Customer Feedback:
Rolling Mill
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“This is my first purchase of IronGear pickups. It is not usual for me to comment on the items I buy unless I am disappointed. I have had a very large amount of guitars and pickups through my hands over the years, including expensive exotic ones. I wish to state that in my opinion the Rolling Mill pickups I installed on the carbon fibre necked special I have just built are very good indeed. They have the clear musical sound that I always require from any pickup. They also work well when coil tapped. In my case this was with 2 miniature, 3 way, on-on-on switches to achieve series, parallel and single coil from each pickup. They are certainly not outclassed by the much more expensive other pickup I have on the special. Keep up the good work!” - Mark Rider, Nuneaton
“Just thought I'd drop you a line to sing the praises of the set of IronGear Rolling Mill pickups i bought from you a few weeks ago. I've just finished setting up and testing them and I'm utterly floored by the quality of the build and materials, and consistency and depth of the tone they deliver. I bought the pair (overwound bridge and standard neck) to replace the woolly and unresponsive stock pickups in my Epiphone G400, and having bought a Dirty Torque for my Telecaster last year I had high hopes that the Rolling Mills would be of the same quality. After installing and spending some time working on the pickup heights to balance the output of the pair my high expectations were met and then greatly exceeded. The overwound bridge pickup is a fantastic mix of grit and sparkle, bursting with definition that lifts it above the mix but with an underlying smoothness of tone that stops it becoming an ice-pick in the ear like some cheaper, less well-balanced bridge humbuckers (and, dare i say it, some more expensive ones...). The neck pickup is smooth and rich with a solid low-end grunt, but also with plenty of life in the middle and higher ranges that give it a far more interesting and versatile voicing. Chunky, bluesy sounds come pouring out with ease and a dip of the tone control takes it firmly into the fabled and much sought-after "woman tone" territory when played through some trusty vintage British valve amplification.
I bought the G400 as a day-to-day guitar to give my '76 Ibanez SG a rest, and I was expecting to have to make some tonal sacrifices when switching away from the famed Super 70 pickups in the lawsuit Ibanez range to a more humble setup. However, in all honesty the Rolling Mills - particularly the neck - are an astonishingly good match for that ever-so-slightly hotter PAF sound that the Super 70s are renowned for, and while the overwound bridge kicks up a bit more of a snarly, modern-sounding fuss, it's totally within the realm of the vintage sounding goodness that I'd given up on finding without spending an absolute fortune. I can see that the Ibanez will be spending more time in the cupboard quietly gaining value, while the Rolling Mills are going to be front and centre. Thanks Again!” – Dave, Derby
I bought the G400 as a day-to-day guitar to give my '76 Ibanez SG a rest, and I was expecting to have to make some tonal sacrifices when switching away from the famed Super 70 pickups in the lawsuit Ibanez range to a more humble setup. However, in all honesty the Rolling Mills - particularly the neck - are an astonishingly good match for that ever-so-slightly hotter PAF sound that the Super 70s are renowned for, and while the overwound bridge kicks up a bit more of a snarly, modern-sounding fuss, it's totally within the realm of the vintage sounding goodness that I'd given up on finding without spending an absolute fortune. I can see that the Ibanez will be spending more time in the cupboard quietly gaining value, while the Rolling Mills are going to be front and centre. Thanks Again!” – Dave, Derby
“I just finished installing Rolling Mills in my new guitar that I built. These things are great! The neck is warm and fat and the overwound bridge will push an amp with the big boys. The coil splitting gives very believable single coil tones, but I think a real winner with these is to wire them up so that both can be played in series. The split coils in series is a seriously beefy tone not to taken lightly. These things had me playing more in one night than I typically play in a month (building guitars takes a lot of playing time away). I just thought you ought to know that on future builds, I will be back for more. For the price, I would have to be stupid not to.” – Brian Thornock, Syracuse, NY, USA
“Six months ago I 'realised' that I needed a new bridge pickup for my Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I looked around the web and stumbled on you guys. I decide just to chance it, after reading positive reviews, and order a Rolling Mill bridge pickup - and what a blinder you guys have played! The Rolling Mill is one classy pup - smooth as silk, and the tone is quite simply blues /rock, proper, 'real deal'... Tones that you hear on albums that you love - hey - your guitar now cuts it!
Anyway, up till now I had thought I still liked the neck pup tone on my guitar, but (you'll get the picture that I'm slow on the uptake...) I recently realised that there was a big difference in tone and volume between the (stock)) neck pup and the (IronGear) bridge pup, which was annoying...
Anyway, long story short, I have just installed a new neck Rolling Mill yesterday - lovely stuff. Tone and volume issues are resolved. Both Rolling Mill pups deliver equal amounts of honeyed dollops of classic rock/blues loveliness....” – Michael, Glasgow
Anyway, up till now I had thought I still liked the neck pup tone on my guitar, but (you'll get the picture that I'm slow on the uptake...) I recently realised that there was a big difference in tone and volume between the (stock)) neck pup and the (IronGear) bridge pup, which was annoying...
