Company History

After 11 years of part-time research in the acoustics of nylon string instruments, speaker cabinets, power amplifiers and polyphonic pickups, we began manufacturing magnetic pickups in 1973. During our first year we made only quadraphonic and hexaphonic (Hi-A label) pickups.

In 1975 we brought out our first monophonic designs under the Hi-A label. In 1978 we discontinued the Hi-A label. From the beginning, and always in response to the needs of many excellent musicians, we have continued to expand our catalog of pickups and electronics.

In 1975 we introduced square-wave magnetic pulse testing for magnetic pickups, expanding upon our description of the impedance curve for these pickups. Shortly afterwards we introduced the mechanical string picker to the field of pickup testing.

In 1977 we introduced the first electronic (preamplified) pickup with parametric bandpass enhancement (the EVQ). These pickups were also some of our earliest hum canceller designs in large humbucker size. The EVQ and related designs were discontinued later as our on-board preamps began to provide wider tonal range and more versatile application.

Toward the end of 1980 we started manufacturing vertical hum canceller designs such as our 3AV acoustics, 3XV Fender Strat* replacements and 9V J-Bass* replacements. Shortly afterward we introduced the 94J, our quadraphonic for J-Basses*.

In 1981 we brought out our Laminated Core humbuckers, adding the choice of upper midrange enhancement to the smoother response of our previous designs. In the next year, after extensive experimentation with the sound requirements of several New Wave and Heavy Metal guitarists, we developed a pickup specifically tailored for power guitar tone (these developed into the E88, E90 and E90-D series) and a distortion effect (the Tube-It) that was appreciated by many musicians at that time.

With our roots firmly in mind, in 1982 we presented the results of our experiments with Classic and Flamenco guitars at a meeting of the Catgut Acoustical Society in DeKalb, Illinois. These results and many other scientific inquiries into the acoustics of guitars and violins were then published in the Journal of Guitar Acoustics**.We continued the work on nylon string instruments with an electronic device capable of controlling the attack, decay and tonal characteristics of solid body instruments to duplicate the sound of the best acoustic instruments.

We have now grown into a 4200 sq. ft. facility in the Livermore valley (renowned for its white wines and scientific research). We continue to computerize our quality control and test departments as well as our component selection.

We deeply thank all the musicians, repairmen, luthiers and manufacturers whose thoughtful requests and suggestions have helped to develop and improve our products.

Pat and Bill Bartolini

"Telecaster", *Stratocaster", "Jazz-Bass", "J_Bass", "Precision Bass", "P-Bass" are registered trademarks of Fender, Inc.

"Rickenbacker" is a registered trademark of Rickenbacker, Inc.

"Gibson" is a registered trademark of Gibson Guitar, Inc.

"PAF", "Super II", "SDHP" and "X2N" are registerd trademark of DiMarzio Musical Instrument Pickups, Inc.

Bartolini Pickups and Electronics is not affiliated in any way with Fender, Inc Rickenbacker, Inc Gibson Guitar, Inc. or DiMarzio Musical Instrument Pickups, Inc. Bartolini pickups were covered by U.S.Pat.Nos. 39837777 and 39837778.