I don't know why

but a few days ago I became very interested in
making pickups. Guitar pickups.
 
Probably nobody here interested/ making them but
maybe I'll be surprised.  ?
As I'm currently gathering info before I dive in I'd like
to hear what you have to say about it.
 
 
 

Not sure I can hit this mark Reece. Shifting through all the
opinions and ways of doing things...not to mention the
material...well I just started so it's going to take time to
sort this mess out.
But you've helped the beginning!

Just be careful how you talk about it Spacey!  Saying you're working on your pickup lines might get you in trouble with your better half.  Just sayin'!

Looks like assimilated guitars from star trek or something like that :)

Alex that's exactly what I thought too :) Borgs!
What I did get from them was a few knobs. One with the old TV style volume.

Wookiee I think this pup wrapping is going to be like a slow boat but
I think I'm going to make the trip. Nothing really saying not to right now.

I could be wrong but it seems like there is something about hand-winding
that makes better pups. Something about the winding not being "perfect" (machine)
making them better. That's gotta take some special skill...that wire is small.

Beagle


Spacey Pups^TM
 
I like the sound of that!  (pun in 10 did!)

That's a guarantee that the pooch (Beagle) is vested in the success of the company/product. You only have to pay him in becan. Win Win. 

geeze...investors..company...forms..products...and I don't even have a pot to....
melt wax in.

 This has interested me too Spacey. I guess not enough to pursue it seriously. I had thought it would be fun to wind a few myself just to see how they turned out,actually read up on it but mostly due to lack of time I haven't really pursued it.A very interesting subject.  I had thought that maybe instead of  the pickup being the low signal into either an amp or an active circuit someone could make a pickup that had matched low amplification or or other powered signal changes built right into it. With miniaturization a lot more is now possible. The benefit being lower power consumption at the input and a cleaner signal.

 That guitar designer whose site link you posted reminds me of  some of the artists I have watched at art shows who started tacking all kinds of hardware to a picture frame to end up with something like those guitars only in picture form. He seems to have taken it a step or two further and made guitars like this. The sight of those would give me serious nightmares in certain contexts. They look forboding and scary to me lol.....something like Hellraiser 6 with fresh flesh laying all around and zombie lead players....darn I might not sleep very well tonight.

 

Michael,  as clever and skilled as you are and even taking into account how beautiful they would look.....



















Are wooden pups realy a good idea?

LOL Karyn....no. I don't even care for wooden pup covers...since ya asked.:)

My taste is clean and simple. I definately appreciate others having theirs and respect it.
Much like your Gibson...very proud for you to own it but...just not for me.

The mixture of metal and wood is a fantastic and beautiful thing. As folks may love
the exotic wood in the cabin of their cruiser.....but there are limits.

The idea that plastic can work with the metal and wood...wow...if I had not grown up
seeing it I'm not sure I would even care for it on a guitar.
Now that I'm gathering info about pups I can understand better the reason of using it.

Karyn what I really think would be a great addition to guitars is an EMF and/or Gauss
meter....that way when one is playing to an empty house it could be confirmed LOL....and
it's great to know when the magnets need recharging too!

Me thinks the man is becoming scatter wound...  Sad, really...

( )

Can't a machine be programmed to scatter wind?



I've been trying to find a link to, but can't, of an interview or article with Lindy Fralin where he discusses how he acquired a rather large machine from a Navy surplus yard that he uses to magnetize some magnets AFTER the pickup was assembled.

He made a point of explaining some benefit to it... and I think it applied to the rods in Strat style pickups... but I'm not sure if I recall correctly.

I'd like to find the article to re learn that info. It seemed interesting and it sort of made a case for the need of that rather large machine for that particular type of pickup. I wish I remembered the details better.


I bought this book:



Many years ago, and I have hoped to make some time to wind my own ever since. I wound some coils for magnets when I was a kid... but that was before I had guitars on my mind.


best regards,
mike

Craig I've heard nothing but good about those pups. The sad part to me is
I can't test every pup I'd like to.
Man just thinking about one single coil from everybody that makes them and testing
them out with the same guitar and equipment...just can't imagine doing that and really if one doesn't how can they really tell anything about the differences? Then thinking about 3 for a Strat and me head explodes.

Mike- I don' t know but my limited knowledge of making them is mostly related to hand made. I haven't even seen a mechanical pickup maker. It does seem to be much like "humanize" for drumming programs lol.

