ReWind describes this pickup as “At the hotter end of the vintage humbucker range ReWind’s highest output pickups, the High Output Set, are extremely harmonically rich. Woody and full sounding midrange with an open and articulate top end. The high output set has a somewhat single coil like voice for a clear and defined sound not often found in modern humbuckers. Less compressed and brighter than the Creme Brulees”
I’ve been dealing with James for a month or so now, and he’s an excellent guy. He has an outstanding reputation among guitar players and pickup aficionados alike. And everything I heard and read about James was 100% accurate. He is very easy to work with on figuring out a pickup with a voice that works for you. No baloney and no hassles. I find James to be very well-versed in pickups outside of his own offerings. He is also a very humble guy that will make sure you find what you want, even if that means it might not be something he offers.
The first ReWind model I tried was the Low Output neck humbucker, but for today, I’d like to discuss the High Output neck humbucker. It comes with a fully charged Alnico 4 and my meter shows:
series – 8.11k
split N – 4.57k
split S – 3.54k
parallel – 2.00k
I am trying this out in a maple super strat with a maple body, maple neck, a Floyd Rose and wired to a push/pull pot for series/parallel. the voicing of this maple body is a little more toward alder than a bright harder maple.
First off, I’ve become a big fan of asymmetrical coils and how the frequencies open up much more. When talking about a neck models, James did discuss how he will use different wire on each coil, but I asked for nothing like that on this pickup. But don’t think that idea doesn’t have my ears ringing.
At first listen, I find the website description to really nail it. The pickup is definitely rich and full sounding, while having more push in the highs than the lows. On a clean setting in series mode, I found it eager to push my amp to want to break up a bit, but it is responsive to pick attack and can ease off with no problem. On a clean setting in parallel, I found the low end to be polite with full mids and clear highs. It responds very well to picking and strumming. Nothing jumped out as too sharp.
On a dirty amp setting, open chords ring out with a full presence. Lead work is very present and highs sing through. The low end delivers a nice punch. In the middle position, this pickup blends well with a moderately hot bridge pickup and when both are in parallel I found a nice open tone with just enough growl and grunt to lay out some blues licks with satisfaction.
ReWind also carries a selection of components to complete a project that includes caps, pots, covers, vintage style mounting rings, and cables.
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Darth Phineas is a long time music industry insider who provides his readers with unbiased reviews on musical instrument and guitar gear. You can read more of his reviews and check out industry news on his Facebook community Darth Phineas