Northern Pickups

There's many arguments about which came first, the Seth Lover PAF or the Ray Butts Filtertron. Turns out it was neither. It was the tape company Ampex who made hum cancelling tape heads, so that's that one put to bed. Both styles of humbucker do the same thing and the original Filtertron designed in 1954 by Ray Butts does just that, it filters electronic noise. The Filtertron also brought to the world that beautiful low gain sound you get from a Gretsch. The sounds made famous by players such as Chet Atkins, George Harrison and Neil Young and a later 80s resurgence with players like Brian Setzer and Billy Duffy.

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The Northern Pickups homage is now available here. With plenty of choices to personalise your humbucker.

Options Available:

Style:

Choose from the classic 'H-Gate' or the open 'Blacktop' style

Mount

Available in surface mount or 'english mount' traditional humbucker style.

Colour

Chrome or Gold covers

Magnets

Choose from AlNiCo 2,3,4,5 or 8

Output

The Gretsch style humbucker is available with different output styles.

- Filter'tron Clone; low output with a classic Gretsch sound and high definition. Similar to a single coil and great with clean sounds.

- Full'tron Clone; standard humbucker output, similar to a PAF with more power and clear definition. An all rounder for all sounds

- Broad'tron Clone; high output, ideal for distortions and high output sounds. Less definition and darker in sound but more output.

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Northern Pickups is not affiliated or connected to the Gretsch brand/company. These pickups are intended as alternative replacements.