A Better Way to Store Your Instrument

If you’re like most guitar or bass players, you want your instrument to be stored safely out of the way while remaining easily accessible. Currently, there are two main types of guitar/bass supporting products on the market: stands and wall hangers. Stands support guitars well but take up lots of space and are often easy to tip over if you bump into them. Wall hangers get the guitar out of the way, but many people consider a guitar on the wall to be an unattractive choice. To those renting apartments, drilling into the wall also makes traditional wall hangers quite impractical.

For many, this relegates their guitar to being leaned against the wall in the closet, or tucked away in a case where it’s difficult to get to on short notice. That’s why we invented this very special guitar/bass hanger. It hangs in your closet, just like a hanger for a shirt or pants would. It hangs the guitar parallel to the clothing, so it takes up as little space as possible.

This looks like a really cool idea, especially for those who are not able to put up wall hangers, and floor space is an issue. It’s a real surprise that someone hasn’t come up with something like this earlier, but isn’t that what we all seem to say about great simple ideas? Well if you like the idea, and could really use something like the Closet Guitar Hanger you can contribute to the Kickstarter project to get the Closet Guitar Hanger off the ground so to speak!

Carbon fibre provides phenomenal grip, and great feel.

Boutique guitar picks are typically quite pricey compared to traditional production picks. Carbon fibre anything is typically quite pricey over any equivalent material. Being a former car nut, as well as a guitar geek I’ve had a thing for carbon fibre for some years. When I read about the RJL Guitars carbon fibre picks I was quite excited not only over the carbon fibre, but also the price! I contacted RJL Guitars, and they were kind enough to send me a selection of their range of picks to review.

RJL Guitars sent me out a selection of 0.5mm and 0.75mm picks, in a range of Standard, Jazz, Jazz+ and Jazz XL shapes. There are three different engraving shapes on RJL picks: the Jolly Roger, Omega symbol, and the Longhorn. Each offer different degrees of grip and feel.

Carbon fibre is far more rigid than most traditional materials used for picks, so anything you know about thickness can be forgotten. One could say that that carbon fibre would be close to twice the rigidity of a traditional pick material of the equivalent thickness. Carbon fibre is also super light-weight, which combined with its strength is what has made it popular with performance car parts. This makes for a pick that is so light you can barely feel them in your hand.

If you are someone who appreciates a pick that is easy to grip you’ll certainly dig the RJL carbon fibre picks. The combination of the woven carbon fibre and engraved symbols make for a pick that is extremely hard to drop. The light weight means that these picks will even stick to your thumb for a short period of time. It’ll take some fumbling to drop these!

The RJL carbon fibre picks feel quite rough on the strings when first used. This is due to the woven nature of carbon fibre as a material. It only takes a short period of time to wear the edges in, and then the pick just glides over the strings with ease.

One thing that is really noticeable when wearing in a carbon fibre pick is the amount of carbon fibre dust on your fingers, and perhaps on your guitar. This is nothing to get too worried about as it wipes off easily. The guitar strings can benefit from the lubricating nature of the carbon fibre dust, and it may increase the longevity of the strings too.

Tonally the RJL carbon fibre picks provide a sharp, tight sound. The rigidity ensures no muddy flapping sounds on fast runs. Shredders, metal, and punk players will probably really dig the tight low end, enhanced mid-range, and instant attack that that the carbon fibre picks provide. The carbon fibre picks made a particularly awesome pick sliding sound that I really dug, although doing this did shorten the picks life span a little. No more than any regular pick though. The carbon fibre seemed to enhance the sound of the slide, but only if the pick angle was correct, otherwise it was barely noticeable.

My personal favourites where the 0.75mm Standard and Jazz XL with the Jolly Roger engraving. This engraving just stuck to my finger, and the 0.75mm thickness just about the right amount of flex (or lack thereof) to suit my tastes. It did feel odd playing with a pick that was less than 1mm, but it was easy to adapt to.

