Suhr ThornBucker + Set Demo/Review
If you’d like to hear sound examples of these pickups, please watch my video demonstration. If you just want to know my thoughts, read on.
Most pickup manufacturers these days have some form of P.A.F. pickup. Some companies/builders attempt to painstakingly recreate one specific set, taking the time to replicate every detail from the magnet, to the wire, even the plastics where possible. Other makers create something that seeks to distill the best parts of all the best pickups wound during the 1950s-1960s, while fixing the things that made pickups from the era less than ideal for modern applications. With the Thornbucker + set, Suhr took the latter of these two approaches, allowing the players of today to get the best of the 50s without the astronomical cost or limitations of a vintage guitar or pickup set.
I’ve installed the brushed nickel version of these pickups into a 2016 Les Paul Standard. Thanks to Gibson’s quick-connect system in this particular Les Paul, the install itself was (mostly) rather straight-forward. It should be noted that, at the time of writing, these pickups are only available with short mounting legs. This wasn’t a problem for me personally, but it is something worth mentioning just in case your guitar requires the traditional longer mounting legs. Additionally, the mismatch between the chrome bridge and the nickel covers was, initially, not too noticeable. The nickel’s shine has since faded after many hours of play, making the differences between metals much more pronounced.
Tonally speaking, these pickups are astonishingly clear, due in part to their relatively low output. The bridge Thornbucker + has an Alnico IV magnet rated at around 8.8K, while the neck Thornbucker uses an Alnico V rated at 7.3K. No matter what pickup position you are in, every note rings through nicely, and you can really hear every note within your chords, whether you play with clean or heavy distortion.
The bridge pickup is fairly bright with enough midrange snarl to make the rock ‘n roll happen, and a reasonably tight bottom end to keep the rhythms tight. Despite its brightness, leads up the neck never sound shrill or piercing, so this pickup is still great to solo with. This is also one of the only bridge humbuckers I’ve ever tried that sounds good when used on cleans, and the low output ensures things stay truly clean unless you want to dial in dirt. Splitting the pickup also yields usable tones, but don’t expect it to sound exactly like your strat or tele. When splitting, I like to turn down the tone knob a bit to tame to brightness.
The neck pickup has quite a bit more low end in comparison to the bridge, but it never sounds muddy or muffled. On the contrary, low notes are quite defined in their attack when using the neck pickup. Playing in the higher register with gain yields fluid and creamy humbucker solo tones. On cleans, the pickup has a lovely full sound with just enough high end sparkle. When split, the neck retains quite a bit of low end, but gains a certain hollow, woody sound that works well clean. I should note though, that on clean tones without some form of compression, the neck humbucker does tend to have a higher perceived volume than the bridge due to the extra low end, at least in this guitar.
Pairing the pickups together in the middle position, both as full humbuckers and split, yields a lovely, chime-y tone that sounds wonderful with cleans. I’ve always been a fan of the Les Paul middle position for clean playing, but this one is really special. Thanks to Gibson’s wiring harness, I was also able test the out-of-phase tone (i.e. Peter Green). Despite likely not being made with that tone in mind, the Thornbuckers handle it effortlessly. Granted, this is not a tone I personally use all that often.
To summarize, these pickups are pretty stellar, and they handle pretty much every style under the sun well, so long as you have the setup to support it. Whether you are into classic rock, country, pop, etc., the Thornbuckers will work wonders. I would be wary of using these for modern progressive metal, however. Even though low end tightness and clarity are often desirable traits in modern high gain tones, this pickup’s voicing doesn’t make it the best candidate for that application without some tweaking. These can definitely hang in certain metal contexts, but in my experience, there are pickups much better suited to that purpose. Regardless, if you are looking for a boutique quality P.A.F. sound at a little less than most boutique pickup prices, the Thornbucker + set is definitely one to try.
