Smit's Classic Coils A3 Neck Review: Alnico 3 PAF Tested
Smit's Classic Coils A3 Neck Review
Introduction
I’d like to start by saying that this review is quite special/personal to me and differs significantly from my previous ones. I won't drag it out—this article is sponsored by a reader who wanted to support me because he enjoys my reviews on Tone Journey and wants to read more of them. Neal Logdahl was very kind enough to donate a few pickups from his collection so I could review them, sharing in my passion for pickups and supporting the blog.
I should point out that almost all the reviews here (with the exception of the ZenDs) feature pickups I purchased myself or, in a couple of minor cases, borrowed. None of them are sponsored, biased, or orchestrated by any brand. They carry no advertising or promotional motives; they are simply honest evaluations written with a genuine effort to remain fair and objective. However, maintaining this level of independence comes with a financial burden. Since the big players out there don't offer any support, the financial responsibility has always fallen entirely on my shoulders. Thankfully, through the generosity of certain readers, I get the chance to get my hands on different pickups.
Why is this important? To me, it proves that the words I write here actually resonate with kindred spirits. And earning people’s appreciation and trust is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable achievements you can have in life today.
Anyway, enough rambling. Sending my deepest gratitude to Neal once again, let's get into the review. Smit's Handwound Guitar Pickups was a small-scale American boutique pickup operation run by Kevin Smith out of Tennessee. I'm guessing he started in the mid-2000s and likely ceased operations toward the end of the 2010s. Available sources indicate that Smith spent a long time dissecting and studying pickups to develop his own "recipes" before turning that passion into a one-man manufacturing business. A 2008 review in Vintage Guitar magazine explicitly described Smit's as a “one-man shop,” noting that he built both standard production models and custom-wound humbuckers.
Interestingly, Kevin Smith wasn’t just a builder. He also penned a technical article titled “The Magnificent Humbucker Coil-tap/split.” In that piece, he explains humbucker coil-split and coil-tap systems in great detail, diving deep into the working principles of the pickup's two coils. It's a fantastic primary source that shows Smith had a serious command of the electronic and technical sides of the craft.
The Classic Coils series—the subject of this review—is essentially defined as relatively low-output humbuckers aimed at capturing that vintage PAF character. Let’s see what else we can learn from this pickup...
Test Guitar
Smit’s Classic Coil A3 (CC A3 shortly) i have still sits on my hand-made superstrat, Goldie, which has a Turkish alder body, a Q-sawn one-piece maple neck in a chunky Endur-Neck profile, Gotoh 510T-FE1 tremolo, 25.5” scale, steel frets, Bourns 500K volume and Alpha 500K tone pots, and 009-046 D'Addario NYXL0946 strings in E-standard tuning. The guitar has Dimarzio Al DiMeola DP202 in the bridge and custom wound middle (true single with coil tapping 5.5K/6.5K windings, now on 6.5K side is on) pickups. Its primary (unplugged) tone ranges from balanced to medium-bright.
Evaluation
The official info about the Smit’s Classic Coils A3 was as follows back when it was still available:
“Smit's Classic Coils neck
Classic PAF specs and looks without the high price you pay for vintage pickups. These handwound vintage style humbuckers sport nickel silver baseplates, the traditional Alnico 2 or 5 long bar magnets (alnico 3 and 4 are also available), and 2 conductor vintage braided leads. We wind the bridge slightly hotter so it matches up better with the neck pickup. Under-wound option is also available (7.8k bridge or 7.2k neck).
Choose the alnico 2 magnet for a smooth vintage tone that gives your sound the perfect fullness, alnico 3 for a touch more treble, alnico 4 magnet that has plenty of sting and moderate lows, or the alnico 5 for some serious grind that still sings with a classic voice. Available un-potted for pure vintage tone, or potted to reduce microphonic squeal when using high gain or volume.
