Sunbucker Blues®

Brighter, Scooped Mids PAF Tone

$175$350

  • Hum-Cancelling
  • Thick & Versatile
  • Traditional Appearance
  • Modern Output

Lindy Fralin Original Design

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( 22 genuine reviews)

The Sunbucker Blues is perfect for those who want a traditional humbucking tone, except we magnetize one coil of the Sunbucker Blues stronger than the other coil to give this Humbucker a bright, scooped mid-range tone. This is great for those looking for a brighter, more single-coil sounding humbucker, with a perfect balance of traditional Humbucker tones.

 

Options

Customize your Sunbucker Blues®:

Selection Needed

Select Options Above To Display Add-Ons

Humbucker Cover

Further customize the look of your pickups by adding a USA-Made Nickel Silver cover.

Lead Length

You may need long leads if you have an Archtop guitar, like an ES-335. Check this box below, and we’ll give you some extra lead length.

Gold Screws

Check here if you want to include Gold Pole Pieces & Mounting Screws for your pickups. Not necessary if buying gold covers.

SPEED UP YOUR ORDER

Since you're buying a single pickup, we might need more information from you. To avoid unnecessary delays in your order, please choose one of the options below:


Notice

Due to the nature of Raw Nickel, Raw Nickel may contain slight cosemetic defects or abrasions.

Recommendation:

We recommend using 2-Conductor With Shield Lead when purchasing a single pickup. 2-Conductor lead allows you to reverse the phase should you have phase issues. Learn About Lead Choice

Note:
Note:

While we do our best to match double-white bobbins, there may be subtle differences in color due to different dye lots from the manufacturer.

Upgrade To A Prewired Pickguard

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Fralin Warranty Stamp

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Our commitment to quality is unwavering. We build our products to last and stand by our products and manufacturing process—period. We're so confident in the quality of our pickups that we offer a 10-year warranty against manufacturing defects. This warranty is our promise to you that you're investing in a high-quality, durable product that will stand the test of time.
Fralin Handmade Stamp

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Our commitment to quality extends to the materials we use. We make all our pickups by hand, one at a time, in our small, humble shop in Richmond, VA, using 100% USA-made parts. This ensures we can build, wind, and assemble all our pickups with great care. We use only the best materials we can.
Fralin Exchange Stamp

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Experience our exclusive 30-Day Exchange Program, designed to give you the peace of mind you deserve. It allows you to thoroughly test your pickups in your preferred environment, whether it's on stage or on the road. If you have doubts about your choice, just contact us. We will make it easy to exchange for a better set of pickups.

Polite PAF Tone

Want to learn more about our Sunbucker Blues®? Here's all the information you'll need:

Features

The Sunbucker Blues by Lindy Fralin is a cleaner-sounding humbucker with scooped mids. This pickup is based on the specifications of the original 50’s Gibson® P.A.F. pickups, with a few minor tweaks to give this pickup a unique sound. The Sunbucker Blues will give you a vintage, clean tone that’s more articulate than our Pure P.A.F., while leaning slightly towards a Single Coil tone.

Lindy designed the Sunbucker Blues to solve the problem created by a dark-sounding pickup in the neck position of a guitar. To give this pickup its unique tone, we magnetize the screw side of the pickup stronger than the slug side. Building the model this way scoops some midrange and gives you a clearer, more articulate and cleaner tone than traditional humbucker designs.

Features:

  • Clear, Clean, Articulate Humbucker Tone
  • One coil magnetized stronger than the other, giving it a scooped midrange tone
  • Late, smooth breakup
  • Bright wound strings, pure-sounding plain strings
  • Compensated Overwound Bridge for even volume across all pickups
  • Hand-wound with our “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tone
  • Hand-built for unrivaled quality control
  • 10-Year Warranty on manufacturing defects

Sound

Clean and articulate. The Sunbucker Blues will stay clear as it won’t break up as early as modern humbuckers, and you’ll find that it has a tight bottom end and a shimmery top end. Built with AlNicCo V and 42-gauge plain enamel wire, the Sunbucker Blues is an instant solution to a dark-sounding humbucker in the Neck position.

When playing clean, you’ll find that this pickup sings what you put into it: it’s incredibly dynamic and warm. With distortion, you’ll find that the breakup is smooth and late, with a pronounced pick attack and pure-sounding plain strings and bright wound strings. Furthermore, we find that you’ll be able to get some sweet blues and clean tones out of this pickup.

Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. We wind each pickup by hand, one at a time. Each pickup is wound using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique. Doing this gives the pickup a sweet, clear tone.

Finally, we assemble each pickup one at a time by hand. Hand assembling pickups allows us to achieve unbeatable attention to detail. After assembly, we wax-pot the pickup to preserve the pickup and prevent microphonics.

Sound Samples for Sunbucker Blues®:

About this Sound Clip:

All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.

Tonal Graph For Sunbucker Blues®:

The tonal graph below for our Sunbucker Blues® features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.

HIGHS
MIDS
LOWS
OUTPUT

Attack: Dynamic & Full

Videos for Sunbucker Blues®:

Humbucker Lead Color Codes

Gibson Braided Lead

Gibson-Style instruments

Phase Reversible

Coil Splitting

Gibson Braided Lead
Only select Gibson Braided Lead if you install these pickups as a set into a Gibson-style instrument. Examples of a Gibson-style instrument are the Gibson Les Paul, 335, or Telecaster Deluxe. These guitars have two Volume Pots and two Tone Pots.

