Grit, warmth, hit-you-in the-face fatness, chime, jangle, clean and clear – all these tones are in there if you use the volume and tone pots to shape things. And all with exceptional clarity.

No doubt I could have paid three times the price for ‘big name’ custom pickups from the USA, UK or elsewhere, but I very much doubt they could impress me more than these ‘Big Bird’ pickups. They’re exactly what I was hoping for and more. If you try them, I’d be amazed if you weren’t impressed.

Full review: I’ve installed great pickups from all of the great winders around the globe into guitars, and these Big Birds from Mr. Fabulous are the most underrated pickups I’ve run across.

How are they underrated? Well aside from the amazing tone, they’re versatile as heck. I used a set in a Les Paul with LP Deluxe wiring and they were so good i sold that guitar because i got sick of people offering to buy it. I wired them into a custom HSH Strat i made with a vintage USA Washburn single coil in the middle position. I put a push/pull to split the Big Birds’ coils, a treble bleed, and a 7 way switch. It was the most incredible sounding Strat i’ve made. The Big Birds coil split perfectly for great strat tones. Buddies would play that strat and ask me about the pickups and i told them they were Big Birds and they’d laugh because we have this show called Sesame street, and one of the stars of that show (who also happens to be one of the most iconic children’s show characters in the U.S. ever) is named Bid Bird. i also put one of these in a LP jr style guitar i made and coil tapped it, phase switched it, and it took that simple single pickup guitar and made it into a must-have.

It’s not just how versatile they are from one type of guitar to another, it’s how versatile they are for any type of music. That HSH strat went to a metal player. That LP went to a blues/rock player. The LP jr style went to a studio. These are the pickups for the job.

I just purchased another Big bird for the neck position of a tele i’m making. it’s a unique tele in that i’m using a neck made from one solid piece of rosewood, and a body that’s a wild-grained piece of light-weight palownia. It’s gonna have a top-load Babicz bridge with another Mr Fabulous pickup in it. My new pickups just arrived and i can’t wait to get this thing finished up. I’ve sold all of the guitars i’ve made with Big Birds, and I miss them. I promised myself i’m not gonna sell this one haha.