FEATURE INTERVIEW
The Pickup ARTIST
A conversation with
JASON LOLLAR
BY ADAM MOORE
For many tone chasers, Jason Lollar is something of a god. And why not? The man who
resembles an ancient Greek deity himself,
with a thick beard and long, flowing hair
effortlessly draped over his shoulders, exists
on ferry-bound Vashon Island, miles off
the coast of Seattle and is literally bringing
tone to life. While he has a bustling, professional operation—he can claim nine full-time
employees, including his wife, Stephanie, and
his daughter, Terra—there’s this image of him
that persists in the guitar world, of a solitary
man hunkered over a winding machine, dedicating his life to the alchemy that first birthed
rock n’ roll. His out-of-print book, Basic Pickup
Winding, has become the bible for burgeoning builders and a literal collectors’ item,
with rare copies fetching upwards of $250 on
eBay. He keeps a low profile, and skips the
NAMM booth. Even on the opening page of
his website, there is an image of Jason, surrounded only by walls of guitars and a floor
full of amps; he’s looking off into the distance
at something, nothing. Indeed, it can be said
that Lollar makes a bold statement without
having to say much at all.
Of course, this near-deification isn’t
unfounded; Lollar has designed and created some of the best sounding pickups on
the market today, including—according to
many guitarists—the P- 90 to end them all.
You’ll find his work in the top of the top-end guitars on the market, from Collings to
DeTemple to Fano. And unlike many pickup
builders today, Lollar is not a specialist; he
doesn’t spend all of his time studying the
minutiae of a specific vintage model, hoping
to unlock some great secret. He instead is
a generalist, thinking in bigger swaths and
applying well-honed concepts and years
of experience to all of his pickups; it has
resulted in an extensive range of choices for
players, and has ensured that no one is left
out in their search for tone.
We spoke to Lollar from his Vashon Island
home about the perfect P- 90, the falla-cies of pickup design and the importance
of technique.
How did you get into the world of pick-
ups, and when did you first fall in love
with the P- 90?
