MAYES
P I C K U P S
The Fat Kid is a completely passive, tri-coil design meant to replace the old single coils that produced as much RF noise as they did quality tone.
When work began on the initial prototypes, we saw that there was a lot of misinformation out there on pickups and why they sound the way they sound. Probably the biggest piece of misinformation is the idea that the resistance of the pickup directly relates to how loud or "hot" the pickup is--this is not exactly true.
The truth is that the number of coils and the strength of the magnets determines the volume of a pickup. Now, for normal single coil pickups, the general rule of measuring resistance works, but when you introduce smaller coils--as in the Fat Kid--the game changes.
Suddenly, you have three small coils--each coil about the size of the end of your little finger--with a total resistance of less than 3.5k-ohm. Most guitar players initially think the Fat Kid is super quiet; they change their tune when they actually hear one.
Their surprise turns to excitement when they realize that with half the resistance of a normal single coil pickup, the Fat Kid has far less high end bleed off and a level of sustain and clarity unmatched by other pickups. Such low resistance per turn means that we can wind our pickups to be louder without sacrificing tone.
Single coil pickups have done well for last 60 years or so, but it's time for a new kind of normal. In Mayes Pickups, you find all the warmth and classic sound of a single coil, but without all the noise. It was what a guitar pickup was meant to be.
Adam Mayes,
Mayes Pickups
When work began on the initial prototypes, we saw that there was a lot of misinformation out there on pickups and why they sound the way they sound. Probably the biggest piece of misinformation is the idea that the resistance of the pickup directly relates to how loud or "hot" the pickup is--this is not exactly true.
The truth is that the number of coils and the strength of the magnets determines the volume of a pickup. Now, for normal single coil pickups, the general rule of measuring resistance works, but when you introduce smaller coils--as in the Fat Kid--the game changes.
Suddenly, you have three small coils--each coil about the size of the end of your little finger--with a total resistance of less than 3.5k-ohm. Most guitar players initially think the Fat Kid is super quiet; they change their tune when they actually hear one.
Their surprise turns to excitement when they realize that with half the resistance of a normal single coil pickup, the Fat Kid has far less high end bleed off and a level of sustain and clarity unmatched by other pickups. Such low resistance per turn means that we can wind our pickups to be louder without sacrificing tone.
Single coil pickups have done well for last 60 years or so, but it's time for a new kind of normal. In Mayes Pickups, you find all the warmth and classic sound of a single coil, but without all the noise. It was what a guitar pickup was meant to be.
Adam Mayes,
Mayes Pickups
"Understanding the Fat Kid (or the Truth About Guitar Pickups)"
your sound
without the noise
without the noise
