Forum pickup ideas

[orpheo]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I kinda like the concept but I dont think its going to be so feasible. There just isnt enough space to get the wire needed for 2 coils in that area. The humbucker sized p90's all tend to be really tall trying to do this the little extra width you purpose isnt going to give enough room for 2 coils

I'm talking about 2 super thin coils, like a jazzmaster. Gotta do the math, but I think it will fit.

[orpheo]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

JM coil is .311 inch tall. that's 8mm tall. two coils stacked would be 16mm. a humbucker coil is 14mm (plus the magnet and spacer bar). use a single wafer in the middle in stead of dual, as it would be in this scenario of stacking two JM coils together, you'd get a coil about as tall as one humbucker coil. Should fit. could fit.

[uOpt]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

You cannot really make a good P90 stack.

A "normal" Stack like a Strat pickup works by having half-height rod magnets poles to keep the blind coil free of a magnetic field.

In a P90 you are supposed to have passive poles all the way down to bar magnets. You can't keep the lower coil free of the magnet field that way.

That is why people have all kinds of length-wise side-by-side or split 3+3 with short coils, or long coils side by side with 3+3 poles. That is why we had that large discussion leading to the pickup design that I have in the two links above. Because with that you can have magnet on the bottom and passive polepiece, still keep a single string pickup point and still cancel hum.

[daveyisgreat]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Blehhh... all this stupid spec talk is stupid.

Charlie Christian bucker

Tele-Bro 90

More Phat Cat options (hotter version or a cleaner version for the neck, maybe A3/A4 or something).

I like these. The last one would be really fun, something like a higher output "Hot Phat Cat" that you could drop in the bridge position and a lower output "Cool Phat Cat" that would make a sweet neck pickup.

[orpheo]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

ok, than forget about hum cancelling. I don't care for hum cancelling that much. I just want an epic, epic, epic single coil.

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

JM coil is .311 inch tall. that's 8mm tall. two coils stacked would be 16mm. a humbucker coil is 14mm (plus the magnet and spacer bar). use a single wafer in the middle in stead of dual, as it would be in this scenario of stacking two JM coils together, you'd get a coil about as tall as one humbucker coil. Should fit. could fit.

2 coils stacked would be at least 17 mm with the flat work separating the 2. That extra height might cause serious issues particularly since they are rod magnets and cant be run as close to the strings as a humbucker with a bar mag can... I dunno... maybe it would work but i think its something better to throw at MJ through the custom shop rather than as a forum bro pickup.

[DarkMatter]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

You cannot really make a good P90 stack.

A "normal" Stack like a Strat pickup works by having half-height rod magnets poles to keep the blind coil free of a magnetic field.

In a P90 you are supposed to have passive poles all the way down to bar magnets. You can't keep the lower coil free of the magnet field that way.

That is why people have all kinds of length-wise side-by-side or split 3+3 with short coils, or long coils side by side with 3+3 poles. That is why we had that large discussion leading to the pickup design that I have in the two links above. Because with that you can have magnet on the bottom and passive polepiece, still keep a single string pickup point and still cancel hum.

I thought it was determined that rod magnets would be the only way to go with the 3+3 design. Something about stray magnetic flux. Frank Falbo had a great explanation in the old thread.

[jimman]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

ok, than forget about hum cancelling. I don't care for hum cancelling that much. I just want an epic, epic, epic single coil.

I can definitely get behind this.

[LtKojak]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I thought it was determined that rod magnets would be the only way to go with the 3+3 design. Something about stray magnetic flux. Frank Falbo had a great explanation in the old thread.

Sensmag make THREADED A5 RODS, or order any other Alnico grade, for that matter. So, it's actually feasible to make some new version of a StagMag with adjustable rods. Plus, to make a piece to close the magnetic circuit with say, 1018 steel, the same size of a HB magnet is not expensive at all. With this info, you can make it with 12 adjustable poles. In this way you can get a pretty close sound of a strat p'up when split, and maybe a good, useable, mud-less and articulated HB sound as well, just by playing with the wind of the second bobbin.

With these threaded rods you can also build tele and/or strat p'ups with adjustable rods, for that matter. Add a narrower polepiece spacing on the neck and/or the middle p'up and you got a technically-enhanced version of what you've been producing since forever. If the company invests in creating the jigs for production and assembling, it can become a new line of products for 2015. "The same, just better".

THIS is something I'd be cool with. Any comments?

[Demanic]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

A P-Rail the P-90 part with ceramics(triple if possible) and Invader pole pieces, the rail section with an A8. There, I said it.

[LtKojak]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

A P-Rail the P-90 part with ceramics(triple if possible) and Invader pole pieces, the rail section with an A8. There, I said it.

Go and see how a P-90 is made, how a Rail is made, then you'll see how this is just not possible... let alone all the unnecessary magnetic power you're asking for no reason.

[SJ318]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Lt.Kojak,
I am VERY MUCH behind your post #99, about the adjustable poles - 2 rows of them in the way you proposed. I don't know enough about pickup's internal windings, gauges, etc. so I will stay out of that, but any thing w/2 rows needs both sides adjustable. Keep pushing!
Thanks Pepe,
SJ

[DarkMatter]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I was wrong about the magnets in a split design.

Here is what Frank said;
"MJ has made plenty of Z-Coil replacement pickups out of Alnico Strat rods. I have a G&L Comanche and am pretty well versed in those pickups. A split Alnico pole "Z-style in a humbucker mount" would be a great pickup. If you wanted to make it sound a little more P90-ish you could have one center magnet spanning the entire width and two flanking magnets each covering 3 strings. You wouldn't want the flanking magnets to span the entire length because with no return path the magnets would fight one another and it would be total flux chaos."

Later he added this;
"I think the best fake single coil sounds from the Z format have been rod magnets. There's the ones MJ has done, and PRS had a Fralin design on a CE bolt neck that were great too.

But you're right, if the attempt was to make something with a P90 flavor it would be base magnets and poles. If it were me? I'd do 3 screw poles and half a keeper bar on the bass side, and 3 slugs on the treble side. Each of them shortie bobbins. That way you'd have meatier treble strings, and a little more twang on the bass strings. And guess what you could do? Flip it around if you wanted the reverse.

Due to dimensional limitations of Alnico, you'd probably be stuck with ceramic. But with a small enough ceramic, one that matched the gauss strength of an Alnico center magnet, you could create a stable magnetic circuit with Alnico down the middle and small ceramic flanking magnets. Wheee-YOW!!"

[SoundAt11]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Riogrande has made side by side strat pups tied as humbuckers with flat poles forever now and there is NO issue with boomy-ness or lost strings.

Even in the past duncan offered "the mag" with flat poles...

Exactly. I've used "The Mag" in 2 different guitars, neck and bridge and had no string balance issues, no "boominess" or "lost strings". Very even and clear response.

[SoundAt11]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I know this may be a bit vanilla, but I would like to see a dedicated PAF pickup that comes standard with an Alnico 4 magnet. I realize that most folks now-a-days just use a 59 and put an A4 in it, but I would like to see one built from the ground up with an Alnico 4 magnet stock. The idea is that we have a flat EQ'ed PAF pickup that a lot of folks seem to want these days.

Again, I realize that it may be a bit vanilla, but I think it would sell well, and be very versatile for many types of music.

I like this or possibly wound with an Alnico 3 magnet, as the A4 seems a little to flat and vanilla to me. Would it be neck or bridge? A mellow, polite neck pickup or maybe a lower-output, singing bridge PAF style....