Anyway, long story short, I have just installed a new neck Rolling Mill yesterday - lovely stuff. Tone and volume issues are resolved. Both Rolling Mill pups deliver equal amounts of honeyed dollops of classic rock/blues loveliness....” – Michael, Glasgow
“Having read a great review in Guitar Buyer`& some good You Tube Demo`s about their good quality, I was impressed & decided to treat myself to a Michael Kelly Patriot Custom Amber Guitar Les Paul type Guitar, but when playing live in my Function Band, (Action Replay) I thought It lacked some bite in the Pickup` area. As I run my own business here in Southend (Essex Guitar Services)` and had already fitted a few of your pickup set`s to my customers` guitars with great feedback. I thought I would investigate your IronGear Humbucker Pickups, for my own use for a change, and decided on The Rolling Mill & Hot Slag as a matched pair. Well, once I got them fitted in using your wiring diagram, I was impressed, I don’t know how IronGear do it for the price, but they are without doubt, the best matching pair of humbucking pickups I have ever heard! Even on my small 15watt Fender Valve, they are just so good, and when you roll off the Volume, they clean up wonderfully, coil tapped, they give a lovely Fender Strat and Telecaster sound and on my larger Fender deluxe 90 DSP, it`s just pure heaven and when you add gain` they have that wonderful, just breaking Up, sound, right up to full on high gain and are great with my Boss Pedals and Wah! Thanks again Keith, I will keep recommending your pickups, and and all your other Axetec Guitar Parts to my Customers here in the Southend/Rayleigh area, and thanks again for your good customer service and prompt deliveries with the parts that I order. Best Regards,” - Chris Cutmore, (Essex Guitar Services) Tel: 01702-554916, Mob: 07717130559. (For Set-Ups & Repairs).
“I've never felt the need to offer feedback re’ a product before, but felt in this instance that I should. I ordered a set of Rolling Mills from you including the over-wound bridge pickup. Firstly I returned them to you and you changed them for me with no additional charge as I had ordered the wrong colour, fabulous in itself! But I must say I have been remarkably pleased with these pickups. They have far exceeded all my expectations and after replacing a set of Bareknuckle Mississippi Queens (over three times the price !) in a custom made Gordon Smith I haven't been able to put the guitar down. They sound absolutely fabulous. I can’t believe what fantastic value they represent. Beautiful cleans and searing lead with great sustain. I will recommend this make to all and sundry. They are a great sounding pickup for a remarkably sensible price. Thanks again.” - Chris Dean, Winchester
“I would like to say a big thank you for the pair of Rolling Mill pickups that I ordered from you last week. Not only was the delivery exceptional, ordered Good Friday delivered Tuesday, but most impressive (after some very interesting first time DIY installation/wiring) was the sound quality. I have a Les Paul which I loaded with the obligatory SDs and thought my JJ Jewel could also do with an upgraded, and being a UK guitar wanted to use some UK pickups. I, probably like most who look at your site, was sceptical about the claims on your site especially considering the low price. I should like to apologise for this, I was so wrong they sound fantastic and has improved what was already a fantastic sounding guitar. I will be recommending your pickups to all my musician friends. Thank you once again.” – Dave, Winchester
“Hi, just installed a set of Rolling Mill pickups on my Epiphone Sheraton and all I can say is Wowwwwwwww. These pickups rock. I also have a USA 335 ( you know which make!) and the Rolling Mills sound way better. Keep up the good work guys, you sure know how to make pups. For anyone out there who is a bit dubious all I can say is Buy these babies. You won’t make a better purchase in your life. Many thanks” - Brian, Henfield
"My god, I just want to say thanks. I got the Rolling Mill overwound for the bridge of my Schecter pt custom as I really dislike the Duncan Design and wanted something more clear sounding. This pickup is right on the money, it's amazing. I use to use high output/cost pickups years ago but these days I don't have the money to put EMGs or Seymour Duncans. These days wife and family come first so when I got back into guitar I bought two guitars that I like the look of but the pickups are not very nice. I Thought I would give the IronGear stuff a try and if I didn't like them I would just save up, but these pickups can sing! Seriously try them out! I have had my first band practice today in like 5 years and the other lad has a Fender Strat with an SD custom in it. The Rolling Mill sounds better. We even used the same amps to compare. It just sounded clearer! Next month I think I will be ordering again for my Burny Les Paul Custom!” – Steve, Sunderland
“Got to admit I was a bit cynical when ordering neck and bridge Rolling Mills, but with the feedback on your website I thought I would try them anyway and initially fit in my MIJ Tokai Love Rock, if I found them not to be as good as the stock MkII units I could try them in my Korean Tokai 335 to see if they perform better than the MkIV’s. They arrived next day so I fitted the Rolling Mills last night into the Love Rock, re-strung, tuned up, plugged in and F**k me they’re good!!!!!!!!!! Both pickups are clear and balanced across all strings and extremely responsive, they have a clear warm tone with soft playing they break up nicely with a little more attack and immediately prompted my Peter Green and Jimmy Page repertoire. Try Albatross using the neck pick or Bring it on Home with the treble backed off the neck for rhythm parts and the bridge full tilt for the breaks and you’ll hear what I mean………fantastic! Putting the cost on one side (they are exceptional value) these pick ups sound and respond wonderfully and prefer them to products of big name competitors which I have purchased over the years and currently reside in other guitars. Of course you know all this as you designed and built them! I will buy some more Rolling Mills for the 335 now.” – Stuart, West Yorkshire
