Vintage Sprague Bumblebee Replicas-Jupiter Condenser

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  • Опубликовано: 25 авг 2024
  • Back again, old and slow me :-) Been meaning to do this video for some time now and finally did it. I've tried all kinds of vintage capacitors, the vintage NOS Sprague Bumblebee caps being the best overall, but last year I discovered Jupiter Condenser's Bumblebee replicas that blew me away with their sound and ACCURACY. Then last month I suddenly noticed they have two different versions, the aluminum foil ones and the TIN foil ones. The TIN foil ones are replicas of the earliest Bumblebee capacitors and I had never tried them out until a couple weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised how good these also sound. They are a little bit warmer sounding and am loving both the tin and aluminum foil paper in oil Bees they sell. They are expensive at $30 each but well worth the money and the SOUND they give you if you are looking for a more vintage sound for your Les Paul or other Gibshunned type electric guitars. Chris Young is the owner of the company and they don't seem to have been noticed by guitar players all that much, so wanted to help expose them, especially to Les Paul players looking to do better than their stock instruments. In my four episode videos, "The Les Paul That Isn't," I didn't get much into the capacitors used in the vintage LP's, so this video might interest you in achieving a better more accurate sound for your guitars. Enjoy,
    Dave Stephens
    Stephens Design Pickups

Комментарии • 95

  • @parabot2
    @parabot2 10 месяцев назад +4

    I'm amazed your channel has not exploded , you have done easily the most indebth study of the Les Paul ins and outs. Stunning work , and tone you have completed .

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  10 месяцев назад +1

      Thanks. Probablyl because I don't use phony video titles like "Man dies horribly after touching infected guitar pickup found in abandoned insane asylum." Or, blatant useless hype, like "My vintage winding machine makes fantastic PAF tones using knitting yarn." In other words I don't try to trick people into watching my videos. I really dislike that kind false advertising, so I don't do it myself. If you are on forums, it helps me if you share videos there. But, the trolls.......

  • @igooralencaar
    @igooralencaar 9 месяцев назад +8

    16:43 Tin Foil Bee
    17:00 Aluminum Foil Bee
    17:55 Tin Foil Bee
    18:17 Aluminum Foil Bee
    18:38 Tin Foil Bee
    19:04 Aluminum Foil Bee
    19:35 Tin Foil Bee
    20:33 Aluminum Foil Bee
    21:31 Tin Foil Bee
    22:42 Aluminum Foil Bee

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  9 месяцев назад +2

      Thanks for doing that!

  • @roberthyatt5391
    @roberthyatt5391 Год назад +1

    Good to see another video from you Dave. Hope your summer going well.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад

      Hi, thanks! Going pretty well, getting some bike riding done, so am feeling pretty good physically. Our summers are too short though, it rains most of the winter or snows, never see the sun at all, not looking forward to that....

  • @lousekoya1803
    @lousekoya1803 Год назад +1

    Thank you so much Sir ! Love your knowledge , channel and work ! Cheers from Quebec !

  • @darrellminx5459
    @darrellminx5459 Год назад +3

    I agree with you on caps. I use NOS sprauge paper and oil on my guitar. Jupiter makes a good capacitor I have used them in amps I have built. Your right the new bumble bee caps are not paper and oil. There is a video that slices one in half and it's just like polymer and foil. Something like that. I love your dedication to tone and you help me to confirm things I have discovered along this path. I appreciate your work. Aloha is Darrell in Hawaii.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад +2

      Hope things are getting better in Maui, what an awful event. The bee caps with the cheap poly capacitors in them are the ones Gibson made. I also cut one open in an older video from the "The Les Paul That Isn't" series of videos I did. They lied about them too, saying they had vintage bees analyzed by engineers to make theirs sound the same. You can't trust a single thing that company says, but delusional hyped marketing is rampant in the music gear industry, sad to say.

    • @darrellminx5459
      @darrellminx5459 Год назад +1

      @@SDPickups you are totally right 👍

    • @ozflyer1
      @ozflyer1 3 месяца назад

      @@SDPickups the NOS bees in the vintage range of les pauls are westone mylar caps dressed up to look authentic... they are crap.

  • @meer_kaaat
    @meer_kaaat 3 месяца назад +1

    I just installed one set of .022uF tin-foil Bumblebee in my LP and i've been using original Bumblebees for years But my Journey of condenser is ended up with Jupiter. This is really amazing!!

