Unbucker

Phenomenal Bridge Pickup

This is by far the best bridge humbucker I’ve ever played. Splits well, great sound, single-coil is great as well.

If anyone is worried about the volume difference between humbucker and single-coil modes, hopefully this will assuage your fears: I bought the bridge version of this pickup to replace a cheap humbucker I had wired with a series/parallel/split rotary switch, plus a hidden trimpot that lowered the volume of the series/humbucker setting to match the other two. The huge drop in volume when coil-splitting had been bothering me, but an unfortunate side effect of the trimpot circuit was that humbucker mode sounded a lot darker than before, almost like the tone had been rolled off. I swapped in my new Unbucker, removed the trimpot circuit, and not only did the sound of my guitar go from “kinda depressing” to “HOLY COW INCREDIBLE,” the volume difference stayed almost EXACTLY THE SAME.

I literally spent hours agonizing over that trimpot, tuning it so that humbucker mode had the same perceived volume as single-coil mode while still sounding “beefier,” and this pickup achieves the exact same effect while sounding a hundred times better. Humbucker mode is full and rich, single-coil mode is chimey and warm, and even parallel mode gives a twangy, very usable tone. At first I thought it was kind of thin compared to the other two settings, but after playing around with it I realized it sounds just like the single-coil setting on my old pickup. That was “the good setting” on that pickup, but on the Unbucker that exact same sound has to play third fiddle to the amazing humbucker and single-coil tones. It really is like having three different pickups in one.

Another minor problem I had with my old pickup was that the low E string tended to overwhelm all the others, but I couldn’t lower its polepiece any more without it sounding anemic. Not a problem any more – I set the pickup and polepiece heights according to the guidelines on this site, and now the volume is perfectly balanced across all the strings. I love this pickup and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone – I’ve always loved the acoustic tone of my guitar, but for the first time in my life it actually sounds better plugged in!

Probably the most universal pickups ever!

Have them in all HH and HS guitars. Simply the best and most universal pickup I have ever had in my guitars. Great dynamics and response to volume pot and tone pot adjustment. Sounds great when split with no volume loss. Highly recommended!

It’s so good I reviewed it twice

I bought this pickup to drop into the neck position of my late 90s explorer. I wasn’t looking to get an explorer but this particular one happens to be special. It plays real great and sounds big acoustically. Anyways, the stock Gibson 490s weren’t matching the potential in this guitar. Kinda dark and muddy. I had already swapped out the bridge with a Fralin. Time for the neck. Put it in Peter Green style with the screw slugs to the bridge side. Really dig the tone of the Unbucker. It has a good amount of drive and maintains sparkle and clarity. The middle position sounds amazing. And with it tapped into the single-coil mode it’s pretty special. The single-coil sound of the Unbucker isn’t just serviceable it’s really cool sounding. It sounds like a legitimate single coil. Not an anemic tapped humbucker. Super happy with this setup. It has unleashed the potential Of the guitar. Thanks, team Fralin!

Already have a few unbuckers in other guitars and love em. Great sounding pickup. Recently I got an Unbucker for the neck position on my Explorer. Installed it Peter Green style with screw side towards bridge as I like the sound of the middle position out of phase and it also looks cool. The more single coilish sound of the unbucker with this setup is fantastic. I installed a pushpull in the neck volume and wired it up for tapping. With the unbucker tapped, ie bridge humbucker + neck single coil out of phase, it’s yet another super useful variety. Different character.
Also I really like the single coil sound of the unbucker in the neck position all on its own.
More awesomeness from Fralin pickups.

GOOD REPLACEMENT FOR 490R.
Good company to work with. Their website is informative. I emailed a few other questions, and they responded promptly with needed detail.

Unbucker review
Installed in a late ’90’s Grosh Electrotone guitar to replace the EMG’s that came with it and could not be happier with the outcome. They are plenty hot enough but still clear with good across the board frequency balance. As humbuckers, they sound great from clean all the way to fully driven. The split-coil sounds are not really Strat-like but more somewhere between a true single-coil and a P90 which is kind of what I was looking for. They really transformed what was already a really good guitar into a great one that is now much more versatile. Highly recommended!

I have installed these pickups in two humbucking guitars. In one case, the ceramic magnet humbuckers in my Gibson Les Paul were simply too biting and brittle for anything but fairly overdriven and hard rock sounds. In the other case, the stock humbuckers in my Epiphone Sheraton though tonally-appropriate in some quiet, solo applications, were of limited use in most contexts, because they were too dark and muddy-sounding. The sets of Unbuckers in both of these guitars solved their tonal problems on the humbucker side, bringing pleasant, clear and open humbucker sound to each guitar. On the single coil/coil-split side, the additional single coil tones by themselves, and also blending of single coil and humbucker sounds in middle position with four-knob control setup, helps give these guitars a seeming infinite number of tones on the spectrum of thickness-thinness tonal spectrum from humbucker neck by itself, to single coil bridge by itself, and all tonal possibilities in-between these two very, very different tonal places.

