Golden Age Humbuckers

Let me start by making it clear that I'm not a beginner, or novice guitarist. I've been playing for over 22 years & in that time I've owned Gibbo, Fender CS, Fralin, Rio Grande, Loller, Dimarzio, Duncan & many other quality pups. I've owned & played many collectible & coveted guitars.I read all the reviews on Stew Mac's Golden age pups, I mean ALL the reviews. I'm pretty cynical & very obsessive when it comes to tone also, so while I expected tone on par with a production Dimarzio or possibly a Duncan I wasn't expecting to be blown away. I'll say this, the Golden age ALNICO V yields a very complex, subtle & organic tone. These pups are well worth 2-3 times the cost, and that's not an overstatement. Again, I have played through a lot of high line pups, some vintage models that have a street value 10 times what these Golden age pups cost, & I have no reason to steer anyone in the wrong direction on this. I'm a tone snob straight up & the fact that these pups have impressed me this much is quite honestly pretty amazing, period... I did relic the thing up a bit so as it would not look out of place on my Strat.

These replaced a set of Epiphone 'buckers on a Chinese replica. What a difference! Powerful with a crisp top end, I'm guessing they would hold their own in any company. Excellent value for money.

They are screamers! When full up, they are rich, harmonic, all the things I want. When I back off the volume, they are sweet and mellow. I used .047 caps (rather than the .022) on my Epiphone Dot. I would recommend this set to anyone for any style of music.

Excellent tone, superior construction! Wakes up a guitar with stock, inexpensive pups.

I own eleven stage guitars, and of the Gibsons, two are Les Pauls and one is an SG Standard, and one is my 1982 Gibson Victory MVII, my favorite. Besides being my best stage player, it has electronics that I just love; two good humbuckers with a single coil tap switch for both, a Fender style 3-way switch, a master volume, and a master tone control. I generally rewire my guitars for this control setup but decided not to rewire the LP’s, but instead opted to rewire the SG as my Victory backup guitar to have the same sonic options.

Occasionally I really need that “thin” sound. I don’t know which ones they are, but the pickups in the Victory are extremely versatile. They are not what I call “hot”, and when tapped they get a nice Tele tone.

I bought a push pull volume pot and a pair of Golden age humbuckers. I researched a lot of pickups, called on my own experience (49 years), and I came to the conclusion that I was willing to gamble that that they would be close to the PAF sound as I recall it. The gamble paid off and I am very pleased. I honestly don’t see how one could beat these pickups at any price. They have a full, rich sound when played clean, tap out just like the Victory’s, and have just the right amount of grunt when playing leads through the overdrive channel. They sound equally good plugged into my Bogner Shiva, my Duncan 8440, my 1982 Randall RG80 112SC, my Blackstar 20, and my Fender Super Champ XD.
For those with similar goals, I can recommend these pickups, but as you know, all of us have different ears, so your experience may vary.

I used a Golden Age Humbucker for the bridge pickup on my Gibson Les Paul Standard. The OHM value wasn't 9.0K, as advertised. It was 8.48K ohms. It may use all the right hardware, but the sound so far is just average. I wanted to use a Rockfield pickup. That's what I used for the neck position. However, I think Rockfield may be out of business. I can't find one anywhere, even in Cananda.

So, I used StuMac's Golden Age Humbucker instead. I also wired my LP standard with a master volume and tone. I used the second volume and tone holes for push pulls to split and roll on the second coil. The wiring works well. However, when I compare the Rockfield to the StuMac, there's no comparison. the Rockfield is much smoother and better pronounced. The stock pickup sounded nicer. I think I'm going to keep searching for a Rockfield so I can get the tone and versatility I really want.

Back in '98 I bought an Epiphone "58" Flying V. It's a great looking and great playing guitar with crappy sounding, microphonic pickups, so I never gigged it. I saw these pickups and figured, for the price, I couldn't go wrong. I prefer pickups in the 8K or so range, so I bought 2 "neck" pickups (Gibson didn't make "bridge" spaced humbuckers in '58 anyway). I measured the DC resistance of the two pickups and put the hotter pickup in the bridge position.

Wow, what a difference! These pickups make the guitar sing. They sound as good as some of my favorite replacement pickups from some big name builders, for less than half the price. One of the pickups came with the wrong size screws, but a quick email to Stew-Mac got that sorted out quick-great customer service, as always.

Are you still reading this? Go try a set for yourself.

Footprint strong and defined sound perfect in series and parallel, excellent for use with push-pull.

I am so thrilled with these pickups that I have to take some time to write about them. I am a hard rock purist. I like narley distortion from an overdriven tube amp but I hate it when I cant get good definition from chords. I have found that most pickup companies are obsessed with over winding and making pickups hotter and hotter untill they are out of control. The reviews I read here sounded pretty good but I really didnt know what I was buying until I put them in my les paul and cranked up my egnater rebel 30... and as you are probably guessing, I was delighted that these pickups were awesome ! Plenty of drive but not TOO MUCH as to mush out the chords. I was able to dial them in by height and got exactly what I was looking for... right in the pocket for ZZ top to ACDC and anything else I want... perfect for blues tones too... and at these prices, they can't be beat. I would have paid 200 a piece for this tone and instead I got both pickups for just over a bone. If you are looking for the tone I just described, buy these pickups.... and good playing to you !!

Just installed a set of Golden Age Humbuckers in my Ibanez AS103. The guitar sounded good with the stock pickups, but I was looking for more from it. The Golden Age Pickups really opened up the sound of the Ibanez!! The neck pickup has the sweet smooth sound I was looking for and the bridge really stands out. Put a set of .012 flat wounds on to top it off... man what a set up! Thank you for a superior product that is affordable!