Jim Wagner
Hi !! I am happy to see you have found your way here,
both looking for and finding the tone you've been dreaming of!
Living our dream in Soulsbyville, California, the beautiful foothills
of the Sierra Mountains, and glad to be able to share our fantastic JWP tone with you.
I have been into music and guitars since I was about 14.
Ignorant of guitar pickup operations until the mid-1990s, like many others, I found myself looking for that great sound created by
Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Clapton, Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray, Page, etc. After tons of amps, speakers, FX pedals, etc,
I finally discovered the root of it all: the PICKUPS !!!
I really loved that PAF sound. But after checking out PAFs, and the prices for them (as high as 1500 bucks at the time, up to $5,000.00 now), I decided to try to wind my own. I discovered the old PAFs appeared to have been hand-wound, and that clued me in.
In reality, they were machine wound, but looked more like a rookie hand-winder did it, as the factory winds were in general very poor and inconsistent, resulting in widely different tones. Some PAFs sound great, even phenomenal, but most are just expensive junk good for only antique pricing.
It was the great, classic tones I zeroed in on. I found that my style
of hand winding replicated those famous tones FAR better than any machine could. I developed proprietary and signatory JWP winding patterns, tensions, wire types, magnets, potting materials and application (also invented by me) for various tones.
Consequently, I now not only build the Crossroads Set (early, VERY PAF, if not better), but the Godwoods, the Fillmore Set (which was
actually the first one that got everyone's attention and set me on
my path) and more. While they all have different flavors, all are great pickups and will satisfy anybody's sound requirements
beyond even what THEY thought possible.
These techniques and recipes allowed me to win the 2 biggest, baddest pickup shootouts ever on the planet, starting with G & B Magazine in Europe (1st, 2nd, and 4th place), and the latest being the Great Hollywood Pickup Shootout done by James Lugo in Los Angeles, California. Pretty tough to ever beat that one. Very well done. My American Steele Set (Crossroads bridge, Godwood bridge), same guitar, same electronics, same amp, same licks, same player, and broadcast live online. I was told the next day that I had not only won but had "crushed" all other entries (apprx. 35 of them). My "IronMan" pickups were named pickup of the year by Premiere Guitar Magazine as well.
All hand-winders develop their own style over time.
Like a fingerprint, all are different. Which is why I personally hand-wind each and every pickup JWP offers.
I have been EXTREMELY FORTUNATE that everyone else seems to agree with my concept of GREAT TONE.
It's amazing just how much sound you're missing because of poor winding techniques used by the mass-producers! With these pickups, you will hear tone, overtones, and experience nuances and responses you never even KNEW existed. Try 'em. You'll like 'em.
You will never use a better pickup (or even one as good)... EVER! Thanks for visiting & enjoy your new tone! ~ Jim
