Dream humbucker design

K

krulty

New member
What would your dream humbucker be? I dont mean like "sd invader" or "bkp nailbomb".
I mean, if you could have any humbucker custom made. What would it be? Heres a couple of my own and a spec guide

Magnet: 3 ceramic mags
Wire gauge: 45
Wire coating: poly coated silver wire
Polepieces: 12 oversized hex poles (like the ones on zach attack)
Potting wax: 100% parrafin
Base plate: nickel
Cover: 12 hole solid nickel coated black
Active/passive: passive
Dc: 25k
B/m/t: 6/8/6
Output: hot

Magnet: oversized alnico 8
Wire gauge: 43
Wire coating: poly coated copper wire
Polepieces: 6 black oxide caps (invader style) and other coil with blade (dimarzio xn2 style)
Potting wax: 80% paraffin 20% bees
Base plate: nickel
Cover: none (black bobbins)
Active/passive: passive
Dc: 18k
B/m/t: 5/8/7
Output: hot



Magnet:
Wire gauge:
Wire coating:
Polepieces:
Potting wax:
Base plate:
Cover:
Active/passive:
Dc:
B/m/t:
Output
 
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Re: Dream humbucker design

You do know you're putting together small pieces of what makes pickups, and completely forgetting the main part - the actual wind right?

The DCR means nothing in terms of output. DCR just tells you how much wire is on the coil. Pickups are inductors, not resistors (where DCR would actually matter). Besides, what about tension, wind patterns, coil-geometry, coil variance etc? How are you so sure your listed specs will give you that EQ/output response?

For a dream pickup, either experiment making pickups yourself messing around with specs and see what you like. Otherwise it would be foolish to say, call up the SD Custom shop, give a list of production specs, and then say "I want this-". Demanding certain specs are only going to limit the options, and most likely will not get you what you want.
 
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Re: Dream humbucker design

My ideal humbucker cannot exist. It:

- Sounds exactly like a P90.
- Looks exactly like a covered humbucker.

I don't really love the humbucker sound most of the time. It's too smooth and bottom heavy for me. I do think they look mighty classy, though. And I like my guitars looking pretty much stock old-school style, even if they are modified.
 
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Re: Dream humbucker design

Myaccount876 said:
You do know you're putting together small pieces of what makes pickups, and completely forgetting the main part - the actual wind right?

The DCR means nothing in terms of output. DCR just tells you how much wire is on the coil. Pickups are inductors, not resistors (where DCR would actually matter). Besides, what about tension, wind patterns, coil-geometry, coil variance etc? How are you so sure your listed specs will give you that EQ/output response?

For a dream pickup, either experiment making pickups yourself messing around with specs and see what you like. Otherwise it would be foolish to say, call up the SD Custom shop, give a list of production specs, and then say "I want this-". Demanding certain specs are only going to limit the options, and most likely will not get you what you want.
Click to expand...

Already fixed the dc before you said anything. And you cant expect people to know the exact number of winds for any given pickup. This is for fun dude. So just roll with it instead of nit picking
 
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Re: Dream humbucker design

krulty said:
Already fixed that before you said anything. And you cant expect people to know the exact number of winds for any given pickup. This is for fun dude. So just roll with it instead of nit picking
Click to expand...

Last edited by krulty; Today at 08:00 PM.
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Today, 07:56 PM
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And my edit only added the third paragraph.

Where did I say "I expect people to know the exact number of winds"? I'm just being brutally honest. I have no problem with fun; I actually encourage it. I do not like the spreading of wrong information, and try to make corrections when I can.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

Myaccount876 said:
And my edit only added the third paragraph.

Where did I say "I expect people to know the exact number of winds"? I'm just being brutally honest. I have no problem with fun; I actually encourage it. I do not like the spreading of wrong information, and try to make corrections when I can.
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Honesty is fine. But the brutal part comes of (for lack of a better term) "wankerish". No offence intended. But like i was trying to say, The average guitarist wont know the exact number of winds and all the other factors that affect the sound. So i just generalised it. That why i call it a "dream" because its all in your head.

So forgetting the ins and outs of reality. And to get back on track. Whats your "dream" pickup?
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

krulty said:
Honesty is fine. But the brutal part comes of (for lack of a better term) "wankerish". No offence intended. But like i was trying to say, The average guitarist wont know the exact number of winds and all the other factors that affect the sound. So i just generalised it. That why i call it a "dream" because its all in your head.

So forgetting the ins and outs of reality. And to get back on track. Whats your "dream" pickup?
Click to expand...

So because many people do not understand, we should give the uneducated a chance to play-along by dumbing it down to false and incomplete "science"? Sorry, but that is my summarization of what you said. Again, false information being spread.

I'm still trying to figure out when or where I said this "exact number of winds" stuff. Instead, I'm pretty sure I said the exact opposite - the number of winds (DCR) does not matter.

The "Brutally" part in my honesty comes when there really isn't any other way to say it without confusing the point. If to you (or others), I come off as harsh, I can't help anyone with their interpretation.
 
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Re: Dream humbucker design

I don't know about specs and such, but a humbucker with the Black Winter's top end, the Invader's midrange growl, and the Screamin' Demon's tight bottom end would be great. And I would probably want it to have a medium output, similar to the Screamin' Demon.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

krulty said:
Nevermind. You killed any fun. Im out
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Putting together words does NOT make a sentence.

That's exactly what you were trying to do.

If it's fun for you, great; FOR YOU.

It's just NOT the same for everybody else.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

Wow you people are silly.

