The Steel Guitar Forum

As there seems to always be an interest in Steel pickups I thought I would share my thoughts on my new Vintage Vibes 8 String pu.I had a Dynalap 8 by Mark Vinbury great guitar with great potential but let down by the very noisey bland pu it came with.Pete at Vintage Vibes wound a CC Rider 8.The first you notice is how substantial and well built this is lots of shielding and top quality components.Pete ships with a choice of inter changeable Magnets. I went Alnico 2(Soft attack Vintage tone) fitted and Alnico 5 (Brighter fast attact more output) if I felt a tonal change necessary.Toneally I would say closer to a P90 but not as Honky and much smoother with great string separation.I mostly play blues and roots in Jerry Byrds C6/A7 tuning and with this close voiced tuning most pickups dont take to kindly to distorion effects or overdriven amps,not this baby it still stays smooth.This pu sits very nicely alongside my old Bakelites and would be a great upgrade for any Lap Steeler looking to get more out of his gear.It would be a great alternative on the Dynalap Kit.Cheers from OZ Kelvin

I had Pete wind several of these 8's for the steels I'm working on. They look great and they sound fantastic.
I've tested the Alnico 2's and 3's as well as the Ceramic mags, but for an all-around pickup the Alnico 5's seem absloutely perfect. Smoothe "vintage" tone, P-90 sounding with some nice throaty bell-like qualities, not too dark with lots of clear midrange and adequate trebles. I have one in an 8-string lap that I've played in several situations and it doesn't get lost in the mix by any means.

I had Pete make me a 6-pole Alnico III P90 with custom spacing and black acrylic bobbin top. Sounds fantastic.

I haven't had a chance to try a CC-Rider in a lap steel yet (though I have Pete's Stringmaster-type PU in an 8-string lap steel) - but I have them in a couple of Telecasters (both the regular CC-Rider, and the humbucker-sized HCC), and I have to say, the VVG CC-Rider is by far THE BEST neck pickup I ever tried (and I've tried lots of different ones, even by some prestigious makers like Lollar or Fred Stuart...)

Both clear and warm at the same time, full, but never muddy, and it makes every guitar sound BIGGER...

Pete winds a great pickup. I had him wind this 8 string humbucker and it sounded great.
I reminded me a lot of like a Lollar Gibson Console reproduction, or at least what I think a HB version of that pickup would sound like.


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So good to see you guys support a less welknown builder rather than always the big guys.I think Pete's pickup is as good if not better than some of the big names.It's difficult living so far away in OZ to really evaluate gear so I took a chance and won out big time.Cheers Kelvin

I've got the 6-string version w/alnico 5. It's great.

Wow, that's a beauty - did you build that?

Love that red steel, looks awesome.

Thanks Roman and Jonathan. I did build it. It's mahogany, with a body style copied off of a Rickenbacker B6. I need to take some better photos of it without all the glare.

I think the combination of the mahogany with the CC pickup gives some real nice fat, smooth tones - the highs are really great without being harsh at all.

Yeah, that's what I like about the CC-Riders in my Teles - they sound fat and smooth (but not muddy and muffled), yet they do have quite a bit more treble than vintage-style Tele neck pickups - but highs that aren't piercing or harsh...

All!

That pick up that Tom was talking about can't be beat by anyone. It puts the icing on the cake. I plan to try a pair on a D8 Pedalmaster that I have. It has George L's on it and you what they sound like. Need I say more?

Thanks all and that is my opinion on that pick up.

God bless all,

Ronald Smith

Chris, your steel looks great. It's a lot like the one that's on my to-do (someday) list. Rickenbacker shape, mahogany body. What's your spacing from the pickup centerline to the saddle? How'd you pick that dimension?

Kekoa,

I used 1.5" from bridge to pickup centerline. I believe that's the magic number proposed by some very knowledgeable people here on the forum. I didn't do any experimenting for this guitar, but on a previous build I tried out different positions and found 1.5" to be about right for the sound I was looking for - a traditional lap steel sound, not too jazzy or mellow (which you get as you move away from the bridge).