"Ha! I'm soooo happy with the Rolling Mill pickups that arrived 24hrs after placing my order. I removed the DiMarzio's from my Gibson LP and installed the RM's in 30 minutes. I plugged it into my micro cube first, just to test things were OK and I heard Jimmy Page Heartbreaker coming out of the speaker. Never has my LP sounded like this - total vintage with some extra power in there. So off to my HiWatt 50 Combo and WOW !!! If you include these comments on your website I would like everyone who reads this to know they will not be dissapointed and I plan to upgrade my ESP Horizon NT2 from Seymour Duncans to the Steam Hammers. I dont' know how you do it for the price but these are awsome sounding pieces of hardware. I have owned many guitars over 30 years and tried many different pickups in them and these really do leave them all behind." - Graeme, Leeds
"(The) Rolling Mill pups sound fantastic!!! With the neck pup and my Marshall amp, I feel like Slash, without the hair/Skills & 59' Les Paul" – Derry, Peterborough
"The Rolling Mills are fantastic! They have totally saved a guitar that I haven't picked up for several years." – Joe, Exeter
"After buying a bridge "Rolling Mill" I was so impressed that I have now got the matching neck unit. An all round improvement on my guitar. How do you do it for the money? The sound is way better than I expected. Just thought I'd let you know how pleased I am with the product and your service." - Brian, Durham
"The (Rolling Mill) I have sounds way more expensive, and believe me, I have been through a LOT of pickups in the neck, and this is as close to 'my' sound as I have came across, wish I had known about them before, could have saved a small fortune." - Jon, Sussex
"Having received my new Rolling Mill pickups for my LP (within 20 hours of placing the order!) I installed them last night. The transformation is amazing. I had an old DiMarzio SD in the bridge and an old Gibson in the neck. I have to say that these pickups are the best thing I have ever heard on my LP. I was after a classic/vintage Paul Kossof type sound and these fit the bill perfectly." - Paul, Stockport
"I've installed the Rolling Mill in the bridge of my LP, sounds fantastic - along the lines of Billy Gibbons tone to my ears." - Tom, Newcastle
"For me this set has THE tone I want. I chose these (IronGear Rolling Mills) after listening to the stock pickups, Seymour Duncan JB4s and DiMarzio PAF Fred and Pro. I am completely satisfied with these p'ups. They are also astonishing value for money." - Paul, HC Review
“I bought a set of Rolling Mills probably more than a year ago now for the neck and bridge of a 90’s Epiphone Flying V. I wanted a better sounding pickup than the stock Epiphone ones and thought I’d give these a go. With these prices it seemed obvious to try them out before splashing out double or triple the money on some DiMarzios or Seymour Duncans. Firstly I was impressed by the look. I got the Nickel covered ones to go with the chromed hardware on the rest of the guitar and they look great! Then I was amazed by the tones coming out of this cheap little body. They really sound great clean and distorted and have enough output range to cover nearly every contemporary style. Who needs the big brands when you can get your guitar singing with this little investment. Properly awesome!” - Charlie Hurst, Staines
“Just wanted to add my feedback to your string of glowing reports.... although I'm not a veteran pickup tweaker, I’ve just replaced the bridge humbucker in my Gordon Smith with a Rolling Mill and it's gone from being a guitar that played nice but sounded rubbish, to being an absolute joy. A massive improvement - thanks!” – Chris, London
"I got the Rolling Mill pickup set with over-wound bridge and the Les Paul wiring kit with the four split pots LPKIT02-Mr Page). I have never rewired a guitar before and have basic electrical skills. The wiring kit instructions are very simple and if you can use a soldering iron it only takes about 3-4 hours to do the job. The outcome is spot on. I have a few guitars now and since I have upgraded this one it’s got to be the best. The sound quality the second to none it sounds as good as the Seymour Duncans I have in another Les Paul. I would recommend these pickups to anyone. Perfect.” - Michael, Billingham
"I got the Rolling Mill pickup set with over-wound bridge and the Les Paul wiring kit with the four split pots LPKIT02-Mr Page). I have never rewired a guitar before and have basic electrical skills. The wiring kit instructions are very simple and if you can use a soldering iron it only takes about 3-4 hours to do the job. The outcome is spot on. I have a few guitars now and since I have upgraded this one it’s got to be the best. The sound quality the second to none it sounds as good as the Seymour Duncans I have in another Les Paul. I would recommend these pickups to anyone. Perfect.” - Michael, Billingham
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