MMK45 vs Vantage FS vs other MMK45?

Hello all, first post here!

This isn't strictly all Westone related, but I'm hoping you'll welcome chat about other Mats guitars.

So, for a long time, I've had a Westone Prestige 112 as one of my absolute favourite guitars. I love the shape, the feel of it, and the sound of it. I always put this down to the MMK45 pickups, with their hex polepieces. They're a bit hotter than what I normally want in a guitar, but I love the slightly squished tone of them.

A few years back, I was lucky enough to snag a Vantage VP750 Ghost (a clone of The Paul). It was described as having a Dimarzio in the neck, and an unknown pickup in the bridge. I've since used the Dimarzio somewhere else.

I've discovered that the bridge pickup is original.

Just this week, I managed to get another set of MMK45s. These were listed as having the neck pickup working but the bridge... not so much. These aren't hex polepieces. They look more like standard PAFS.

So, I'd like to get the VP750 closer to stock, or at least have it kitted out with appropriatish parts. I might leave the stock Vantage pickup and add the spare PAF looking MMK45. I might try to get the broken MMK45 working. I might take the magnet from the broken MMK45 and put it in the Vantage pickup (I don't know how much difference there is between different Mats humbuckers).

Any thoughts or advice? I'll add pictures as I go taking apart pickups.

Hello sessyIU and welcome here.

One of the other members should be along soon to comment more but for starters...
there is no Prestige model 112. Do you mean 117 perchance?

The MMK45's were modeled on the DiMarzio Super Distortions of the period and generally clock in at around 11K'sh. You can identify them easily by the black ink stamp on the bottom "MMK45".

Be aware that there was a change in production, at least in the Westone line, and these fabulous pickups were changed to something called UBC's (unbalanced Coils) which are about half the output and on the wimpy side. Most folks toss them. They are NOT 45's and there is no stamp on the bottom plate.

Vantage in my experience stayed with the "real" '45's. I have several and I love 'em all! Check our website for more info on UBC's.

Barry wrote:there is no Prestige model 112. Do you mean 117 perchance?

Yes! Of course I do! Silly me...

Of the two new pickups I got, one reads 11.08, so that's spot on. The other is dead (for now, pending surgery). 

On the baseplate, though, the MMK is etched, and the 45 is stamped. I can't remember if this matches what's in the Westone, I haven't had it apart in 10 years or so....

The Vantage bridge pickup is stamped FS, and nothing else. 

I've always wondered about polepieces etc. Was there any real difference between the hex type and the others?

I wonder is it a completely different pickup. Did Mats make a variety of pickups? It would sort of make sense to me if they wound them all the same, but with different polepieces for cosmetics, and different magnets for tone. That's pure conjecture on my part, and based on absolutely nothing other than not being able to make sense of the variety of pickups I can see. 

Did Mats even make pickups or was this outsourced?

See these posts for more info:

• Pickup Magnet Types
  
• MMK Pickups
  

I don't know who made the FS pup but I have at least one in an Aria Pro II Urchin neck position and it holds its own very nicely with the 45 in the bridge.

Well that is useful, thanks.

I've seen the Vantage FS pickup described elsewhere as 450PF:

anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?t=6179

I'm sure I've seen a spec sheet for the Vantage VP750 with 450PF listed as the pickup. So, on the face of it, it seems the Vantage came from the factory with MMK45s (but stamped FS, and listed on the spec sheet as 450PFs).

However, on the Vantage FS/450PF, the screw polepiece goes through the baseplate. On my MMK45s, it doesn't. So perhaps MMK45 and 450PF pickups aren't identical.

For the most part the different names refer to the same pickup, most likely a marketing designation.

I wouldn't get hung up on small differences in construction either. Where Matsumoku is concerned, "Specifications subject to change without notice" was a frequent disclaimer, and we've witnessed that many times over the years.

And once again it could probably have been a marketing differentiation.