Classic Coils neck 7.8k ohms (+/- .2k) classic vintage tone and body
CC-2n Alnico 2 magnet
CC-3n Alnico 3 magnet
CC-4n Alnico 4 magnet
CC-5n Alnico 5 magnet
Classic Coils bridge 8.6k ohms (+/- .2k), classic vintage tone balanced for bridge
CC-2b Alnico 2 magnet
CC-3b Alnico 3 magnet
CC-4b Alnico 4 magnet
CC-5b Alnico 5 magnet
Bobbin Color
double black (standard)
zebra
reverse zebra
double white
Spacing
G spaced (Gibson® style guitars @1-15/16th" or 49mm) (standard)
F/T spaced (Fender® style guitar/ Floyd Rose® bridge, and Gibson® T bridge @ 2-1/16th" or 53mm)
Wire
vintage braided 2 conductor (standard)
4 conductor w/ground
Cover Options and Extras
nickel cover ($15)
chrome cover ($15)
gold cover ($20)
black plastic cover-no holes ($10)
all gold polepieces ($10) uncovered
double row of screws ($10)
black screw/slug polepieces ($10).”
Want to see the measurements, right here below!
Smit's Classic Coils A3 Neck
Magnet – Alnico 3
Advertised DCR: 7.8K Ohm (Series)
Measured DCR: 7.4001K Ohm (Series)
Inductance @100Hz: 4.2893 H (Series), Q:0.3641
Measured C@100KHz: 158pF
Calculated Self Resonance Peak: 6.1136KHz
Calculated Loaded Res. Freq w/470pF: 3.0665KHz
Output: Vintage
EQ (B/M/T) –
Gauss: 275G screws, 320G slug (measured at top center of D&G pole pieces)
Ambient Measurement Temperature: 26C
Smit's Classic Coils A3 neck review on Tone Journey Smit's Classic Coils A3 neck humbucker with double cream bobbins, top view Smit's Classic Coils A3 neck humbucker with double cream bobbins, top view
As always, let’s start by examining the pickup, from its appearance all the way down to its measurements. Firstly, apart from the legs, this is a typical PAF clone. It features a braided single-conductor lead, a nickel silver baseplate, and the familiar screw-and-slug pole-piece combination. I would have expected a pickup like this to be wound with plain enamel wire, but perhaps PE was not used because clarity was also part of the design goal. As I mentioned earlier, the legs are modern rather than vintage-spec; they are not long like those on classic PAFs, and I think that is actually a very good thing. I can also clearly see that the pickup is unpotted, as well as i see the wooden spacer within. Inside, we have an Alnico 3 magnet. However, judging by my measurements, it is definitely not a particularly low-Gauss magnet. The readings are obviously nowhere near A5 territory, but they are actually quite close to the A2 range. This is my first Alnico 3 humbucker, and after reading for years about how low the string pull of A3 magnets is supposed to be, I was expecting a Gauss reading somewhere around 150–200G at most.
Looking at the coil fill, which doesn’t appear particularly full, together with the 7.40KΩ DCR reading, we can reasonably assume that it was wound with 42 AWG wire. Since this is not a four-conductor pickup, I couldn’t measure the two coils individually. The screw coil also appears to be slightly thinner than the slug coil to my eye, so there may be a small degree of asymmetry between the two coils.
One of the things I absolutely love about the appearance of this pickup is the double-cream bobbins. There is no double-cream option listed in the official specifications, so this must have been a custom order. And I absolutely love that. :)
Smit's Classic Coils A3 Smit's Classic Coils A3 Smit's Classic Coils A3
First Impressions
First of all, as I mentioned earlier, this is my first A3 humbucker. So I really didn’t know exactly what to expect from it. The only preconception I had in my mind was clarity. In other words, I was pretty sure it would be a clear-sounding humbucker, and my initial measurements seemed to point in that direction as well. But what kind of tonal color it would have was something I simply didn’t know. I also wondered whether I would encounter something closer to the clarity of a P-90, or perhaps the kind of clarity you get from noiseless Strat-style single coils, such as the DiMarzio Cruiser. As it turns out, it’s neither of those.
The Smit’s Classic Coils A3 neck has its own particular take on PAF-style clarity. The low end is a little loose and soft. You don’t get those tight, punchy lows that are often desired for modern rock or metal. The bass is much more reminiscent of a jazz guitar—soft and almost pillow-like. :)
The mids are warm, rich, and slightly spongy. There is none of the aggressive upper-mid emphasis you might associate with Alnico 5; instead, there is a broader and more balanced midrange. It is still not as pronounced as the mids of an Alnico 2 PAF. In fact, I would even say they sit slightly behind the rest of the frequency spectrum. The highs, meanwhile, are smooth, sweet, and rounded. They are completely free of the sharp or ice-picky treble you can get from Alnico 5. There is absolutely nothing harsh or ear-piercing about this pickup. In fact, I would say the highs are the most prominent part of its tonal spectrum.
