Adding a screaming humbucker pickup to a traditional neck-through cigar box guitar is as easy as glueing on a piece of scrap wood and notching out for the pickup! In this newly edited video featuring classic footage (below), Shane Speal shows the easy method to the mount.
He also gives the completed guitar a test drive, showing the growling, hot-smoke-and-honey tones of the C. B. Gitty Toaster Bucker pickup.
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These pickups are Mini-bucker sized and I was a bit skeptical about them being able to deliver Gretsch Filtertron tones(what the pickup is made to look like). I've run across pickups that emulated this type of pickup before, but they really missed the mark. Real Filtertron pickups( think about most of the old time 50's rock music or the rhythm guitar of ACDC) are close to mini-bucker size and can sound similar, but they have a high treble gritty tone to them.
I got these pickups to put in my BO Diddley Tribute Build and hoped for the best. At first, all I got was typical mini-bucker tones. Not a bad thing, just wanted the Filtertron tone and those pickups cost $75 to $85 a piece. I adjusted them as high as I could get them without having string problems and there it was, the tone I was looking for and I didn't have to do any wiring tricks to get it.
I wired mine to 500k volume and tone pots with a .022 tone cap and 3-way switch. Happy Bo Diddly style Rock or add the Distortion/Overdrive for nasty Rock or Blues. Lower the Pickup heights for typical Mini-Bucker tones. This pickup is very versatile and it looks great doing it's job.
It's size is longer than the usual mini-bucker and even longer than the Snake Oil pickup. When I got mine Gitty didn't offer any mounting plates for them, don't know if they offer any now or plan to in the future.
Also, mounting rings for the Rickenbacker bass guitars fit as well.
Thanks for that info. When I got these, Gitty stated on the website that there wasn't any available rings made for these pickups yet. Good to know about the Rick rings too.