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  3 месяца назад +1

      DEFINITELY. Jupiter Bee caps are still not well known. Guitar players think that any capacitor painted to look like the old bees are cool, but the sound IS NOT THERE. ONLY THE JUPITERS SUCCEEDED IN REPRODUCING THE SOUND.

  • @user-sx9dv8jz8q
    @user-sx9dv8jz8q Год назад +1

    Wow, great stuff, this is the knowledge that we need.

  • @jcsk8
    @jcsk8 Год назад +1

    Very good content, as always, sir. Never heard about Jupiter caps, and I´ll try some, for sure. To my ears, I love the warmth of the tin foil ones. Also wasn´t awared about the nylon inside the wires. Thanks for all those info. Have a nice Sunday.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад

      Yeah, I don't think many of the Les Paul players know about the Jupiter Bee replicas, not sure why, he makes great stuff for both guitar players and audio HIFI fanatics.

  • @user-tb9rw7dh2t
    @user-tb9rw7dh2t 5 месяцев назад +1

    Good job Dave 👍

  • @nickvankempen
    @nickvankempen Год назад

    Great video again! When I changed my caps a year ago, I contemplated getting the Jupiters. I ended up with Russian k40y-9’s. Very pleased with those, but might have to try the Jupiters.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад +1

      On my regular harnesses for the standard recipe PAF replicas, I use the KY40-9 .015uf for neck only. The .022uf KY's for bridge were too harsh, so I use the Mojo Vitamin T PIO caps on these cheaper harnesses. The Jupiters are a lot better but are $30 each. They will give you a better sound, but most commercial humbuckers are too "nice" and don't have much bite to them, so the KY for bridge might be a good choice. Just depends on your guitar.

  • @amslu
    @amslu 5 месяцев назад +1

    Aluminium in the condenser is the answer I was looking for. Always had a trouble of replicating these upper harmonics on by suspended bar chords when playing Woman

  • @jorispiteraerents6226
    @jorispiteraerents6226 11 месяцев назад +1

    Keep up the good work Dave ❤

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  11 месяцев назад

      As long as I can. Couple weeks ago, I hit total burnout. Had to take a week off to get sane again....

  • @bigjohnsgmail
    @bigjohnsgmail 11 месяцев назад +1

    Thank you for doing the work of testing all these things with a clinical ear and not just a meter.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  11 месяцев назад

      Ears matter ;-) Meters are sometimes useful but can also be rather useless.

  • @BrianVirts
    @BrianVirts 14 дней назад +1

    Hi there, I'm not sure maybe you said....is the tone cap just in the circuit or do you have the tone knob on in the sound clips? If so, what number on the dial? Thanks, sounds great!

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  14 дней назад +1

      The capacitor is always in the circuit, even if you have it on zero. This is contrary what most think. If you play with no capacitor soldered into the guitar then solder one in and keep it on zero you WILL hear a difference. Its still in the circuit as long as its soldered in place. Also, anytime you add something to the harness or change the value of a pot or tone cap you'll hear a change, but you have to be careful about this, because anytime you change something, you interrupted the complete harness and it will take a day of playing before you hear what it will actually DO longterm. This even applies to the pole screws. If you simply change the direction of the slots, you interrupted its spot in the overall magnetization, and you'll hear the sound get darker until you play it some and the pole screw is remagnetized in its new direction. Its subtle, but I hear it anytime I change something. These caps got played to settle them in before I did the recordings.

  • @Paquette011
    @Paquette011 2 месяца назад +1

    Installed a set of these tonight with some mojotone vintage taper 500K pots and wow. Those stock Gibson orange ceramics sound horrific in comparison. Been learning a lot from your videos. Thank you!

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  2 месяца назад +2

      Did you watch the video "The Les Paul That Isn't?" There are Four episodes. I took a '60VOS stock Les Paul and went through every part and replaced all the cheap junk Gibson parts with closest vintage parts from our times that gibson completely ignored. Plus our Four Uncles ABR1 replica bridge that took us two years and a lot of reverse-engineering work on my part. If you can manage to get one it will make quite a difference on your Les Paul or other LP type guitar that can fit one. Gibson as a corporation is pretty dumb and always looking for ways to cut corners to make a buck.

