Ormsby Guitars Pickups

PICKUPS

Control the Tone, Quality and Output of Your Guitar

Hand Wound Pickups

We wind our own pickups in house right here at Ormsby Guitars. We want to control the tone, quality and output so we created our own range of pickups to suit our guitars.
Sure, it would be much easier to just thumb through a catalogue of pickups and pick some out, but wouldn't it be best to manufacture the tone to suit your desired sound, based on the timbers and specifications of your new guitar, and the gear you'll plug it into?

MAGNET WIRE
42, 43 and 44awg wire in Formvar or Poly insulation

MAGNETS
Hand cast Alnico II and Alnico V magnets
Alnico 8, Ceramic, Ceramic 8, and oversized Ceramic (Distortion)
Alnico II and Alnico V single coil rods

BASE PLATES
Nickel Silver to suit regular, or our own custom Multiscale base plates.

BOBBINS
49.2mm, 50mm, and 53mm, plus seven and eight string bobbins in White, Black or Cream.
Six, seven and eight string single coil pickups.

POLE PIECES
Various alloy slugs and screws, including socket head alloy screws for specific models.

WIRING
All humbuckers are four conductor;
Red = hot, Black = earth, Green + White = series link.

SPACING OPTIONS
Neck (49mm), Fixed Bridge (50mm), Tremolo Bridge (53mm)


We have a selection of our CustomShop pickups available in online store which can be purchased directly or made to order.

OUR HUMBUCKER RANGE

BRIDGE + NECK

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

PVH - BRIDGE + NECK

Output level: 8.4k neck - 9.2k bridge
Magnet options: AlNiCo 2 (neck) or 5 (bridge)
Type: Screw + Slug

PVH - Perry's Vintage Humbucker. Plug into a nice vintage Marshall, turn it up to ten and you'll be seeing red, white, and black (stripes that is!). Sweet singing lead tones, with an overdriven rhythm tone that is chunky and sweet... like coco pops . We recommend this pickup with an Alnico 2 magnet in both neck and bridge positions, or the Alnico 5 if you really want the extra brightness. What did we use for inspiration when winding this pickup? Eddies first two albums.

We use 42awg wire, scatterwound and wax potted, to make these pickups. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

BRIDGE

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

NUNCHUCKER - BRIDGE

Output level: 9.3k
Magnet: AlNiCo 8
Type: Screw + Socket

A moderate output humbucker designed for blues, rock, punk and metal. The output is low enough to retain clarity, but hot enough to drive your amplifier. We use steel adjustable slugs for a tiny bit more bite. The Nunchucker is our most poplar bridge pickup for rock, hard rock, and metal styles.

We use 42awg wire, tight scatterwound and wax potted, with 1018 steel pole pieces, and proprietory adjustable slug poles on the other side. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

HYBRID + - BRIDGE

Output level: 12.0k
Magnet: AlNiCo 5
Type: Screw + Slug

A moderate output humbucker designed to enhance your clean tone with a hint of single coil honkiness in full humbucker mode. We wind this one a little different to the rest: It features heavily mismatched coils (whilst still humbucking) and two different magnet wire types, to achieve stunning split or coil tapped sounds. Disappointed with the split sound of your other humbuckers? Want a more accurate single coil sound when split? Then this pickup is for you.

We use a combination of 42awg and 43awg wire, scatterwound and wax potted, to make these pickups. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

HOT ROCK - BRIDGE

Output level: 12.5k
Magnet: AlNiCo 8
Type: Screw + Slug

A moderate to high output humbucker designed for blues, rock, punk and metal styles. Overwound mismatched coils provide a driving tone to excite the front end of your amplifier. 

We use 43awg wire, tightly wound and wax potted, with 1018 steel pole pieces and an Alnico 8 for a real ball tearer! Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

NUNCHUCKER V 2.0 - BRIDGE

Output level: 12.7k
Magnet: AlNiCo 8 
Type: Screw + Socket

VERSION 2.0 of the original Nunchucker.
A moderate output humbucker designed for blues, rock, punk and metal. The output is low enough to retain clarity, but hot enough to drive your amplifier. Less treble than the original, but a little more clarity and output.

We use 43awg wire (original uses 42awg), 5% overwound, tight scatterwound and wax potted, with 1018 steel pole pieces, and proprietary adjustable slug poles on the other side. Tips to get the most from this pickup: Use the gain from your amp, not a pedal. Roll back volume for cleans.

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

BLIZZARD - BRIDGE

Output level: 14.0k
Magnet: Ceramic
Type: Double Socket 

High output humbucker for brutal modern metal with crisp cleans. Low end is tight, exceptional mid-range with singing highs. For inspiration we used the "Tribute" album which featured the ground breaking guitar playing of Randy Rhoads. We added our own flavour and adjusted the winds to ring this tone monster into the 21st century.