Also, the winding power of the coils here with an Unbucker makes ALL the difference in integrating humbuckers and single coils into a signal chain to play well with amp and pedals, and not having to fight or readjust everything dramatically to best work with either a humbucker or single coil guitar setup. There *IS* a bit of volume drop off going from humbucker to single coil mode, but it is nowhere near as dramatic as other splittable humbuckers that technically (and sonically) literally loose 1/2 their power when using half the humbucker pickup in single coil mode. With the Unbucker, and depending on your particular setup, there is relatively little volume and output lost going to single coil mode, and in a gigging situation, for me, the difference is felt as a loss of bass and humbucker heft that is natural for that humbucker versus a single coil at any volume, tonally, at least as much as any real loss in actual volume. Anyway, if feel like you let half of a humbucker’s tone and output go away every time you select single coil mode of any other humbucker, you’ll find the Unbucker largely solves that problem.

The detractions or negatives, are reasonable and fair. No, Unbuckers in single coil mode are not as characteristic and toneful as good Stratocaster or Telecaster-type pickups in those same positions on a guitar. This is more noticeable if you A/B a Stratocaster and Telecaster versus an Unbucker-equipped guitar in single coil mode in a quiet room. But… to bring an incredible increase of tonal flexibility to a humbucker-equipped guitar, to make it imminently useable in situations that Stratocasters and Telecasters are usually more tonally appropriate than humbucker-equipped guitars? Yes, fantastic tonal flexibility, and all the possibilities sound good in live contexts. I used my newly-equipped Epiphone Sheraton at a Country-Rock gig all night this past weekend. I never touched the great Telecaster that I brought along. I never needed to. I never wanted to. After this gig, I know I can now use this Epiphone Sheraton at ANY gig, without hesitation.

Great pickups as humbuckers alone. Single coil mode and the flexibility makes them an unbeatable pickup for people who want/need tonal flexibility in ONE guitar. They’re so good I bought second set for a second guitar- the only time I ‘ve ever returned to buy the same pickups for another guitar. Sold on these, yet? 😉

Impressive …

Well, I had the opportunity to revamp my Gibson Les Paul Classic Antique. I decided to add the “Jimmy Page” wiring and needed to change the stock pickups because I needed a 4 conductor wire for that system. So, I did my diligent research regarding coil taps since I didn’t have any guitars in the collection with this option. Well, I found a pre-wired solder less drop-in assembly which in my opinion is well worth the money. However, I needed the right pickup. I noticed Gibson pickups are not that cheap and never will be, so I thought why not go with a boutique type builder. This is where Fralin really shines; they do so much research and development for just about every type of application for pickups. That’s what they do !!! The Unbucker lives up to its reputation. They sound great, if not better than my stock 57 Classics, of which I do think is one of the best hum buckers on the market. I found a little more headroom and balance with the Unbuckers just as hum buckers. However, of course, there is a little volume output drop when hitting the coil-tap but the pickup does not sound “anemic” or “thin”, to me it sounds like a darn good single-coil pickup. I must say that Fralin’s customer service is the best in the business. Not only to they take the time with the customer to ensure that their product is correct for you, but my tech was treated very well when he called for a few questions about installation. I can’t say that for every company these days but Fralin makes a quality product and has great customer relations. Highly recommended!

I was looking for humbuckers to replace the stock 85/15 pups in my 2019 PRS CE24. I like the stock pups but they just were not working for the style that I have been playing. I play modern worship music where tones can range from soft rock, classic rock, pop, funk and a lot of clean. I reached out to Fralin and told them what I was looking for. A more open tone with a little more mids and a little less gain. I also mentioned that I use coil splitting. I thought I was going to get Pure PAF’s. I received a return email within 24 hours!! They recommended the Unbuckers which were not even on my radar. I went with their recommendation though. It took exactly 10 business days for them to make and ship them. I asked several other questions during the process and they were ALWAYS quick to respond, very polite and extremely helpful! I was a little concerned though because they are described as NOT being normal humbuckers and they may be a little bit noisy compared to a normal humbucker. I installed these yesterday when they arrived and have to say that these things have exceeded my expectations!! They are not noisy at all. The tones are amazing. I have been trying to think of words to describe the tone. They are very open, clear, CRISP,clean. I turned on my normal effects, delay, reverb, compression…still no extra noise. Then I turned on the Timmy overdrive. Wow! Amazing! Then the OCD!! It just kept getting better!!! Stacked those two…OMG!!! I highly recommend these humbuckers. Amazing!! And then they just freaking look awesome too!!!

