high output version of the Bentbucker. I have this guitar tuned to drop C- I usually play in E and that's what my ear is used to, so I asked Alex what he would suggest for something with a decent output but which still sounded bright when tuned down, while also being tight and more open-sounding than the EMG without too much of a mid-hump and compression.

The high output Bentbucker is exactly what I wanted. It's really nice and open-sounding and has excellent clarity and tightness but still has plenty of output for pretty much any style of music. I like it a lot better than the EMG 81, it suits the way I play a lot better. The cleans are really nice, too- Alex's description on the product page is spot on.

Highly recommended if you don't just want another PAF clone and are willing to think a little outside the box.

(I haven't tried the neck version, I have this paired with an Indian Summer neck pickup, which is also excellent.)