Nice catch on the pickups. I personally would just buy a 65' special and customize it to my liking instead of putting out 20 grand for a guitar. Have you tried the Gibson Tony Iommi pickups? When I had them back in 08' or so I did not like them at all. They were really muddy, bassy sounding. It was definitely nothing like a P90 bark. I realized years later after I sold them that they had the wiring capability to be coil tapped to act like single coils. Would be cool to give them another go as single coils. In 2010 I ordered a pair of pickups to be made from John to what Tony used in the early days. From what I remember they sounded good but I was missing the treble booster to really dial in that special sound. I still have them but haven't had them installed since 2015 or so.
Oh yeah i would do the same! Never tried the Gibson Iommi pickups, but everyone i've heard from has said the same as you, pretty muddy and not as high output as you would assume. I have a John Birch magnum R mini humbucker i bought from John Carling a few years back, it sounded great! But again it's a totally different style from the original JB pickups. If i won the lottery i'd love to invest in the company and start cranking out the originals 🤞
Thanks for the video. Being that the John Birch pickups are encased all around in metal does this make them any less susceptible to picking up 60 cycle hum? Meaning, are they any less noisier than standard P90's?
Having them completely shielded like that will cut down on some amount of hum and buzz, similar to shielding a strat coil and electronics cavity. You'l get less hum but if you're in a noisy environment with lots of gain it will still hum. The solution by Jaydee was to make their monkey set sidewinder p90's, so they have a single coil tone but are hum cancelling, they sound great! Hope that helps!
Your right. I have the recent epi iommi that came out in 15 mine has the crosses on the whole neck. And is 24 fret. I was luke warm on the 24 fret but hearing Tony did some 24 fret vertions is cool. Mine came with a signed picture. That was realy cool. I only have 2 things signed by Tony. Super nice build bit the i have two epi gtrsthe build is solid and super clean. But as you said the pups are the weakness. They are ok. Not great just ok. This could be a super upgrade. Thank you. Get well soon! Look farward to more vids soon👍🤠
Thanks buddy! I'm more or less talking about the $20,000 custom shop model they just came out with. I thought that Epi looked really good! I havent got a chance to try the gibson Iommi Humbuckers, how do they sound?
@@orokusaki8291 They sound fantastic. Very thick, dark but chords shine, very low noise and sensitive to the volume pot. If you have the JB Magnum 2 it's a bit similar but the JB is a bit brighter. Check out my band, Spiral Tomb, recorded it with an LTD Viper with a set of Gibson Iommis.
@@sztriki Great to know JB Magnum 2 sound similar to Gibson Iommi's, brighter than them is interesting. I have a question. I have two SG's, one with Gibson Iommi's, the other with JB Magnum 4 / Hyperflux 5 set. The Gibson Pickups are really precise in the bass section (more than the JB), but the JB have more precision in the Middle/Treble section than the gibson, and moreover, more output level. So how's the Magnum 2 in that ? Is it a mix of both with more output than the Gibson Iommi ? Because i'm looking for a pickup that would be a mix of both. Haha. Also you're right, my John Birch sound less sensitive to Volume pot, because Gibson ones are perfect for that. Thanks !
@@ThomasL I mainly used the Magnum 2 for leadwork, found that it shines there, but I think the lows are good too. Maybe not qs tight as the Gibson but pretty solid. Think the Magnum 2 has been discontinued but check w John Carling, he may have some in stock, if he does definitely recommend giving one a go.
@@orokusaki8291 I agree Jaydee was the only way to go ... but Jaydee will make you a Monkey SG for ~35% of the price of a Gibson ... and Tony doesn’t even really play any Gibson guitar since about 1975. 😂 So maybe they didn’t want to hire Jaydee, or Jaydee declined making them the pickups on the time table Gibson wanted? or at the price Gibson wanted? or they wanted the “John Birch” engraving? or they were too lazy to realize the modern John Birch co is only vaguely related to the old John Birch guitar company? ... mysteries!
Man, I love your videos brother! Not sure if I told ya, but I have a Jaydee Old Boy Standard on order and should see it April 2022. Also I’m going to order a John Birch Iommi SG Special next month. Only three to four month wait on that so I should see it this summer! Are you on Facebook or Instagram? If so, what’s your usernames?
I thought the Monkey didn't have the classic JB sized pickups yet. I'm sure I read somewhere that the bridge was the stock Gibson P90 in a metal case and the neck was a Simplux, which was JB's version of the P90?...?
Iommi had john birch rewind and fit the bridge p90 into a JB casing, and added the Simplux to the neck pickup. If you AB photos of the original to the 2020 custom shop you can spot the difference, it uses John Birch's current Monkey set, which are humbuckers in a standard p90 casing. I'm sure they're great pickups no doubt, but not the same...
