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Sunbucker Blues®

Name: Sunbucker Blues®
SKU: HB-SUNB
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5.00 (22 reviews)

Brighter, Scooped Mids PAF Tone

$175 – $350

Hum-Cancelling
Thick & Versatile
Traditional Appearance
Modern Output

Lindy Fralin Original Design

Click For New Soundclips

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 22 customer ratings

( 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®:

Set or Single

String Spacing

Humbucker Bobbin Color

Type of Lead

Clear

Quick Links

Jump to Sound Clips and more Info:

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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

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:	8.2K¹
Bridge Ohm Reading :	9K¹
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:	0.02mfd²

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:

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

Uncovered Humbucker

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!:

Featured Reviews

Reviews We Worked Hard For, and Are Proud Of

Rated 5 out of 5

"I have an old ESP Kamikaze-I that needed a refresh after cycling half a dozen different sets of pickups, not finding the perfect options. I was never able to find the balance I needed, until I came to find the Sunbucker Blues. If it did what it said on the tin, then I had found the perfect pickup. It does indeed do what it says on the tin. It is a very bright, vintage-PAF sort of tone that has those sparkly cleans that those are famous for, and the response to light overdrive is quite brisk and nearly P-90-like. We all love that stuff, and this does it perfectly. Where my honeymoon always ends with this kind of pickup is the high distortion: usually these types of pickups get grainy, almost like if a strat bridge pickup was being put through a powerful overdrive pedal with the highs turned up all the way. The Sunbucker Blues does NOT do this, it holds its character even at the most ridiculously high distortion levels, and at least on my rig, it actually rounds off slightly rather than going brittle and wimpy like other PAF clones. I opted for +5% winds on my order, and I think that was the right call. I combined it with a High Output Strat single in the neck and the two are perfectly balanced. I could not ask for more, I am sold. Fralin knows what he's doing. 10/10 score."

Rated 5 out of 5

"This was a journey trying to find the right sound I was looking for. Originally I struggled with what to get. I was struggling between Sunbucker Blues set or a Pure P.A.F. set. Both sounded so beautiful, but there was so much more information and demo sounds I could listen to for the PAF set. For Sunbucker Blues, I only found the one video on here (which sounded beautiful), but it's very short. I searched everywhere and couldn't find anything more. I wanted a really great blues sound and everyone said Pure P.A.F. set was the way to go. So I did, and it was beautiful when I installed them, but the neck wasn't quite what I wanted. I wanted a clearer sound that had a little more twang, and sounded just a little brighter. I wrestled over it for about a week and finally emailed Lindy about it. I loved the Pure P.A.F. set, but it was difficult to explain the sound that was in my head. Lindy actually called me on my phone and actually played two different guitars to compare the sound for me over the phone between the two pickups. I couldn't believe it. It was awesome and decided to trade in the neck PAF for the Sunbucker Blues. Eventually it came, and I've had a hard time putting my guitar down since. It is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I can achieve every blues sound I'm looking for with this. I've played both clean and dirty with it. Every artist's sound I'm looking for is here. Most importantly, the sound in my head, is here. It takes pedals perfectly or straight into the amp. The sustain is gorgeous. I can play with a kind of emotion that didn't exist with my previous pickups I've used. I feel like the Sunbucker blues pickup is the translator of what's in my mind. It's weird and hard to explain beyond that. I have never been more happy with a pickup."

Rated 5 out of 5

"At last a neck pickup that cleaned up my Les Paul! Since I purchased my Les Paul Standard back in 2008 I’ve never been to happy with it’s neck pickup sound. About five years ago I changed the stock pickup to a PAF style from another brand and it got better but it was still not the sound I was looking for. Now this Sunbucker is exactly what I was looking for, a full great sounding neck pickup that finally cleaned up all the muddy low end my LP suffered from the start."

Customer Reviews

22 Genuine Reviews for Sunbucker Blues®

Richard Crawford

Verified Purchase

October 21, 2024
Rated 5 out of 5

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.
Billy Fotis

Verified Purchase

May 12, 2024
Rated 5 out of 5

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!!!!