Overall the RJL Guitars carbon fibre picks are a very cool addition to the ever-growing boutique pick market. What really sets these apart from the rest of the pack is the relatively low cost, and the amazing grip that they provide. If you are looking for a guitar pick that has great feel and attack, and you aren’t too worried about a little carbon fibre dust these are definitely worth trying out.

Ernie Ball make a real impact with the new Cobalt guitar and bass strings.

Guitar strings are not a type of product that is known to have manufacturers coming up with new innovations that can truly change the game. Ernie Ball may have just stepped up to the plate this year with the release of the new Cobalt electric guitar and bass strings.  Manufactured with a proprietary combination of iron and cobalt, it is said these new strings create a stronger magnetic pull than regular steel/nickel based strings. This should provide two major benefits, greater volume, and more definition and clarity. I wanted to see how different these strings felt and sound compared to traditional electric guitar strings, so I contacted Ernie Ball, and they got CMC music, the Australian distributor for Ernie Ball, to send me a set of Super Slink Cobalts to review.

I strung up my Ibanez RG 450DX with the Ernie Ball Cobalts, and found the stretching period to be excellent. I probably made about three passes on each string with my String Stretcha, and every string was pretty much holding tune. This is about as good as I’ve found from a few different makes of strings, so the next thing to test is the tone, and the longevity of the string.

The big thing I immediately noticed with the Ernie Ball Cobalts is the volume. Ernie Ball weren’t joking when they said the Cobalts would have a greater volume. Acoustically you can really tell the difference between regular nickel/steel sets, and the Cobalts. When amplified my guitar seemed to have a bit more grunt too, chords snarled a little more than usual, and the extra sustain was welcomed too.

Ernie Ball also talk about the Cobalt’s additional definition and clarity over regular strings. I noticed quite a difference myself while testing. My guitar sounded more alive, with a more three dimensional tone. Each string can be clearly heard when strumming chords, and single note work really sings in a way that you don’t get from regular strings. Some may not dig of the Cobalt’s brightness of tone, but I am a big fan.

Another benefit of the Ernie Ball Cobalt formula is the smooth feel of the strings. The winds on the wound strings are barely noticeable, and everything is silky smooth under the fingers. Bends and vibrato feel a little easier on the fingers, and sliding all over the fretboard is effortless.

I’ve been playing my Ernie Ball Cobalt loaded guitar quite extensively for around two weeks now, and have not really noticed and degradation in tone. The strings still look quite bright and vibrant too, so it looks as though the Cobalt/Iron formula holds up quite well too.

Overall the Ernie Ball Super Slinky Cobalt strings are fantastic for players looking for a big, brash string with lots of clarity. Ernie Ball look to have created a new string that lives up to the hype, with its extra volume and definition making a bigger difference to the tone of an instrument than many could have thought. If you are looking for a string that really makes an impact, with its added volume and dimension you should definitely check these out.

Thanks to Ernie Ball and CMC Music Australia for providing the Super Slinky Cobalts for me to review.

An awesome blend of vintage and modern humbucker tone.

The new Seymour Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid has an interesting beginning compared to many other humbucker designs. First created by a member of the Seymour Duncan community forum, it was born from two different pickups. The classic 59 Bridge screw coil, with thicker 42 gauge wire, and the modern Custom slug coil, utilising the thinner 43 gauge wire. The end result of this is a bridge pickup with the vintage warmth of a classic PAF style pickup, and the modern edge of a modern high output pickup.

Once again I installed this in my test guitar, the Japanese-made Ibanez RG450DX. It’s basswood body and maple neck/rosewood fretboard provide a fairly neutral tone, great for testing pickups. In the neck I currently have a DiMarzio Dominion neck humbucker. I’ll be testing 59/Custom Hybrid with the Dominion in split and series modes.

The 59/Custom Hybrid is a medium output bridge pickup, with a tight bass, a rich midrange, and crisp, but not piercing treble. It is a harmonically rich pickup, thanks to its mis-matched coil winds, and sounds particularly amazing with some dirt. With a resistance of 11.5KOhms the 59/Custom Hybrid is a very dynamic pickup, responding nicely to a players touch. Natural and artificial harmonics pop out with ease with this pickup.

