McSwain's custom pickup setup includes a pair of Arcane Triple Clone Humbucker pickups. The Arcane Triple Clone is hand-made and hand-wound in California.  We alternatively offer Arcane Ultratrons in our Vintage models.
 

The Arcane Triple Clone was was custom designed to be a tonal clone of a vintage 1960 Gibson Patent Applied for Pickup (PAF).   Rob Timmons of Arcane hand winds each Triple Clone on an antique winding machine with plain enamel wire using tuned Alnico V Magnets built around exclusive custom pole screws, precision milled parts and select grade steel for all the components.  Arcane achieves a remarkably faithful replica of the 1960 Gibson PAF, utilizing custom-sourced materials and carefully assembled to emulate the best qualities of the legendary pickup.  The neck pickup is wound to 8.2k resistance and the bridge to approximately 9.25K and each individually serialized.
 

Installed in one of our McSwain Guitars models, the Triple Clone pickups have a solid output, and a firm attack with a nice bite on the wound strings. Tonally it's well balanced across the spectrum, with a clean upper end that has a good amount of sparkle. Rolling of the high end warms up the tone without making it sound dark or reducing clarity. 
 

With its enhanced output and Alnico 5 magnet structure, the Arcane Triple Clone produces tight, harmonically rich musical crunch. The keyword here is balance, and the Triple Clone does not overly accentuate any particular frequency. It's punchy and pleasantly bright, with a lot of detail and sparkle that is both complex and engaging.
 

The Arcane Triple Clone bridge pickup has all the desirable qualities of a stellar bridge humbucker. It's nuanced enough for cleans and moderate amounts of overdrive, but is punchy, tight, and articulate when pushed.  Our neck pickup tends to touch on the higher output end of the scale, perfectly touch sensitive, when you hit it hard it responds.  Rob from Arcane knows how to balance power and sensitivity. 

​