I just turned a piece of junk '57 Soft V neck Custom Shop Strat with Callaham hardware and Ybarra pups that I installed into a very fine axe. I'll keep it now.
I'm not mentioning the name of the builder but I'm surprised he let it leave his shop.(in '89)
Even the neck pocket was wrong and unfortunately cut to deep. I resolved the problem.
The nut even had file marks! Now that is just classless. I'm sorry...I love Fender equipment
and it reminds of the hold Harleys...something like if it don't run in 4 kicks...you may as well
wait and take a break.

Oh...Craig- not looking for attention my friend and with all the talented and gifted people
around here I honestly think it's a shame that their main focus or what seems to be- is
quick wit and pointless threads. Don't get me wrong...a little non-sense now and then...but we know it's far from a little. And the English humor? I just don't get it...just the way it is...my dad loved Benny Hill and I'd watch it just to enjoy him...I was laughing with him but
it was like when somebody yawns and then you have to too.

And sad to me is posting info about a procedure I found that really makes a difference to
the performance of a stock Strat tremelo - because of a thread not long ago about folks having trouble with theirs- and nothing but becan...now to me that is sad....but I keep on
sharing pertinent information and my opinions in all the areas of music I can for now......and I'll keep me bad jokes and becan to meself for the most part.
Just how I feel about it and not to start any crap with anyone.

Now the pups...I'm really getting a lot of info about something that really meant nothing to
me in the past...I only cared about the end results...the sound. If they didn't produce what
I wanted- didn't care why.
Now what I'm learning is really confusing and seems like most everybody that has something to say is just giving their opinion and it expands so much that it could go on
forever.
Example;  This pickup is the holy-grail because blah, blah....so ya put it on a LP and it sounds like this...then ya put it on a Strat....well it doesn't sound the same so....
At that point who really cares about what was said about it? Technical or not it's not going
to sound the same for everybody. ( ever buy the one that was the talk of the town and
it didn't work out for ya?)

Now think about it-
My guitar is made like this and yours is made like that.
People want to say that the pickups are where tone comes from...
People want to say that the player is where the tone comes from...
People want to say that the amp is where the tone comes from...
I think you get my drift.

I think that it starts at the fingers and then every little thing about the guitar the cord
leaving with the signal and the input of the amp to the sound out of the speaker and
then the area the amp is in are all factors and all important.

That is a hell of a lot of information to learn if one cares to. Now for most guitarist I believe
it is hit and miss when they look for "their" sound. They find what works for them and don't
really care if the pups are N or S.
The bad part is that one may spend a lot of money for pups when they could have just
changed the guitars pots....yes they effect tone too and especially when a dollar capacitor
may have been rolling their highs off.....and that leads to....take two players talking about the exact same pickup on guitars made almost identical except one of them has a capacitor
rolling off the highs and the other one doesn't......what does what they have to say about
the pickup mean and to whom?

Well for now I'm going to keep gathering info and try to make some sense of it all....if possible.  Currently building a Gauss meter has me scratchin'. ...kinda like how this forum software changes
my format into what it is...sorry.

So far John it looks like I will.

Research has already pointed me at the magnet "trickyness" you mention. The really big tricky part to me
is finding out if I can build a Gauss Meter. They are very expensive, at least the ones I've found, and it's possible
to build one for under a hundred dollars. I have very little electronic experience but I'm pretty sure I'll order
the parts and attempt to build one this next week...or longer lol.
The Gauss meter will be the only piece of the puzzle I'll build. Well I will have to modify a vise to "charge" magnets
but that's nothing. It really is the deal breaker to me right now. If I have to buy one I have to put winding on the shelf
because I need other tools I could use that would be of more benefit to me.
The winder with counter and speed control I could build but really no advantage to me- easier to buy and nothing
to learn by building it...probably just hassles to avoid.

I agree John that learning how to build many of the others parts of the guitar sure adds to the mojo.
I imagine there are parts not unlike transformers that I will probably never attempt. Not to say that tuners and bridges
aren't beyond me attempting someday.

I haven't been building for the very reason you mention- "work stations"- I've been to busy setting them up and
building jigs to attempt a build. I think it takes more time building jigs and stuff that's needed than it takes to build
a guitar! I'm not sure that a shop is ever completed...
 
I press frets in and need a station (table) for that and on hold because I can see the fret press and winding tools
being able to share an area (table). Having tools set-up and ready sure helps.

Time to check Ebay for a Gauss meter....well it's an option lol.

The reason I'd like to have the meter is to be able to know the strength
of the magnets.
Unless I'm out in left John... one can recharge these magnets by passing
them through two 1" magnets - a couple of passes and reach 25 Gauss.
Your right too...one should take care messing with the meter or magnets and
especially if they have a metal plate in their brain pan.

Any suggestions for reading, equipment, or advise is welcomed and very much
appreciated.