Distorted, rhythm playing sounds great with the 59/Custom Hybrid. The tight bass response, and rich mid-range offers a great tight crunch, while still retaining a full woody tone. Lead work at the low end of the fretboard really cuts through the mix, and pick attack and angle can clearly be heard and used to its full potential. Things may get a little too shrill for some higher up the fretboard, but blending the 59/Custom Hybrid with a suitable neck pickups reduces the high end, and still retains some of the bridge pickup’s great tone.

Switch to a clean tone and the 59/Custom Hybrid provides a dynamic range in which to really express yourself. Play softly and a beautiful warm tone is present, dig in hard and everything gets brighter and more focussed. Hit the strings really hard and things start to crunch just enough to give you some edge to your tone without it being overdriven. If you find that the clean tone of the 59/Custom Hybrid is a bit too bright and gritty it sounds great combined with a neck humbucker. A great thick rhythm tone which never gets to muddy can be found here. It’s also useful for clean leads at the lower end of the fretboard.

Splitting to the Custom slug coil, and the inside coil of the neck humbucker yields great strat-like tones with some nice twang. This works nicely with clean and slightly overdriven tones. It might also suit some country players.

Seymour Duncan recommend the 59/Custom Hybrid for blues, rock, pop and classic rock, but I think this is selling the pickup a bit short. Sure it’s all good for these genres, but the pickup is capable of offering a fantastic platform for heavier rock, and some less extreme styles of metal. Eddie Van Halen tone chasers may dig this pickup quite a bit as a middle ground to cover his earlier and later guitar tones. I also found the 59/Custom Hybrid a great tool for great modern punk rock tones.

Overall the Seymour Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid is an extremely versatile bridge pickup, capable of covering many styles. It’s blend of vintage warmth and openness, combined with a modern edge makes it quite a unique pickup that should become very popular. We have to thank both the members of the Seymour Duncan community forums for creating and popularising the design amongst DIY types, and Seymour Duncan for recognising this for what it is, a really fantastic pickup.

Here’s a demo of the 59/Custom in a few mostly high gain type samples:

Apologies for the crackly audio, my instrument interface isn’t the greatest.

A big thanks goes to Dominant Music, the Australian distributor for Seymour Duncan, for providing me with the 59/Custom Hybrid to review.

The DiMarzio Dominion neck humbucker is a brilliant, focused, articulate neck pickup.

Following on from my DiMarzio Dominion bridge review, here is my DiMarzio Dominion neck review.

As per my Dominion bridge review, I installed the Dominion neck pickup in my Japanese made Ibanez RG450DX with basswood body, maple neck/rosewood fretboard, and Edge Pro bridge. Basswood is a very middle of the road tone wood, and is a good test base for pickups.

The Dominion neck is the perfect neck pickup to go alongside the Dominion bridge. It sounds great, both with clean and dirty settings. The Dominion neck is nice and balanced – it doesn’t get too thick and muddy, but it still has a distinctly neck pickup sound.

With a ceramic magnet the Dominion neck has a nice quick attack, which works great for distorted lead work further up the neck. Resistance is at 8.39Kohms, so it’s not too compressed and responds well to a players touch.

It’s a beautiful pickup for clean tones too. The Dominion sounds nice in regular series wiring, with a full tone and lots of presence. It really shines when wired in a parallel setting. It provides a very convincing sharp and sparkly strat-like tone with a little extra girth.

Basswood is a fairly middle of the ground tone wood that can sometimes get a bit flabby. The Dominion neck works particularly well in basswood, as the ceramic magnet really tightens up the attack. This makes for a far sharper tone than some may be used to from this particular tone wood.

