J Moose
New member
Re: Hole in the Tonechart?
Exactly. Which is what I was getting at before...
The DC on a pickup only says how much wire is on there & nothing else. Think of it as a measure of "feet" rather then actual output...
So with 42 gauge wire, which is thicker... you can't fit as many turns around the bobbins as 43 gauge which is thinner. So (and I have no idea what the numbers are) if you had one pickup with 9000 turns of 42, that might equal a pickup with 12000 turns of 43... but the DC on the 43 will be higher. The thickness of the insulation also makes a difference in how it all lays together...
Now... I can't recall exactly what Frank told me here... but with the Demon, I think he said it was an underwound "Custom" as opposed to an overwound '59. There's also subtle "tricks" that can be played... like the trembuckers have slightly more wire since the bobbins are slightly longer.
What kicked off my whole conversation with him was that I have a guitar with a Custom 5 that doesn't sound "right"... but I don't have another C5 to compare it with so I sent him a short clip alternating between the questionable pickup and my LP with an Alnico II.
Even though the DC on my "mystery" custom is within spec, the output and sound of the pickup is weak. Weaker then the AII. Not sure why, I haven't sent it back yet... but its entirely possible that the magnet was degaussed, aka weakened.
Bottom line is there's a lot more to the sound of pickups then wire...
This is an excerpt from one of Franks emails that I thought was pretty cool... and fairly relevent;
----------
I just pulled an A5 from a 1980’s JB wound by MJ, some people think the old ones were different but I measured it and it’s not different. But the magnet strength was all over the place. The treble slug pole piece was nearly dead, because that corner was degaussed, but even across the middle it was different. I regaussed it, and it was back to full charge but there were still some spots on the magnet that were weaker than others. That suggests that it was sitting in a drawer with other pickups, another Ceramic probably, or a soldering “gun” degaussed it, etc. In other words, if a magnet isn’t damaged, it will regauss just fine. So if someone bought this “vintage” JB on ebay for $200 they would swear it sounds different from “new ones” and they would be right, but not because we are currently building them any differently.
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Show of hands here...
How many us have (or have had!) loose pickups sitting in a shoebox or tossed in a drawer?
I've been totally guilty of that! Many times!
Oops.
Exactly. Which is what I was getting at before...
The DC on a pickup only says how much wire is on there & nothing else. Think of it as a measure of "feet" rather then actual output...
So with 42 gauge wire, which is thicker... you can't fit as many turns around the bobbins as 43 gauge which is thinner. So (and I have no idea what the numbers are) if you had one pickup with 9000 turns of 42, that might equal a pickup with 12000 turns of 43... but the DC on the 43 will be higher. The thickness of the insulation also makes a difference in how it all lays together...
Now... I can't recall exactly what Frank told me here... but with the Demon, I think he said it was an underwound "Custom" as opposed to an overwound '59. There's also subtle "tricks" that can be played... like the trembuckers have slightly more wire since the bobbins are slightly longer.
What kicked off my whole conversation with him was that I have a guitar with a Custom 5 that doesn't sound "right"... but I don't have another C5 to compare it with so I sent him a short clip alternating between the questionable pickup and my LP with an Alnico II.
Even though the DC on my "mystery" custom is within spec, the output and sound of the pickup is weak. Weaker then the AII. Not sure why, I haven't sent it back yet... but its entirely possible that the magnet was degaussed, aka weakened.
Bottom line is there's a lot more to the sound of pickups then wire...
This is an excerpt from one of Franks emails that I thought was pretty cool... and fairly relevent;
----------
I just pulled an A5 from a 1980’s JB wound by MJ, some people think the old ones were different but I measured it and it’s not different. But the magnet strength was all over the place. The treble slug pole piece was nearly dead, because that corner was degaussed, but even across the middle it was different. I regaussed it, and it was back to full charge but there were still some spots on the magnet that were weaker than others. That suggests that it was sitting in a drawer with other pickups, another Ceramic probably, or a soldering “gun” degaussed it, etc. In other words, if a magnet isn’t damaged, it will regauss just fine. So if someone bought this “vintage” JB on ebay for $200 they would swear it sounds different from “new ones” and they would be right, but not because we are currently building them any differently.
----------
Show of hands here...
How many us have (or have had!) loose pickups sitting in a shoebox or tossed in a drawer?
I've been totally guilty of that! Many times!
Oops.
