Gretsch 2202 pickups on Da 'Bay

[Pilgrim]

Just spotted someone with Gretsch 2202 pickups for sale on Ebay, complete with pickup surround.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131540611902?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

These are a TV Jones design and they sound great!  I have one in my Bronco, and it makes the bass.

(I'd add a photo but Photobucket is down at the moment...)

[Highlander]

At your service...

[Pilgrim]

Thanks!!



There's mine, installed. 

Really, there aren't many pickups that I single out as worthy of note - but this is one that I like. The pickup mounts on the surround ring.

[nofi]

you sir, are becoming the uwe of gretch. take that comment however you want to.

[Pilgrim]

Sounds like an archaic title:  "Sir Uwe of Gretsch."  On second thought, it's the kind of title the Python troupe would have used in a musical sketch involving nobility.

"She turned me into a Gretsch!"

"A Gretsch?"

"Well, I got Fendered...."

(Maybe I free associate too much.    )

[Highlander]

Is that an MIA Fender or a MIM Fender...?

[Pilgrim]

Most of the Fenders from members here are MIA - in the standard sense.  Long gone.

[Dave W]

Most of the Fenders from members here are MIA - in the standard sense.  Long gone.

I doubt that.

Even Uwe has Fenders, he just doesn't talk about them.

[Pilgrim]

I doubt that.

Even Uwe has Fenders, he just doesn't talk about them.

Fender: the love that dare not speak its name (here).

[Alanko]

These look identical to some cheap Firebird-style pickups I've seen on Ebay. Right down to the chunky black surround. Coincidence?

[Pilgrim]

Probably.  One soapbar pickup doesn't look that much different from another. Your gotcher black plastic cover and you gotcher chrome cover.

And...neither do any of the multitudinous P-style pickups, J-style pickups, MM-style pickups, etc. They all look pretty same/same to me.

It's how they sound that counts. And that "chunky" black surround is the standard TV-Jones size surround, which I consider to be a feature, not a bug.

[Dave W]

I suspect it's a variant of the Firebird mini-humbucker design under the cover. The design is decades old. Still, the ad copy that Musicians Friend and others used on their websites said that these were designed by TV Jones. Bottom line, the sound from these seems to be popular.

[daan]

I had a Gretsch bass from the late 90s, just before the current "Electromatic" series came out. My bass self-destructed and I ended up parting it out, to resurrect my Hofner. I can confirm that the pups DO sound great. I can also tell you that they seem identical to the cheap "Firebird style" mini humbuckers on the Bay. I haven't actually swapped the 2 onto the same bass, but the size, wire colors, stickers on the pup bottoms, etc. were all exactly the same. I got a mini from GFS, a pair of minis off Ebay (for less than half of what the single from GFS was) and now a set of minis with 4 polepieces, all on my HOndo Jazz project, and they all sound pretty much the same.
I do have a pair of the chrome pup rings if anyone wants them, for whatever the shipping costs.

[Pilgrim]

Interesting!  Maybe they do have a common background or design.  I sure don't know.  I do know that when the 2202 bass was in production, there were sure a lot of guys posting on TB about how much they liked the sound of that bass and pickup.  So do I.

As it happens, I have a hollow-body Matsumoku short scale bass that needs a single pickup, and it's probably going to get the single 2202 Electromatic pickup I have. I have a Filtertron available too, but I'm probably more tempted to use the 2202 pickup.