The Dominion neck’s tone is quite similar to the DiMarzio PAF Pro. I don’t typically like to do these comparisons, but it feels right to do so here. With DiMarzio listing the tone for the Dominion neck as 5, 6, 6 (bass, middle, treble), and the PAF Pro as 5, 5, 6, you can see they would sound quite similar. With the ceramic magnet the Dominion has the aforementioned fast attack, and probably a little more focus than the PAF Pro.

As I mentioned in my Dominion bridge review, both Dominion models split nicely together to provide quacky strat tones. They also great with both pickups in series, with a great in-between tone which can work nicely for thicker sounding soloing lower down the fretboard, and chunky clean rhythm tones that aren’t too sharp or muddy.

Like the Dominion bridge, the neck model is fantastic for heavy blues, rock punk and metal. It provides excellent clean tones when needed, and is a very expressive pickup for distorted lead work. It sounds both modern and classic at the same time, and will also work nicely with other medium to high output bridge pickups.

Overall the DiMarzio Dominion neck pickup is an amazing pickup that will suit a large contingent of guitar players who like playing modern aggressive music, but also like to play in other styles from time to time. Mark Morton and DiMarzio really have put together a fantastic combo with the Dominion pickups, and I see them being a popular choice for years to come.

A big thanks to DiMarzio for providing me with the DiMarzio Dominion pickups to review.

The DiMarzio Dominion bridge humbucker is something both Morton and DiMarzio should be proud of.

Mark Morton of Lamb of God worked with DiMarzio for two years to develop a signature pickup set for his Jackson Dominion guitars. The end result of this is the DiMarzio Dominion bridge and neck humbuckers. Here I am reviewing the Dominion bridge model, coming soon will be my neck model review.

I installed the Dominion bridge into my new customised Japanese made Ibanez RG450DX, with basswood body, maple neck/rosewood fretboard, and Edge Pro bridge. Not exactly the same sort of guitar as Morton’s signature Jackson, but a good test base since basswood is known to be a fairly neutral tonewood.

The Dominion bridge is quite different to the original pickup from in his Signature Jackson Dominion guitars, the Seymour Duncan 59 Bridge. The 59 is based off the original Gibson P.A.F pickups, and is a moderate output, warm and full sounding humbucker, utilising an Alnico 5 magnet. Morton chose to go a slightly different path with his new DiMarzio model.

For starters the Dominion bridge is a much hotter pickup, and has about twice the resistance of the 59 Bridge. It also comes loaded with a ceramic magnet, which provides a much sharper, more direct attack. Mark opted for more spiked mids than that of the 59, and a little more bass and less treble.

All this results in a very tight, aggressive pickup that easily cuts through the mix. The Dominion has a very heavy, tight low end that doesn’t get muddy, and the highs really sing without getting too shrill. The ceramic magnet provides fast response to pick attack, making it a fantastic pickup for fast, precise rhythm and lead parts. It is particularly brilliant for tremolo picked rhythms found in some punk and metal styles.

I likened the Dominion bridge to a DiMarzio Tone Zone, perfected for basswood bodied guitars. I love the Tone Zone in alder, but stock found it a bit too thick and woolly for basswood. The Tone Zone has a massive chunky low end, and probably not quite enough highs for basswood. This results in a very boomy tone, without enough articulation. The Dominion bridge provides a massive chunky low end, but not so much that it’s too boomy, and there’s enough highs to compliment the mid-range.

Resistance is at a fairly high 16.5K (slightly less than the Tone Zone), but it’s not so high that you lose all dynamics.  The Dominion bridge doesn’t do cleans especially well, but it does respond well to pick attack, and cleans up nicely when the guitar’s volume knob is rolled back.

Morton wanted a pickup that provided a great split coil tone, and the Dominion bridge delivers. Nice strat-like tones are possible when split with the Dominion neck. The tone is quite sharp with the classic strat “quack”.

The Dominion bridge fantastic for heavy blues, rock, punk and metal. It’s pronounced mids and super fast attack make it especially good for musical styles that employ very fast, precise picking. Tight players will love the Dominion’s articulate nature, and those who are not so tight should revel in being able to hear their flaws and use the pickup as a way of working on their technique.

