An arcane mathematical sequence inspired the design.
Ireland (December 8, 2013) -- Journeyman Irish pickup winder Declan Larkin recently released a series of three electric guitar pickups that offer three different varieties of vintage PAF humbuckers from the 1950s. Their mathematical pedigree, however, predates Columbus’ celebrated discovery of America by more than 200 years.
The tones of the Deacci Pure Vintage sets of pickups—the LP59-Zero, LP59-One, and LP59-Two—originate from an idea suggested to Larkin after winding pickups for many years and coming up frustrated too many times. “The thing that used to annoy me about hand-winding was that every so often, you would get a great pickup and have no idea how it happened,” he says. “It was impossible to reliably repeat.”
Larkin was skeptical when a friend suggested he apply an arcane mathematical sequence to the design of his pickups. Known in the Western world since 1202 A.D. and longer than that in India, the Fibonacci numbers occur in seed heads, flower petals, and other organic forms. But would the sequence translate to a more musical-sounding pickup? To find out, Larkin reformulated his winding patterns using the numbers.
“They sounded remarkable,” he asserts. “Instead of getting one great-sounding pickup out of every 10 or 20, I was consistently getting great results. They sounded like the best of the original Gibson PAFs.”
Each of the three pickup sets has its own sound. Wound to ohm ratings of 7.10k in the bridge and 6.51k in the neck, the LP59-Zero are the brightest, clearest set of PAF-style buckers in the line. Like the legendary originals, they feature low output with plenty of headroom. “They let you crank your amp without distortion,” Larkin observes.
The LP59-One set is wound at 7.96k ohm in the bridge, and 7.18k ohm in the neck to deliver a bright and articulate PAF sound with medium output. Larkin says rolling the volume back a little makes them sound almost identical to the LP59-Zero set, but when cranked, they have enough output to produce the classic rock tones of the 1950s.
The bridge pickup resistance of the LP59-Two set rates at 8.06k ohm and the neck at 7.30k ohm to produce a hotter, gutsier, and different PAF tonal “flavour” than either of its two siblings. “This set has a more noticeable difference between the neck and bridge pickups than the others,” Larkin observes. “It can roar and growl with the best of them.”
The pickup sets currently retail at 150 to 170 British pounds per set (approximately $230 to $265 in U.S. dollars), depending on cover options.
For more information:
Deacci