Sound
The sound this pickup produced is clear—thanks to the narrow string-sensing blade—and powerful because of the relatively high resistance of the coil. Uneven magnetic flux within the steel magnets could cause some distortion in the signal. Electromagnetic hum was a big problem with these pickups because of their large surface area and utter lack of shielding.
After guitar production resumed following World War II, the introduction of ceramic and alnico magnets made it possible to build a smaller, lighter guitar pickup, but continued demand among jazz guitarists for the then-legendary Charlie Christian pickup led to it being fitted on custom order guitars throughout the 1940s, '50s and '60s. The first production model to feature the pickup since 1942 was the 1978 Gibson ES-175CC, 489 units of which were shipped with "recreated" Charlie Christian pickups. The Gibson Custom and Historic Department began offering Super 400 model guitars with the Charlie Christian pickup in 2000.
In 2007 the Gibson Custom Shop released an "Inspired By" guitar based on John Lennon's modified Les Paul Junior that featured a Charlie Christian pickup in the neck position.
A number of independent guitar pickup manufacturers offer recreations of the Charlie Christian pickup.
Read more about this topic: Charlie Christian Pickup
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