    • @Paquette011
      @Paquette011 2 месяца назад

      @@SDPickups I think I have watched the series at least 6 times. It’s the most informative series I’ve ever run into. The four uncles bridge is on my short list. Unfortunately I have a Nashville guitar and from what I’ve gathered those conversion posts will not help me achieve what I’m after. Maybe time to plug the holes and do a genuine ABR1 conversion.

  • @daviddequasie6816
    @daviddequasie6816 9 месяцев назад +1

    I have a Gibson 1957 Historic reissue (R7) and finally got around to doing the 50's style wiring and new caps. I replaced the disc caps with a Jupiter aluminum .015 for the neck pickup and a Jupiter tin foil .022 for the bridge pickup. The guitar now is less muddy and has a much more 'open' sound. Wish that I'd done this over 20 years ago!

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  9 месяцев назад +1

      You can do much more than that. Watch this four part series on vintage hardware and more. Check your bridge posts and thumbwheels, for instance. If they are stainless steel and steel wheels, changing those to brass will give you much more sustain and warmth. Be sure to watch ALL FOUR episodes or you won't understand the whole picture. But, yeah, Gibson harnesses are junk.
      ruclips.net/video/85IWlkPdO8A/видео.htmlsi=UfPgslwAnL1W-6nk

    • @daviddequasie6816
      @daviddequasie6816 9 месяцев назад

      Yes. I replaced the thumbwheels and the bridge with an old Gibson ABR 1. Changing the bridge made the biggest improvement. @@SDPickups

  • @mattthrun-nowicki8641
    @mattthrun-nowicki8641 Год назад +1

    They’re fantastic- much less dark than Luxe

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад +2

      Yeah thats what I thought. I did buy a Luxe but on an LCR meter the readings don't resemble any good capacitors I've measured, weird readings so never used it. The Jupiters have the nicest treble sound I've ever tried, they are the equals of vintage Sprague Bumble Bee caps.

  • @tommyboyce
    @tommyboyce 3 месяца назад +1

    Both sound fantastic. Personally prefer the tin foil

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  3 месяца назад +1

      Interesting, I think you're the first one to prefer the tin foil one.

    • @tommyboyce
      @tommyboyce 3 месяца назад

      @@SDPickups I just loved that warm, round mid range of the tin foil ones. I'd be happy with either I'm sure but I ordered the tin foil ones.

  • @jacqueslapidieux3182
    @jacqueslapidieux3182 11 месяцев назад +2

    Both sound amazing - but completely different. Would use Tin in a studio guitar and Aluminium in a live guitar. Super video as always 👍

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  11 месяцев назад +2

      I'm still experimenting with these, may start using the tin foil one in some of my recipe sets. Always love these experiments...thank you.

  • @darrellminx5459
    @darrellminx5459 Год назад +1

    Your right about the braided wire as well. Thank you.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад

      Yep. You know, I don't know of any single guitar company or solo builders who seem to know anything about harnesses and the importance of them. Its like they all went to the same luthier school and teach things 50 years old that have no basis in reality.

    • @darrellminx5459
      @darrellminx5459 Год назад

      @@SDPickups it's the attention to detail that make you the best. All the little things matter. I have learned that over my 60 years.

  • @igooralencaar
    @igooralencaar 6 месяцев назад +1

    Hi Stephen, could you explain how this modification is made to the potentiometer cone to get the exact measurement you want?

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  6 месяцев назад

      You can only modify CTS pots that don't have the circlips. You have to take the pot completely apart and shave the carbon track around the edges until you get the reading you want. It takes quite a bit of practice but it works if done right.

  • @cc771
    @cc771 5 месяцев назад +1

    Hello there, Steven. You're video really open my eyes and ears on capacitors. I have ordered last year a set of Wizz pickups unpotted the Bernie Marsden set. Which are A5 8.4k neck and A2 8.65k bridge. I went to Jupiter's capacitors website and purchased aluminum foil 15uf for neck and tin foil 22uf for bridge. Was that a good choice for my 1998 Gibson R9?

