Why didn't Garcia use Alembic pickups?

[catfish_john]

Given the natural tone replication of the Activator pickup, I am curious why Garcia never used them, to my knowledge, on any of his guitars.  I believe that he used a stratoblaster in one of his early 70's strats however. Did Ron ever have a conversation with him about the ultimate pickup. My sense is that Jerry was always looking for ways to deliver the cleanest sound from his guitars.  Seems like a natural.

[brb9911]

I believe I read somewhere (probably here, lol) that Jerry thought the Alembic sound was too bright. I've always been curious about this as well, as the Alembic tone seems to me to be extremely adjustable.
 
I'd also be interested in hearing more about this from someone that really knows the story.

[edwin]

I believe that at some points his strat pickups were rewound by Alembic, so I guess you could call those Alembic pickups of sorts.
 
Edwin

[blazer]

Well he had this strange set up of a humbucker by the bridge and in the middle with a single coil neck pickup (The same which Alembic offers on the Tribute models) and his pickups most certainly were DiMarzios.
 
I find it rather odd that people consider him a strat man because let's be honest, prior to his Wolf and Tiger custom guitars he mainly played Gibson Les Pauls and SG's and Travis Bean TB2000 guitars which are humbucker guitars. And the sound of those humbuckers was fat and creamy. I suppose he had the stratoblaster fitted to his Fender strat to get more Oomph from its single coil pickups. I guess that was also the issue with the Alembic pickups, they probably were too bright for Jerry because he was used to the fat sound of his Gibson and Travis Bean guitars
 
Anyway to get back on that unusual pickup set up, the only company other than Alembic which offers a model with Humbuckers in the bridge and middle position and a single coil at the neck is ESP with their Stephen Carpenter model.  

 
I wonder what Jerry would say about the Stephen Carpenter signature
 
(Message edited by Blazer on December 30, 2007)

[lbpesq]

Alligator was a Strat.
 
Bill, tgo

[grateful]

The Wolf originally had Strat pickups.
 
Mark

[blazer]

Seeing as how there weren't direct replacement pickups in those days I wouldn't be surprised if those Strat pickups in the Wolf actually were Dimarzio Fat strat humbucking pickups.

[keavin]

During 1969 Ron developed the Alembic electronics and pickups (before they made they're own guitars). they first installed them in David Crosby's 12-string Guild guitar (which he still uses to this day) and then into Phil Lesh's SG bass that had been hand painted by Bob Thomas in his trademark renaissance/psychedelic style. After several more experimental designs, both Phil Lesh's and Jack Casady's hollow-bodied Guild basses were renovated with new low-impedance pickups and new active electronics. Bobby Weir's and Jerry Garcia's guitars were done as well. Slowly all aspects of the Dead's gear for the road and the studio were becoming Alembicized!
 
 
(Message edited by keavin on December 31, 2007)

[cozmik_cowboy]

I've always heard that bit about Jerry wanting the cleanest sound possible, and have never understood it, as his p/up of choice was, as noted above,  
D(irt)'Marzios - whose entire stock-in-trade in those days was crunch.
 
Peter

[kmh364]

Originally they were Fender Strat single-coils, replaced by SDS-1 DiMarzio's (he may have also dabbled with HS-1 H.O. SC's as well..the Yngwie pick-up, LOL!).
 
For Humbuckers, he vasillated between Super II's and Dual Sound DiMarzio's (may have used Super Distortion's as well...they were indentical to Dual Sounds, but W/O the coil tap).
 
This is according to dozin.com (from Doug Irwin) and jives with what I remember from Jerry's '78 Guitar Player Mag cover story interview (I have the mag still, just have to find the d*mn thing).
 
Apparently, Jerry was never quite satisfied with anything and was always looking to improve his sound via experimentation.

[bsee]

You may as well ask why anyone chooses any component, speaker, amplifier or effect.  You can carry it further to neck construction, wood selection, string gauges, materials, and construction.
 
It's all about the sound and feel you're looking for.
 
Though I'm no Garcia biographer, Jerry must have been playing guitar for over ten years when Alembic pickups came on the scene.  By that time, I suspect he had developed some sense of how things should sound.  Look at the trouble some people have today when they get their first Alembic guitar.  I recall a variety of reports from people that their effects didn't sound right with the Alembic as compared to their previous normal pickups.
 
In any case, we can all hear what they sound like today and make our own decisions about the sounds we're looking for.

[paulman]

Happy New Year!
 
I believe the TB-500 that Jerry tested the effect loop design in had 3 single coils.  
 
From what I read Jerry would experiment with a lot of things but almost always returned to his faves.  I also think I read somewhere (Doug Irwin interview?) Jerry was wayyy into what his guitar was doing.  He'd come to the Alembic shop and tear down his guitar in the morning and rebuild it for that night's performance.  Jer knew about capacitors and wiring so I'd assume he just liked what he liked for his tone.  
 
Gawd, just think of the palette for experimentation he had available.

[blazer]

Yeah sometimes it pays to be a rabid gearhead.

[edwin]

As far as Dimarzios being dirty pickups, that depends on the amp and preamp you are using. With Jerry's rig, there was a lot of headroom. It might be that he felt the higher number of winds gave him less highs and more level (ie better signal to noise). Or maybe he just liked them.
 
He also spent a lot of time on a strat before he got into the custom stuff.
 
Edwin

[811952]

Keep in mind also that many peoples' idea of clean tone is the wonderful sound of tubes being pushed near the edge...  
 
John