@@sztriki alot of people were expecting them to go with Jaydee for those reasons, i suspect it's because they wanted to use the original company, but in the end it's a $20000 guitar with wrong pickups lol
I totally agree ! It's baffling that they actually call that guitar a "replica" and charge so much for it... Like you said, they totally should have gone with JayDee's pickups, they're far far more accurate I really wonder why modern John Birch pickups aren't build the same way.. it's a big part of their original brand identity, and shouldn't be too hard to do for a pickup manufacturing company I'm super jealous of your pickup collection by the way ! I'm hoping to get my hands on some JayDee pickups in the near future, both a Monkey set and an Old Boy one ,... hopefully
I know eh? From what I've heard the main reason Birch hasn't gone back to the old style is because the tooling to press the pickup covers and make the bobbins is expensive... If I won the lottery I would definately become a partner and bring back the old ways!
were the top row of screw poles replaced on the 70s hyperflux ? they look new compared to the bottom row .. i have an original hyperflux also it has incredible tone .. i have bought a few of the new ones from john carling he is running the show at john birch guitars ..nice guy but im not crazy about the pickups ..i have yet to find a JD pickup i would like to find one ..and i think the price for the Gibson Monkey is insane
@@orokusaki8291 thanks yep those original screws he uses are unique probably a UK specific type of screw ..they kinda look like philips head but at closer look they are not
@@orokusaki8291 oh and also the connection wire on the back is not original ..looks like that was changed also. .looks like the surround is original and in good shape ..they are extremely rare pickups .i will never part with mine unless offered crazy money for it ..
They wanted to give you the complete Tony Iommi experience of ripping those pickups out and installing the others.
Haha. Love it!
Jaydee will gladly sell you a set of their Monkey pickups!
Thanks for this. I've been hunting all over for this info.
Very cool I have an sg with 2 gib vintage p90s absolutely love them ....those r cool to see !!!! 🤟🤟✝️✝️✝️🤟🤟
Nice catch on the pickups. I personally would just buy a 65' special and customize it to my liking instead of putting out 20 grand for a guitar. Have you tried the Gibson Tony Iommi pickups? When I had them back in 08' or so I did not like them at all. They were really muddy, bassy sounding. It was definitely nothing like a P90 bark. I realized years later after I sold them that they had the wiring capability to be coil tapped to act like single coils. Would be cool to give them another go as single coils. In 2010 I ordered a pair of pickups to be made from John to what Tony used in the early days. From what I remember they sounded good but I was missing the treble booster to really dial in that special sound. I still have them but haven't had them installed since 2015 or so.
Oh yeah i would do the same! Never tried the Gibson Iommi pickups, but everyone i've heard from has said the same as you, pretty muddy and not as high output as you would assume. I have a John Birch magnum R mini humbucker i bought from John Carling a few years back, it sounded great! But again it's a totally different style from the original JB pickups. If i won the lottery i'd love to invest in the company and start cranking out the originals 🤞
Great, but we need a sound comparison!
Great idea!
Thanks for the video.
Being that the John Birch pickups are encased all around in metal does this make them any less susceptible to picking up 60 cycle hum? Meaning, are they any less noisier than standard P90's?
Having them completely shielded like that will cut down on some amount of hum and buzz, similar to shielding a strat coil and electronics cavity. You'l get less hum but if you're in a noisy environment with lots of gain it will still hum. The solution by Jaydee was to make their monkey set sidewinder p90's, so they have a single coil tone but are hum cancelling, they sound great! Hope that helps!
Your right. I have the recent epi iommi that came out in 15 mine has the crosses on the whole neck. And is 24 fret. I was luke warm on the 24 fret but hearing Tony did some 24 fret vertions is cool. Mine came with a signed picture. That was realy cool. I only have 2 things signed by Tony. Super nice build bit the i have two epi gtrsthe build is solid and super clean. But as you said the pups are the weakness. They are ok. Not great just ok. This could be a super upgrade. Thank you. Get well soon! Look farward to more vids soon👍🤠
Thanks buddy! I'm more or less talking about the $20,000 custom shop model they just came out with. I thought that Epi looked really good! I havent got a chance to try the gibson Iommi Humbuckers, how do they sound?
@@orokusaki8291 They sound fantastic. Very thick, dark but chords shine, very low noise and sensitive to the volume pot. If you have the JB Magnum 2 it's a bit similar but the JB is a bit brighter. Check out my band, Spiral Tomb, recorded it with an LTD Viper with a set of Gibson Iommis.
@@sztriki nice i'll check it out! 🤘
@@sztriki Great to know JB Magnum 2 sound similar to Gibson Iommi's, brighter than them is interesting. I have a question.
I have two SG's, one with Gibson Iommi's, the other with JB Magnum 4 / Hyperflux 5 set. The Gibson Pickups are really precise in the bass section (more than the JB), but the JB have more precision in the Middle/Treble section than the gibson, and moreover, more output level.
So how's the Magnum 2 in that ? Is it a mix of both with more output than the Gibson Iommi ? Because i'm looking for a pickup that would be a mix of both. Haha. Also you're right, my John Birch sound less sensitive to Volume pot, because Gibson ones are perfect for that.
