Hey guys
So we all know by now I'm a total handwound snob :? And I've managed to find the next level of inconsistancy ?
Most of us are familiar with the infamous Tim White and his "Timbuckers" as well as that he's no longer making these great pups. Well the legacy is living on under the guise of Zhangbuckers (I can only guess the chinese influence as they're almost knockoffs ?) by David Plummer.
Gearhead and I ordered some pups quite a while back and finally getting them, and fiddling only a little I can honestly say I'm blown away. I had Tonerider Rocksongs in here before these (And a Custom4 actually) and the change is like day and night.
The neck is fat, very very fat and woody sounding (Man this is sounding like a typical OMG my pup is the best kinda write-up but it's not) at the moment it's a touch dark sounding - but that was a risk I took, asking for a hot neck when David suggested something more vintagey. I was looking to get into almost Slash territory but my guitar is already dark. He has however offered to rewind it at no extra cost so big ups there, but I'm loving this thing far too much to let it out of my paws for now. I've also wired a coil split in there which sounds pretty good, I have to rewire it to use the screw coil though which'll sound even better.
The bridge is awesome. I had a slightly strange spec'd one. 9.9k with an 8.6k tap. Now the idea was to be able to run it either with an A2 @ 8.6k or A5 @ 9.9k. It's generally accepted that the hotter coil should always face the neck in bridge and neck pups, so @ 8.6k the pup is running correctly. I wired it up to a push-pull just to test some thing, and yow both positions are usable. On the cool setting, it's a warm, not fat but full paf tone, completely different from what I am used to. Slight mushiness from the A2 but it sounds great. In the hot position with the hotter coil on the bridge side, it veers towards a more modern, tight tone, great for heavier rhythm or when looking for clarity. It gives the tone a boost in highs and bass, so it's almost a perceived scoop.
Another negative would be (According to Gearhead) is that they're perhaps a little heavily potted (I.e medium vs light) as they weren't that susceptable to feedback, but hey that part of pups goes over my head ?.
Overall for the money I paid ($110 a piece including some freebies like mags, funny specs etc - I opted for "pure handwound" quoted less the marketing "My Pure Handwound line differs from my regular wind in that the wire is wrapped on the bobbin ENTIRELY BY HAND. There is no machine used to turn the bobbin or anything else other than a clamp to hold the bobbin in place – my hands and the wire are the only moving parts." The hand scattered pups are currently on special for $70 - probably R700 after shipping and customs, not that much more when you consider you can chat to David and have him wind something specifically for you.) this has been a really great purchase and I can give a 2x thumbs up recommendation to anyone looking for handwounds or boutique pups at more than decent prices.
And just to finish things off, here's a clip. Starts off on the neck, then bridge, then neck with neck lead and bridge with bridge lead. Please excuse the odd bugger up, it's late.
http://www.box.net/shared/klsnal64gb
Mike