Overall the DiMarzio Dominion bridge humbucker is a pickup both DiMarzio and Mark Morton should be proud of. It combines the best qualities of both vintage and modern voiced humbuckers, providing a great deal of versatility that is geared towards players of rock and heavier styles. It’s massive, tight, chunky low end, makes for awesome heavy tones, with the mids and treble responses making sure nothing ever gets muddy, even under a ton of distortion.

A big thanks to DiMarzio for providing me with the DiMarzio Dominion pickups to review.

MXR Phase 45 clone in a sweet swirled enclosure.

Jemsite is one of my favourite forums to hang out on. There are a great number of fantastic members, all fans of Ibanez guitars. Late last year, one member posted about a whole bunch of pedal enclosures that he had swirled (like some of the classic Jem models). I thought they looked really cool, but didn’t have the money to buy any. One other member was generous enough to buy two enclosures, one for me to build him something, and the other as payment to me for building him a pedal.

As I was waiting for the enclosures to arrive we discussed what sort of effect he would want. He decided on a phaser of some sort, which I was a bit nervous about building. I had only build boosts and distortion/fuzz effects at that point, and was worried about whether or not I would be able to successfully build something like a phaser.

General Guitar Gadgets Phase 45 clone PCB was nice and easy to work with.

I ended up deciding on building an MXR Phase 45 clone, seeing as it was probably one of the most basic phasers to build. I ordered the PCB from General Guitar Gadgets, and started on purchasing the parts needed to build the pedal.

Once everything arrived I got onto populating the PCB in my spare time. The General Guitar Gadgets PCB was very easy to work with, and soldering components to it were nice and simple and quick.

For the first time with a pedal build I decided to plan the layout in the pedal first, before doing any wiring, so I could use the shortest wire runs possible. I wanted to do this to ensure that I minimised the noise coming into the circuit.  Drilling the enclosure was a bit nerve-racking since I wasn’t sure how well the paint would hold up to being drilled. I used masking tape across the areas to try and avoid any paint damage, and to also plot where I would drill. While drilling the holes for the stomp switch and one of the jacks I did pull some of the paint off, down to the primer. Thankfully the stomp switch washer completely covered the damage there, and the damage by the jack is barely noticeable behind the jack’s washer.

Great looking swirl, perfect colours for a psychedelic phaser.

I got everything installed nicely with a perfect fit for all off-board components. the PCB fit nicely on top of the potentiometer, with no components  protruding from the enclosure. Wiring everything up was a bit more taxing, since I initially wired the input and output jacks around the wrong way, and wondered why the circuit wouldn’t work! After reversing my guitar leads I found that the pedal worked and sounded great, and got onto re-wiring everything again. Unfortunately I had to re-do a number of the wires since the ones I had initially done were too short for their new locations. No biggie though, and now everything is wired back up, and again sounding fantastic.

One of the challenges with many phasers is that they require matched FETS. These transistors need to have as close a matching resistive range, and FETs are notorious for widely inconsistent readings. I bought a pack of 25 with the hope that once I had had the packet I’d be able to build a FET testing circuit, and find a pair that matched nicely. I was very, because in the end I installed a random pair, and the pedal sounded fantastic! I confirmed this by testing a pair I knew were matched from a set I received with another phaser circuit I’m currently building. I’ll get around to building a FET tester soon, but it’s not required at this moment.

Retro-look chicken head knob helps control the phase speed.

I tested the circuit both in front of the amp, and in my effects loop. It sounds fantastic in both positions. The Phase 45 added a nice subtle texture, especially with clean rhythm parts in front of the amp. I never takes over the guitar and amp’s tone, only compliments. In the loop the effect is a bit more pronounced, great for distorted guitar parts. It’s not as in your face and over the top as a Phase 90, but still quite prominent.

Overall I’m really happy with how this pedal looks and sounds. I hope when it makes it’s way to Norway to it’s new owner he will like it as much as I do, and I hope that it’ll give him many years of use. Now I think I may need to build myself another one since I loved this so much!

