[Timius]

So, I've been doing a ton of reasearch on pickups for my JP6.  I had ordered pickups but i got a reply that that they were not in stock at my go to place so I stopped the order. 

The JP6 i have come with factory special order Virtual PAFs.  While they are very good sounding pickups it is totally not what I'm after.  Typically you get the Crunchlab/Liquifire and I have been checking those out as well.  The pickups are direct mount

All my searches and pickup picker at Dimarzio keep bringing me back to the Tone Zone or Gravity Storm. 

They have almost identical specs

TZ 5.0 H
     8.5 M
     8.5 L
375millivolt

GS 4.5 H
     9.0 M
     7.5 L
340millivolt

The differences in millivolts is so low there should be no real difference between the two.  Thats where the EQ comes in. 

How much difference is there between the two in overall tone? 

[Timius]

So I went by the local guitar center today and they had a petrucci with the illuminators in it.  Holy clarity.  Reminded me of a bill and Becky xl500 but not as "metal".  A little more refined. 

I coukd live with those but I thought the liquifire destroyed the Illuminator neck

[DarthPhineas]

Specs like that are only part of the puzzle. You have resistance, inductance, capacitance, type of wire used, magnet selection, baseplate material, and how the wire is laid (which affects all the aforementioned results).

[Timius]

Specs like that are only part of the puzzle. You have resistance, inductance, capacitance, type of wire used, magnet selection, baseplate material, and how the wire is laid (which affects all the aforementioned results).

This is all very true.  I just bought the lollar pickup winding book and changing any one of those things makes a different sound. 

I was just referring more to them being similar in output, a5 magnet, etc. 

[DarthPhineas]

I just bought the lollar pickup winding book and changing any one of those things makes a different sound. 

how long have you been into winding?

[Timius]

I just bought the lollar pickup winding book and changing any one of those things makes a different sound. 

how long have you been into winding?

Been researching it heavily for the last few months and I'm going to start putting together the lollar winder around spring break

[DarthPhineas]

Haven't seen that one. Sounds interesting. I've seen that Mojotone has a winder. Not sure of any differences, but might be an option.

[Timius]

Haven't seen that one. Sounds interesting. I've seen that Mojotone has a winder. Not sure of any differences, but might be an option.

You get the lollar plans by buying his book on winding.  The wonder you build is the same that he still uses in his shop.  It's a total DIY deal and has a cam that works as a traverse so you don't have to hand feed the wire unless needed.  The mojotone winder looks great but the cost......

There is also some plans for a large based winder and those can be really fast winds.  I'm trying to do this project for unde $150.  If not, I would buy the mojotone.  For the mojotone cost you can buy a Chinese made computer programmer winder and mass produce pickups for $200 more.