So, if I were to give this pickup an EQ score, I’d probably go with 5 / 4.5 / 6.5 for Bass / Mids / Treble.
What I Loved About the Smit’s CC A3
When it comes to what I like about the Smit’s Classic Coils A3 neck, I have to say once again that I absolutely love its clarity. Neck pickups tend to get muddy simply because of their nature, as you know. You notice this even more on the wound strings, and especially in the registers below the 12th fret, where that effect can really start to hit you in the face. In that respect, the Smit’s Classic Coils A3 neck is just what the doctor ordered. But it doesn’t achieve this by stepping into single-coil territory like the DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell does. The Smit’s Classic Coils A3 neck still sounds like a humbucker. So yes, the HFH is the clearer pickup, but if you want that kind of clarity while still retaining more of the actual humbucker experience, I think the Smit’s Classic Coils A3 neck has a slight advantage.
Smit's Classic Coils A3 Coil Wire Smit's Classic Coils A3 Coil Wire Smit's Classic Coils A3 Coil Wire
On the other hand, if you’re after a more fluety tone, this isn’t the one. You’d probably want to look for the Alnico 2 version—or something along those lines. Whether you convince this Kevin Smith guy to wind you another one or go hunting for one on Reverb, I don’t know. But between you and me, I think it’s worth hunting one down.
I really enjoyed its performance under overdrive and moderate levels of distortion. Its response feels great with both fast picking and techniques such as legato. I can also say that it performs very well with clean tones. Considering that this is a humbucker, I found its sound through classic Fender-style amp tones extremely useful.
I also have to emphasize that jazz players are likely to find some very appealing tones in this pickup. In fact, if I had a semi-hollow such as a Gibson ES-335 (or better a Heritage H-535), I would absolutely want a Smit’s Classic Coils A3 in the neck position. Moreover, i usually don't like neck humbucker+single in the middle tone. But... This time with Smit's Classic Coils A3 it is different. I particularly enjoyed the "in-between" tone with two pickups together. Better for cleans and better for lightly overdriven fast runs. No, no, no, no! I really enjoyed that position. I never felt the need of coil split. Good one. You can decide, played and compared that part in my video above.
Another thing I really like is its dynamic response, naturally. Come on you guys, That’s no surprise, but I’ll go into more detail about this in the section where I discuss compression.
Comparisons
The first pickup I need to compare the Smit's Classic Coils A3 neck against is, of course, the legendary Seymour Duncan '59. Those who know me know that I love the Duncan '59, but I also pointed out in my detailed review that it has some issues. The Smit's Classic Coils A3 neck has none of the '59's problems. Tonally, though, it is naturally a bit different from it. After all, the '59 is an Alnico 5 humbucker and the Smit's Classic Coils A3 is not. In short, you can't call the Smit's Classic Coils A3 a version of the Duncan '59 without its flaws, because there are tonal differences between them. But if the '59's clarity issues bother you, the Smit's Classic Coils A3 will feel like a cure.
Screw and slug pole pieces of an unpotted Alnico 3 humbucker being measured for gauss Underside of the Smit's Classic Coils A3 showing nickel silver baseplate, wooden spacer Smit's Classic Coils A3 PAF-style humbucker installed in the neck position of a handmade superstrat
It is also clearer than the Mojotone '59 Clone neck. If you're torn between the two, base your decision on whether you want more clarity and tighter response or a spongier feel. With the DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell, you can follow the opposite logic. The HFH is clearer still, but if you're after clarity within humbucker limits, go for the Smit's Classic Coils A3. If you have a serious clarity problem in the neck position, the HFH is the one to look at.
Seymour Duncan Jazz is one of the first humbuckers come in mind when you need clarity. Smit's Classic Coils A3 is clearer than a Jazz. Remember Jazz still has its A5 magnet inside so it is stronger just like the '59 and EQ and tonal response are a bit different than the Smit's Classic Coils A3.
