Lipstick pickup recommendations? (2025)

I'm looking to put lipstick pickups in a project of mine, and I'm curious to see what people recommend. I'm hoping to get some of that twangy, lo-fi Silvertone/Danelectro sound out of a solid body and figured that'd be one of the easiest ways to do so.

Any thoughts?

9fingers said:

I have Dano lipsticks, GFS lipstick, and a set of 3 Strat size from TOG (ebay dealer). I can't say I really have a preference- they are all pretty good and reasonably priced. They do all seem to like a very lightweight, chambered guitar.

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That's kind of disappointing. I know Silvertone/Harmony/Valco used them on some older solid bodies and they sounded pretty good. I wonder how vintage ones might do?

Also, for reference, these would probably be going into a beat-up japanese Jaguar.

I got a pair of Jerry Jones lipstick p/us to put in this Telestar Mona:

The stock lipsticks are actually rather good. JJs, way better.
MD

mad dog said:

I got a pair of Jerry Jones lipstick p/us to put in this Telestar Mona:

The stock lipsticks are actually rather good. JJs, way better.
MD

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How so, if you don't mind my asking?

Also, to give you guys an idea of the sound I'm going after, I found a pretty good youtube clip of someone playing a vintage solidbody Silvertone with lipsticks

I haven't used these, but I've used other Novak pickups that I thought were very nice.

http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/str-lipstick.shtml

Chitown:

Hard to describe, but the JJ lipsticks have more presence. The originals were clear, nice sounding, a bit on the quiet side. The JJs are louder, have more on the high end, also respond very well to tone roll-offs. Both sounded good pushed - a nice soft kind of edge. The JJs are the only other lipstick p/us I've heard. Playing a two pickup baritone with these p/us is what convinced me. Excellent sound here.
MD

chandlerman said:

Are you aware that Danelectro has re-issued this guitar as the Dead on '67?

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Yeah, I'm aware. Although, it was a small run and it's already been discontinued, I think.

I've heard some pretty negative things about them (bad fret jobs, pickups sound nothing like they should, etc.) though, and as much as I like them, I'm not sure I'd want to drop $350-400 on a used one only to have to pay more to rectify the situation. Especially when I have a jaguar body and neck that just need some pickups, ya know?

I wouldn't turn one away if someone was selling one for cheap, but in the end, I'd probably be asking the same question.

Mad dog, thanks for the suggestion. Does Jerry Jones just sell the lipsticks as is, or would I have to try to find someone who's piecing them out?

Chi:

I got the p/us straight from JJ.
MD

I used to have a great strat that I used as a playground for different pickups. I always had mixed and matched models and brands in there. Once I tried the GFS lipstick tubes I was totally hooked. For the middle and neck positions, the GFS beat out everything else I tried. Duncans... Fenders... Rio Grandes... They just sounded best to me.
I should note that I was using hotter winds. I actually ended up using a bridge model at the neck and a mid model at the mid. I liked the hot but glassy sound in the neck for leads and rhythms. If you have problems with muddiness the lipstick tubes will fix it. The middle, being lower output, gave me a great low output sound in between the hotter neck and bridge (muy grande)

Anyway, Im sure its just my ears and most people would have cringed. But the GFS went head to head with a bunch of other "better" pickups and came out ahead.

Here's a mid 60's strat through a Dumble. He is actually playing in that very same room tonight and tomorrow. One of my favorite venues, the GAMH. I'll be there tomorrow night fo sho!

ChitownTerror said:

That's kind of disappointing. I know Silvertone/Harmony/Valco used them on some older solid bodies and they sounded pretty good. I wonder how vintage ones might do?

Also, for reference, these would probably be going into a beat-up japanese Jaguar.

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Cool! I've got one like that except it has the white topped masonite pickguard, original knobs in better shape. They are giggable guitars and did gig it back in the '80s quite a bit.
I have a Jerry Jones 3 pickup guitar from the '80s and think his pickups, at least from that time, sounded pretty much the same as the old ones, and I've got a bunch of the old ones to compare it to.

I have the GFS lipstick tubes, including a stacked bridge humbucker. Had them in a Strat w/ a maple neck . They were pretty much as expected, very chimy and jangly. Sounded really nice for clean tones. The fact they look SO cool makes up for any shortcomings regarding distorted tones.

I honestly didn't care for the neck pickup that much. Wasn't round enough. The middle position and middle-bridge (out of phase) sounded the best, and the full bridge humbucker was surprisingly good. Reminded me of a slightly more trebly Pearly Gates, and was useable for high gain but not ideal.

Haven't tried the bridge single coil, but I wouldn't hesitate to use them again in another guitar that was strictly for music other than hard rock or metal.