Rocking new Perri Ink Guitars Eagle 84.

PERRI INK. Custom Guitars retools for 2012

Custom guitar brand revamps operations, launches new instrument & hardware line

Los Angeles, CA (April 2012) – PERRI INK. Custom Guitars, a boutique brand of handmade electric guitars founded by guitarist and entrepreneur Nick Perri, announced today the company is revamping its operations, and launching new instrument and hardware lines.

“Opening our 1st retail store last year proved to be the most amazing and insightful experience”, said Perri this morning. “I got an accurate gauge as to what people liked and didn’t like about the guitars I was making.”

The PERRI INK. Cartel opened its hybrid doors last year, breaking new ground as the first store of its kind to include custom guitars, custom motorcycles, a tattoo and piercing parlor, barber shop, and clothing line under one roof. In addition to the retail store, The Cartel expanded recently to include a full service garage in the back of the shop.

“Our business model, instrument line, and daily operations are going through some significant and exciting changes at the moment. Now having access to machines and equipment I didn’t have when I started the company, my creative brain is spinning with enthusiasm, and a desire to up my own game”, said Perri.

In addition to changes behind the scenes, the instruments themselves are undergoing modifications as well. The brand has since parted ways with Warmoth® and other manufactures who supplied parts for previous models. According to Perri: “I’m developing, fabricating, painting, and using all the resources I’m lucky enough to now have.”

This new line of custom guitars is being kicked off with the Eagle 84; a stripped down, vintage inspired design combining attributes of some of Perri’s favorite guitars. “The white gloves have come off. I’m having a blast making, playing, and beating on these guitars, and now I want to share that excitement.”

As well as debuting new models, Perri has also begun work on a line of customized and worn guitar accessories and hardware. Called the Garage Series™, these distinctive pieces will follow the aesthetics of the guitars themselves; one-off and completely unique. “When I opened The Cartel I let all my old school Americana influences run wild, and it’s been inspiring”, Perri said. “Though these new guitars are different, the principals of the brand are the same: to create and bring to market instruments that are upgraded and modified beyond players expectations, out of the box.”

For more information please visit http://perriinkguitars.com/ and http://perriink.com/

Check it out in action by the man himself:

The PolyTune Mini, "tuning distilled".

When the TC Electonic PolyTune was released back in early 2010 it took the world by storm. No longer was it necessary to check one string at a time. You could quickly strum all of your strings, and get a quick idea of what strings were out of tune, and then focus on those quickly and easily.

Now that the PolyTune has been out for a while, and others have tried to imitate, TC Electronic have taken the PolyTune concept one step further. They have dramatically shrunk the form factor, providing the same great easy to use polyphonic tuner in a pedal about 1/3 of the size of the original PolyTune.

The PolyTune Mini is a godsend to those desperate for pedal board space, but still want a fully-functioning, accurate tuner available to them. Just like the PolyTune, and the PolyTune iPhone app, which I have reviewed previously, the PolyTune Mini packs all of the power associated with its predecessors, and is the launching platform for the new drop tuning and capo capabilities.

With the same processing power as the original big brother PolyTune and Polytune app, the Polytune Mini is very quick to detect the notes played, and their pitch, both in polyphonic and chromatic mode. Switching between polyphonic and chromatic modes is also instantaneous.

Polyphonic mode isn’t the most accurate way of checking your tuning, but it’s perfect for quick checks on stage. Most people won’t notice a few slightly flat or sharp strings during your performance.

Chromatic mode is fantastic though. With +/- 0.5 cents accuracy, the PolyTune Mini is not far off the performance of a good strobe tuner. The PolyTune Mini fared really well when I compared it against the iStroboSoft iPhone app.

The PolyTune Mini is the launching platform for the new drop tuning and capo modes. This firmware upgrade will also be available for the regular PolyTune models. These new modes are nice and simple, and require no extra work to start using them. Just tune your guitar to your desired drop tuning or stick your capo on, and the PolyTune Mini detects your tuning  automatically. No need to hit buttons or switches required.

