Unbucker
The Lindy Fralin Unbucker gives you great split-coil and humbucking tones – all in one. The unbalanced Unbucker’s coils give you a stronger single coil tone when split.
Quick Links:
Jump to Sound Clips and Product Info:
Unique Humbucker Design For Coil Splitting
Want to learn more about our Unbucker? Here's all the information you'll need:
Unbucker FEATURES:
The Lindy Fralin Unbucker is one of our best-selling pickups. We’re known all over the world for incredible-sounding Single-Coil and Humbucker pickups. Why not combine them both and get the best of both worlds? The Unbucker provides fantastic Humbucker tones as well as Single-Coil tones. We purposely unbalance the coils to give you a stronger coil when the Unbucker is Split.
Our Stock Set includes a 7.5K Neck and 8.5K Bridge.
Features:
- Unbalanced coil turns for a stronger single-coil tone (Screw Coil)
- Scooped midrange with an emphasis on top-end clarity
- AlNiCo IV Magnets for a smooth, rich sound
- Fits any Standard Humbucker or F-Spaced Humbucker routing
- Assembled by hand, one at a time, for impeccable attention to detail
- Compensated Overwound Bridge for even volume across all pickups
- Hand-wound with our “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tone
- Hand-built for unrivaled quality control
- 10-Year Warranty on manufacturing defects
Sound
Bright and clear, with just the right amount of chime and an open midrange. Our Unbucker features a stronger wound screw coil that gives this pickup a unique tone. Our Unbucker has a similar vibe to our Pure P.A.F. with a more open and airy midrange and top end. Expect outstanding clarity and articulation. When you tap the slug coil, you still achieve a robust single-coil tone. When playing dirty, you’ll get a nice, sharp pick attack and excellent clarity, and a tight and punchy low end. Due to the unbalanced coils, Unbuckers won’t be 100% hum-canceling.
Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. We wind each pickup by hand, one at a time. Each pickup is wound using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique. Doing this gives the pickup a sweet, clear tone. Finally, we assemble each pickup one at a time, by hand. Hand assembling pickups allows us to achieve unbeatable attention to detail. After assembly, we wax-pot the pickup to preserve the pickup and prevent microphonics.
Tech Specs
The Neck pickup is comprised of a 4.5K and 3K coil, and the Bridge pickup is comprised of 5K and 3.5K coils. The outputs are compensated and all sets have matched volume.
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Unbucker.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading: | 7.5K |
| Bridge Ohm Reading: | 8.5K |
| Neck Polarity: | Reversible with 3-Conductor Lead |
| Bridge Polarity: | Reversible with 3-Conductor Lead |
| Magnet: | USA-Made Alnico 4 |
| Wire: | USA-Made 42-Gauge Single Poly Nylon |
| Baseplate Material: | USA-Made Nickel Silver |
| Cover Material: | USA-Made Nickel Silver |
| Pole Piece Material: | USA-Made Steel |
| Bobbin Material: | ABS Plastic |
| Baseplate Leg Depth: | 6mm |
| Recommended Pot Value: | 500K |
| Recommended Cap Value**: | 0.02mfd |
**We recommend a 0.02mfd Cap Value on most guitar and bass pickups. The exception is a Magic Cap, which Lindy prefers on the Bridge Pickup of Fender® guitars only. Learn More about Caps Here.
Sizing
Humbucker Lead Color Codes
See below for our Humbucker Lead color codes. For help with matching to other manufacturers, check out this resource here.
Gibson Braided Lead:
2-Conductor Lead:
3-Conductor Lead:
4-Conductor Lead
Unbucker Questions And Answers:
Notice:
Have a question about our Unbucker? Ask it here. Your Question will be publically visible. If you want to ask a Private Question, please contact us through our Contact Us Form.
If you have multiple questions, please call us at (804) 358-2699.
-
Is it possible to get the set in cream only…All the mounting rings are cream/94 PRS CE 22…Best spacing for this guitar? I’m the test monkey for Jim Hill and refitted a Suhr Classic a few years ago when Jim and I visited your shop and had lunch with you…Great pickups and service!
-
Q Is it possible to get the set in cream only…All the mounting rings are cream/94 PRS CE 22…Best sp...... Read moreThere are no answers for this question yet.
In an HSS Strat, which middle single coil would have balanced output with the split mode of the Unbucker, disregarding how it balances with the humbucker sound? I'm looking for classic early 60's Strat sounds, and then a PAF ish sound to be used by itself.
-
Q In an HSS Strat, which middle single coil would have balanced output with the split mode of the U...... Read moreA
Hey Kirk, I'd recommend something like our Blues Special, and a partial split resistor.
Is the single coil mode ceramic or alnico? Would this be better matched to ceramic mid and bridge pickups, or with alnico mid and bridge pickups?
-
Q Is the single coil mode ceramic or alnico? Would this be better matched to ceramic mid and bridge...... Read moreA
Hey Andrew, our Unbucker uses Alnico 4 - so the single coil mode will feature the Alnico 4 bar magnet charging the screw side. Regarding matching to either ceramic or Alnico, it's tough to say. I'd lean towards ceramic, personally as you'll get a touch of P90 tone out of the single coil as it uses screw pole pieces. - Tyler
Hi. Does 50mm Bridge and a 49.2mm Neck size work for the SE version of the PRS Custom 24? or should I go for different size?
-
Q Hi. Does 50mm Bridge and a 49.2mm Neck size work for the SE version of the PRS Custom 24? or shou...... Read moreA
Hey Todd, most PRS guitars are 50mm in the Bridge and 49.2mm in the Neck. - Tyler
I am planning to install a set of Unbuckers in my Epiphone ES-339, with coil splitting. I know they are designed for this, but I am considering adding a partial split resistor as well. What would be the effects of the partial split resistor with Unbuckers? Do you have a recommendation one way or the other?
