Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

[SoundAt11]

I love the Stag Mag and old "The Mag" bridge pickups: lots of detail, crisp, clear, loud. However, I'd love to have a lower-output neck equivalent with rod magnets. So for starters, I need a neck humbucker that has 12 slugs. None of them do, but the Invader neck has 12 fat allen screws and I believe it uses two coils (most likely the same ones used in the Jazz neck model) intended for slugs. So, based on my teardown of "Stag Mag" and "The Mag" pickups, it would be a matter of:
Acquire an Invader Neck model
Take out Allen screws
Take out Ceramic Bar Magnet
Press in the 12 Alnico rod magnets (and would I have them set in opposing polarities from one coil to the other?)
Add in spacers to ensure that the rods are not touching the bassplate (that's how the "Mag" pickups do it).
Add some new tape and screw it all back together

So, before I go to all this trouble, would this work? Would a 7.5k humbucker made up of two rows of Alnico 5 rods sound terrible (or awesome)? I'm expecting it to be clear and bright with moderate output.
Additionally, could I just drill out the plastic in a screw coil of Jazz neck (on a drill press, of course) instead of having to get the Invader neck? I have one of those already laying around.
thanks

 

[Davii]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

Spooky, I was pondering this sort of thing only last night! Are the bobbin holes different? I'd assumed them to be identicle.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

Single coils and humbuckers are based on a different construction principle. Did you check the diameters?
different mag orientation on the poles is right. not touching the baseplate is right. the comb filtering effect on this contruction is high, but inherent. i would use weaker mag types like A3 for the neck to reduce the stratis effect (low E sound dead and out of tune) and A5 for the bridge.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

Interesting idea. However, would there be a risk of damaging the winding when drilling out the screw holes?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

yes but if you are careful you should be fine. if you didnt use a drill press the chances might be higher of messing up the coil.

i think its a fine idea and might turn out great. id measure once you have the pup and see what size rods you need

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

If you get .187" diameter rods -- but they need to be very short, a little over a half inch -- they will fit fine in a standard slug bobbin because humbucker slugs are .187". Sometimes they might be a little loose but a little bit of thin crazy glue will hold them. Don't know about the fit with Invader screw holes.

if you didnt use a drill press the chances might be higher of messing up the coil.

Oh, big time. Use drill press ONLY. Really I would advise against drilling out a screw bobbin at all for that reason and because many of them are slightly wider at the very top so the rod won't entirely fill up the hole and will look a little weird.

Also be very careful removing slugs from a slug bobbin. The fit is often very tight which means the potential for all kinds of mayhem...like me...

I recommend a safer route -- just buy two of your favorite neck humbucker, ie, two Seth Lovers, two 59's, etc., and just transplanting the slug coil off one and replace the screw coil of the other one with it. If the baseplate has 12 screw holes then you can easily make a 12-screw version out of the other one that somebody will likely be intrigued enough to buy. Or maybe you'll end up digging it yourself and keep it.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

The Entwistle X2 has two rows of slugs, so you could just remove the double thick ceramic and replace the slugs with alnico magnets. http://www.entwistlepickups.co.uk/pickup.php?puid=X2

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

If you get .187" diameter rods -- but they need to be very short, a little over a half inch -- they will fit fine in a standard slug bobbin because humbucker slugs are .187". Sometimes they might be a little loose but a little bit of thin crazy glue will hold them. Don't know about the fit with Invader screw holes.



Oh, big time. Use drill press ONLY. Really I would advise against drilling out a screw bobbin at all for that reason and because many of them are slightly wider at the very top so the rod won't entirely fill up the hole and will look a little weird.

Also be very careful removing slugs from a slug bobbin. The fit is often very tight which means the potential for all kinds of mayhem...like me...

I recommend a safer route -- just buy two of your favorite neck humbucker, ie, two Seth Lovers, two 59's, etc., and just transplanting the slug coil off one and replace the screw coil of the other one with it. If the baseplate has 12 screw holes then you can easily make a 12-screw version out of the other one that somebody will likely be intrigued enough to buy. Or maybe you'll end up digging it yourself and keep it.

Some very excellent points indeed. The slug coils from two Seths, to avoid the risk of ruining the pup from drilling, makes so much sense. And a 12 screw Seth pup with an A2 mag may actually be very cool.

Also, I would consider one row of A5 rod mags and one row of A2 rods. Then have it wired for series/parallel/split to either coil.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

that said a Seth Lover two slugs with a A3 in the neck and double screw Bridge with A8 sounds cool too

 

[audiocheck]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

Just use the StagMag in the neck!

Lowering it to match the bridge volume, will only give you more bite for the neck slot.

I have one in the neck position of a Les Paul and it is incredible! I flipped mine upside down though, I have my reasons.

 

[SoundAt11]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

Just use the StagMag in the neck!

Lowering it to match the bridge volume, will only give you more bite for the neck slot.

I have one in the neck position of a Les Paul and it is incredible! I flipped mine upside down though, I have my reasons.

I had the Stag Mag in the neck of a Strat and it was dark, loud, and muddy with my rig. I do like the old "The Mag" pickup in the neck. It's the discontinued predecessor to the "Stag Mag": 14k, Alnico 5 rods, flat with no stagger. It's basically perfect in the neck spot, just really loud due to the output and you need a really loud bridge pickup to compensate for the volume. With either a Stag Mag or "The Mag" model in the neck, if I back it away from the strings too much, the tone is weaker. My other thought is get another Stag Mag, swap out one row of the A2 rods for some A5 rods (they're either .187 or .188, same diameter is humbucker slugs), and wire up a spin-a-split pot inside the control cavity so that I can have have the 8k coil with A5 rods along with just a hint of the 2nd coil to buck the hum. That sounds complicated and unconventional, but that's an option, as is just adding a push-pull pot to split it or a Triple Shot humbucker ring.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

I've made several Mag neck pickups over the years and they are very cool. Anything with a PAF-type wind will sound good. The Stag Mag is a "16k" wind, which as you can imagine, puts it square in the neighborhood of JB/Distortion/Invader wind territory. That's why it's more difficult to get it to behave well in the neck position.

Currently my lap steel has a Jazz 7 neck pickup in it that I converted to A5 mags. As some have suggested you can drill out the screw bobbin without having to use two slug bobbins or the Invader neck.

Using A2 in one coil and A5 in the other is also a great idea, giving you 2 different split options. Also making a hybrid from 2 different coils would be great. A 59/Custom hybrid for example would make a great neck Mag pickup, with the Alnico 2 in the hotter Custom coil. I had an A2/A5 Mag on my personal wish list since before ever even working for Seymour Duncan. As you can tell, it never made it. LOL.

 

[SoundAt11]

Re: Thinking of making a neck "Mag" pickup....is this possible

Good thinking, Frank!
Alright, now I'm getting tempted to drill out my Jazz neck and see how this turns out.
There is definitely a gap in the SD lineup for neck pickups, in my opinion. A 5/2 Mag Neck would be perfect, either with balanced coils or make one coil a 6k coil and the other a 1k coil that's just their to buck hum and fill out the humbucker form factor. Dimarzio has the Humbucker from Hell and EJ Custom that fit that at bill.
For some of us, a Jazz neck or a even a Full Shred neck is still too boomy and tubby.