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  5 месяцев назад

      I was never impressed by that guy, he tried to milk me for information and made attempts to trick me into giving him information. I have no respect for lazy guys who won't do their own research and try to profit from other's work. But most are like that anyway. Why would anyone wind such a hot neck? Its going to make a muddy sound, unless you use something like modern poly wire. Yeah, good choice for the neck, plus using high value pots would help too, but too much wire like that is a problem. WD Music is now selling high value pots, but Jeezus H. they are the hardest to turn of any pots I've ever used. They need to fix that. Vintage correct hardware will help immensely, but sadly our Four Uncles ABR1 replica is not being produced anymore. It was the ONLY accurrate one ever made. the only other option are the vintage ones, but most of them are too beat up with ruined slots to be useable, plus being hugely expensive. All the Gibson hardware is probably made in some Asian country.

    • @cc771
      @cc771 5 месяцев назад +1

      @@SDPickups thanks for your reply. I haven't put those pickups on yet but my pots are 8 year old RS Guitarworks super pots. I went with the Faber ABRH with brass thumbwheels studs and a ABM aluminum tailpiece with callaham steel post and spacers. Sorry to hear about you and wizz pickups situation I didn't know that. But I do have his pickups and want to see what they offer. I was going to purchase your four uncles abr-1 bridge but I got thrown off because they told me they're in Europe. So didn't know if it was legit. Once again thank you for your reply.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  5 месяцев назад

      @@cc771 Yeah the Four Uncles are me and 3 guys who financed the project and I did the reverse engineering work and destroyed one of my vintage ABR1's to get the true alloy contents instead of using the wrong stuff like ALL the other bridges out there. It took us two years of hell to get them right, then two of the Uncles moved to Spain, so there's not enough guys to make them anymore. I fear they are gone forever, but it remains to be seen if the last guy can pull something together. The 4U bridges do magical things to every guitar I've put them on, and thats not a word I use lightly. They are in Belgium. Great guys, but sadly I think we should have sold them much higher price because each bridge took 6 hours or more to make a single one. They never made back their investment. Just SAD. Some people like that guy's pickups, but he just didn't impress me as a good researcher and I did not like being used for his gain. But I never told him anything useful to begin with, but others tried to do the same thing to me, wanting me to give them years of research for nothing in return.

    • @cc771
      @cc771 5 месяцев назад +1

      @@SDPickups I understand. Mr Steven. Thank you for your videos and I have done everything that you said on the les paul that wasn't on my 1998 R9. I did everything you said in that video the only thing I'm missing is the four uncles bridge. But the Faber ABRH doesn't sound bad at all. Thank you my friend and keep doing what you're doing.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  5 месяцев назад

      @@cc771 The Faber is the closest you can get. The high strings are very close to vintage bridges, but the low strings are muddy compared to originals. Fabers aren't supposed to be accurrate, its just that they were all I could find that were close enough. Can't go wrong with that ;-:

  • @Dad-Gad
    @Dad-Gad Год назад +1

    16.42 for the audio comparison 👍

  • @jamiemalec835
    @jamiemalec835 Год назад +1

    Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I really dig your tone, what amp do you use? Is it the SV20H in the background?

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад +1

      Well, first of all the tone is the replica PAF's I make. But its also the harness and all the hardware, none of that is stock. It also has our Four Uncles ABR1 bridge replica, there are no other accurate ABR1's out there, and the Gibson modern ones are the absolute worst of them all. There's over 20 years of actual reverse-engineering that went into figuring vintage PAF's out and getting very close with modern materials and tricks I invented. The amp I used for this video is the Garnet MANN that sits on top of that stack. These are simple amps, no gain channels, 6L6 power tubes, no pedals. These have solid state rectifiers so they have more detail than my JTM45 replica, so was a perfect choice for this video. Its plugged into Celestion Greenbacks, THEY are the sound of vintage blues/rock. 12 inch 25 watts, mounted in a pine cab with half open back. Yes, that is an SV20, pretty decent little amp, I don't use it that much but they are decent, simple circuits, no gain channels no tricky stuff. Unfortunately they boosted the price of these way too high, I think I paid about $700 for mine and they are near double that now. WTF? Made in the UK, but still all PC board and low build quality, but should last pretty long I hope. They can actually be pretty loud for 20 watts.

