Home made guitar pickup (Start to finish)

[twang46]

Nov 18, 2014 19:20:52 GMT guitarphil said:

Yep, Dick, and it makes me wonder what the point is of reverse engineering a particular pickup and how far do they go to do that - I hope they don't unwind it to see how many turns it had!!!

That's exactly what they do Phil

Then they start getting silly by trying to recreate the gaps & stretched bits & the varying thickness of shellac etc, etc.......


I'm now starting to wonder how much difference the pickups do really make

Provided they are of decent standard construction & have more or less the right amount of copper spread about...........

I currently have 2 strats,

1 is a MIM 57 reissue for the 60th anniversary of Fender fitted with 57/62 US custom shop pups & sounds nice
2 is a Squire CV 50's which now has Tonerider "City Limits" fitted (came with Daddy Oh pups that I thought were too bright) & sounds nice but a still sounds a lot "brighter" than the other one, yet when the Toneriders where in the MIM strat & got replaced by the 57/62 pups there was very little difference for the better in the sound.

I'm now thinking how much difference does the wood make

Might be time for a new thread

Dick.

[guitarphil]

My main Shadows guitar has the 57/62 pickups as well. After initially using 10 gauge with a plain G string I now use 11 gauge strings with a wound 'G'. My thinking being that's why the pole pieces are staggered on the vintage pickups as everyone used a wound G back in the day. I like the sound but sometimes I think the bridge pup is a wee bit too bright. Turning the Volume control down a tad removes the edge off it though.

My other Strat is a MIJ from about 1992 with its original pups. I don't know what they are but they are higher output, no stagger and a little warmer, maybe. I use 10 gauge strings with a plain 3rd on this one.

The wood does make a difference. I remember a guy on YouTube Frudua Guitars from Italy discussing this. I think if the guitar sounds 'alive' when played acoustically, it will sound good when you plug it in.

Phil.

[twang46]

It's a complex subject Phil that's for sure

Everything about the guitar has some part in "that sound"

My strat with the 57/62's is strung up with 11-52 (wound G) & the bridge pup is (like yours appears to be) a touch on the "bright/sharp" side but nothing that can't be dialled out.

Have you bridged the switch to give tone control on the bridge pup?...... it's a quick & easy mod & gives tone control without having to use the vol pot & used in conjunction with vol adjustment gives a few more options for us to confuse ourselves with

Dick.

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2014 16:39:59 GMT twang46 said:

It's a complex subject Phil that's for sure

Everything about the guitar has some part in "that sound"

My strat with the 57/62's is strung up with 11-52 (wound G) & the bridge pup is (like yours appears to be) a touch on the "bright/sharp" side but nothing that can't be dialled out.

Have you bridged the switch to give tone control on the bridge pup?...... it's a quick & easy mod & gives tone control without having to use the vol pot & used in conjunction with vol adjustment gives a few more options for us to confuse ourselves with

Dick.

best way is to add a blender control instead of neck pick up tone that way you can dial in the neck to the bridge to tame  any highs , also the opposite way around dial in the bridge to the neck to add a bit of sparkle, plus you get the add all 3 pick ups in position 2 and 4 if you want it works great and a very easy mod to do and no loss of clarity like you get with the tone control 

[twang46]

I've got a book full of strat wiring mods somewhere Dave...........some of which are very ingenious as well

I did some work for guy a few years back with one of those 15 way "super switches" interesting enough but I couldn't see the point of it all.
He was delighted with the work I did though............I should have charged him more

I still remain unconvinced about blend pots & treble bleed ccts etc..for a "vintage" style Strat..........I'm putting a 3 way switch on my Squire when I get round to it as it's supposed to be a 50's guitar after all.

Dick.

[guitarphil]

Hi Dick and Dave,

I did have the wire link to give tone control on the bridge pup but decided to remove it to stick as close to the vintage method as possible. I don't think I'll go the whole hog and put in a 3-way switch though!

Dave, how easy is the blender circuit to do? I might try it on the other Strat.

Phil.

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2014 18:54:23 GMT guitarphil said:

Hi Dick and Dave,

I did have the wire link to give tone control on the bridge pup but decided to remove it to stick as close to the vintage method as possible. I don't think I'll go the whole hog and put in a 3-way switch though!

Dave, how easy is the blender circuit to do? I might try it on the other Strat.

Phil.

its very easy i will post the digram up soon.

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2014 18:54:23 GMT guitarphil said:

Hi Dick and Dave,

I did have the wire link to give tone control on the bridge pup but decided to remove it to stick as close to the vintage method as possible. I don't think I'll go the whole hog and put in a 3-way switch though!

Dave, how easy is the blender circuit to do? I might try it on the other Strat.

Phil.





i phil have put the diagram up on technical ,

[guitarphil]

Thanks Dave

Phil

[Deleted]

to count how many turns is quite easy really.. all you have to do is get hold of
the old type mains 240v calculator. the newer type have a sort of paper printed circuit
that can't be soldered to. the older type have a circuit board that can be soldered to.
all you now need is a small reed switch and a magnet.from maplin stores.
what you do is solder the 2 wires from the reed switch to the equals contact points on the circuit board.(just trace were the keypad equals button goes to)and solder them to there.
now set the calculator to 6000 or what ever then on the keypad enter minus 1, now each time the magnet passes the reed switch the 6000 will decrease by 1 so 5999 5998 and so on. or you can enter 01 plus 1 equals then it will count up by increments of 1
The reed switch works as though you are pressing the equals key on the keypad each time the magnet passes the reed switch. as the meerkats would say (Simple)
hope this helps if you are making a pickup winding machine
regards ian

[guitarphil]

That sounds like a great idea Ian. I must have a poke through my drawers to see if I kept any old calculators!

[ecca]

I tried to wind a pick-up last year and after the 5th breakage packed it in.

[Deleted]

hi ecca
if you use a small Teflon roller with a small groove in the centre it should be ok
I have seen people use a small steel bar to run the wire over and that can cause breakage
you can use a small diameter bar then fit adjustable stops to it so the roller can move back and forth to the stops ie left and right. you can set the stops to suit the pickup width

ian H

[ecca]

Jan 4, 2015 17:40:34 GMT @ian said:

hi ecca
if you use a small Teflon roller with a small groove in the centre it should be ok
I have seen people use a small steel bar to run the wire over and that can cause breakage
you can use a small diameter bar then fit adjustable stops to it so the roller can move back and forth to the stops ie left and right. you can set the stops to suit the pickup width

ian H

Yes Ian, I did all my homework on it and acquired all the bits required - and still the blinkin wire broke and broke and broke. Sod it.

[Deleted]

LOL not to worry depends on the tension on the wire and the speed of the wire leaving the bobbin
regards ian