We use 43awg wire, tight scatterwound and wax potted and proprietary adjustable slugs on both sides. Ceramic magnet is standard. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

MASTER BLASTER - BRIDGE

Output level: 14.6k
Magnet: Ceramic
Type: Screw + Slug

A high output humbucker designed to blast away the cobwebs. Perfect for punk, hard rock and metal styles. As with all our humbuckers, this one comes complete with four conductor wiring for coil split capabilities.

We use 43awg wire, tightly wound and wax potted to make these pickups. Ceramic magnet is standard, but choose the Alnico 8 if you want to soften it up a bit, and take the edge off the highs. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

TOE CUTTER - BRIDGE

Output level: 15.0k
Magnet: Ceramic
Type: Double Socket

Behold the Toecutter; the leader of the pack!
This pickup was designed with Dino to 1. Express our love of MadMax, and 2. To suit Dino's tone and it's his pickup of choice when using multiscale. The Toecutter is tight, chuggy, has exceptional mids, sweet top ends and is ideal for an extended range of low tunings.

We use 43awg wire, tighly wound and wax potted, with double socket pole pieces to make these pickups. Ceramic magnet for extreme output and gain. Like your metal djenty? Like to chug chug chug? Done! The Cundalini neck pickup will complete your gang.

Ormsby Guitars Pickups

KATANA - BRIDGE

Output level: 22.0k!
Magnet: Ceramic
Type: Double Socket

This baby is ON FIRE. You wanted the hottest, and here we are to deliver it! This is one of the hottest handwound pickups in production worldwide. It took a LONG time to get this one right and we didn't want it to be muddy. It had to have clarity. It needed to suit ultra high gain situations, and come out fighting like a Samurai on speed. However, be warned, you won't be able to play anything clean with this pickup... it blasts the front end of your amp! Think active pickup type tones!

We use 44awg wire, tightly wound and wax potted to make these pickups. We discarded the regular slug poles, and fitted not one, but TWO types of proprietary adjustable slug poles to each bobbin to shape the tone. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

NECK

Ormsby Guitars Custom Pickup

CONCORDIA - NECK

Output level: 7.0k
Magnet: AlNiCo 5
Type: Screw + Slug

The Concordia is fast becoming the go-to neck pickup for all Ormsby guitars - and for good reason! The mids are clean and clear for a lush bottom and a sweet top end. The lower output is counteracted with an Alnico 5 magnet so you're never left wanting for more. Coil splitting will open a treasure trove of beautiful single coil tones you wouldn't think were possible from a humbucker. The Concordia is perfectly suited in combination along with our Blizzard bridge pickup above.

We use 42awg wire, scatterwound and lightly wax potted, with 1018 steel pole pieces to make these pickups. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

Ormsby Guitars Custom Pickup

OLD SCHOOL - NECK

Output level: 7.6k neck
Magnet: AlNiCo 2
Type: Screw + Slug

A low output humbucker perfect for clean jazz and blues style. Sweet singing lead tones, and clean rhythm tones. We recommend this pickup with an Alnico 2 magnet in the neck, but if like it a little brighter choose an Alnico 5 for the bridge position.

We use 42awg wire, scatterwound and lightly wax potted, with 1018 steel pole pieces to make these pickups. Alnico 2 rough cast magnet is standard. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.

Ormsby Guitars Custom Pickup

DE LA CREME - NECK

Output level: 7.7k
Magnet: AlNiCo 2
Type: Screw + Slug

Similar to the Old School model, with a little more output for a very PAF like tone. Sweet singing lead tones, and reasonably clean rhythm tones. What did we use for inspiration when winding this pickup? The intro to Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N Roses.

We use 42awg wire, scatterwound and lightly wax potted, with 1018 steel pole pieces to make these pickups. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.  The De La Creme pairs well with our Nunchucker and HotRock bridge pickups.

Ormsby Guitars Pickup

CUNDALINI - NECK

Output level: 8.6k
Magnet: Ceramic 
Type: Double Socket

We wanted something with a higher output that perfectly matches with the crushing tones of the higher output bridge pickups, and so the Cundalini was born and he wants his hand back. 
The Cundalini has bright sounding, prominent mids yet remaining an overall well rounded neck pick-up; the perfect sidekick to Toecutter.

We use 42awg wire, tightly wound and wax potted, with double socket pole pieces to make these pickups. Ceramic magnet for extreme output and gain.

Ormsby Guitars Custom Pickup

HYBRID - NECK

Output level: 10.2k
Magnet: AlNiCo 2
Type: Screw + Slug

A moderate output humbucker designed for blues and rock. We wind this one a little different to the rest: It features heavily mismatched coils (whilst still humbucking) and two different magnet wire types, to achieve stunning split or coil tapped sounds. Disappointed with the split sound of your other humbuckers? Want a more accurate single coil sound when split? Then this pickup is for you.

We use a combination of 42awg and 43awg wire, scatterwound and wax potted, to make these pickups. Alnico 2 magnet is great in the neck position, and we prefer the Alnico 5 in the bridge as standard. Four conductor wiring standard so you can really get creative with how you choose to wire it up.