Description
There aren’t many guitars that have the reputation and mystique of Peter Green’s iconic ’59 Gibson Les Paul — affectionately named “Greeny”. Played throughout his time in Fleetwood Mac, with which he recorded dozens of timeless songs, “Greeny” eventually found its way to the late Gary Moore and was recently acquired by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett in 2014.
Known for its distinctive sound, Monty’s Guitars have painstakingly recreated the humbuckers from this legendary guitar using period-correct parts — right down to the 50s-style PAF covers and decals. Monty’s were lucky enough to get their mitts on “Greeny” while it was living in London, and took copious measurements and readings of its pickups. They also sat and played with the guitar for a while to soak up its majesty! If you want to emulate the exquisite tone of “Greeny”, Monty’s limited-run Bethnal Green humbucker set can give your guitar that magical voice!
Accurately Recreated for a Spellbinding Sound
The Bethnal Green set possesses all of the dynamic touch sensitivity, clarity, sweetness and mid-range bark you would expect from a great PAF pairing but with two uniquely-voiced pickups. The bridge humbucker is hotter than you’d expect from a traditional PAF, but some were wound like this from the factory in the ’50s. It’s incredibly ballsy with real top-end bite, while the neck pickup is fatter and warmer than most PAFs. As it turns out, the original neck humbucker in “Greeny” was rewound at some point with heavy formvar wire — giving it this distinctive quality.
Out-of-Phase, Out of this World!
The true showstopper with this pickup set is the famous “out-of-phase” middle position, which opens up a world of sonic possibilities that are totally idiosyncratic. Mixing these two oddball PAFs gives them an incredibly throaty tone that’s unlike anything else, perfect for embellishing your leads with some head-turning sizzle.
With the out-of-phase middle position on Gibson guitars, there is a little trick that can substantially open up the amount of tones available. Set both pickups at ten for that out-of-phase sound, and lower the volume of one the two humbuckers to slide it back into phase the further it goes down. In short, you can have a lot of fun with these Monty’s Bethnal Green pickups!
Specifications
- Alnico II Magnets
- Unpotted Coils
- Bridge Coil Wire: 42-Gauge Plain Enamel
- Neck Coil Wire: 42-Gauge Heavy Formvar
- Aged, Vintage-Accurate Pure Nickel Silver Covers
- Nickel Silver Baseplate
- Brass Baseplate Screws
DC Resistance
- Bridge: 8.2k (Approx.)
- Neck: 7.8k (Approx.)
