SETbucker - Inspire Series
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"Graduated" from Custom Shop, replicating legendary and/or popular pickups
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Color: Black
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Cover: Nickel and Gold, adds $10 and $20, respectively
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Pole piece spacing: 49.2mm
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5 lead wires + grounding shield (wiring diagrams)
I-1N/1B (Fantastic Mr. Z) - Inspired by Greco Dry Z
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A3 magnet / PE42
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HB: 7.54k (Neck), 8.16k (Bridge)
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SE: 4.47k (Neck), 4.78k (Bridge)
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SET: 3.33k (Neck), 3.61k (Bridge)
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Price: each - $95, set - $180
The I-1 is based on the legendary Dry Z pickup made by Greco in 1980-1981 for their high-end Les Paul models. It comes with an AlNiCo 3 (simply, A3) magnet. A3 is known to generate the least magnetic strength among all AlNiCo family, resulting in super "flat" response to the all frequency range. The tone is true to the guitar wood character. It shines with light to mid overdrive. The sound out of it is... It feels like my Les Paul should have sounded this way but I didn't know before... It sounds weird but that's the best description I can make. If you like vintage sound and are not happy with your current pickups, this would be a great tryout.
SE and SET modes are surprisingly clean for the moderate character of A3 magnet. Check out the sound clips and demo YouTube video below!
I-11N/1B (The Jericho) - SETbucker Version of V.5
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A3 magnet / PE41.5
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HB: 6.82k (Neck), 7.38k (Bridge)
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SE: 4.09k (Neck), 4.36k (Bridge)
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SET: 3.05k (Neck), 3.28k (Bridge)
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Price: each - $95, set - $180
It started with a PE41.5 wire with an accidentally-wrong label of PE42. The wire was wound into I-1 (at least CJ thought so) but the resistance of the neck pickup was sub-7 kohm. CJ liked its extra clear but wild tone and gave it a model name of I-11 a "long time ago". However, he ended up launching this pickup only as a Vintage series model (V.5 came out accordingly) to simplify the logistics of mass production. The decision made the first batch of I-11 pickups collect dust in the storage for more than 1 year... until David Miller, one of SETbucker users (arguably the most enthusiastic user), contacted CJLab for V.5. He thought that the V.5 could be a holy grail pickup that Christian music players have been seeking for. The conversation reminded CJ of the old SETbucker version, and as a result, brought I-11 back to life. David even suggested its name as "The Jericho (TJ)" and CJ happily took it.
Compared to traditional vintage style pickups wound with PE42, its tone is wild with extra clarity, definition and power, which makes it suitable for Christian worship music very well (and of course, any other styles as well)! Obviously, the SE/SET modes offer great clarity and vibe that can be compared to A5 version models.
A fun fact is... CJ's main guitar for his church worship (Fender HH telecaster) has been with the first I-11 set. He didn't even realize why he has been using it as the main guitar among others, and never thought about debuting it for the Christian music world, kind of silly, LOL. Thanks a lot, David!
I-2 - Inspired by Seymour Duncan SH-4
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A5 magnet / SPN44
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HB: 17.14k (Bridge)
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SE: 10.24k (Bridge)
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SET: 6.51k (Bridge)
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Price: $95
The I-2 was inspired by one of ever-favorite masterpiece pickups, Seymour Duncan JB model. The basic tone is round but clean for its inherent output, which is what the JB has been acclaimed for. Of course, it is just a beast when geared up for drive. It can pair with any neck pickup models like the original JB.
The tone and output difference between SET and SE modes of I-2 are largest due to higher coil turns. Check out the tone spectrums from the sound samples below.