If you are here, chances are you are not 100% satisfied with your tone. You’ve invested much time and money finding a guitar that feels and plays good. Now you just need to get a set of great pickups that matches the tone you want to hear.
Sound is something you hear. Tone is something you feel. Great Tone has the ability to move you & the audience too.
Buying pickups is an investment of time and money, but it needs to be done if you want to get the most our of your instrument. You can save yourself a lot of time & money just by doing it right the first time.
Stock pickups are lackluster & a majority of aftermarket pickups are stiff and lifeless. Our proprietary techniques produce pickups with enhanced feel, unrivaled dynamic range & almost endless sustain. You'll instantly notice how they capture the harmonic content from your guitar that you couldn't hear before.
Some players refer to this phenomenon as 3 dimensional or being tube-like. Others just call it "perfection". This is why so many pros use our pickups in all of their guitars.
Stop chasing the tone with cheaply made mass-produced pickups. Get the right set, the first time, then move on with your musical journey.
Everyone seems to focus on the word "tone". They should because it is very important. If you want to get the best musical experience from your instrument, then you need to be working with people who also understand the importance the word "feel".
Sound is something you hear. Tone is something you feel. Great Tone has the ability to move you & the audience too.
Professional Players & Expert Luthiers understand this better than anyone. This is why many Pro's & Luthiers rely on our pickups. In fact, many pro's use our pickups in all of their guitars. Marty5150 talks about this phenomenon is the video below.
Stage Worthy
Life as a Professional Guitarist is filled with ups and downs. All gigs and tours end eventually, this reality makes every performance an audition. Top Pros know this & this is why they suffer over every detail.
You've spent a lifetime finding the right instrument, don't come up short with stock or average sounding pickups. Top Pros realize that an amplifiers circuitry actually starts in your guitar, precisely at the location of your pickups. Anything less than the best in your guitar will make your tone less than it should be.
From Nashville to LA, Austin to NYC, Brazil to Japan top touring Pros load up all of their main gigging guitars with Tone Specific Pickups. After hearing these pickups, you'll feel the same. Just take a listen.....
LIVE ON STAGE
Studio Ready
In this era of technology, everyone seems to have a home recording studio. As a result, the session scene has never been more competitive. If you want to make it these days, then you need to make every note count. Top Session Players understand this & choose Tone Specific to equip all of their main studio guitars.
Your next session date might be in a real studio. The producer might ask you to just bring your guitar, when you show up they might have you plug into a modeler or computer rig. If you show up with average pickups, you might not get a second chance. Our pickups are optimized to work well with vintage style amps as well as modern modeling digital devices. This is why serious session guitarists use Tone Specific Pickups.
RECORDING SESSION
Luthier Approved
Pro Guitarists & Luthiers have a few things in common. They both work in very competitive fields & the both want their instruments to sound as good as possible.
Luthiers spend years perfecting their craft & many hours testing various hardware and components to get the best out of their instruments. We are honored that so many top luthiers and guitar builders choose to use Tone Specific Pickups. Stephen Marchione discusses his approach to crafting some of the worlds finest guitars in the video below.
BUILDING A MASTERPIECE - STEPHEN MARCHIONE
Vintage Pickups vs. Tone Specific Pickups
How do Tone Specific Pickups compare to Vintage Pickups? Who better to ask than the guys that rely on Tone Specific to get their tone? Click here to see what they are saying.
Just to be asked such a question is a huge compliment. Many players tell us that our pickups are far superior to anything else on the market these days. The general consensus is that vintage pickups are the only pickups worthy of comparison to Tone Specific Pickups. Tone Specific Pickups are a tremendous value considering vintage pickups sell for thousands more.
“You are a Genius. These things make a solid state amp sound like it has Tubes in it. They have this 3-D thing going on. I’ve tried every important pickup upgrade since 1983 & the pickups are the best by far. I want these in all of my guitars.”
"I was knocked out by your pickups! Plugged straight in, it sounds like it was going through a top shelf tube compressor—only better. I’m the luthier/owner of Stonetree Custom Guitars for over 20 years now. My goal is to craft a “brand new old guitar”. I have relied on a couple of the biggest boutique pickup makers for the most part, but your pickups are a game changer. I have built guitars for many pros including Eric ‘Roscoe’ Ambel & Joe Bonamassa."
"These are the best pickups I've ever used. I'm so happy to have these in my guitars. They are better than vintage pickups. I was shocked to discover they are even better than the Arlo's. They just feel & sound amazing. Man you are a Genius. "
“It sounds like the have Tubes in them...almost three dimensional. They just sound really sweet. I don’t how they do it but they even feel sweet. Just like vintage pickups but with more sustain and less noise. They are just amazing”
-Mike Gallaher, Legendary Guitarist - Joe Cocker, Leon Russell
"Just like vintage pickups only better. They have this dynamic thing going on kind of like a great tube amp. I imagine this is what new vintage pickups sounded like back in the 50's & 60's"
-Dani Robinson, Blues Guitarist (Performs Jimi parts w/Billy Cox Experience)
"Something about the way they feel when you play...the way they make you play& respond to you guitar is so important because it's inspiring & let you play better. They are the most sensitive pickups I've ever played...the best!"