Thanks !
@@ThomasL I mainly used the Magnum 2 for leadwork, found that it shines there, but I think the lows are good too. Maybe not qs tight as the Gibson but pretty solid. Think the Magnum 2 has been discontinued but check w John Carling, he may have some in stock, if he does definitely recommend giving one a go.
Hallelujah!!
Couldn't believe it!
@@orokusaki8291
I agree Jaydee was the only way to go ... but Jaydee will make you a Monkey SG for ~35% of the price of a Gibson ... and Tony doesn’t even really play any Gibson guitar since about 1975. 😂 So maybe they didn’t want to hire Jaydee, or Jaydee declined making them the pickups on the time table Gibson wanted? or at the price Gibson wanted? or they wanted the “John Birch” engraving? or they were too lazy to realize the modern John Birch co is only vaguely related to the old John Birch guitar company? ... mysteries!
@@ThemFuzzyMonsters haha. Probably all of the above!!
According to a few videos, the pickups are a little too hot in the Gibson Monkey, around 17k for the bridge.
Yes and the john birch pickups in the 'recreation' are also humbuckers inside...so wrong in many ways lol
Man, I love your videos brother! Not sure if I told ya, but I have a Jaydee Old Boy Standard on order and should see it April 2022. Also I’m going to order a John Birch Iommi SG Special next month. Only three to four month wait on that so I should see it this summer! Are you on Facebook or Instagram? If so, what’s your usernames?
Hey man thanks so much! Oh yeah? You'll have to tell me which one you prefer! I'm on Instagram oroku_saki_guitar
I thought the Monkey didn't have the classic JB sized pickups yet. I'm sure I read somewhere that the bridge was the stock Gibson P90 in a metal case and the neck was a Simplux, which was JB's version of the P90?...?
Iommi had john birch rewind and fit the bridge p90 into a JB casing, and added the Simplux to the neck pickup. If you AB photos of the original to the 2020 custom shop you can spot the difference, it uses John Birch's current Monkey set, which are humbuckers in a standard p90 casing. I'm sure they're great pickups no doubt, but not the same...
@@orokusaki8291 Ah gotcha. I thought they were the standard size, but makes sense now.
@@sztriki alot of people were expecting them to go with Jaydee for those reasons, i suspect it's because they wanted to use the original company, but in the end it's a $20000 guitar with wrong pickups lol
Trying to build my own hyperflux pickups.. Since being in South Africa too expensive to import.. Any advice mate?
I wish i could help, never built a pickup yet...it's on my bucket list dude!
I totally agree !
It's baffling that they actually call that guitar a "replica" and charge so much for it...
Like you said, they totally should have gone with JayDee's pickups, they're far far more accurate
I really wonder why modern John Birch pickups aren't build the same way.. it's a big part of their original brand identity, and shouldn't be too hard to do for a pickup manufacturing company
I'm super jealous of your pickup collection by the way !
I'm hoping to get my hands on some JayDee pickups in the near future, both a Monkey set and an Old Boy one ,... hopefully
I know eh? From what I've heard the main reason Birch hasn't gone back to the old style is because the tooling to press the pickup covers and make the bobbins is expensive... If I won the lottery I would definately become a partner and bring back the old ways!
@@orokusaki8291 Same here... they're really missing out though, I know if they did that then people would swarm to their pickups
What pickups are Gibson fitting to the new cheaper Iommi SG? Are they just a regular Gibson p90?
Yep just regular p90's. The good news is that they'll still get you the tone! They just don't look quite the same.
were the top row of screw poles replaced on the 70s hyperflux ? they look new compared to the bottom row .. i have an original hyperflux also it has incredible tone .. i have bought a few of the new ones from john carling he is running the show at john birch guitars ..nice guy but im not crazy about the pickups ..i have yet to find a JD pickup i would like to find one ..and i think the price for the Gibson Monkey is insane
Yes good eye! They had been removed by the previous owner for some reason.
@@orokusaki8291 thanks yep those original screws he uses are unique probably a UK specific type of screw ..they kinda look like philips head but at closer look they are not
@@orokusaki8291 oh and also the connection wire on the back is not original ..looks like that was changed also. .looks like the surround is original and in good shape ..they are extremely rare pickups .i will never part with mine unless offered crazy money for it ..
Finger injuries and Iommi go hand in hand.
True!
You couldn't tell me what the measurements of the hyperflux are by any chance?
Any help would be greatly appreciated 😃
Hey buddy! I'm sorry I sold it awhile back, but with the flanges they were about 5mm longer than a p90, and about 5mm slimmer width.
I agree with you.
The guitar is worth $10000.
They replicated zero fret, monkey stickers, tone nobs but they are not using John Birch’s pickup..
Actually they were $20,000.00 each when Gibson came out with them just a couple of years ago.