My dream pickup its one that polks folks in their eye.

cg
 
Dream humbucker design

ItsaBass said:
My ideal humbucker cannot exist. It:

- Sounds exactly like a P90.
- Looks exactly like a covered humbucker.

I don't really love the humbucker sound most of the time. It's too smooth and bottom heavy for me. I do think they look mighty classy, though. And I like my guitars looking pretty much stock old-school style, even if they are modified.
Click to expand...

The Bluesbucker is probably the closest thing out there that I know of that fits this but isn't exactly it... But close
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

no...no...no... when you want a custom-wound pickup, here's what you do... you call up the custom shop. then get referred to someone else. then you describe what the sound you want, using a few custom shop models for comparison for this quality and that quality. then you get told to swap around magnets in those custom shop models (voiding the warranties), to see how close it comes to what you want. so.... no.... you don't save them the trouble by dictating specs full of DCR and types of wire and types of magnets and contents of potting wax and types of pole pieces... but you do still have to do all the legwork as well as pay them to make it. so start the thread all over again with that in mind.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

krulty said:
Nevermind. You killed any fun. Im out
Click to expand...

You realise you made this thread to begin with, thinking of the average unknowledgable guitar player, in a forum filled with people who have a passion for this type of knowledge? What did you honestly expect?

It seems from your two threads, if someone disagrees with you or says you are wrong, you get upset. If you ignore people who try to give any form of criticism, including constructive criticism, while praising the group that agrees with you, that is called a self-serving bias.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

I don't know any of the winds, but my dream pickup would probably be a Distortion with an A8 mag. The 59 is prefect as is. But Myaccount is right. You come onto a pickup maker's forum and ask a question, while people here are pretty knowledgeable and know that there's more to a pickup than the production specs. I like the idea, but building a custom "dream" pickup is not like building a custom "dream" guitar.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

Yeah, I don't know the winds either - but I know generally what I like. It's called the sh-55 seth lover neck model in a telecaster.

But, if you could make it sound like a strat neck pickup when split.

And a tele neck model in parallel.

Unfortunately, to get the sound I'm thinking of, the humbucker needs A2, whereas the strat and tele need a5.

Maybe a low wind with a4. Like a 59/Jazz or something, but unpotted. I dunno. These things are fun to think about though.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

jimijames said:
Yeah, I don't know the winds either - but I know generally what I like. It's called the sh-55 seth lover neck model in a telecaster.

But, if you could make it sound like a strat neck pickup when split.

And a tele neck model in parallel.

Unfortunately, to get the sound I'm thinking of, the humbucker needs A2, whereas the strat and tele need a5.

Maybe a low wind with a4. Like a 59/Jazz or something, but unpotted. I dunno. These things are fun to think about though.
Click to expand...

I can't tell whether you're being serious or joking.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

krulty said:
This is for fun dude. So just roll with it instead of nit picking
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Reality has a way of doing that. 25K? Geez. Not a lot of tone quality that hot, and it would probably be used with a lot of distortion, so it's real tone may not be discernable under all that.

With thousands of PU models available today, and many thousands more HB's and P-90's able to be created by changing magnets and coils, what anyone wants is probably already out there. If your 'dream PU' was actually made, it may not sound like you want; you may not like it all. A lot of money for nothing. What's the point of that exercise? You do know that when signature and custom PU's are made, they often test a number of different winds in them until they find one the recipient prefers. That involves some time and takes some of the fun out of the fantasy.
 
Re: Dream humbucker design

I know what he means.

Magnet: Rare Earth Materials - thick as you can go.
Wire gauge: Whatever silver wire used is (UK Gauge might be different to US) (F*** knows how many winds it needs - they don't tell you it's a trade secret ;) )
Wire coating: Poly coated silver wire
Polepieces: 2 black coated blades - X2N style
Potting wax: 100% parrafin
Base plate: Nickel
Cover: Double blade black - SEYMOUR DUNCAN LOGO ON THE PICKUP!!!
Active/passive: Passive
Dc: (I'm told they can get me to 1V+ output so the ohm part is lost on me)
B/M/T: I'm saying 9/4/6. My EQ is all on max but, the distortion pedal gets the right EQ for me.
Output: Nuclear.

Come on fellas, humour the guy - we all know there's more to it than this but, dare to dream.
 
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Re: Dream humbucker design

This is a dream pickup right?? So it doesn't really have to be real right??

Because my dream pickup would know exactly what I'd want and change her output and feel with everything I did. She'd get poppy and clicky when I plugged into the Blues Deluxe and turned up the surf reverb.

She'd get nasty enough to shake your lungs loose throught the Mesas but still have the top end to squeel your ears out when I hit that G harmonic on the sixth string.

And finally, she'd know to fuzz out and get loose when I feel like "not giving a F#^k" about it.

\m/,

So, my dream pickup would actually be a magical alien that can cancel hum, overdrive and amp, act like a vinatage strat, jangle like a lipstick pickup, cream out like a p-90 and just as an added bonus, I want the pickup to be scratch-n-sniff and smell like Brooke Shields.

:werd:

Magnet: Gary Oldman's soul!!!
Wire gauge:BARBED!!!
Wire coating:Sweat from the thighs of Minka Kelly
Polepieces:Definitely Rough cast in the Deserts of Arizona
Potting wax: naaaaaaaaaaaah.
Base plate: Sheet rock from the bowels of my beloved New Jersey
Cover: slutty
Active/passive: No batteries but the pickup would naturally be spiritually active
Dc: Corrupt
B/m/t: Varialble/ alien
Output Yes please

I had a rough 2 minutes this morning. Some d@uche almost drove his truck straight into me and my lungs are blown out from wishing him dead. This thread made me smile :)
 
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