Two New Humbucking Pickups From Steeltronics

[Scott Swartz]

I have just introduced two new humbucking pickups after extensive R&D throughout 2022.

https://www.steeltronics.com/product/sw ... ker-pickup

https://www.steeltronics.com/product/l1 ... -humbucker

Here is a video comparing each of these pickups to a 14K single coil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBSmwi1Diw8

The SW10 pickup is a side wound humbucking pickup that senses the strings at a single point, exactly like a single coil. This unique magnetic design provides the clear midrange and smooth highs of a single coil but is simultaneously as quiet as a standard dual coil humbucker.

The target tone of the standard SW10 was to achieve similar tonality to a 14-15K single coil, but I am also making a heavier wound version of the design that targets the tone of a 17-18K single coil.

Note that because of the coil arrangement the pickup height is 7/8 inch tall with another 1/8 required for the cable underneath. Because of this fact, the SW10 will not fit some steels, but if your steel will fit a pickup this tall the SW10 will give you true single coil tone and quiet operation.

The L10 pickup is a dual coil blade humbucking pickup that provides the smooth attack of the blade design but also utilizes new design features for improved tone and frequency balance.

The unique blade design uses a 1/8 inch wide top surface for better magnetization of the strings but removes unnecessary blade material in the coil area. This improves clarity, provides smoother highs, and improves the brightness on the bass strings as compared to using a continuous blade. Coupled with the unique blade design are neodymium magnets arranged to minimize coil loading eddy currents and provide the clearest tone of any blade pickup.

The standard blade length is 80 mm, and the L10 is available in industry standard wide mount with an overall length of 101 mm (3.98 inch).

The L10 is also available with a four tab mount with a 76 mm long blade and an outline that exactly matches the now discontinued George L pickup This is a great choice for lap steels made with cutouts to accept this exact size pickup, for example Melbert and Remington lap steels and many others.

[Larry Dering]

Scott, sounds exciting. May have to try one soon.

[Tommy Detamore]

I have had a pair of SW-10’s in one of my push pulls for a while now. One is a prototype Scott sent me to try and give him some feedback on. I liked it so much I ordered another one for the C neck. (And yes, for the record, I paid for them)

These pickups are the closest in sound to a single coil that I have ever run across in a humbucker. You get the clarity and snap but without the hum. And the adjustable pole pieces are icing on the cake.

I am 14k kind of guy when it comes to single coils in a push pull. These SW-10’s are just a shade darker, so I would say these particular ones are closer to what a 15k would be in a single coil. But a slight knob tweak or two makes up for that.

Good stuff, and Scott’s service is exemplary.

[Dave Morrison]

I finally got around to installing the new side winder pickups on my guitar. I’ll have to say they are close to a single coil. Like Tommy says a little tweak on a knob or 2 and I’m happy. Dave