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♛ sovereign - vintage 50's tone

JJ's Guitar Pickups has an offering for guitarists seeking true 50's Humbucker tone - The Sovereign range of Humbucking Guitar Pickups.

The Sovereign Humbucking Guitar Pickup is all about gorgeous overtones, even order harmonics, that upper bass smoothness and note bloom on vibrato that original examples have. Beautifully warm, jazzy sound when clean. A great gainy sound when pushed, all whilst retaining transparency and dynamics. These are wound to low/medium output, they will never sound raucous or thin. In terms of output they're just right, like the originals were.

Our Sovereign Humbuckers come in two flavours and output levels:

'57, Alnico II for softer treble and rich mids.

'59, Alnico V, for that true '59 sound, with clarity and bite that's never shrill.

♛ Sovereign '57 Alnico II

A modern take on a classic pickup

For Gib/Epi® Available in 49.2mm Imperial string spacing.

$379 for the HH set, or $189 each, add $49 for a pair of damped and fitted high quality German Nickel covers. (Prices in AUD)

DCR - Bridge 7.9K - Neck 7.6K

Alnico II rough cast bar magnets made in Sheffield UK, Butyrate Bobbins. Nickel long-leg baseplates, 1018 slugs and Filister head screws. Maple spacer, genuine Gavitt® braided 2 wire connection. AWG42 SP Elektrisola coil wire. Coils are machine wound. We use only high quality, thin and transparent German Nickel covers. Available in 2 wire connection.


Ricardo Espinha takes the Sovereign Humbucker set through their paces with a bit of top blues playing.

♛ Sovereign '57 Alnico II

Ricardo takes the Sovereign Humbucker set for a spin - with gain.

Order your set here

♛ Sovereign '59 Alnico V

Our take on a true "vintage correct" replica.

For Gib/Epi® Available in 49.2mm Imperial string spacing.

$379 for the HH set, or $189 each, add $49 for a pair of damped and fitted high quality German Nickel covers. (Prices in AUD)

DCR - Bridge 8-8.1K - Neck 7.4-7.6K

Alnico V rough cast bar magnets made in Sheffield UK, Butyrate Bobbins. Nickel long-leg baseplates, 1018 slugs and Filister head screws. Maple spacer, genuine Gavitt® braided 2 wire connection. AWG42 Plain Enamel Elektrisola coil wire. Coils are machine wound just like the originals. We use only high quality, thin and transparent German Nickel covers. Available in 2 wire connection.


Brett Kingman takes the Sovereign '59 Humbucker set through their paces.

♛ Sovereign '59 Alnico V

Brett Kingman takes the Sovereign Humbucker set for another spin.

Metric sets - 50mm Neck 52mm Bridge

Sovereign '57 or '59 spec for Import style guitars in 50mm Neck and 52mm Bridge Metric string spacing.

'57 or '59 Metric - $320 per set ($160 ea)

These are for import guitars and those that require metric replacements. We also use a metric bridge humbucker in our HSS sets.

Our Metric parts are comparable to our vintage parts in terms of quality. Why are they less expensive? Simply because the parts for Metric cost us less, so we pass the saving onto our customers. Our metric sets receive the same attention to detail as our imperial sets.

add $49 for a pair of fitted, high quality German Nickel covers. (Prices in AUD)

Alnico rough cast bar magnets made in Sheffield UK, ABS Bobbins. Nickel baseplates, 1215 slugs and Filister head screws. ABS spacer, genuine Gavitt® braided 2 wire connection or 4 wire connection. AWG42 Elektrisola coil wire.

Coils are machine wound just like the originals.

We use only high quality, thin and transparent German Nickel covers.

Available in 2 or 4 wire connection.


Sound samples are here (more to be added as we do them)

Dimensions for mounting humbuckers are here  

For HSS sets, please visit the HSS page here

Order your set here

high output 80's-90's tone

neptune bridge humbucker - available for individual purchase - $160

This is a HSS demo, Brett gives the Neptune Bridge Humbucker a good work out! Enjoy!