Note:

Gibson Braided lead is not intended for Telecasters with a Control Plate. If the braiding touches anything, it will short it out.

3-Conductor Lead

Phase Reversible

Coil Splitting

3 Conductor Lead Fralin Pickups
Select this lead if purchasing a Single Pickup, wiring this pickup to a Blade Switch (Fender-style Instrument) or need coil-splitting. This lead allows you to reverse the phase and coil split.

4-Conductor Lead

Phase Reversible

Series Parallel Wiring

Coil Splitting

4 Conductor Lead Fralin Pickups
Only select 4-Conductor lead if you need Series / Parallel wiring. This lead allows you to reverse the phase, wire in series / parallel, and coil split.

Tech Specs:

See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Sunbucker Blues®.

SPECIFICATION VALUE
Neck Ohm Reading:8.2K 1
Bridge Ohm Reading :9K 1
Neck Polarity:Reversible with 3-Conductor Lead
Bridge Polarity:Reversible with 3-Conductor Lead
Magnet Material:USA-Made Alnico 5
Wire Material:USA-Made 42 Gauge Plain Enamel
Baseplate Material:USA-Made Nickel Silver
Cover Material:USA-Made Nickel Silver
Pole Piece Material:USA-Made Steel
Bobbin Material:ABS Plastic
Baseplate Leg Depth:6mm
Recommended Pot Value:500K
Recommended Cap Value:0.02mfd 2

Additional Technical Info:

1 Ohm Readings can vary due to a multitude of factors, including ambient temperature, multimeter calibration, different wire batches, and other factors. Due to this, ohm readings are approximate. Learn more about Ohm Readings here.


2 We recommend a 0.02mfd Cap Value on most guitar and bass pickups. The exception is a Magic Cap, which Lindy prefers on the Bridge Pickup of Fender® guitars only. Learn More about Caps Here.

Polarity Information:

Here's how we wind and magnetize our pickups:

Fralin Humbucker Polarity This is a Hum Cancelling Pickup.

If you're buying a set from us, all pickups will work together seamlessly. If you're buying a single pickup, all you need to worry about is Coil Direction.

To ensure your pickup will work, make sure you select multiple leads (2-Conductor, 3-Conductor, or 4-Conductor if available), or the 3-Wire modification so you can reverse the coil direction, if need be.

Covered Humbucker

Fralin Humbucker Dimensions

Uncovered Humbucker

Fralin Uncovered humbucker dimensions

Sunbucker Blues® FAQ's

General FAQs

Here are quick answers to common questions we get:

  • What Ohm Readings does your Sunbucker Blues® have?

    Navigate to our Tech Specs Tab for complete Ohm Readings and more useful information.

  • Will this pickup fit my instrument?

    Check our "Sizing" tab for the size of the pickup. No Sizing tab? Check under the product image gallery for dimensions.

  • Is your Lead Time of 2 Weeks accurate?

    It depends on the shop capacity at the moment, and the size of your order. Feel free to give us a call for an accurate lead time. We always try to beat our estimated Lead Times.

  • What pickup height do you recommend setting your Sunbucker Blues®s to?

    Our recommended Pickup Height is 1/8" (3.175mm) on the Bass Side and 1/16"( 1.5875mm) on the Treble Side. To measure, hold the correct side down at its highest fret. Then, measure from the bottom of the string to the top of the pole piece.

Product FAQ's

People frequently ask these questions about our Sunbucker Blues®. If you have a question that you don't see listed here, click "Ask" in the Quick Links section above.

  • Can you overwind or underwind this pickup?

    While we can discuss options, we don’t recommend underwinding the Sunbucker Blues. This pickup already sounds like a Vintage PAF, and underwinding it even further would make it a bit too clean.

    Regarding overwinding,  we can discuss options! Give us a call to discuss.

Get It Prewired

Get our Sunbucker Blues® prewired into a Prewired Pickguard!:

Customer Reviews

22 Genuine Reviews for Sunbucker Blues®

  1. Richard Crawford

    Verified Purchase

    Exactly what I was looking for. A pure sound that,for me at least, gives a full clear tone. Apart from that , Fralin gives a unique customer service that others should emulate.

  2. Billy Fotis

    Verified Purchase

    I love my Sunbucker Blues pickups!! They replaced the original pickups in my Randy Rhoads Custom Shop Les Paul and they SMOKED those dark, weak pickups hands down. These pickups have the punch and clarity that I have come to always expect from Fralin pickups. It doesn’t matter if I’m on any of the 3 switch positions, clean or dirty these pickups can handle it all. When I needed a quick turn around on the pickups Tyler at Fralin gave me the executive simonize and got me the pickups in record time. Thanks Tyler!!! But you know what’s the coolest? Calling the shop and talking pickups with Lindy. Where can you get that!!??!! Nowhere else except at Fralin pickups!!! Love my Fralin’s!!!!
    Warm Regards,
    Billy
    PS-My next pickups are going to be a set of Fralin’Trons. Look out!!!!

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