Sounds of Sin: the SINBUCKER

by John Kindred
Staff Writer

Guitar players face a world of confusion, now more than ever, when trying to find their “sound.” With many brands of guitars and electronics, most musicians know of the big name pickup manufacturers; EMG, DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan. Yet today’s market includes boutique pickup manufacturers selling their wares on the Internet via their own website or eBay. It’s confusing to sort through the mess of products and guess at which one might give you your unique “sound.”

Enter Chris Carter, who owns and operates Sounds of Sin, a company that custom builds guitar pickups to your specifications here in the U.S.A. And if it isn’t right the first time, Carter will work with you, free of additional charge, until it is. Unless you are a known signed artist, Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan won’t give you the time of day after initial purchase.

Carter’s latest creation is the SINBUCKER. This pickup is what Sounds of Sin customers have dubbed the “EVH Franken-strat PAf tweaked” pickup.

SPECS:
• 43Awg Heavy Gauge insulation. 240C (Most are either 155, 180 or 200)
• HEAVY-NICKEL BASE PLATES.
• 1022-NICKEL ALLOY SCREWS AND SLUGS.
• Non-Polished Alnico 3-cast magnet @ custom Gauss level
• NECK @ 11K
• BRIDGE @ 14K

Ultimately, the SINBUCKER are bold and powerful tone monsters. The pickups keep your sound crisp and clean by delivering the lows, mids and highs to your amp without bleeding into each other. Eliminating what many musicians call “muddy” pickups.

Utilizing the Alnico 3 magnet allows a hard-hitting kick that doesn’t compress and restrict your overall sound. The Alnico 3s put more emphasis on the mids and higher audio ranges, which balances the pickups’ tonal possibilities. Roll your volume pot back and the pickups cleanup nicely or keep the knob at 10 and rock out hard and heavy as the pickups respond to your pick attack and amplifier crunch.

With a goal to create the highest quality pickups on the market at an affordable price, the Sound of Sin’s pickup line, whether stock models or custom builds, are built to outperform today’s expensive aftermarket replacement pickups. They also offer a higher level of superiority to the low-cost, foreign-manufactured aftermarket pickups that are sold on eBay.

You can find out more about Sounds of Sin on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/sinpickups or checkout their eBay store http://stores.ebay.com/Jitterbugs-Music-and-Collectibles.