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Ed King (R.I.P.) was affectionately known as a guitarist's guitarist, because quite frankly, Ed knew tone, he had 'the touch', and he could make the most complicated licks look so easy. He didn't play fast, he played deep!!! And he ordered his first custom wound Wizz set in September 2013 for his Collector's Choice Redeye Prototype and found them "spectacular" and later went on to add...

"I'd tried 3 diff brands of pickups to try & get this guitar to sound ELECTRICALLY like it sounds, and feels, acoustically. It's a GREAT GUITAR...now. WIZZ pickups did the trick. Before it was tinny, woofy...did not reflect the natural tone wood. It was not inspirational plugged up.

I highly recommend WIZZ. The '59 harness I installed may have helped, as well. But I am SO TIRED of changing pickups...I can say I am DONE. I bought 4 sets & installed a set in my '64 SG STD. Dynamic, is all I can say." -Ed King (LPF 11-09-2014)

and

"My 3 bursts have PAFs but my 2 1964 SG's have WIZZ pickups.
The WIZZ pickups made them far better sounding guitars. No contest.
If I ever had a PAF go bad, I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with a WIZZ." -Ed King (LPF 07-10-2015)

... which is quite an endorsement from a true "King of Tone".

In his own words "The stock pickups have plenty of power...but that's it" (Ed King LPF 11-10-2014) so our Redeye Tribute set seeks to recreate the magic Ed found in those early Wizz sets that kept him coming back for more and it is our honor to present our Ed King 'Redeye' Tribute set to you.

The bridge pickup is wound extremely hot, with double white bobbins hidden under the cover (so as not to annoy Mr. DiMarzio) and some equally 'hot' magnets. That combination gives a very even yet powerful pickup ideally suited for rock & roll. The zebra neck pickup, in contrast, is much mellower and quite 'P90' in nature and unforgiving in the sense that the lower the wind the clearer the tone making each and every note ring out like a bell, both the good ones and the bad ones. So you really have to be at the top of your game when playing a low wound pickup and/or crank up the gain on your amp to hide the clunkers. Not that you would've heard any from Ed, who like Les Paul himself had seemingly perfect pitch and always seemed to find the perfect note.

Regardless of whether or not you have perfect pitch, this set has everything built in and runs the full gamut... scorching highs from the bridge and crystal clear warmth from the neck with a middle position option to blend them to perfection. Both pickups are lightly wax potted, which smoothes out a bit of the mids and takes some of the edge off the highs and inherent gain and, as Ed preferred, they come with the covers. The story of how they came to be off for the CC run is an intriguing one... but one for another day.

So treat yourself to a set today if you think you can handle that range of options. Like Ed, next to original PAFs it will quite possibly be your most favorite set of pickups.

Red Eye (Ed King Set)

€400.00Price
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