The CoilSurround Pickup - Video Added

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 15 Feb 2012 6:40 pm

Here is the "Best Steel Guitar" that money Can't buy ...

45 pounds of pure Power and Tone ...

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 15 Feb 2012 6:59 pm

Wouldn't mind a new hi-def video of this puppy at some point Rick!

Former Member · Post by **Former Member** » 15 Feb 2012 8:15 pm

Would it be blasphemy to put the new PU in a JB/shot longneck #B049?

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 15 Feb 2012 8:26 pm

Whoa, that is gorgeous, Rick! I'm thinking impure thoughts....

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 16 Feb 2012 5:29 am

Thanks ... No doubt my finest achievement. I had to do some minor routing to get the unit in ... And forgot how tough it was to mill.

My girls will make a shot video ... Put it through my Pro Junior that I fixed.

The push pull pot DPDT switch works well ... Although I really don't need a Humbucking mode (and with the over/under coils ... It's the weaker/ thinner mode) ... Even though my basement is now doubling as a grow room for my Trinidad Pepper seedlings.

Four big banks of fluorescent lights blazing ... And very little hum in the non-hum cancelling ... a$$ kicking mode.

I'll leave it in for now ... forum member Steve Miller is coming out for his annual visit ... And I'm sure he'll want to hear it ...

But I'll eventually pull it out and put a vol/tone concentric pot in there.

Ron ... You're asking the wrong guy

I've had a plethora of pickups in my Excel JB frypan ...

I wouldn't retrofit a '34 A25 ...

But I would yank that faux ShoBud unit out faster than you could say " Pau" ...

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 21 Feb 2012 7:15 am

As usual ... I can't remember much about forum member Steve Miller's visit last evening.

I do recall "The Boob" takin' on all comers ... and gettin' quite a lickin' by my Bronzepan ...

The last thing I remember was Steve wrestling to get free of the CoilSurround's mighty grip ...

I hope he's OK ... $:\$

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 21 Feb 2012 8:53 am

Chloe Kardashian?

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 21 Feb 2012 12:57 pm

Ron Whitfield wrote: Chloe Kardashian?

Wishful thinking, Ron.

Now I think about it, "Coilsurround" would have been a great name for my Boa constrictor when I was a kid.

Ron Whitfield · Post by **Ron Whitfield** » 21 Feb 2012 1:02 pm

Mike Anderson wrote:Wishful thinking, Ron.

I'm glad you didn't put that in the form of a question!

Mike Anderson · Post by **Mike Anderson** » 21 Feb 2012 1:12 pm

Ron Whitfield wrote:
Mike Anderson wrote:Wishful thinking, Ron.
I'm glad you didn't put that in the form of a question!

Good Lord, man, the very idea (choke)!

I think it's spelled "Khloe" BTW - all the girls have "K" names to go with their last name: Khloe, Kim, Kluster...well, never mind that one. I'm way off-topic now.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 21 Feb 2012 7:25 pm

Poor Steve ... First strangled by a constrictor ... Then likened to "that" .... Blahhhhh

Anyway ...

Here's an idea for my new logo

Replace the bus with a Dustpan ...

Wish I could draw ...

Stephan Miller · Post by **Stephan Miller** » 22 Feb 2012 11:46 am

Huh. Look at those spots...obviously a victim of the recent "E. Coili" outbreak...

Since I started making the Berryville run (3 little Aiellos ago) I've heard/played just about every one of Rick's pickups ("Son of Kong", anyone?). Ever since the "MRI", with its crystalline high end, the overall fullness of tone has been increasing with each one, while retaining the high end & harmonic response you expect from his pickups. Anyone who plays through a "Potbelly", "Portal" or "Fountain" p/up can tell you he's been nailing great steel guitar tone for a while now. His latest effort-- which I believe is the first string-surrounding humbucker ever offered-- is another big step forward.

We played the coil-surround p'up installed in Rick's "Bronzepan", and in both necks of his long-scale/short-scale "Boobpan". For comparison we had his Black Pearl w/ Portal p'up, Sierra 8-string w/ an Alumitone, and my Richenbacher 59 w/ Potbelly + original horseshoe magnet. We played through a Fender Twin, Fender Pro Jr., and a Roland Micro RX. Rick was playing with fingerpicks and I was not. Mostly we were dealing with clean tones. Also worth pointing out that the only wooden guitar was the Sierra, and even that one has an aluminum plate running through the body.

Without getting into pages of comparison, I can say all of these instruments sounded great. The new pickup stood apart, though, in producing the fullest (clean) steel guitar tone I've heard yet. While I've gotten accustomed to the really fat sounding chordal tone possible from an Aiello Potbelly or Portal or Fountain unit (and it's there, in spades, with the new p'up) I was knocked out by the coil-surround sound for single-note lines, which is spectacular. Never been a fan of thin trebly steel guitar tone-- and this is the polar opposite

in sound, though there's plenty of treble content in the tone.

Rick preferred the bass cranked and the treble rolled way down. I get a darker sound without picks...I liked the bass rolled back to half and the treble up to 9-10 o'clock.

Would love to hear this pickup in a wood-bodied steel as well. This will probably happen.

--Steve

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 23 Feb 2012 1:19 pm

They make steel guitars out of wood ???

Enjoyed your visit ... Chrissy is still abit pissed about the "Pro Junior on 10" experiment ...

Apparently we woke up 2 out of 6 kids ...

Stephan Miller · Post by **Stephan Miller** » 23 Feb 2012 3:26 pm

Oh, "we" did, huh? Man, I hope you 'fessed up to being the perp behind every molten decibel. That sound could have sterilized a hawk at 3000 feet...

Have you checked the fields for downed livestock, fresh crop circles, etc.? Oh well....so much for the Hawaiian touch.

Yeah, I had a great time. Always do. I'd like to play that pickup one more time....as soon as it's, you know, safe to drop by again.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 27 Feb 2012 5:34 am

Here's one in a long scale ShoBud JB Frypan ... a real nice guitar ...

I put in a Push-Pull as the Tone (down is "kick a$$" / up is humbucker)

The whole "lefty" thing had me thrown off ...

... As did the giant 0.070 C string ...

...

Weird to try out ... it had my dyslexia at an all-time high ...

Sounds wonderful ... if I do say so myself.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 6 Mar 2012 3:10 pm

I updated my website ...

Dustpans & Stuff