Humbucker Problem

[nostalgic]

Hello everyone,

Whilst browsing for useful info on the wide range humbucker, I stumbled across this forum.

I have a 73 that feels/plays great but I have been experiencing some problems with the neck 'wide range' humbucker. This is the strange thing... on the neck humbucker setting, every single string sounds good, but when i play the low E, it suddenly sounds like someone switched all the bass off. Whereas the A sounds warm and thick, I get a thin twangy low E.

The problem isn't there when I switch to the bridge single coil. I have also noticed that the low E gets fuller and thicker the more I bend the string towards the A string area, which makes me believe that the problem lies in the 'sensor area' that sits below the location of the low E string.

I know nothing about guitar electronics so I have no idea what are the mechanics inside a humbucker but I would appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction.

One thing which I have tried, upon the recommendation of a friend, was to raise/lower the pole piece sitting below the E string, as I believe this has to do with controlling the magnetic piece or something. I did this, but it made no difference to the sound.

I have also used paper clips to test the magnets of the pole pieces, but the low E pole piece has responded just as well as the others.

Would it be possible for me to turn the humbucker around? I want to see if the high E will be affected if I do this.

I would appreciate it if any thoughts on this. I'm thinking of replacing it with a modern Fender wide range reissue humbucker but I hear they are a lot more muddy. Does anyone know if the Seymour Duncan antiquity pickup is the right size to replace the wide range with?

thank you for reading so far,
Nicholas

 

[Al Heeley]

Re: Humbucker Problem

One thing that springs to mind is you have the low E too close to the pickup, the magnet is 'sucking' in the e-string and damping the vibrations, sometimes referred to as 'wolftone'. If you raise the E saddle a little or drop the bass side of the pickup (as opposed to adjusting the pole piece) to increase the clearance, it might solve the problem.

 

[nostalgic]

Re: Humbucker Problem

Thanks a lot for the suggestion.

I have also lowered the low E side of the humbucker to as low as it can go but this hasn't helped solve the problem.

Please note that when I bend the E towards the A string area, it regains its warm, full tone. So the string height isn't an issue over the A section, so doesn't make sense why it would over the E area.

Would it help if I uploaded a short audio clip to show the difference between the low E and low A?

thanks,
Nicholas

 

[jeremy]

Re: Humbucker Problem

it sounds like the magnet isnt working right. anybody know how those fender buckers are put togeather?

 

[Al Heeley]

Re: Humbucker Problem

Don't the humbuckers have a bar magnet along the bottom that travels the entire width of the pickup, with ferrous pole pieces rising vertically from the magnet towards the strings? How can a magnet work ok except at one end? Me no understandy.

...string height isn't an issue over the A section, so doesn't make sense why it would over the E area.

Only that the bottom E-string is wider and has far more mass and cross section than the A-string, thus will be more susceptable to magnetic forces. But, no, maybe this isn't the problem if you've tried to increase the distance between string and pickup.

 

[nostalgic]

Re: Humbucker Problem

Don't the humbuckers have a bar magnet along the bottom that travels the entire width of the pickup, with ferrous pole pieces rising vertically from the magnet towards the strings? How can a magnet work ok except at one end? Me no understandy.

I got this from wikipedia...

The Deluxe features 2 Seth Lover-designed "Wide Range" humbuckers with "Cunife" (Copper/Nickel/Ferrite) magnetised pole-pieces, each with an independent volume and tone control, and a 3-way toggle switch that activates the neck pickup in the up position, the bridge pickup in the down position, and both pickups in the middle position. The 2004 re-issue version of the pickup, while looking almost identical, is constucted differently from the original 1970s versions - it features a bar magnet underneath the (non-magnetised) pole-pieces. This is one important reason the re-issue Deluxe sounds a little different from the original guitars. Another reason is the use of 250K volume pots, while the original used 1 MEG pots. Using 250K pots on humbuckers make them sound dark and somewhat muddy. The same goes the for Custom Telecaster Reissue.

So it looks like the originals did not have a bar magnet underneath... I'll keep digging around.

Thanks for the input! Someone suggested switching the polepieces around. I believe this is a simple unscrew and screw job. Is there the potential for anything to go wrong?

Nicholas

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Humbucker Problem

It could be that the magnet was dropped on one end or that it was sloppily charged before putting it in the pickup. It is possible for a bar magnet to be stronger in some spots than others. If you had a set of those neodymium boride mags from Stew Mac, you could pull the magnet out and try recharging it. Otherwise, try putting a new bar magnet in there.

 

[nostalgic]

Re: Humbucker Problem

yep... it's the polepiece losing it's magneticity!!! i just went ahead and tried switching the low E and A around. the twang instantly went to the A string... and the polepiece did feel kinda week in it's strength.

so now i guess it's a simple job of getting the polepiece magnetized? do i need to do this at a certain strength? what i mean is... is it possible to over-magnetize an object?

another observation: the problem is gone when i remove the polepiece... ie i get the same wonderful tone without it in place. what is the point of the polepiece then? i read somewhere that sometimes keith richards has them all removed.

thanks everyone,
nicholas