The brief: take two pickups from an Ovation copy ... harsh, thin and weedy ... and re work them into fat, powerful, modern rocking humbuckers.
The challenges ... the pickups are the same as fitted to some far eastern Gretsch models ... and the covers had to be reused. The ceramic bar magnets are a totally odd size ... so a quick swap to a standard alnico is out of the question. Sure you could use a much narrower SC size humbucker magnet with a filler iron shoe ... but the magnet mass would be well down, and so would the power.
After a lot of thinking and a couple of false starts, I decided to go for a 'mini wide range' approach: Both bobbin pairs would be replaced with custom laser cut flatwork
and rod magnets would replace the pole screws. Radical ... and requiring a lot of custom CAD design, but the only way to keep the magnet mass high.
The part completed bridge pickup 52mm bobbins ... the neck is more of a challenge as it is a totally odd 50.25mm spacing, and accuracy is critical.
To be continued .....
Comments
At this point I have to give credit to REME enginearing instructor, Staff Sergeant Frederick Lockyer ... my father. My dad is of the rare and vanishing breed who could build you anything ... to the finest tolerances ... with a pillar drill, a lathe, and some hand tools. He taught me the proper way to make things as a kid, and kicked my arse when I didn't do it right. He went on to work on British rocket research after leaving the army, and was part of the team that launched 'Prospero', Britain's only ever self launched satellite. He's 90 now, but still takes a keen interest in Oil City ... and still keeps an eye to see I do things properly!
See dad I got it right!!!
The bottom view ... obviously unwound and minus baseplate.
Getting the baseplates and guts out of the old pickups was a total nightmare by the way ... tons too much solder used, and the pickups potted in some very flammable wax ... that 'lit up' every time I tried to unsolder it! I wound up laboriously cutting through the solder with a Stanley knife as there was even too much volatile 'wax' about to use the Dremel!
Pretty eh? NOT!!!!!!!
More shortly ....
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
I've always found the big blade on a Swiss Army knife ideal for cutting through pickup cover solder - it's sturdy but fairly thin, and with a nice curved profile so you can easily 'rock' it through the solder.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Yep you are right
:-)
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Genuinely had no clue about what goes into a pickup.
I knew the originals were harsh -- which is obviously a value judgement -- but that's how those ceramic pickups sounded to me and they reminded me of the only other ceramics I've had (and those got replaced too).
I think my original brief to Ash was "You could probably fill them with spaghetti and I wouldn't notice."
But as it happens I'm pleased that no pasta has been used.
Looking forward to these.
Several years ago I had the please of working with REME in designing and constructing a new bandstand in Stratford upon avon. As a training exercise the local REME base at Long Marston agreed to help the council out as its gesture towards 50 year celebrations of VE day. Arriving at early o clock with my structural engineer, we were keen to see what they could do. Well sod all actually until precisely 10am because before that it was tea and toast in the sergeants mess.
Long story short, they were excellent and to this day, and to my knowledge, it is the only steel structure in the UK constructed to Zero tolerance. Not 1 single sliding joint. Very impressive.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
A steel 'reflector plate is added to couple the magnet banks and up the pickup's inductance
Fit of the new bobbins etc is tested ....
And the bobbins are wound ... in this case with 44awg wire.
All in place for the pigtails to be soldered up, the cover added, and some quality time in the potting bath
And here they are ... 14.2k and 11k .... and looking lovely :-)
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
Clearly craftsmanship.
And for me a nice guitar which never got played because of the lousy pickups gets a chance to live.
Happy days!