Pete Biltoft/Vintage Vibe hanging it up

  • Thread starter Thread starter VonBonfire
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VonBonfire

Well-known member
Not sure if any of you guys are familiar with his pickups, but he is/was a pickup maker with very reasonable prices and would custom wind and make special orders for really reasonable. He's decided to call it a day. Retired. I have had a few of his pickups. Very good stuff. It's a shame cause he would do special materials and over/under winds without charging a pile of additional cash. Good luck out there Pete, enjoy your retirement.
 
Devin said:
Is this the same Vintage Vibe that makes the insanely dope electric pianos?
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No, but I know what company you are talking about, also called Vintage Vibe. Pete Biltoft is some kind of engineer-genius guy who liked to wind pickups on the side. He had great service and pricing. Not really a go-to for metal guys but he did a lot of custom Charlie Christian pickups, Humbucker sized P-90s, rewinds, etc etc. You could pretty much ask him if he could build _________ and if he could do it, he would, and for reasonable pricing.

I grabbed an overwound HS-90 from him last year, open face gold cover, tortoiseshell bobbin top, gold screws. I think I paid $120-130 shipped. A comparable Lollar is about $200. Here's his site if you wanted to have a look.

https://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/
 
VonBonfire said:
No, but I know what company you are talking about, also called Vintage Vibe. Pete Biltoft is some kind of engineer-genius guy who liked to wind pickups on the side. He had great service and pricing. Not really a go-to for metal guys but he did a lot of custom Charlie Christian pickups, Humbucker sized P-90s, rewinds, etc etc. You could pretty much ask him if he could build _________ and if he could do it, he would, and for reasonable pricing.

I grabbed an overwound HS-90 from him last year, open face gold cover, tortoiseshell bobbin top, gold screws. I think I paid $120-130 shipped. A comparable Lollar is about $200. Here's his site if you wanted to have a look.

https://www.vintagevibeguitars.com/
Click to expand...

I member now!

These were all the rage on the Harmony Central Electric Guitar forum back in the day
 
Devin said:
I member now!

These were all the rage on the Harmony Central Electric Guitar forum back in the day
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He made some great stuff. I remember a guy demoing a Hamer Korina V with his pickups somewhere on YouTube and it was just smoking. Can't find the video now. Pete was a Sarasota guy and I moved to FL in the early 2000's. He was well known by local Tampa/St. Pete players and I found a set of his HS-90's used in a shop and tossed them in a Hamer Vector for the win. He must've been a workaholic cause pickups were just a side gig and you'd still get custom orders in about a week. No apprentice either...
 
Devin said:
Knew you were a true kimg 👑
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Haha, thanks Devin. That was a nice guitar and not just "nice for the money". I've had a few V's. I still miss the $350 Faded Gibson V/SG days. I had the Ebony fretboard with the single moon inlay and paid 350. I think I sold it for like $500. They're like 1800 bucks now....
 
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