Heckler Custom Guitars

Pickups

Heckler Custom Guitars strives to provide pickups with “Nothing to hide”. I believe that a pickup should not color or change the sound of a guitar, but rather translate and highlight aspects of each individual guitar with clarity and consistency. A certain amount a character and presence is wound into each pickup in a process where the tension and wire placement is all in done with the fingertips. Each pickup model can be customized per the customer’s request, but are offered to an optimized standard to fit a Heckler Custom Guitar. Many hours of research and testing have been done to optimize the tonal signature of each pickup and source the highest quality parts that I can get. Although my intention is to wind pickups for the guitars that I build in order to offer the perfect marriage between guitar and pickup, they are all offered with standard mounting holes and sizes to fit many other guitars on the market.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a recording engineer. All sound clips are meant to be a close representative sample of the various pickups that I offer; but the clips may sound different than what the pickups might sound like in your guitar or through your equipment. Each set is hand wound and can have slight variation in tone as compared to the sound clips as some variation in DC resistance values is to be expected. All sound clips were recorded using the same amp for Clean (Rivera Fandango 212 w/V30 speakers) and the same amp for the Drive (Mesa Tremoverb Dual rectifier head through a 212 cab w/v30 speakers). None of the clips were altered in any way after the sample was recorded. The sound you hear is exactly what the Shure SM57 is picking up. If you are unhappy with your Heckler Custom pickups then they can be exchanged as long as they are in like new condition (i.e.. full length leads, no scratches, etc) if I cannot make you a set that will satisfy you then I will buy them back.

~TC~ Pickup Set	$75 ea or $140 per set	Sound Clips
AlNiCo II or V Magnets 7.8k Bridge 7.8k Neck The A5 set retains a great amount of the traditional “Tele” brightness and snap while offering a defined and increased fullness to the bottom end and the A2 set has a warmer, more vintage tone. The Bridge pickup comes standard with a copper plated steel shielding plate which increases the pickups inductance and promotes a warmer bass response. The neck pickup comes standard with the classic chrome plated nickel cover and is reverse wound / reverse polarity to enable the set to be humbucking when operating both pickups together.	Click on Image to Enlarge	AlNiCo II ~TC~ Set (Clean) AlNiCo II ~TC~ Set (Drive) Each pickup position is tested within each sample. The sample will start in the bridge position and will pause and then move one position towards the neck until all combinations have been played ~TC~ sound clips courtesy of Jeremy "Leroy" Biltz

~SC~ Pickup Set	$65 ea or $180 per set	Sound Clips
AlNiCo II or V Magnets 7.1k Bridge 6.5k Middle 6.5k Neck If you want that bright glassy strat tone then the A5 SC set is for you! If your strat is too bright and shrill then I recommend the A2 set for a warmer tone that sounds absolutely sweet in the "2" and "4" positions. Both sets retain the traditional “Hollow” Strat tone with a ton of bite and pop. The middle pickup comes standard reverse wound / reverse polarity so that the set is humbucking when positions "2" and "4" are selected. The character and brilliance of this set is highlighted due to the hand guided "Scatterwound" process.	Click on Image to Enlarge	AlNiCo II ~SC~ Set (Clean) AlNiCo II ~SC~ Set (Drive) AlNiCo V ~SC~ Set (Clean) AlNiCo V ~SC~ Set (Drive) Each pickup position is tested within each sample. The sample will start in the bridge position and will pause and then move one position towards the neck until all combinations have been played ~SC~ sound clips courtesy of Jeremy "Leroy" Biltz

~Barktone 90~ Pickup Set	$90 ea or $170 per set	Sound Clips
AlNiCo III or V Magnets 7.8k Bridge 7.3k Neck Barktone 90's are my personal favorite for everything from rock to jazz to blues...you name it and it's in there! This set comes with A3 (Vintage) or A5 (Modern) magnets. The Vintage set makes for a smooth sounding pickup that is very versatile in everything from blues to modern rock. When overdriven the Modern set shines by producing a lot of bark while still retaining very good individual string clarity. The neck pickup is reverse wound / reverse polarity so that the set is humbucking when both pickups are engaged.	Click on Image to Enlarge	AlNiCo V ~Barktone 90~ Set (Clean) AlNiCo V ~Barktone 90~ Set (Drive) Each pickup position is tested within each sample. The sample will start in the bridge position and will pause and then move one position towards the neck until all combinations have been played ~Barktone 90~ sound clips courtesy of Jeremy "Leroy" Biltz

~LoverBucker~ Pickup Set	$100 ea or $190 per set (add $10 ea for Nickel Cover or $15 ea for gold cover and gold screws)	Sound Clips
AlNiCo IV Magnets 8.9k Bridge 8.0k Neck This set is built on the PAF foundation. It is wound with 42 AWG single build plain enamel wire with the goal of a balanced bass and a treble response and a hint of extra power when compared to the original design. The matched coils are set on a nickel silver bass plate with a hard maple spacer and comes standard wired with the traditional 2 conductor braided wire. Pickups can be wired with 4 conductor shielded wire for coil tapping upon request at no extra charge. Brushed or polished nickel silver (as shown) covers or gold nickel silver covers are available for an additional charge of $10 and $15 respectively.	Click on Image to Enlarge	AlNiCo IV ~LoverBucker~ Set (Clean) AlNiCo IV ~LoverBucker~ Set (Drive) Each pickup position is tested within each sample. The sample will start in the bridge position and will pause and then move one position towards the neck until all combinations have been played ~LoverBucker~ sound clips courtesy of Jeremy "Leroy" Biltz

~ModBucker~ Pickup Set	$105 ea or $200 per set (add $10 ea for Nickel Cover or $15 ea for gold cover and gold screws)	Sound Clips
AlNiCo II or IV Magnets 10.6k Bridge 9.5k Neck This pickup is has a broad tonal range with a very similar output to the Loverbucker pickups. Each coil is wound with a different gauge wire which accounts for the increased resistance. The different gauges of wire allow this pickup to have a very rich sound while not being muffled or having reduced clarity like most "over wound" pickups on the market. It comes standard wired with a 4 wire conductor lead so that you can split or blend between split and Humbucking mode as you can hear in the sound clips. Brushed (as shown) or polished nickel silver covers or gold nickel silver covers are available for an additional charge of $10 and $15 respectively.	Click on Image to Enlarge	AlNiCo II ~ModBucker~ Bridge Only (Clean) AlNiCo II ~ModBucker~ Bridge Only (Drive) In this sample the guitar is wired so that the pickup can be infinitely adjusted anywhere between full humbucker mode and full single coil mode. Each sample starts in Full humbucker mode pauses and moves to 50/50 between humbucker and single and then pauses one more time before moving to full single coil mode ~ModBucker~ sound clips courtesy of Jeremy "Leroy" Biltz