    • @jamiemalec835
      @jamiemalec835 Год назад +1

      @@SDPickups I completely understand. I've watched the series on your work you've done to your R0 and it's really interesting. I've just picked up my first Gibson Les Paul, its a 2003 standard and I like it but I am fully aware it needs a lot changing, where to start...
      I will definitely get around to changing the harness wiring to 50s style wiring with better cable and pots to 500k and probably the foil Jupiter bees but my real question is what the hell do I do with my Nashville bridge? The posts have similar bushings to a tailpiece mount. Maybes a faber ABRN might help a little.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад

      @@jamiemalec835 Its just tragic that Gibson cheats their customers by using Chibson-level junk bridges on their bridges even now and even on their $2500 guitars. They do it because its quick and cheap and it fools their customers. The only real thing you can do is pull out the bushings and plug and glue in hardwood dowels, then drill those to accept 6-32 ABR1 brass bridge posts. Putting Faber adapters in the bushings just adds more metal and makes it even more Chibson than they already are. That company has become nothing more than a corporate money machine worshipping the DOLLAR, instead of going one step better. I don't know for sure when they started Chibsonizing their guitars. The year 2000 Classic I did these sound clips with, DOES have true ABR1 bridge posts direct into wood, though I changed them from cheap stainless steel to vintage correct BRASS, and that alone help alot. Now it has our Four Uncles ABR1 in it that helped a very mediocre LP actually SOUND GOOD, among other steps I did.

  • @willdenham
    @willdenham 4 месяца назад +1

    I'm getting an SG. What were they using in the 60's for capacitors/pots?

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  4 месяца назад +1

      I have photos of a '60 SG, looks like Centralab pots and tiny ceramic capacitors. when I did my SG video I copied how the SG harnesses were done, surprisingly the little ceramics just work really well.

  • @mohany134
    @mohany134 7 месяцев назад +1

    Which after market pots you advise ? Proper Audio taper ? Reading ?

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  7 месяцев назад +1

      I use the CTS pots that StewMac has made. Good taper. Readings are all over the place. I learned how to adjust the carbon tracks to make them read higher. There were better ones being made by another company, CTS also but they stopped selling them for some weird reason. CTS are the only good ones. Bourns and VIP use plastic tracks and always read too low and are junk. CTS quality has dropped in recent years, I'm finding ones on my guitars that are doing weird things. Mojo has good ones but you can't modify them easily because they have circlips on the shafts that are impossilble to take off and put back on. Tried PEC and are also plastic tracks and don't sound good.

    • @mohany134
      @mohany134 7 месяцев назад

      @@SDPickups thank you so much for the in depth efforts you made and I’m happy to share same passion finding good tone, I use VIP pots the taper and sound really great to me it reads within 550k but sadly no more supply then lately I found Nostaligic pots he simply get old centralab pots and put them in CTS pots casing and readings above 600k-900K, so before I try them I decided to get back to you for advise and thank you 🙏

  • @shoestringplayer106
    @shoestringplayer106 Год назад +1

    Have your tried luxe radio caps?

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад

      I bought one but on an LCR meter the readings are just super strange, and notice the comment above saying they are too dark; the meter readings also point to that. Luxe used to just paint Russian capacitors, not really sure what they are doing now, but meters don't lie. Jupiters sound just like my vintage NOS Bumble Bee caps, so thats why I buy them for my best harnesses.

  • @danbuffington75
    @danbuffington75 Месяц назад

    I prefer the sound of the tin foil, but I don't know why. It seems more airy or chimey. I hear some "thing" in the tone.

  • @autodidacticprofessor869
    @autodidacticprofessor869 6 месяцев назад +2

    I discovered that Dimarzio uses the high end braided wire with the inner white layer. I thought that was interesting when I was helping rewire a friend's guitar. Honestly I was shocked at how nice the Dimarzio PAF 59 pickups sounded for what they cost.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  6 месяцев назад

      In the Dave Hunter PAF shootout in Guitar Player Magazine, DiMarzio scored at the very bottom. My HD59 replica set scored at the very top and Dave bought a set for himself.

