New Dual blade pickups are different than old ones!

Hi All, I have just bought a new pair of Dual blade/power blade pickups for my G&L Legacy Special

It seems the *new* Dual blade and Power Blade pickups are very different to the older model!
They look different - they are completely black (eg. the magnets on the front are black instead of silver),
and they have 4 wires, instead of 3 - a green, a red, a black , and a white wire, and the way of hooking them up is different as well.

DO NOT snip any of the wires, you will need all of them!
The correct way of hooking them up is :

Red and white wires connected to each other and to the toggle switch.
Black connected to volume pot,
Green to ground.

Any other way , there would be a terrible 60hz hum!

I think this post should also go sticky, since it might help people who buy these new pickups for their old G&Ls.

Roey.

Hi All, I have just bought a new pair of Dual blade/power blade pickups for my G&L Legacy Special

It seems the *new* Dual blade and Power Blade pickups are very different to the older model!
They look different - they are completely black (eg. the magnets on the front are black instead of silver),
and they have 4 wires, instead of 3 - a green, a red, a black , and a white wire, and the way of hooking them up is different as well.

DO NOT snip any of the wires, you will need all of them!
The correct way of hooking them up is :

Red and white wires connected to each other and to the toggle switch.
Black connected to volume pot,
Green to ground.

Any other way , there would be a terrible 60hz hum!

I think this post should also go sticky, since it might help people who buy these new pickups for their old G&Ls.

Roey.

Who did you get these pickups from? Are you sure they are G&L's blade pickups used in the Legacy Special?
I wonder if you got the rail pickups used in the 2010 Tribute Legacy HB model instead? Perhaps from an eBay seller?

No, I actually got them from the G&L Online store..... (through their Israeli dealer)
I was surprised as well but it seems they are indeed different.

No, I actually got them from the G&L Online store..... (through their Israeli dealer)
I was surprised as well but it seems they are indeed different.

Hmm, can you send photos of these pickups (top and bottom) and their part numbers to my email address (craig at guitarsbyleo.com)?
I will check with my contacts at G&L next week, to find out if the pickups for the USA Legacy Special have recently changed or if
you were sent the wrong pickups.

Stay tuned.

No, I actually got them from the G&L Online store..... (through their Israeli dealer)
I was surprised as well but it seems they are indeed different.

Hmm, can you send photos of these pickups (top and bottom) and their part numbers to my email address (craig at guitarsbyleo.com)?
I will check with my contacts at G&L next week, to find out if the pickups for the USA Legacy Special have recently changed or if
you were sent the wrong pickups.

Stay tuned.

Here's what I found out from Steve Grom:

Craig,

For years we have been using the Dual Blade pickups made by Gotoh in Japan.
With all the natural disasters and economic problems in Japan, the vendor was
very slow to deliver a recent purchase order. We ended up getting dual blade
pickups from Kent Armstrong to use while we waited for our order to be
completed by Gotoh.

The Kent Armstrong pickups offer some addition switching options, hence the
extra wires. We did not want to complicate the guitar's function, so even with
the wiring different that the Gotoh pickups, the operation of the instrument are
the same, based on our updated wiring for the newer pickups.

I hope this information is helpful

Steve

The substitute pickups are: Kent Armstrong HUM CANCELING STRAT(r) COOL pickup
used in the neck and middle positions and the HUM CANCELING STRAT(r) HOT in the
bridge position on the Legacy Special model.

G&L did get delivery of their order from Gotoh and are once again using them for the
Legacy Special and Invader models.

Hope this helps.

No, I actually got them from the G&L Online store..... (through their Israeli dealer)
I was surprised as well but it seems they are indeed different.

Hmm, can you send photos of these pickups (top and bottom) and their part numbers to my email address (craig at guitarsbyleo.com)?
I will check with my contacts at G&L next week, to find out if the pickups for the USA Legacy Special have recently changed or if
you were sent the wrong pickups.

Stay tuned.

Here's what I found out from Steve Grom:

Craig,

For years we have been using the Dual Blade pickups made by Gotoh in Japan.
With all the natural disasters and economic problems in Japan, the vendor was
very slow to deliver a recent purchase order. We ended up getting dual blade
pickups from Kent Armstrong to use while we waited for our order to be
completed by Gotoh.

The Kent Armstrong pickups offer some addition switching options, hence the
extra wires. We did not want to complicate the guitar's function, so even with
the wiring different that the Gotoh pickups, the operation of the instrument are
the same, based on our updated wiring for the newer pickups.

I hope this information is helpful

Steve

The substitute pickups are: Kent Armstrong HUM CANCELING STRAT(r) COOL pickup
used in the neck and middle positions and the HUM CANCELING STRAT(r) HOT in the
bridge position on the Legacy Special model.

G&L did get delivery of their order from Gotoh and are once again using them for the
Legacy Special and Invader models.

Hope this helps.

I recently found out from Dave McLaren that Kent Armstrong pickups were also occasionally used as substitutes prior to 2012.
The Kent Armstrong pickups have black rails instead of the chrome rails on the Gotoh pickups.

Is there any Tonal difference vs the Gotoh's (like in the Invader)?

Thanks


Roland

here is my kent armstrong pickup
thats is originality on my legacy special 96

got the conformation from dave and ordered me new cool 8k neck thats in the way as we speak