Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Here's been the trick I've always considered was an instant bell-tone outcome:

Alnico V magnets, staggered, as Z said, scatterwind the bejesus out of them, and underwind the pickup. My fav. single coil tones are between 5.9k and 6.1k wind.
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Thanks guys for the help

whats the difference between Twang VS bell tones?

I want to have like a Bell tone Mode switch so i can have different bell tone frequencys i can choose from how can i do this please?
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

walters said:
Thanks guys for the help

whats the difference between Twang VS bell tones?

I want to have like a Bell tone Mode switch so i can have different bell tone frequencys i can choose from how can i do this please?
Twang is typically identified with telecaster tones. The twang is a result of the copper baseplate on the bottom of tele pickups in addition to the fact that a tele's bridge pickup is mounted directly into a giant steel bridge. That's twang. If you're trying to acheive that on a strat, the closest you'll get is the Seymour Duncan "Tawngbanger" pickup, which gives a strat pickup some balls... not as much twang as a tele, but still some still there.

As far as a switch for bell tone frequencies, I don't think you'd be able to do this effectively for cheap if at all possible. When a pickup is assembled it has a "Q", which I'm not too sure how I'd go about explaining it since I don't understand it too well myself. I can tell you that the Q is dependant upon wire gauge, type of magnets, bobbins probably, etc. etc. etc. All those things cant be changed at the flick of a switch. Maybe you could change the Q by tapping the pickup, but then you'd have one mode for a hot pickup, and one mode for vintage, and that won't really be doing what you're looking for. Anything else you might be thinking of would be more along the lines of Passive EQ's probably. I dont have the diagram with me because I'm at college until 7PM tonight, but the Jerry D0nohue telecaster has a 5 way switch that in one modes puts a resistor and capacitor into the circuit in some way, which creates a psuedo-midrange scoop. Again, this wont effect the Q, but rather the equalization (tone) of the guitar. Maybe someone could clarify this further?

You seem to be after a really glassy, vintage strat into a clean amp type of tone. Do yourself a favor and grab a set of Antiquity 2 Surfers or SSL-1's if money is a problem, pop them into your strat, set your strat switch to positions 2 and 4, get some nice bell tones and call it a day. I think you'll be pretty happy with a set of those, even though I feel SSL-1's are a bit too hot for my tastes, but since I'll probably never be able to wind a pickup as good as seymour, I'll take his word for "good tone".
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Thanks for the help

Scatter wind and underwound= bell tones

Scatter wind has capacitance and inductance

Q= resonance frequency

Bell tones= i think Sideband Q points or sideband resonance frequencys

Scatter wind circuit/network- a special type of filter that would produce
multiple bell tones
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

walters said:
Zhangliqun

Is it underwound or overwound or midrange or weak that makes the "bell tones"?

None of the above. Just a really well-scattered wind. That and a nice clean Fender amp to play it through.
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Zhangliqun do u know what external circuit or network can create bell tones or multiple bell tone frequencys?

So i can have a variable multiple bell tone frequencys i can adjust on my guitar?
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

walters said:
Thanks guys for the help

whats the difference between Twang VS bell tones?

I want to have like a Bell tone Mode switch so i can have different bell tone frequencys i can choose from how can i do this please?

You know what the difference is, because you know what "twang" sounds like vs. a "bell". Nobody here knows how to make a bell tone mode switch because I doubt anyone has ever even heard of such a thing. At least I haven't. (The closest thing I can think of to what you're looking for is a Line 6 Variax guitar, which is a "modeling guitar", designed to sound like a Tele or a Strat or an LP at the flick of a switch.)

There is a saying from a catholic priest I once heard, a Father John Neuhaus, who said "What are intellectuals for, but to complexify the obvious?" You're taking a very simple idea and trying to over-engineer and otherwise find the most complicated, expensive, and excessively high tech way to get it done. But here is how it really works:

You should be able to get both bell and twang from your guitar without any fancy electronic modifications -- because the difference between bell and twang is mostly about:

a) Good wood in the guitar;

b) Quality pickups;

c) Which pickup or combination of pickups you use for twang vs. bell (i.e., neck and neck/middle are more bell-like, bridge and bridge/neck are more twangy);

d) And most important of all, the skill and attitude in your playing. In a nutshell, picking up closer to the neck will give you a more bell-like tone, picking closer to the bridge will sound more twangy. Pulling a little harder on the string when you pick it will give you some country spank and twang.

Anyway, you get the idea. Look for the simple solution first...
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Thanks Zhangliqun for the help and information

Are bell tones harmonics?

What causes a pickup to have bell tones?

When looking at a pickup graph the Q resoance frequency would be a hill curve like a bandpass filter graph

What would "bell tones" look like on a graph?
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Yeah walters, any single coil with vintage specs will give off plenty of bell tones.
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

I like 'em a little fatter myself, in the 7k range for neck and middle and higher for the bridge, but if the wind is right, you will get both bell and twang depending on your pick attack and general playing attitude.
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Yea i know vintage single coils will my friend have like 5 various 50's different years strat and we are both wondering why they create or produce bell tones

How would bell tones look like a guitar pickup graph? what would they look like please?
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Nobody here has pickup graphs or charts for that kind of thing so we flat-out cannot help you with that. Our 'charts and graphs' are our ears for most of us, plus a little knowledge about winding for some of us.

The level of analysis you're looking for cannot be found here because it is just beyond us. Please understand that. You'll just have to get an oscilloscope or something and do your own charting and graphing.
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

sorry Zhangliqun i thought u might know about graphs and charts for guitar pickups
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

ceramic type pick-ups help to get bell tones and a humbucker in
parallel is best for bell tones along with ceramic magnets


Why do ceramic pickups create more bell tones?

Why do pickups in parallel create more bell tones?
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

A ceramic magnet is the last thing you want for a bell tone.

Pickups in parallel don't necessarily create more bell tones. There's a lot more to it than that.
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

like what else?

The fender strat guitars in the 50's had only a 3 position pickup switch so its not a 5 way switch to get the middle pickup combinations. So the 50's had alot of bell tones even without a pickup in parallel or in series just by itself
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

walters said:
like what else?

The fender strat guitars in the 50's had only a 3 position pickup switch so its not a 5 way switch to get the middle pickup combinations. So the 50's had alot of bell tones even without a pickup in parallel or in series just by itself

Lots of modern day single coils do too.
 
Re: Bell tones 50's fender pickups

Which new pickups make alot of bell tone? and why?

I heard the Alnico V makes more Bell tones than the Alnico II

Why do humbuckers make more bell tones than signal coils?
 
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