    • @autodidacticprofessor869
      @autodidacticprofessor869 5 месяцев назад +1

      @@SDPickups If you put 10 PAF's in a shootout, randomly selected from 10 random guitars from 1957-60, different magnets, DCR, etc, there would have to be a #1 and a #10 in a shootout and honestly opinions are subjective. Some PAF's were frankly awful, thin and lifeless and some were incredible. You know this. Just because it's a "real PAF" doesn't mean it sounds good. People associate what they believe they are hearing based on what they know about the thing they are listening to. Bias is real. If this test was a blind, scientific test, where they person had no idea what they actually hearing, I'd give the test more weight.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  5 месяцев назад

      DiMarzio are clueless. I was in a PAF replica shoot out by the famous author Dave Hunter. Dimarzio was included, as well as Ron Ellis, Wizz, some other guy I never heard of who has vanished, and my HD59 set. DiMarzio scored at the very bottom and were too harsh sounding. My set won top honor's, "Editor's Choice." Ellis was second below me. It really was the only correctly done PAF shootout ever done. I had Dave remove the stock Gibson harness from his Les Paul, because their harnesses are junk quality, and I tutored him how to build one, so that everyone got a fair shot. This was in Guitar Player Magazine, not some ridiculous forum. DiMarzio's designer is a smart cookie, but somehow there's never been anyone but myself that put in 20 years into discovering every single thing about vintage PAF's, and I found so many things nobody else ever did, and I keep my mouth shut about all of that. You can read Dave's review here:
      sdpickups.com/gp/gphd.jpg

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  5 месяцев назад +1

      @@autodidacticprofessor869 This is an often repeated forum MYTH. There are NO "bad" sounding vintage PAF's. There are way too many uneducated people who don't know them like I do, and don't even understand what they ARE. I have never in 20+ years ever heard or played a "bad" sounding vintage PAF. So, no, I do not agree with that statement. So, lets start off with facts first. The official winding recipe for the PAF's was the same as for P90's= 10,000 total winds. Period. Its what all of them were supposed to be. This gives you around 7.3k ohms reading. ("Ohms it not power, its only a resistance reading of known wire thats all the same diameter). NOW, if you put a 7.3K PAF in bridge position, you're NOT going to like it, its going to be virtually harsh in bridge position. Plus you literally have to beat hard on the strings to get any useable voltage output. I know because I own a 1960 PAF that IS 7.3K. In my Fender vintage amps it sounds too harsh in bridge position, does not have enough AC voltage output to push the front end of a real tube amp. That does not mean its a "bad" pickup at all. Put it in neck position, and you got a killer crystal clear tone to die for. Now, further, if you get hold of a genuine vintage PAF set thats been in someone's closet for 20 years, and you plug it in right away....its not going to sound great. The reason is that they "go to sleep." Its this weird phenomenom that if the pickup isn't used frequently the "burn-in" effect gets lost, and they cloud up. I had a guy send me a PAF he said sounded terrible. Obviously he played it for two minutes and made an incorrect judgement call out of ignorance. I played it and yes it sounded dark and muddy-like. So, I put it in my guitar and played it for about 2-3 weeks, and that sucker blossomed like a flower. It gained back it brightness and bite and I did a video of it in my guitar on RUclips. He was shocked when he heard me play it and I explained to him what was going on. Some of the later PAF's it seems they began winding them to FILL THE BOBBIN instead of counting turns. These are more pleasing because they have many more turns that increase AC power enough to push the front end of a tube amp. Most all of the famous PAF's in famous LP's had higher winds. There just aren't any "bad" ones as forum kids claim.
      Now you mention "blind audio testing," YES. This is an important part of what I do. Very recently I did a blind audio test between a new prototype bridge PAF with some modern wire no one knows about, versus a 1959 PAF set, with both pickups being 7.6K. I did not identify which audio clip was mine or the vintage '59's. My proto bridge was 8.8K with a 7.5K replica neck PAF. I did put the results up AFTER all the guesses were on the page. 60% identified my proto bridge as being the real vintage PAF. The real '59's only 40% thought they were real. So, an 8.8K bridge is going to have a lot more winds than a 7.6K PAF. So of course it had more warmth to it, its what they wanted to hear. The 7.6K obviously were going to be brighter and most didn't really like it compared to my hotter bridge. The 7.6K '59's did not sound bad at all, its just that players don't understand that real PAF's are quite bright even at highter winds. This is that video: ruclips.net/video/c_YDr-lQ9pI/видео.html
      I've also done a lot of comparisons of vintage PAF parts vs modern parts that I personally machine myself, to show that vintage parts and my modern parts are very very close. The vintage parts, if you have good ears and sound system, have a very slight less treble content, most likely due to the more sulfur in vintage steels. I really enjoy debunking commonly held myths about vintage PAF's, and there are MANY "pickup makers" who invented outright false "facts" to fool their customers into handing over the cash, by pretending they know more than others. Despicable behavior, and customers eventually figure out they are lying about what they make. In the end you can't fool people's ears in this business and you lose customers when they wake up.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  3 месяца назад