The Best. Best humbuckers!

Yes it does that
I installed these when I was restoring a classic USA BC Rich custom shop guitar. I wanted a pickup that could do a respectable single-coil sound for live versatility, but I didn’t want to go to EMGs or other ‘modern’ designs that sacrificed the PAF tone. I gave these a try because I have Fralins in four of my other guitars and love the sound. They’ve now been in for a couple of weeks, and have been gigged three times, including in two separate shows yesterday (one small and one huge outdoor stage, with amps scaled for each). So… how are they?

The humbucker tone is pure Fralin. Sounds great. I notice no extra noise from the unbalanced coil wiring. I think it sounds as good as the Pure PAFs in my Les Paul which is probably my overall favorite pickup. The single-coil sound is far better than other coil-split HBs I’ve tried (various Duncans, Gibsons, Dimarzios, etc); it has a higher output than most of them and good articulate clarity. Does it sound like a Strat? Not really, but I didn’t expect it to. The Strat’s signature neck tone is very much influenced by the pickup’s position, the scale length of the Strat, and the body and neck woods, all of which are different on most HB-type guitars. So this pickup isn’t going to instantly turn your Les Paul into a Mark Knopfler or Stevie Ray machine. But having said that, with the screw coil only activated, you can pull off something that’s surprisingly close, and for live applications perfectly suitable. And in the middle position, the two single coils are great for that thin glassy clean sound.

So, keep your expectations realistic, and have faith in Lindy’s judgment that this is the best compromise among classic humbucking mojo, noise-canceling, split-coil output levels, and stratty tone. For an all-night guitar, it’s the best HB I’ve found so far.

Love the unbucker
This a super great and open sounding pickup! I bought on a whim and am so happy. Also love that I could get it in raw nickel. I know it’s advertised that the levels are close between the single and humbucker modes but that’s an understatement – they’re basically exactly the same. You’re truly just hearing the tonality change. It’s bizzare if you’ve been cool splitting in the past. I took for granted that the louder humbuckers were driving the amp harder than the single coil so there was some additional influence on the tone. I also love that fralin pickups are out of phase or polarity or whatever with other brands. The super thin sound when I combine the pickups is a whole new very usable sound production wise. ALSO – the customer service is super awesome.

I installed these pickups with some apprehension, knowing they were the best choice to split/tap coils, but not knowing much about the tone they produced. All my concerns disappeared as soon as I played the first few chords. These pickups sounded very clear, balanced, and very much like the PAF pickups I was used to hear, but more balanced. The bridge; full and clear but not ice picky or harsh. The neck was a bliss, fat, defined, and full. Mismatched coils are really the way to go, even if you’re not planning on doing the split thing!

Fantastic. Love the sound! And they were easy to install. They do look nice too.

My Telecaster sounds amazing!! push pull pots with coil spitting and bright switch the guitar has so many different sounds and they all sound AMAZING!!. Best mod I have ever don to a guitar. The customer service was great they worked with me until I got it right. Thanks again.

Hands down my favorite neck humbucker. Several years back I tried one on a whim and was shocked. There was the sound I’d been looking for for years. Now these are standard issue for me in every one of my guitars.

I’m not really much of a review writing kind of guy, but I had to tell the world about the Unbucker. I have a PRS MCCarty that I simply love playing because it’s very comfy. Sadly, I always end up reaching for one of my other guitars because I simply didn’t like how dark and flat it sounded thru my amp. I have considered selling this guitar many many times but knew I’d take a loss so I kept it. I’m really glad that I did. I scoured the internet and Youtube looking for possible replacement pickups and happened upon the Unbucker.
I decided that rather than sell my guitar or trade it in and take a multiple hundred dollar hit that I’d buy them.
The short of it is that my guitar now has the sparkle and snap in it’s tone that I have always wanted with out losing the rich sounding low-end. . I also have the benefit of the fantastic split tones that it offers. Before, my guitar suffered a very noticeable drop in volume when splitting. Now it’s like I have a whole other guitar built into mine. The split tones do not sound (to me) like conventional “F” style single coils. They have their own tone in this guitar which is even better!
I am so pleased with the outcome that I had to type a review. To me, these pickups were worth every cent. If you are looking for great humbucker tone with clearity and snap, as well as having great splitting without volume drop, you should give these a try!

Amazing sounding pickups. The clarity in the notes even on a dirty setting is fabulous. Plus coil tapping brings in a whole new set of tones to play with. Best purchase I’ve made in awhile.