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________________________________________________________________ Vintage Guitar Magazine, Mar '05 by Tony Nobles // The VG PAF Shoot-out 2005 “Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot (Ohms = 9.0K)” “This is a medium-/high-output pickup. Fat and Loud, but not messy. Has almost no quack and retains mid peak when pushed hard. Has good bass and slightly reduced treble. Not excessively dark, and mids are great. Has a really cool texture - fuzzy without being bright or losing bass. Texture is complex and the pickup is responsive. Compresses very well and harmonics are swirly and thick. Harmonic overtones are distinct, and do not wash out each other. Bottom Line: Rocking, big, fat, and a little swirly.” Read the entire review at http://www.vintageguitar.com/ ________________________________________________________________ Guitar Player magazine, Apr '94 by Andy Widders Ellis // Lindy Fralin Single Coils “...If you took the traditional sound of Fender's '57 & '62 and sprinkled magic dust on it, you'd hear something resembling Lindy Fralin (calibrated trio, $220) single-coils. They've got everything--nuts, ring, shimmer, detail--in sensational balance. They're slightly hotter than stock Fenders, but not as potent as the Texas Specials. Consequently, the Fralins allow more chimey harmonics to bloom in the upper frequencies. These pickups put a lovely grind on our 50-watt Marshall. Still, it's evident Fralin doesn't mind sacrificing output for top and clarity. These hand wound babies are for connoisseurs and priced accordingly. In our opinion, they'll enhance the inherent character of a Strat through, say, a nice blackface Super Reverb or an old Marshall head without imposing any foreign artifacts. You can sense string windings, fretboard wood, and trem springs through the Fralins beautifully sweet, slightly meaty voice. We especially enjoyed the ringing fat bridge pickup-typically a Strat's Achilles heel. Features hand-bevelled staggered polepiece magnets, cloth covered wire, potted coils, a reverse-wound middle pickup, detailed installation instructions and diagram, and a ten-year (!) warranty. "Cops the balls-with-clarity award." "Refined, not loud" "No harshness, no broken glass shards." "Complex and satisfying " "Dig that lower midrange push"...” ________________________________________________________________ Vintage Guitar Magazine, Jun '01 by VG Product Advisory Council // "Star" guitar from the Lone Star State “The Fralins (P-90s), played through the '70s Marshall half-stack, delivered a tight, chunky sound with great note definition in the bridge position - smooth and loaded with sustain in the neck position, and great bluesy tone with high-end spit in the middle position...” ________________________________________________________________ Mike Lull's Guitar Works by Mike Lull “Wow!! This is by far the best sounding, killer P-90 around. Look out Leslie West. Cream or black covers.” Mike Lull's Guitar and Base Repair ________________________________________________________________ Bass Player, Feb '96 by Jim Roberts // Lindy Fralin Jazz Bass Pickups “About fifteen years ago, a guitarist named Lindy Fralin dropped some Seymour Duncan replacement pickups in his Strat (™). Intrigued by the change in sound, he began to investigate the art of pickup making. Thanks to a friend who had a spool of copper wire and a pickup winder powered by the motor from a dentist's drill, Fralin started to wind vintage style pickups. Before long, he had his own winder and was devoting much of his free time to trial and error experiments. " It took me about five years to get a pickup I liked," Lindy says, "but I kept at it. Eventually, I was making pickups for some of my friends, and it slowly grew into a business from there." Today, Fralin's shop specializes in vintage reproduction pickups and coil rewinding. Most of the pickups he makes are for guitars, but Lindy recently added Jazz Bass(™) pickups to his line. We tried out a pair in our trusty old '65 Jazz Bass, doing before and after listening tests in the Bass Player sound lab. Fralin always asks for customer input before making or rewinding a pickup, but all we told him was that we wanted the classic tone of a vintage Jazz Bass. He sent us a pair of his pickups along with a note that said they were "made just like early 60's Fenders(™)...(and) handwound as loud as we can make them without losing clarity or high end." We got the Jazz Bass ready for our test by slapping on a fresh set of Trace Elliot stainless steel round wounds (.040-.100) and plugging it into our reference rig with everything set flat. The original pickups, while exhibiting plenty of punch and growl for which Jazz Basses are noted, left something to be desired in the low end, requiring an EQ boost to round out the sound. And they were microphonic. With the Fralin pickups, the change in the tone of the bass was striking--and entirely positive. The Fralin's had all of the mid-range punch of the stock set, but they provided considerably more warmth on the bottom, more clarity and "sparkle" in the high end, and more output. They were evenly balanced across the strings---and they weren't microphonic. In short, with the Fralin pickups the '65 Jazz Bass retained it's vintage character but became even more lively and musical. We encountered one minor installation problem: The plastic cover of the bridge pickup didn't quite fit into the rout. Since we didn't want to modify the bass, we simply removed the Fralin pickup from it's cover, slipped it into the original cover, and installed it. Done. ( Lindy cautions that this may not work with every Jazz Bass, because of variations in the size and pole piece spacing of Fender pickups made in different years. He says the covers he uses are standard parts purchased from other suppliers, which limits his options. Should you have an installation problem, he will work with you to find a solution that is right for your bass.) Lindy will custom wind these pickups to suit your needs. (And if you are not happy, he'll swap them.) He will also rewind other styles of pickups and try to find the sound you are looking for. That's pretty refreshing in a world where most gear is offered only in off the shelf versions in a take it or leave it fashion. Also it's refreshing to hear pickups that sound as good as the ones Fralin makes.” Rating scale 1(poor) to 5 (best): Warmth: 5 Clarity : 5 Output : 5 String balance : 5 Value : 5 Bottom line: GREAT TONE! ________________________________________________________________ BGRA: Lindy Fralin Jazz set by Dave Starns, May 2003 // Excerpted from the BGRA “My Fretless Jazz bass is hardly a Fender anymore. It has a custom fretless neck (from Performance Guitars in Hollywood), a Leo Quann Badass Bridge, and Lindy Fralin pickups (the body is still Fender!). When I bought the bass (used, in 1983) it had Dimarzios in it, which sounded a little dark. I wanted more of a growly, midrangy, Jacoesque tone. I read a review of these in Bass Player which praised them up and down, so I ordered a set. I made the right decision. They're amazing pickups, responsive and clear without sounding thin or biting at all....” Clarity: 98% Service: 100% Value: 98% Overall: 98% Read the entire review at http://www.bgra.net/ ________________________________________________________________ BGRA: Lindy Fralin Split-Jazz Replacement PU by Chris Guertin, July 2004 // Excerpted from the BGRA “These things rock!! I was a little wary about spending so much without trying them first, but I was not disappointed in the least. I put them in my '77 Fender Jazz. The sound on them is HUGE -- the best sounding passive pickups I've ever used by far. AND -- no noise!! If you like that vintage sound, and don't wanna deal with annoying noise, I recommend these highly. ” Clarity: 100% Service: 98% Value: 95% Overall: 98% Read the entire review at http://www.bgra.net/ ________________________________________________________________ |
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