      @@autodidacticprofessor869 Well that wouldn't work at all. The only noticeable differences would be how much wire was put on the bobbins. The ACTUAL winding recipe they used that are on MOST old PAF's were 10,000 total winds. This equals around 7.3K range. These are very bright and you don't want one in bridge position, would be shrill in that spot. This is where they MYTH that they are "all different." No they are not. Its just a matter of how much wire was used. The higher wind ones are less bright and were the ones that were in the famous LP's. All of them used basicallly the same parts, the later ones got brighter for specific reasons and advances in steel making. There are no "bad" PAF's. Guys will buy one that hasn't been played in years, and those have to be played for a month before they come back to what they are. I've seen this over and over, and nobody seems to notice that. Well I did. In fact when I make a PAF replica, you have to play it for weeks before it reaches its full potential. Its a "burn-in" process that only the HIFI guys seem to know about. I've been sent old PAF's that guys told me were awful, no they were not. I played them for 8 weeks and they were magnificent once they settled back in.

  • @briand3150
    @briand3150 9 месяцев назад +2

    Hi Dave just luv your knowledge and work that you do I can definitely use some of you product s your wiring and pots along with your bridge and stop bar if you be so kind to send me where to purchase your items thank you I need your sound thank you

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  9 месяцев назад +1

      The Four Uncles bridges you can buy here:
      facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
      Jupiter Condenser Bee caps are here:
      jupitercondenser.com/collections/audio-capacitors/bumblebee?sort_by=manual
      I use the Kluson stop bars, you can find on Amazon and Ebay.

    • @Shamilt3
      @Shamilt3 Месяц назад

      Remember to get proper thimbwheels and studs. Company in Italy makes them

  • @jz6965
    @jz6965 Год назад +1

    Hey Dave, Thanks for Another Great Video as Always.I think those Jupiter's sound awesome and listening through a pretty good set of Studio Monitors, the Tin Foil has a noticeable sweeter top end, and a more open airiness to the note, that to me sounds awesome. The difference really sticks out on this pair of Adam Audio A77X studio monitor's that I have cranked up as the volume knob goes up, the bigger the difference. Wow, the Jupiter Condenser"s really sound great !!! I believe Collings uses these Jupiter Caps in there electrics that I recently saw through the clear back plate they use for there City Limits Model which is there take on a Les Paul. Gonna give'm a try in my 2015 True Historic 59. Were you using the .015 or .022 for the comparison? By the way, talking about making a difference, the 4 Uncles Bridge I put on was a massive improvement to get me closer yet. PS. I still have to send you my neck pickup which a few months back, I mentioned one of your older models that you Updated to a Newer Version. I will shoot you an email today. Thanks Again Dave for the work you do and all your help is much appreciated. Jack...

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад

      Only the .022uf caps. The .015uf value is for neck PAF replica only. Probably best to use the aluminum foil in that position for the clarity it would help achieve.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад

      Yeah, when listening to my audio recordings you have to turn your volume up, otherwise one is limiting the full frequency of the recording. Also, if someone is listening thru a phone speaker, that doesn't work at all, headphones might help on a phone but its best to listen on a decent set of amplified speakers. For my own iMacs I bought a set of inexpensive monitors from Amazon and added to that a woofer plus small speakers sold for TV sound systems fills out the rest, so one doesn't need to spend a ton of money on expensive monitors. I'll check out the speakers you use, thanks.

    • @jacob_miller
      @jacob_miller Год назад +1

      Nice work,
      Thanks for the info and the hard work in making this video Dave.
      Off the back of this video I am going to order the Jupiter Bee replica tin foil .022uF for the bridge and alum foil .015uF for the neck pickup of my main les paul, and same value’s but all tin foil for my SG.
      For the love of tone 😊🙏
      Cheers!

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад

      @@jacob_miller I have an Elistist SG made in Japan, the single most cool thing that made a big difference was install the Four Uncles bridge on it. The thing just HOWLS now, was amazed at the change. On that one I installed a historically accurate harness with the tiny ceramic caps they used on the later ones. The Elitist LP's and SG are so much better than the Gibsons.