Customers were asking us for this bridge pickup, so we have built on our Sovereign Humbucker design and developed a Bridge Humbucker that offers rich and powerful rock tones, right out of 1984. The Neptune humbucker has power, rich growly mids and retains sparkle. It's dynamic and responsive to volume control adjustments. Specs: ~ 14.4K, Alnico II (Degaussed) Sheffield, UK made rough cast bar magnet, 1215 steel Slugs and pole Screws, short-leg nickel baseplate. Hand-made in Australia by Ben Bailey, the Neptune Humbucker is available for individual purchase. Apply gain to taste.

Humbucker options - The Neptune Humbucker is available in 2 or 4 wire connection and 50mm or 52mm pole spacing. If you're building a tribute guitar, just let us know which pole spacing you prefer and we shall spin one up for you. Wax potted or unpotted available. Double Black 50 or 52mm - $160ea

The Neptune HSS set also available here


Humbucker options

When you order a set of humbuckers for your guitar some luthiery can be required to get them rocking. We want them to sound great and easily fit straight into your guitar for an easy install. When you order a set from us we want you to get the absolute best from your pickups. To do this, we will need to know a few things about your guitar.

Please see the pic captions for descriptions of the parts and their uses in building up a set of pickups for your guitar.

String spacing - This measurement is taken across the poles of the bridge pickup. From E to E string, measured at the centre of the pole piece, you'll see a distance between 49.2mm and around 53mm. Please measure this distance so we can then offer the right sized pickup for your guitar. From the bridge measurement, we can work out which neck pickup you'll need.

2 or 4 wire connection - The short version really is this - 4 wire covers all options. If you may one day decide to use a series/parallel, or phase switch, or a split, then 4 wire is best. There is no tonal difference between 2 and 4 wire connection. If you're only using two wires, then simply tape off the red & white wires and set them aside. Our 2 wire is genuine braided Gavitt, same as they used to use back when. We are happy to do either for you.

Nickel Baseplates - Short or long leg? As a general rule, Gib/Epi in 49.2mm (imperial pole spacing) will use the long leg baseplates. Some luthiery may be required to get pickups to fit your guitar, so it's best to check what you already have, then we can offer like for like baseplates to fit your guitar. We want a trouble free install for you!

Bobbins - ABS plastic or butyrate, it's your choice, there is no tonal difference. If you're going with covers, then you may like ABS. If you're going for an authentic look without covers, you might like Butyrate for its worn look. Be warned, Butyrate smells of Butryic acid, it can smell pretty off!

Magnets - In our production models, we recommend sticking with the magnets we list in the specs. They work the best for their chosen designs. We can substitute other magnet types on request.

If you'd like to order a set, please contact us via the website contact page, or hit us up via messenger. Our response time is fast and our lead times are good. We will have you rockin' in no time!

Cheers, Ben Bailey and Joe.


Covers

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Left; Raw Nickel covers

Right; Silver Nickel covers

Our covers are high quality, thin and transparent in terms of tone. We damp these against ringing (sound like a bell when tapped or hit by a pick) and solder them on for you. Available in 49.2mm, 50mm and 52mm.

Gold available on request (lead time to order).

Bobbins

Butyrate

Butyrate bobbins, for the vintage look. Available in 49.2mm only

ABS-zebra-49-2

ABS plastic bobbins available in 49.2, 50 and 52mm

Metric-50-52mm-kit

ABS double black, available in 50 and 52mm metric sets.

2 or 4 wire connection

Gavitt-2-wire

Our 2 wire is genuine braided Gavitt, same as they used to use back when.

2-or-4-wire

If you may one day decide to use a series/parallel, or phase switch, or a split, then 4 wire is best. There is no tonal difference between 2 and 4 wire connection. If you're only using two wires, then simply tape off the red & white wires and set them aside.

magnets

Magnets

Magnets - We have our magnets custom made and to get them just right, we chat with the folks who make them. Using specialised jigs, tooling and techniques, we are able to dial in exact gauss levels, right where we want them, for the best possible tone.

In our production models, we recommend sticking with the magnets we list in the specs. They work the best for their chosen designs. We can substitute other magnet types on request.