In part 1 I was trying to find the best budget PAF style pickups for my Peavey JF1-EXP, yet still sound the way that I want to. Typically when someone reads budget they assume that and sounding the way that I want to simply don't go together, my goal was to find those exceptions. What I want out of pickups is mostly based on my Les Paul, and her Burstbucker Pros. No, they're not the most accurate, but they do give me a good idea of the character that I want from PAF style pickups. Since then I've installed the Tesla VR-60 Classic into my JF1-EXP, and while I didn't love it, I also didn't hate it. After spending some time with it I've grown to appreciate it. The main issue is that a Les Paul is not a semi-hollow, so my tonal requirements for my JF1-EXP had to adjust accordingly.
Since I replaced the bridge pickup the neck pickup, which I actually liked, just wasn't cutting it anymore. The stock pairing of two ceramic magnet, brass covered humbuckers wasn't bad, in terms of tonal output matching. The issue came when the Tesla VR-60 Classic is Alnico 5, and has a nickel-silver cover, which made the neck pickup sound way too muddy by comparison. I've always felt this neck pickup was probably inspired by an old PAF that Hartley Peavey liked, and made in the far east for their import line. With a DC resistance of 7.98k it's on the top end of what's supposedly neck PAF territory. We know DC resistance doesn't dictate tone, and PAF resistances varied wildly in both positions. The main point being it's not a 13k stock neck pickup, like one of my Ibanez guitars had. It's apparent some care was taken to give this neck pickup a PAF feel.
Given that I liked this pickup, I didn't want to simply abandon it. It's within the parameters that I feel have potential to give me the sound that I want. So what could I do to find out what this neck pickup was capable of? Well, the first thing I did after replacing the stock bridge pickup was remove the old one's cover. Curiosity caught up with me and I wanted to see what was underneath. I figured I'll try that with the neck pickup, so I did. What I found was essentially a bar of wax. I had to carefully chisel away large chunks of wax, which I saved for any potential needs in the future. After the majority of the wax was cleared away, and the bobbins were cleaned off, it actually looks really nice. Did it drastically change the tone? No, but it does sound better.
Without the cover there is now a noticeable treble balance that was missing. It didn't transform it from a generic pickup into a boutique PAF style wound on the original machines or anything though. In the middle position there is a lot less woolly bully coming from the neck. There still is some, but it no longer dominates the bridge pickup's tone. All it takes is dialing the neck volume down to 8 and it's decent. On the neck position it's not as open and vocal as I want it to be, but there is a very useable tone. Single notes ring out and sound pretty good, but not chords. Under a moderate, bluesy crunch it's still kind of muddy while playing chords. I think with a few further tweaks this set of stock, uncovered neck pickup and the VR-60 Classic in the bridge position will give me all the righteous tones I'm looking for out of a semi-hollow. No it's not perfect, but I'm not a professional needing impeccable tone either. All I need is a tone that pleases my ears, and doesn't offend anyone within earshot.
