The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello guys,

Thinking of swapping out my George L e-66 for a re-issue BL705. The e-66 doesn’t have enough body for me, and I’m looking for something a bit ‘darker’ - but not massively dark obviously.

Would the 705 be the way to go? Also, should I expect any mounting problems when it arrives? The guitar is a magnum with George Ls on at the moment. For clarification, the 705s will be wide mount (which I believe is correct for the guitar).

Thanks!

Bradley, the 705 wide mount will fit, but you might have to file down the base plate on the ends of the pickup. I put a 705 wm in my Magnum for a while. Bought it brand new. The holes lined up, but I had to file the base plate of the pickup on both ends.

The 705 sounds good and has zero hum. It is, in my opinion, a "hot" pickup. Plenty of output!

John L.

Thanks so much John! When you say file down, do you mean length ways? The width seems to be ok from looking at dimensions.

By your wording, I assume you’ve now taken them out of your Magnum, did you not like them mate?

And in terms of the holes lining up.. did you have George Ls in beforehand?

Thanks mate.

You might consider the George L '10-1' pickup (the 10-1 has no model designation printed on the housing). It is considerably warmer sounding than the E-66..FWIW: The '705' may prove to be even more "brittle" sounding in the top end than the 'E-66', at least from my experience.

Bradley, yes the pickup I received was a bit too long to fit into the neck cavity of the Magnum.

Yes, previously, I had a George L in the guitar.

Correct, I replaced the 705 with a GFI II, which is made by George L. Great pickup.

As David indicated, the 705 has a very bright high frequency "voice". Many new guitars come with 705s, and it is a fine pickup. I like to experiment, so I have no qualms about trying something different on the guitar. ☺

Thanks so much David and John for your input!

I’m excited to try the 705s, I just want a bit more beef in the tone, but to keep some growl. I may swap them back out at some point but worth a try for sure!

P.S. David, I do like the 10-1 pickup actually! I have it on the C6 neck at the moment mate.