  • @simonsmith2579
    @simonsmith2579 27 дней назад +1

    Unfortunately I have had a terrible experience with this.
    I ordered some bees from jupiter after watching this video. I wanted some 0.22uf tin foils, but during ordering I missed the drop down box to select and ended up ordering 0.01uf by mistake, as this is what the drop down box was set to by default.
    I sent an email within 5 mins asking to amend or cancel the order, no response. I sent an email next day, no response. I then sent another email regarding return, after I ended up with them arriving in the post, all the way from USA to UK, still the incorrect value, no response.
    I thought about sending them back with a note, but in their return policy it states that any items returned without prior agreement will not be accepted.
    Have checked every point of my contact, correct email, nothing in junk/spam.
    Gonna have to say bad customer service on Jupiter Condensers part as I am now stuck with a pack of bees that my guitar tech has recommended not to fit.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  22 дня назад

      He gets real busy sometimes, and I too have problems getting replies to my requests for orders. He's just one guy selling a lot of different products. So, I know how THAT goes, I get a lot of emails and sometimes it takes me days to get around to replying. They are worth the wait. Try emailing him from Gmail or a different mail account. Keep emailing until you get a reply.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  20 дней назад

      I let Chris know of your frustration. Said he will get back to you. Hope so.

    • @simonsmith2579
      @simonsmith2579 19 дней назад

      Cheers,
      I should say that he gave me a full refund in the end after getting hold of through PayPal, so a positive end

  • @qua7771
    @qua7771 Год назад +1

    Pricey. The import fees from Jupiter are astronomical.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  Год назад +1

      Sadly, many countries suck the blood out incoming product customers. I don't sell these myself or I could put real low customs values on them, you might ask Chris if he could do that for you, he's a good guy, but some companies have to be careful they don't get banned in countries.

    • @shoestringplayer106
      @shoestringplayer106 Год назад

      Blame your country for the import fees not Jupiter. Lol

  • @user-hl9bk4uj4x
    @user-hl9bk4uj4x 3 месяца назад +1

    Both are good, but I ordered a tin foil.

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  2 месяца назад

      How did you like it? Takes a day or two to settle into the harness, to really hear it.

    • @user-hl9bk4uj4x
      @user-hl9bk4uj4x 2 месяца назад

      @@SDPickups I haven't installed it yet, so I'll tell you the review after installing it.

  • @24MusicCarats
    @24MusicCarats 6 месяцев назад

    Are the emerson replica bumble bees good ?

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  6 месяцев назад

      I doubt it. Emerson are resellers, they don't make anything. The Jupiter Bees sound identical to my vintage Sprague Bees, you can't get any better than that.

    • @24MusicCarats
      @24MusicCarats 6 месяцев назад +1

      @@SDPickups would you say pick ups , pots, and capacitors are the #1 three things to get closer to that true gibson sound ?
      What would be the 3 most important and in what order to make a les paul copy sound like the real gibson sound

    • @SDPickups
      @SDPickups  2 месяца назад

      @@24MusicCarats Accurrate harness, NOT what comes with any Gibsons. Nobody sells anything like that except myself and I only make them for my vintage wire sets. HARDWARE. Nothing on modern Gibsons are even close. Look up the Four Uncles Bridges and my video of them. I personally did all the reverse-engineering on those. EVERYTHING in and on them are the closest to vintage ever. Nothing else matches them except vintage bridges. Pickups. I get alot of emails saying guys have tried all the "boutique" stuff and never got what they paid for. I put in 22 years of actual real science-based reverse engineering on PAF's from every year, in person, NOT off some forum myths. Likely my knowledge is going to die with me, I'm 74, my eyes are shot, my teeth are real bad and can't afford to do anything about it. Getting old, you spend alot of time with doctors. Its hard enough for me to keep making this stuff and yet my income is lower than a Burger King employee. What I do can't be mass produced unless some Billionaire saves my butt. Am not in a good mood tonite, had to put my 12 year girl cat to sleep, tried everything to save her life and failed.....

    • @24MusicCarats
      @24MusicCarats 2 месяца назад

      @@SDPickups i wish you good health. You may consider Cod Liver Oil, magnesium, tuna, eggs, and raw organic milk for strong healthy benefits.
      Avoid sugar, coffee, flours.
      Stick to healthy animals fats, lots of water with lemon and salt, and sunlight.