was basically given a complete overhaul. It turned out really great. And on top of that, you can have a good chat with Andrzej — he’s a really nice guy. Best regards!
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rned out so great that it eventually became a permanent part of the APG lineup. Then I routed a larger cavity at the bridge to fit a Dark Side. And honestly, it sounds absolutely beautiful. I’m very happy with the result. These are yet another set of pickups from APG in my guitars.
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ej Poliakow — a model endorsed by guitarist Viktor Smolski of RAGE. As it happened, I now live and play music in Poland, and I’m also interested in the Polish rock scene. I heard the band Luxtorpeda and really liked their sound — it was definitely my kind of thing. I did a little research online and found out that Luxtorpeda’s guitarist plays APG humbuckers. I got in touch with Andrzej Poliakow, and he recommended the LITZA model — the signature pickup of Luxtorpeda guitarist Litza. The order was completed very quickly — literally by the end of the week, the humbucker was already with me. That same evening, I installed it in my Telecaster and plugged it into my amp. And I’ll put it this way — this was exactly the sound I had been looking for! Juicy, thick and spacious, with a sound that cuts through beautifully when playing with a band. When I play distorted chords, every note remains clearly audible — this humbucker is a perfect match for my band’s style! I’ve already ordered a second pickup from Andrzej — this time for the neck position! I recommend the LITZA humbucker to anyone who mainly plays riffs! Simply killer!!! P.S. Here’s a YouTube link — I recorded a short video during rehearsal. Even though it was recorded on a phone, you can still hear how great the guitar sounds with the LITZA humbucker! https://youtube.com/shorts/X0ioWTihPeY?si=0auITdq_OPw6tcZE And if anyone is interested in what I play — here’s a link to my band’s website: www.biaznazvy.com
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. I tested many different pickups, and there was always some kind of compromise — more glassy and wiry split tones at the expense of the humbucker sound, great humbuckers whose individual coils sounded completely characterless or had a very low output. Not to mention having to take the winding and polarity of every coil into account to make sure as many of the possible combinations as possible would remain hum-free in the final setup. I had almost given up on the idea of achieving what I wanted. But while looking for interesting solutions and new pickup technologies, I came across APG pickups. Based on the description on the website, the Stratobucker Dual Tone set, with a noiseless Stratobucker single-coil in the middle position, seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. I had just picked up my guitar after having these pickups installed, and when I plugged it into a tube amp, my jaw dropped. The Dual Tone pickups in single-coil mode sound exactly the way I would expect good Stratocaster single-coils to sound, especially in positions 2 and 4 combined with the middle single-coil. The HB mode also completely meets my expectations. It delivers a convincing humbucker character even though the pickups are in a single-coil format. In this mode, you get a warmer tone and higher output; you lose some of the typical glass and wiriness of a single-coil, but the pickups remain clear and articulate, just as a good humbucker should be. The output is somewhat higher, but not enough to require you to immediately change your amp settings. With the right electronic configuration, in addition to S-S-S and H-S-H sounds, you can also get both outer humbuckers working together — in the style of Gibson-type H-H or superstrat configurations — or an S-S combination similar to a Telecaster. It’s also worth mentioning that all pickup combinations remain hum-free in every mode! By installing these pickups in a superstrat-style guitar, I ended up with an instrument that allows me to play virtually any kind of material without compromise. Maybe with the exception of the most extreme metal — but with the right gear, who knows? 😉 I wholeheartedly recommend them!
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ven in a thick mahogany body. Compared to the popular SH-4, there’s less harshness in the upper frequencies while maintaining similar output, along with a noticeable low end that really hits hard with palm mutes. In my opinion, they’re in a similar league, with a slight edge to APG. Highly recommended!
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caster, together the guitar and those pickups have endured over 20,000 hours of play in that decade, through the entirety of my music degree, and into my professional life as a musician and busy teacher, that guitar is my no.1, it's my inner voice and the pickup swap to the APGs was an integral part in forming that voice all that time ago. There is nothing they won't do, and convincingly, they are mocking birds. If I need a fat jazz tone, a thin glassy funk sound, a more intimate kind of clean tone where I want lots of definition in a chord, a full on hendrix style neck pickup quacky-ness, it's got it all and none of it sounds inauthentic. The compliments on my tone are constant every week. I'll end with this, and probably the most assuring thing I could say- They made me stop hunting for so much gear! The abundance of satisfaction I get out of just plugging straight in to literally any amp and playing this combo of guitar/pickup is unparalleled, they make even the worst backline amps sound passable, and the best of them sound better than ever. I'm now ordering a replacement for the neck pickup and will continue to give Andrey and his work the highest of praise, a great product, it competes with the best of anything you'll hear, and I can give it at LEAST a 20,000 hour guarantee!
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ith the option at the time to switch the operating mode of the bridge pickup. Back then, I was installing pickups from companies such as BKP, Lollar, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, Kinman, Q-tuner and others — basically the absolute top of the standard and custom guitar market. I even had Kinmans and a set of BKP BlackDogs in one of my own guitars, which cost me a small fortune. So, once I had finished putting the client’s guitar together, I plugged it into an amp — and I simply couldn’t put the guitar down. Not because I had built some kind of masterpiece (it was a normal guitar, built with heart and to the best of my ability), but the sound coming from the speaker completely caught me off guard. The amount of harmonics coming from the speaker made me decide to get in touch with the person who designed these pickups. That’s how our collaboration began, and it continues to this day. I should add that APG has gone through further stages of development since then, resulting in other pickups that now power my guitars as well as those of other players. He’s a lifelong seeker of the Holy Grail, just like me. Obviously, the companies I mentioned above also make fantastic pickups. But with them, I don’t have the possibility of discussing the pickup parameters directly with Andrzej and having them tailored in such detail to a specific guitar and the client’s requirements. I think this is the most important thing — it saves us money when searching for the right pickup for our “axe”. The fact that Andrzej Poliakow used to build guitars himself (and has returned to that profession in recent years) means we can discuss all the parameters of the guitar in relation to the pickups. Sometimes you have to convince a client that their vision for the construction of the guitar will not work well for the sound they want to achieve, and that is also part of our job — to explain it properly. I’m very happy to have the possibilities I mentioned above, because the client ends up with a guitar configured specifically for them. And then they have years of playing ahead of them — playing a guitar like that can completely disrupt your daily routine 🙂 because it’s hard to put it down. And the wives get angry 🙂 But what can you do — the guitar is the greatest love, and no woman can replace it. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of the guitar that started our friendship... which is a shame. But I’ll post photos of other guitars I’ve built with APG pickups! Cheers! 🙂
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setting. The power and knowledge of Andrzej. Hell yeah. Run to Poliakow as fast as you can. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Pastyl
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t sounds great in both coil configurations: parallel and series.
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e at the neck, in the version designed for 500k pots (somewhat similar in character to a P-90). And honestly, it sounds absolutely beautiful. I’m very happy with the result. These are yet another set of pickups from APG in my guitars.
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lean tones. I use it together with the TeleBucker Dual Tone Bridge, and it sounds great in every switch position. I’m absolutely thrilled with it.
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