Leaderboard

That version of the tailpiece and bridge was made by Schaller of Germany. They still sell the roller bridge, but I don't think the tailpiece is a current item. Thomann is a Schaller dealer. https://schaller.info/en/bridges/ If you want to change the style to a more common bridge and tailpiece, many people here swear by the Faber units. The trick it to make sure that you use the correct spacing.

I've never heard a set of the '59s that I really liked. But I have had some good luck with the Seth Lovers and Dimarzio 36th Anniversarys. 36th Anniversaries are what the higher Zemaitis reissues shipped with, so I have had mulitiple sets, and I left them in two of my Zemaitis guitars and they are getting the job done. I swapped out the original Pearly Gates pickups that my newer H150 had in it, for some some Seths and I liked the Seths much better. I later swapped the Seths for a set of Duncan Custom Shop non potted Peter Green pickups (without the reversed magnets), and they sound great! But the best sounding low gain PAFs I've heard from Duncan is the lowly Jazz pickup which most people just use in the neck, I loved the Jazz bridge pickup, I got some killer tones out it with my Marshall amp...

Well, one thing is that they do sound different than the Schallers they once were. It's hard to put that difference into words. The bridge pickup seems brighter. You can get a dental mirror for a few bucks if you don't want to pull the pickup. The truth is that it is faster to loosen the strings and look for the sticker on the back than it is to get a mirror and futz around with it and a flashlight. I recommend getting a fiberoptic scope. It comes in handy for all sorts of things. https://www.amazon.com/Endoscope-Borescope-Semi-Rigid-Smartphones-KEEMIKA/dp/B0F2PQTT1G/ref=sxin_16_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa?content-id=amzn1.sym.2da95b6c-f59a-4699-bc43-d0ff036c6388%3Aamzn1.sym.2da95b6c-f59a-4699-bc43-d0ff036c6388&cv_ct_cx=Fiber%2BOptic%2BEndoscope&keywords=Fiber%2BOptic%2BEndoscope&pd_rd_i=B0F2PQTT1G&pd_rd_r=ebd8a8ea-c575-4304-8839-bbacb633b3ed&pd_rd_w=t4eyH&pd_rd_wg=jWuCz&pf_rd_p=2da95b6c-f59a-4699-bc43-d0ff036c6388&pf_rd_r=YFHZAEV3BGXF2SCBWR0E&qid=1749560793&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sr=1-4-6024b2a3-78e4-4fed-8fed-e1613be3bcce-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

Beauties!! Cherry Sunburst is such a classy finish

I am assuming that even though the tuner is covering the brand, it looks like an H-530. This guy gets a nice smooth tone on those P-90s.

Here you are... with it's H150 brother

People will buy anything these days if it says it's limited edition. FOMO is a powerful driver of sales. "How can we sell a $130 pickup for $500?" "I've got it! We can put them in little cases like the guitars and call them a special edition." "Good idea! The boys in accounting will LOVE this one. How many can we make?" "We need to do a thousand to get a break on the little cases. Otherwise the cases will cost more than the pickups." "Perfect!"

Is it just me or did anyone else find it odd to be buying these pickups in a "Lifton Presentation Case" when you are (ideally) going to put the pickups in your guitar? So then what do you do with the case? When these came out I suggested to Larry Dimarzio that he put out a limited run of his 50th Anniversary Super Distorion Humbuckers in a fancy case and sell them for $1k a pair. He declined the idea.

They really seem to have pared down their lineup, though after the leadership transition and issues that's to be expected. When I put my H535 "back to stock" years ago, they still had the tailpieces, but now they seem to no longer be offered. The roller bridges are still relatively popular for use with bigsby and other tremolo style tailpieces. I've never really noticed a huge deficiency in sound quality from using the bridge, and still remember Vince Lewis saying he liked that bridge because he said it gave him a warmer sound. Still, I don't play my H535 much at all anymore. I've tried to love the stock Schaller Golden 50s for years, and they are great clean, but I really need to get around to having them replaced with something else.

I have a H-555 on order.

Suggest using an additional thumb screw to lock it to the top to prevent more rocking that could gubber the threads. Rocking torque will mess up your intonation. Best solution, replace both screws with a Faber steel studs and bridge and lock it down tight.

I owned the brown one w/gold hardware on the right, back in 2015.

Honestly, the P90 is one of my favorite pickup sounds. Just wish there wasn't the hum. I know that they have all these "hum free" versions, but they are never quite the same. Then there's the staple top, which I have unfortunately not gotten a chance to really own. I have a Jazzmaster, and also like the sound of those pickups, but again, wish there wasn't so much hum. My favorite humbucker pickups are always the vintage style ones with lower output. Yes, they don't push the amps as hard, but they just have a type of snarl that the higher output pickups lack. I'm fine with SD '59s, Seth Lovers, or Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs. While I admit the high end PAF style pickups are enticing, I feel the law of diminishing returns is definitely in effect.

Looking forward to hearing this combination. Heritage Guitars Favorites · 1h · Tone that truly inspires. The Custom Shop 40th Anniversary Edition 225 Classic Humbuckers are the very heart of our 40th Anniversary H-150 and H-555 models. Meticulously wound right here in-house with Alnico 5 (neck) and Alnico 2 (bridge) magnets, they deliver incredible note separation and dynamic response you have to hear to believe.

I was looking for a dedicated performance photo thread and didn't see one (apologies if I missed it!), but wanted to share a few photos since I've been playing the '94 H150 as my primary live guitar lately. Band has had a wave of local gigs lately and hoping to have debut album out August/Sept: https://makingfriendsasadults.bandcamp.com/track/bad-time

My recollection about the classics is that these were ordered by Jay Wolfe and had Gibson-like bridges and tailpieces. I also think they had SD pickups. The maple neck was common back then but inconsistently done. I've had a one piece, two piece, and three piece on H-555s made in that era. Custom select could mean anything, but the select probably refers to the woods. They probably charged extra money for each of those two words. Currently those words are custom core.

They are just saying that the goal of PAF was to sound like a PAF without the noise. There are many people, including the early pickup designers that feel the P90 is the best pickup that was ever made. And some of those early PAFs do sound quite a bit like an hot Balckguard Tele pickup.