Review quickie: Artec Giovanni pickup

The Artec pickups are under the Giovanni Series of electronics, manufactured for electric guitars. These are very affordable pickups available at Amazon. Magnets used are either Alnico II / V. The high powered GHXTN model here features Alnico V magnets.

Likes:

• clarity
• price

Dislike:

• clean tones

Both the bridge & neck pickups manifest clarity we often hear coming from notable brand names which list for much more. The bridge pickup, would appease all the distortion fiends out there, especially the ones who peddle heavy music. The clarity of the neck humbucker is useful for solos. A strong midrange / treble response is heard coming from both models & on this note, the clean tones on offer are acceptable & would require some modulation (e.g. chorus) to mitigate a more appealing response. Certainly not the pickups to get for jazz.

Final rating: 70%

Availability: Amazon

Ptice: $30.05

Red Dinky (3)

A belated conclusion to this episode but a conclusion nevertheless. The JS12 underwent a pickup swap. The rail type humbuckers you see here are Artec pickups. These are very affordable & they are quite singular in offering; good for distortion. The cleans here are as good as those default ceramic Jackson pickups to begin with. I went with this pair due to its rich harmonic content which can be rather excessive especially if you wish for unobtrusive solos in the neck position. 

So we conclude this episode of a forgotten guitar brought back to life. It's not a perfect reincarnation but a deserving one for something largely unplayed with minimum wear. On this note, the Jackson JS12 is my recommended guitar (despite being a firm Ibanez fan) for those of us looking for something affordable but not shabby with lots of potential for greatness along the way. In fact, the JS12 doesn't feel like an entry level Jackson considering how well these are constructed & put together. Of course, the default tuners remain its Achilles heel when it comes to wholesome gratification. 

Previous episode: CLICK

Schaller

Was asked to try these Schaller humbuckers which I believe are defunct. Someone told me these were called Hot Stuff pickups & they simply polarize opinions in terms of distortion applications. From what I hear, having spent a week with them:

• the bridge pickup has a strong midrange response like the Seymour Duncan JB, lots of clarity but sounds bland in clean settings
• the neck pickup has excessive bass, not too appealing when it comes to solo applications, note separation could have been better. Apparently, the boomy overall tone sounds good for clean, jazz-type playing.