Custom – Curtis Novak Classic Pickups

Category: Custom

Custom How to hide a Firebird in a Soapbar

Had someone contact me about how to make his Reissue Firebird pickup with P-90’s sound more like a vintage Firebird with out modifying the guitar. Here I created a Firebird pickups with faux P-90 pole pieces. Worked out great and now his Firebird sounded like a vintage Firebird should.

Carvin Mosrite Pickup (AP6 Pickup)

I have a major need to custom build some of these pickups. As of yet I have only seen working pickups so I have not been able to throughly examined them. The big problem is that this pickup is constructed in such a fashion that there is a good change I will brake the coil and need to rewind it if I open it up.

Update!
At long last I finally have all I need to start reproducing these pickups!! Here is a link Mosrite Rework you will see where I have made a vintage correct replacement pickup for a modern Mosrite pickup.

F-90 pickup

This pickup is a humbucker that will fit under a P-90 cover. I call it a F-90 because it is actually constructed the same as a Gretsch Filtertron with some minor alterations to hide it under a P-90 cover.

Why do this you may ask…? Most of my intrust and experience is in Vintage Restorations, and I have a customer who wanted a humbucking pickup for recording that will cancel the hum, but not alter the appearance or require any alteration on the instrument.

BTW: Besides keeping its vintage appearence, it Sounds Awesome!

The center row of pole pieces are just for appearence as you see they are screwed in to a nylon spacer. The working pole pieces are the 2 outside rows

Faux pole pieces show through the cover.

"I didn't even want to say because I love them so much that I don't want everyone to have em..! For musical feedback its up in the wizard area!"

Marc Ford - (The Black Crowes, The Magpie Salute)

"I asked curtis to come up with a lipstick for the middle and a stealth neck humbucker for my missingmen guitarman tom watson's jazzmaster. both are beautiful buttloads of sonic giving more vocabulary to express himself - we both bow big time in curtis' direction."

on bass, Watt

"Last night, onstage with my dad (Randy Bachman, from BTO) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, I had my first opportunity to plug in Excalibur with Curtis's pickup inside. I do not say this lightly, but I was amazed and thrilled. So was the whole band... What I like most of all is that there is a certain 'airiness', a certain 'liveliness', there which is just awesome. This pickup has legitimately hit the sweet spot between 'hot rod excitement' and musicality. It's staying in the SG forever. Thanks, Curtis!"

Tal Bachman

"Using this pickup in my Fender it feels like every element of the tone is simply there -- clear, well-defined low end, robust mids and highs that have a wonderfully smooth presence -- all unhindered, immediate and full. Thanks Curtis for building my dream Precision pickup!"

Byron House (Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Robert Plant)

"Using this pickup in my Fender it feels like every element of the tone is simply there -- clear, well-defined low end, robust mids and highs that have a wonderfully smooth presence -- all unhindered, immediate and full. Thanks Curtis for building my dream Precision pickup!"

Byron House (Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Robert Plant)

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