You know there are lots of A3 PAFs out there like Gibson - "Custombucker", Seymour Duncan Custom Shop - "Amos" or "Skinnerburst", Oil City Pickups - "Cliffs of Dover", Cecca Guitars - "Delta Roots" A3 PAF or Sin Pickups - A3 PAF but but I haven't tried any of them yet :)
Dynamic Range and Compression
Now let’s move on to my evaluation of dynamic range and compression. The Smit’s Classic Coils A3 has a very little natural compression of its own. With the volume pot fully open, it feels slightly more compressed to me than a single coil. But it feels a bit less compressed than many highly popular PAF clones like Pearly Gates or the DiMarzio PAF from the '90s. That is certainly unexpected. That is why I strongly recommend this pickup to guys who like semi-hollows such as the Heritage H-535 and hollow bodies. The Smit’s Classic Coils A3 is a very expressive pickup and reflects the dynamics from your guitar and fingers to the amp relatively more transparently than most of the ordinary humbuckers.
The pickup is also very responsive to manipulation with the volume pot. By rolling it back, you can access a wide range of tones. Even with the volume fully open, however, there is still plenty of room to play with dynamics through your phrasing and pick attack.
Cleans? Actually, i particularly like the cleans much I toyed with classic mid-scooped Fender-amp tones and I wouldn't have expected it to sound that good.
So which guitars and styles of music does the Smit's Classic Coils A3 neck suit best? As I've mentioned a few times already, if I owned a Heritage H-535 (or a Gibson ES-335), I would definitely want one of these in the neck position. It's a perfect fit for blues, jazz, classic rock, oldies and the like. I've also happily used it on my 22-fret, 25.5" scale guitar at medium-high overdrive and at distortion levels that aren't overly saturated. I think it has a sweet response in fast picking and in finger techniques like legato, too. I'm not claiming it's the best shred neck pickup on the market, but it's a pickup that will genuinely get the job done. On 24-fret superstrats, though, I think I might lean a bit more toward the Duncan '59.
Conclusion
The Smit's Classic Coils A3 neck is a PAF-style humbucker with its own personality. Its defining trait is clarity: even on the wound strings below the 12th fret, where neck pickups tend to get muddy, it stays clean and articulate without stepping into single-coil territory the way the Humbucker From Hell does. The low end is soft and pillowy rather than tight, the mids are warm and slightly spongy, and the highs are smooth, sweet and never harsh. It is not a "fixed" Duncan '59, because the A3 magnet gives it a different tonal color. But if the '59's clarity issues bother you, this pickup will feel like a cure, and it is also clearer than the Mojotone '59 Clone neck.
Its low natural compression and transparent dynamic response are what make it special. It passes the nuances of your fingers and guitar to the amp, responds well to the volume pot, and sounds great with clean Fender-style amp tones. I would happily recommend it for semi-hollows and hollow bodies like a Heritage H-535 or an ES-335, and for blues, jazz, classic rock and oldies. It also handles medium-high overdrive and moderate distortion, and it feels sweet with fast picking and legato. It is not the best shred neck pickup out there, though. On a 24-fret superstrat, I would probably lean toward the Duncan '59.
The main catch is availability. Smit's Handwound Guitar Pickups is no longer operating, so finding one means hunting on Reverb or similar marketplaces. In my opinion it is a hunt worth making, and I am once again very grateful to Neal for giving me the chance to review this one.
Pros
Excellent clarity, even on wound strings below the 12th fret, while still sounding like a real humbucker
Smooth, sweet, rounded highs with no harshness or ice-picky high end
Transparent and dynamic, with low natural compression and great volume pot response
Great with clean Fender-style amp tones and a natural fit for jazz, blues, classic rock and semi-hollows
Handles overdrive and moderate distortion well, with a sweet response to fast picking and legato
Cons
The low end is loose and soft, not the tight, punchy lows favored for modern rock or metal
The mids sit slightly behind the rest of the spectrum, so it is less fluid than an Alnico 2 version would be
It is not a shred specialist, and on 24-fret superstrats the Duncan '59 may be the better pick
It is discontinued, so you will have to hunt for one on the second-hand market. Prepare a fight to find one.
No four-conductor wiring
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