-
Q I am planning to install a set of Unbuckers in my Epiphone ES-339, with coil splitting. I know th...... Read moreA
Hey Dave, if you were going that route, we'd actually recommend going for the Pure P.A.F. or Modern P.A.F. and using the Partial Split Resistor instead of the Unbuckers. You'll get the following benefits:
- 100% hum-canceling (The Unbucker is about 80% hum-canceling) and
- Compensated tone when you split the humbucker (the split single coils sound best on 500K pots with the partial split resistor).
That said, if...
Read more
Note:
Asking a question here will be public to all users of this siteHey!
Did you already ask a question on our Contact Us Form? Don't ask it again here. Please be patient while we get back to you.-
- 1
- 2
-
In reality I’d give 4.5/5 if half stars were an option but it’s definitely better than 4 star, so giving it 5. It’s a very nice pickup, but is just ever so slightly muddy in my SG neck position, but I’ve struggled with that with every neck pickup I’ve tried so it might just be inherent to this guitar. The coil splitting is very nice. At first I wasn’t blown away by the split tone, probably b/c I was AB’ing with a very nice Strat, but after playing on it for a couple of weeks and realizing that yes it isn’t a bonafide Strat pickup in a 25.5” scale guitar, I think it gets my SG 90%+ on the way to Strat neck pickup tone which is a pretty amazing feat.
Installed a set of Unbuckers in a PRS S2. It was recommended by Lindy Fralin due to splitting coils and still getting a good PAF tone when not split. The Lindy Fralin company ships their pickups very safely and within a reasonable time. I will say that the single coils sound better than the normal Fender Stratocasters. I have a couple of stratocasters that sound maybe just as could, but those I have installed Lindy Fralin Blues a wild back. I am a guitar repair and update business, but this comment has nothing to do with advertisements – this is just telling the truth in quality. Even my guitars prefer Lindy Fralins. Unbuckers are the best ever. Incredible tones – tested through a Fender Custom Deluxe Reverb, and a Marshall JVM205H.
Put my new UNBUCKERS on my PRS ce 24, boy, what a difference, all strings with balanced out put and tone clear, and articulate. When you split the coils you don’t loose the volume but minimally and the beautiful single coil sound is spot on.
Sooooo happy with these pickups. I found these and went with something cheaper and eventually came back and got these. I’m so happy I did. I wish I would have done it sooner. These sound so good and the tonal balance between split coils and humbuckers is amazing. I find myself playing less notes because every note sounds so good, and I can hear every nuance of every pedal in my chain. Happiest I’ve ever been with pickups. Thanks Lindy for an amazing product. If you made it this far in your research, go ahead and get these. Don’t do like I did and waste money on something you won’t be happy with only to come back and by these. Just buy them now. You won’t regret it.
High output Unbuckers Bridge / low output neck in a PRS Custom 24 with Coil Split*
Pickups are excellent. Dynamic and clear on both with a lot of volume / tone knob response. Bridge is hot enough to handle the gain I want and neck is thick and clean. Sound great split as well. A little hotter than most strats in my opinion.
I received step by step updates and had great communication and advice throughout. More companies should conduct themselves like this.
Holy shit. I just got my Carvin with split coils back from the shop after it being gone for over a week while I was having the unbuckers put in the neck and the bridge. I thought I loved this guitar before. The tones that are coming out of it now are incredible. I bought the unbuckers at the recommendation of a good friend and I could not be happier. Fralin definitely gained a faithful customer for life after this purchase. 100% recommend.
I was introduced to the Unbucker on a Novo Voltur- and loved it, especially being able to split the coils and retain amazing tone either way. I decided to replace the 85/15’s in my PRS Custom with a set of Unbuckers, retaining the 5 way wiring that splits the pickups. Amazing!!! Didnt think that guitar could get any better, but it is. The tone! Any position, the tone has never been better. That guitar went from my number 4 to my number 1 with this upgrade. Would not hesitate to try more Fralins!
Bought a neck Unbucker for my Tele with the idea of adding humbucker tone while also retaining the single coil sound I had (kept single coil bridge for full Keith vibes). WHAT a PICKUP! The humbucking tone is full, clear, and powerful; split mode is very Strat-like, with a bit more sparkle and power than the original Tele neck pickup. I wired it with a push-pull tone knob, and added a 4-way switch for some unique sounds; this humbucker makes running it in series with bridge work well because of its high end clarity and vintage-y output. An improvement from all angles and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Thanks so much Lindy!
The Unbucker makes for a truly great neck pickup. It’s very articulate and responsive. It sounds great split and out of phase as well; both options have musical options and balance well with the standard in phase mode.
I was originally going to put this in the neck position of a strat but once I received the pickup my plans have changed; it’s going into a jazz focused guitar strung with flats. The cleans and edge of breakup tones are just too good to pass up for this application. Having a musical out of phase option is great for comping while the in phase and split modes deliver thick single note lines. A lot of (useful) variation from a single pickup!
Put the Unbucker in a parts tele with a 5 way super switch, and 250k pots…I was trying to clone the Fender Fat tele made from 1998-2002…I was a little unsure how it would work out, and was ready to install 500k pots if the humbucker was too dark….
No need!….the description of the pick up is spot on…exactly what I was looking for. Full humbucker mode is warm, full, not overly aggressive, with a gorgeous amount of clarity and sparkle…split mode cuts a small bit of volume and bottom out, without changing the vibe….great for those chunky rhythms…then, when soloing, switch to full humbucker for a slight volume increase…its perfect!
and it ended up being a perfect match for the vintage wound bridge pickup I am using….
Thanks again to all of you for being the best