cryo cooled pickups and parts

[GoDrex]

I can't wipe off the blue! The molecular structure has changed! :laughing7:

 

[neuftone]

I'm thinking of making a series of guitar pickups that have been aged in oak barrels for 10 years.  Sometimes I change it up and use sherry butts, which I think adds a softer, rounder, almost vinous character to the tone, but usually reclaimed oak bourbon casks are what we use.  An 8-year has the most highs, with biting treble and a edgy rawness, and the 12-year matures and smooths that out with a warmer, bell-like top end.  For those with deep pockets we do have an unblended single cask 30-year variety, for the ultimate in finely aged tone.

:icon_biggrin:

 

[halfintegerspin]

you know liquid oxygen is light blue, so you might get an even bluer guitar after a treatment in that... and better yet, the pickups will let bluer tones shine through... great for the blues...

 

[callaway]

I hate when legitimate threads like this go to crap.

 

[hannaugh]

Man, I thought I had space age pickups. 

 

[NLD09]

I hate when legitimate threads like this go to crap.

Don't worry, i'll save it!

Basically what the wiki article says is true (though i didn't actually finish reading it.)

But i used to play brass instruments and i read about a lab somewhere up north (i'm in texas) that would freeze brass instruments in the same way. When metal cools it gets denser, kind of like water turns to ice. However, according to this procedure the structure remains harder when brought back to room temp, therefore increasing spontaneous vibrations within the metals. I guess when translated to a guitar that would mean the pole pieces would pick up the vibrations with more intensity.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

I dipped my JTM45 in a big ol' vat of liquid nitrogen... that's why it sounds so good.  Then I threw my geetars in there too along with my speaker and pedals, and jumped in myself for good measure.

I decided to try this and here's what happened:

Sounds really bad now.  :laughing7:

Might be a little too much blue in your diet.  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[jerryjg]

I just glaze my pickups with a little jack suace..you know, the stuff from Jack in the box.

 

[T.L.]

I think all that "cryo" stuff is nothing but a gimmick...

 

[DangerousR6]

I just glaze my pickups with a little jack suace..you know, the stuff from Jack in the box.

That's just TMI....We didn't need to hear that.....  :doh:

 

[nathan a]

I think all that "cryo" stuff is nothing but a gimmick...

This is a big concern of mine. I would like to try the callaham cryo strat pickups, but it just seems like if this were such an amazing process, other manufacturers would use it, you know?

 

[Superlizard]

Welp, here's the deal:  I have no clue whether or not the cryo process does anything (like someone said, you'd have to get 2 same pickups and treat one and test), but those H/SRVs are by far the best sounding single coils I've ever heard; and IMO as good as the sweetest SCs recorded on album.

Best I can describe is the top end is bright, chimey and clear with zero harshness, and when you put gain/dist on it, you can still hear the top end.  In my case with my amp with dist, it puts a sweet fine grind on top (JTM45s "grind" more than "crunch" in Marshall-speak) with the wound strings, and you can still hear the pick attack nuances on the plain strings.  And the low end is never muddy; never dull.

 

[disaster]

Callaham will permit returns on "stock" Strat pickup sets (I can't remember how long he gives for returns).  Take a test drive.  You may become a believer.  If not, send 'em back.  :guitaristgif:

 

[Mr. E.]

they are defiantly worth the small upcharge to try them out.  let me know how you like them... though from others comments, i am sure they will sing.

I have no idea if it is the cryo treatment that makes a difference, but I put the H/SRVs and a full set of Callaham hardware on my "black strat" project, and it sounds incredible. Easily best single coils I've ever played. Loud, full sounding, articulate when distorted, great cleans, just perfect. Pretty darn quiet too, all things considered. For me, worth the money, however they get them to sound this good. Cryo treating, dancing around them in a circle with chickens on their heads, reciting the Parrot Sketch from Monty Python over them - I don't care, they sound great!

-erik

 

[tfarny]

I know it's blasphemy, but the sounds you guys describe here are exactly how I'd describe my dimarzio 'area' set, except they are totally noise free and the bridge is really fat and perfect for switching to on a solo. Admittedly I don't have a super boutique amp to hear them through.
I would be really interested in doing a side by side comparison of these pickup sets, since everyone who gets the HSRV seems to go gaga over them.

 

[Mr. E.]

I haven't played those, but I don't doubt it; Dimarzio makes some great pickups.

-erik

 

[Who?]

I'm new so I don't know the exact protocol, but I tried a set of the Callaham standards in my American Standard Strat.  They were very nice pickups, but I replaced them with Novak's.  They just sound better to my ear.

As far as cryo goes, I was awake durring enough of Engineering Physics to understand the theory, but it would seem the amount of any improvement would be negligible.

Some years ago it was fashionable in high power rifle competition to cryo barrels.  All maner of improvements were claimed, but over time experience showed little, if any, improvements in barrel life, machining properties, or accuracy.  I think only a few custom makers use it anymore; for what it's worth.