Do the poles line up? Do you notice any issues with the sound?
Trembucker spaced vs Regular spaced humbuckers
- Thread starter pittbull
- Start date
Do the poles line up? Do you notice any issues with the sound?
Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
A little late to the party, but a trembucker '78 will not fit in a standard Les Paul mounting ring you will have to get a trembucker mounting ring. SD trembuckers are wider and thinner than a normal humbucker
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
They will fit a Gibson plastic ring. I had a Nazgul Trembucker on my Les Paul Tribute. It will be kinda tight, though. If that bothers you, you could just sand a little bit off the inner sides of the ring. It doesn't even have to be all that much. Less than a mm on either side.
Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
You will be able to make either one work. I personally would go for a standard spaced one.
If you have an uncovered pickup trembucker it will fit in the regular mounting ring. All the polepieces will be properly underneath the strings. It won't look 100% perfect with the size difference, but no one will notice until you tell them. A covered trembucker will not fit in a standard ring, so you would have to order one.
A standard spaced '78 will fit in standard pickup ring with or without a cover. The downside is the outer polepieces won't sit perfectly beneath the strings. This is another issue that you would never notice if it weren't pointed out to you.
There are tons of production guitars with standard spaced humbuckers on wider spaced bridges, and they sell just fine. Don't overthink it, at the end of the day you will not be disappointed with either option.
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Was not true for me. I have a Trembucker Custom Shop version and it went straight into my SG and LP just fine.
You can use either.
marcello252
Well-known member
wouln't they be a little little higher in Impedance?
fretburner
Well-known member
My LPC had a 498T with 53mm spacing which is wider than a Duncan Trembucker
I didn't bother to measure the first time around since I assumed it was a Gibson LP, therefore, it should be standard-spaced. Lo and behold, my Duncan Distortion Humbucker did not fit in the Gibson Pickup Covers, and when I measured the string spacing, it was 53mm.
It gave me an excuse to purchase a Custom 5 Trembucker. Now, all but 1 of my LPs have a Custom-series bridge.
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Edgecrusher
New member
Yes TBs always have a bit higher impedance than SH's. With that they always sound like they have a bit more wire as they do, its subtle but its there. IIRC and I might be wrong I think it was even disclosed that when the designing of the TBs was done it was recognized that by making wider bobbins you would have a corresponding shift in tone but that it was preferable to the other solutions employed to increase the spacing. For example on Dimarzio F space pickups, the bobbins are the same width but to move the pole pieces out they had to change the shape of the coil. This has a much bigger effect on tone than maintaining shape but with a bit longer wire.
Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
Weird. Every covered Duncan I've ever used has not fit into a standard epi/gibson ring. Maybe CS uses standard bobbins sizes with wider poles?
Edgecrusher
New member
The CS TB bobbins are the same as the production TB bobbins, This I know for sure. As for if rings fit or not it seems its case by case. Considering the difference in width is about .085in I think manufacturing tolerances in pickup rings could easily account for why some do and why some dont. All of mine fit except 1 and I had to sand it just tad to get it to fit perfectly.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
That's interesting. Maybe they made them wider at some point? I have both a 500T and a Nazgul trembucker at hand, and the Nazgul is slightly wider spaced for sure. The bobbins are also noticeably wider.
Covered.
I can confirm that covered trembuckers don't fit the majority of the standard rings I tried. It was more or less ok in two of them (something like Hosco chrome angled ring, IIRC). But usual uncovered trembuckers fit any pickup ring I have. Tight, but functional.
fretburner
Well-known member
I was surprised myself. It's my only Gibson LP with a 53mm pups
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Reporting back...
I measured the spacing on both my Duncan Nazgul Trembucker an my Gibson 500T. Looks like the Gibson 500T is 52mm, and the Nazgul is in between 52.5 and 53 ish mm.
The bobbin on my Gibson 500T is 67 mm wide. The bobbin on my Nazgul Trembucker is 70 mm. For reference, the bobbin on my Duncan Distortion Neck is 67 mm as well.
Do Duncan Trembucker having wider bobbins have any effect on tone? I would assume the internal design of the bobbins where the wire is wrapped around is very similar even if they make the tops of the bobbins wider, isn't it?
I measured the spacing on both my Duncan Nazgul Trembucker an my Gibson 500T. Looks like the Gibson 500T is 52mm, and the Nazgul is in between 52.5 and 53 ish mm.
The bobbin on my Gibson 500T is 67 mm wide. The bobbin on my Nazgul Trembucker is 70 mm. For reference, the bobbin on my Duncan Distortion Neck is 67 mm as well.
Do Duncan Trembucker having wider bobbins have any effect on tone? I would assume the internal design of the bobbins where the wire is wrapped around is very similar even if they make the tops of the bobbins wider, isn't it?
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freefrog
Well-known member
There's a naked bobbin of trembucker Custom somewhere here. I'll try to find it and to share about its dimensions. In my memories, it was wider than a regular bobbin - and the higher DCR of trembucker coils seems to confirm that. But my brain is getting old and I tend to avoid unfounded claims so I'll have to check that...
Anyway: if there is/was no difference in tone between the two kinds of coils, the copper shield around trembucker bobbins is/would be to keep in mind as a source of eddy currents (softening a tiny wee bit the sound in this case/location).
marcello252 - delayed answer, sorry: same number of turns around a wider bobbin = higher DCR but it doesn't make a coil hotter... Suggestively, Duncan 59 and Trembucker 59 had strictly the same output in mV in a doc crowding my archived data.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
No, I didn't mean between a Duncan Trembucker and a Duncan regultar-spaced humbucker. I'm sure there is a difference between those two.
I meant between a Duncan Trembucker and something like a Gibson 500T where the poles have a wider spacing almos as wide as the Duncan, just the top of the bobbins are not as wide as Duncan Trembuckers.
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Where the poles are isn't the measurement that matters, nor the top of the bobbin. It's the distance around the actual bobbin, which affects the amount of wire on the bobbin.