"I love your pickups. I put them in my guitar and it is exactly what I was looking for. We play old honky tonk and Western swing, so I have to cover a lot of ground between twang and warm arch top tones. The bridge pickup is the first one that has made me happy other than an original 55 bridge pickup. The whole set has that great 50’s sound and feel. I don’t use any pedals and the combo sounds awesome plugged straight into my Princeton. Keep doing what you do!"
"I can't thank you enough for my pickup set. They are an answer to a prayer that I could create the perfect guitar. I spent a great deal of money for a Strandberg only to find the sound was not up to par. Now, it is fabulous. Thanks Again & God Bless You."
“It's like plugging into a nice Studio Tube Compressor...you hear every nuance of every note. Tone Specific pickups are more dynamic sounding, I'd say they're organic sounding. With other pickups you don’t get that. They sound very fat but very clear. When you hit it harder you hear the dynamics you want to hear. I’ve been trying for years and with other pickups you don’t get that. They sound like vintage pickups”
“Fascinating recording the Les Paul Gold Top with the 57/61 Deluxe PAF's and comparing to my other Les Paul with stock pickups! At higher gain levels the Tone Specific's has great definition. There are harmonics coming out of the amp in the room I’m not used to with when using the Tone Specific's & it translate's beautifully when recorded! Interesting!!”
"I wanted to thank you again for making these great pickups. At first I thought it was a subtle change, but the more I play, the more I can’t STOP playing! These things are sounding better every day. Anyhow, I am totally in love with these! I now own 2 sets & I can't get enough. I just bought another set for my brother."
“I’ve had over 8 different sets of pickups in my guitar…I can honestly say without a doubt…these are the best sounding pickups I have ever heard... Well done gentleman…thanks for ending my tone search.”
“I noticed the difference right away. I’ve tried every pickup you can imagine and the these pickups exceed everything else. Hands down the best pickups on the market. Just pure tone…the only pickups I’ll ever use”
“You guys are Geniuses. I can’t put my guitar down...the response is very Tube like..very 3-D sounding. I just played a gig with the Tone Specific’s and I got so many compliments. It’s really amazing what you guys are doing over there. You've made all other pickups obsolete."
“These pickups respond just like vintage pickups. What makes them better than vintage pickups is that each set is consistent. You don’t don’t get that with vintage pickups…some are great & some are duds. The Tone Specific’s always sound amazing. There's nothing else like these on the market.”
-Dan Courtenay, Vintage Guitar Expert/Buyer in NYC
“You are a Tone Wizard. My guitar has never sounded or felt so good. They respond to my playing in such an incredible way. It's just like playing an incredible tube amp. These pickups are so much better than everything else out there.”
“They bloom just like a vintage tube amplifier. There are just really vintage sounding pickups. Super warm, dynamic & they sustain forever. They just agree with all of my amps. There's nothing else like them. I put them in all of my guitars, even my vintage guitars.
-Ford Thurston, Guitarist for Randy Houser based in Nashville, TN
“These are the quintessential sounding P.A.F. style pickups. They give you all of that warmth, bloom & sustain you’d expect in a vintage pickups without being overly wound.”
“These pickups sound absolutely fantastic. Perfectly matched and more versatile than my vintage pickups”. (He likes them so much, he put the box sticker on his guitar)
-Steve Ouimette, Session Guitarist - Alice Cooper, Guitar Hero, Public Enemy
“Tone Specific always delivers a masterpiece. These responsive pickups catch the essence of my guitars & enables the musician to create the sounds he wants”
“Tone Specific makes the best pickups. The sustain and warmth is incredible. They are very dynamic, very tubey. They destroy all other pickups. They go in all of my guitars. It's kind of like plugging into and old Neve console”
-Mike Severson, Guitarist for Robert Glasper, Phillip Bailey (Earth, Wind & Fire)
"Your pickups are killer. I've played a lot of guitar in my life but these pickups are the best I've played. I know you've worked hard at your craft but you should be very proud. You deserve all the kudos you get. Thank you very much".
Tone Specific is a brand of pickups made by three guys that met in a pool hall back in the late 1990's. These guys value their privacy & each of them try to keep a low personal profile. They are an interesting group of characters that share a passion for their craft. This passion comes through in the unrivaled build quality of their pickups.
Pickups are made by hand, one at a time, right here in the U.S.A.
The goal is to make the most Dynamic, Warm & Sweetest sounding pickups in the world. All of the Tone Specific pickups go through a very demanding series of tests over several weeks and in various conditions before being approved to ship.
They are all designed to work well with a variety of Amps & Effects. From Tube to SS to Digital, these pickups deliver the goods.
Now every Guitarist can experience the joy of having vintage voiced pickups tailored for their preferred tonal style. Unlike the rest of the herd of boutique winders that just wrap wire around a bobbin to achieve a certain Ohm reading, we've taken painstaking path to tonal perfection. We welcome you to join us on this path. If you are thinking about Great Tones…….…….Think Tone Specific!