Like the regular PolyTune, the PolyTune Mini build quality is rugged and ready to withstand any abuse. The soft touch true bypass switching means no tone suck, just clear signal straight through the PolyTune Minis’ path.

Due to the size of the PolyTune Mini there is no space to fit a nine volt battery, and there is no additional power jack to power other pedals or firmware port. The lack of firmware port is no real biggie since the PolyTune Mini already has the new drop tuning and capo modes, and if you are needing a small tuner like the PolyTune Mini due to real estate constraints you probably already have a power supply on your board.  The PolyTune Mini is also a bit cheaper than it’s bigger sibling.

Overall the TC Electronic PolyTune Mini is an amazing advancement on the original PolyTune. To be able provide a much smaller footprint, and still have the important parts of the original PolyTune at a cheaper price is phenomenal. Anyone that is desperate for pedal board space, but still wants a great tuner should be getting their hands on one of these.

Railhammer Chisel pickups - awesome innovation, awesome tone.

Continuing on from my Chisel bridge humbucker review, here is the Railhammer Chisel neck humbucker review. The Railhammer Chisel neck, like the bridge version, is loaded with a ceramic magnet, but a much lower resistance of 7.5KOhms, perfect for a neck pickup, and a great match for the Chisel bridge. Like all Railhammer pickups it utilises thin rails for the bass strings, and fat pole-pieces for the treble strings, resulting in an evenly balanced tone that won’t get muddy or shrill.

The Chisel neck humbucker is  a very full-bodied, sweet sounding pickup, both clean and distorted. Despite the full-bodied tone there is a good amount of clarity, making each note very clearly defined. With the aforementioned resistance of 7.5KOhms the Chisel neck is far less compressed than the bridge version.  Attack isn’t quite as immediate as the bridge version, but is still very quick. Each note can be heard very clearly when picked, so there’s no chance for mud.

Distorted, the Chisel neck is big, bold and brash, but never over the top. Harmonics pop out quite nicely, especially for a neck pickup with a relatively low resistance. Notes down the low end of the fretboard are quite clearly defined, but still nice and warm.  As one would expect from a low resistance pickup the Chisel neck cleans up really nicely too.

Clean, the Chisel neck  is a beauty. Hit the strings hard and it’s nice and fat, without being as aggressive as the bridge model. Pick softer, or finger pick and it just sweetens up beautifully.  Open chords sing particularly beautifully, as they sound nice and warm, but still clearly defined.

Combined with the Chisel bridge the tone gets a little sharper, and even a little twangy. Mids and highs are bumped up nicely with the combination of the bridge pickup. The lows substantially tighten up, without sounding too much like the bridge pickup on its own. Clean rhythms sound quite nice and edgy with the two pickups combined, and not quite as aggressive as the Chisel bridge by itself, but still nice and tight.

The Chisel neck is quite a versatile neck pickup, which of course sounds amazing paired up with the Chisel bridge for rock, and heavier guitar styles. But it can also sound quite soulful and bluesy. It can do both aggressive and soft or laid-back quite convincingly.

One thing I forgot to mention in my Chisel bridge review is the quality of the Railhammer pickups. The build is second to none, and those that may be concerned that they are not made in the USA have nothing to worry about. I particularly loved the packaging. The pickups come in a basic little box with the Railhammer logo, and model details written on the label. The nice part is the little cloth drawstring bag that contains the pickup inside the box. It’s nice and simple with minimal plastic, which means it’s all better for the environment.

Overall the Railhammer Chisel neck humbucker is another winner for Joe Naylor. It’s ability to simultaneously sound big, fat and warm, and still cut through the mix like a knife is nothing short of amazing. Don’t hesitate to get one if you are thinking of getting a Chisel bridge humbucker, and if you are already happy with your current bridge pickup, but are looking for a neck pickup that sounds nice and warm, but still cuts through definitely check the Chisel neck out.

A big thanks to Joe Naylor for providing me with the Chisel set to review.