El Rayo F-Spaced

Product Details

With excellent note clarity for a humbucker, we often describe the dynamics of the El Rayo^® as having a percussive quality almost like a single-coil pickup. The entire frequency response is relatively flat, with increased note bloom and less compression than a typical P.A.F.-style humbucker. Read more about F-spacing HERE. El Rayo F-spaced pickups are available in a wide range of color options and wiring is 4-conductor only.

Avg. DC: Bridge Only 4.0K (Read about DC resistance)
Recommended Potentiometers: 500k
Recommended Capacitor: 0.022μF

 

Lollar El Rayo Humbucker Pickups

All El Rayo sound files played with a Collings CL Deluxe. Clean files through a Fender Pro Reverb. Dirty Files through a Dr. Z Maz 18.

El Rayo Humbuckers—Your Questions Answered

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Standard Covers

Made-to-Order Covers

Choose any combination of Cover Ring and Top shown below.
NOTE: Pickups with Made-to-Order covers may require additional time to build and fulfill.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a sound difference between pickups with covers and without?
Metal covers can have some effect on tone, though it is often subtle. The metal parts can attenuate some of the highs, meaning that covered pickups will be a touch darker and warmer. Uncovered pickups are a bit more bright or focused.

Note that we do not recommend removing your covers to compare the difference. Breaking the solder joint that attaches the cover will void your warranty.

What’s the deal with single versus four-conductor pickups?
Single conductor leads have a hot lead inside a braided metal exterior, which functions as ground. Single conductor wiring is appropriate for traditional Les Paul-style wiring with a three-way switch and separate volume & tone controls for each pickup.

Four-conductor wiring gives each of the humbucker’s two coils their own leads. This enables you to take advantage of more complex switching like in/out of phase, series/parallel, or coil splitting. If your guitar has extra mini-switches or push/pull pots for these options, you’re likely going to want four conductor.

Can I get unpotted pickups?
Though most manufacturers did not wax pot their pickups in the 1950s and 60s, we choose to pot our pickups because of the strength and stability it adds to the coil. We frequently see coils shifting in vintage and modern unpotted pickups which often leads to the need of costly repair or outright replacement. We feel that the added stability and protection of the coil outweighs any perceived improvement in tone.

What values of potentiometers and capacitors do you recommend for humbucking pickups?
The most common/traditional choices are 500k pots (both volume and tone) and .022μF caps—and these are the values we typically recommend. That said, there are no hard and fast rules. You can read more about how different pot and cap values affect tone in this two-part blog post: Part I - Pots, Part II - Caps.

How far from my strings should I set my El Rayo pickups?
Generally, as close to the strings as possible while avoiding picking hand interference or magnetic pull.

Do I need F-spaced pickups?
F-spacing means that the pole pieces are slightly further apart so that they’ll line up better with the pole pieces on guitars with Strat or Tele-style bridges. The best thing you can do to be sure is to measure your string spacing at the bridge – approximately 53mm between the 1st and 6th strings is typical for F-Spacing. Regular humbucker spacing is closer to 50mm.

F-spacing is really only important at the bridge, where the strings are further apart. As they taper toward the nut, your neck pickup should be fine with regular pole piece spacing.

Our F-spaced pickups use four-conductor leads by default, which can be wired like a single conductor by insulating the red to white leads and green lead to ground.

Which way do I orient my humbuckers during installation?
The conventional orientation is with the screw sides of each pickup on the outside (closest to the bridge and fingerboard).