What going on with my hex poles?

[vinnie1971]

I have 1979s humbuckers with 12 adjustable hex pole pieces and I observe the following while testing which is the active coil on coil splits:

When coil split or in humbucking mode the screw driver test in the neck side coil on both pickups is loud and clear yet the bridge side coil is quiet. It makes no difference if I use both coils or coil splits, yet my multimeter is showing full DCR of 8k when with both coils in series and between hot wire and the split wire, DCR measures 4K.

The pickups sound right but just curious about this behaviour. I normally expect a very noticeable noise on this test on all the poles when humbucking and just the active coil when split.

Edit:

Bridge is 8.2k, 4.2k when split
Neck is 7.9, 4K when split - measured outside the guitar.



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[Silence Kid]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

You're measuring DC at the jack? Or somewhere else?

 

[vinnie1971]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

I measured with the pickups out of the guitar. In the guitar I get the same readings off the pickup wires but off the jack there's s drop of about .2k and as I coil split using 4.7k resistors the reading off the jack is 6k


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[darthphineas]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

a 12-hex pole humbucker from 1979. doesn't sound like a Duncan. :33:

do you have the wiring color codes for this pickup?

 

[vinnie1971]

What going on with my hex poles?

It's not a Duncan but this is the best forum for technical advice for pickups on the internet.

It's actually a Maxon clone of the early DiMarzios. The readings I am getting are as per Maxon specifications. I can't find anyone who knows anything other than factory specs for Maxon pickups!

I am thinking that the coils are asymmetric or maybe the hex keys are some alloy with less iron content - I have found somewhere to get replacement poles.

I do wonder if these poles are making the pickup excessively bright especially with Alnico 2.

I have done magnet swaps and lots of dried potting came out with the magnets. Not all just most of the bridge side poles are quiet on the screwdriver test. It's odd.

None of the poles are shorting out so there's no wire touching the poles ( I had this on a pickup once where a wire touched the the pole and if a string touched the same pole the pickup went silent but that was a faulty pickup)


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[Mincer]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

I was gonna ask...who makes it?

EDIT: Your post got in before mine. Can we see a pic of it? Now I am curious.

 

[vinnie1971]

What going on with my hex poles?

Maxon used to put a Maxon serial number on DiMarzio pickups - many 1970s ibanez, Greco and other high-end Japanese guitars came with Maxon v1 and V2 pickups which were super 2 and super Distortions - they even kept the DiMarzio sticker. I think that was short lived though and Maxon ended making their own- the good old law suit era!

2 luthiers have seen my guitar and though they were DiMarzio Super distortion then super 2 after checking the DCR. But I contacted DiMarzio and they said not theirs as there's no DiMarzio stamp.

Here it is, very rare beast in brown. They are nearly always twin cream ( I wonder if that's why DMZ patented that) There's only one hookup wire, the outer braid is ground just like 1971 to 1975 Super Distortions. The extra wire is mine for coil splitting.

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[vinnie1971]

What going on with my hex poles?

According to the Maxon code it was made on product line 2 and was made July 1979.
The double size ceramic magnet and DCR reading of 8K apparently , according to a helpful chap on the vintage Japan axe forum means these are possible the earliest production Super 80s ( super 2 clone) - the previous model Super 70 used alnico 8 which in these pickups sounds very nice. The ceramics are just too harsh and shrill for my liking when played clean or with low gain. Great for high gain though.


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[Silence Kid]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Sounds like you may also not get hum canceling in "humbucker" mode with that issue? I'm curious how the guitar is wired...

What if you remove it and alligator clip it to an amp/cord to take the wiring out as a variable? Do both coils then respond to a screwdriver?

Possible the poles aren't touching the actual magnet for some reason?

 

[vinnie1971]

What going on with my hex poles?

Sounds like you may also not get hum canceling in "humbucker" mode with that issue? I'm curious how the guitar is wired...

What if you remove it and alligator clip it to an amp/cord to take the wiring out as a variable? Do both coils then respond to a screwdriver?

Possible the poles aren't touching the actual magnet for some reason?

It's wired as normal but my coil splits takes the fly lead soldered to the serial link wires to a push pull and when pulled instead of grounding the cut coil via a wire I use s 4.7k resistor to maintain a tiny bit of signal so it sounds more like a true single coil than a weedy coil split.

It's still hum cancelling and the tone in full on - it's just wired that some poles are quiet when doing the screw driver test. It's full humbucking tone. It's possible the poles aren't touching the magnets, they slid in quite easily, but isn't that how DMZ air "tech" works? Insulate the magnet from the poles.

I bet that's it while magnet swapping I bet the coils have moved apart slightly as all the potting is dried and come away they are stuck together by that mass of wax.


One thing I haven't tried is humbucker and coil split in each string ....


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[Silence Kid]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Good point on the "air" tech, no clue myself how far the magnet can be from the pole before it affects anything.

 

[vinnie1971]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Good point on the "air" tech, no clue myself how far the magnet can be from the pole before it affects anything.

You were right, I just backed off the back plate screws and squeezed the coils together while tightening and it's all good now

Not really any change in tone possibly not quite as trebly but still bright.

The magnet runs straight between both rows of hex poles and touches each one now.

It's a fun experiment trying A2 neck A4 bright, A4 neck A8 bridge are my favourite combos, the first a more vintage 50s sound the second a nice vintage 70s sound - seeing as I have APH1s (that were in this one but going in another guitar) and Gibson 498t / 490r in a Flying V, the A4/A8 combo is a sound I don't have and suits the guitar, a 1979 Cushin Gakki El Maya EM1300 which in its day was a high end guitar. Both combos sound really good though.



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[Mincer]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Wow, a brown pickup. The late 70s were bad for colors. Remember Fender's 'International Series'?

 

[vinnie1971]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Wow, a brown pickup. The late 70s were bad for colors. Remember Fender's 'International Series'?

View attachment 78363

Yep, hence my APH1s are lined up for my dearmond instead. It's a seventies axe and I want to keep the seventies brown vibe and brown tone [emoji6]

Plus putting A4 I the neck and A8 in the bridge finally those pickups give a tone I love [emoji4]



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[darthphineas]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Wow, a brown pickup. The late 70s were bad for colors. Remember Fender's 'International Series'?

View attachment 78363

Nice

 

[vinnie1971]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Wow, a brown pickup. The late 70s were bad for colors. Remember Fender's 'International Series'?

View attachment 78363

I actually really like 1970s strats. My favourite headstock shape and I love the colours!


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[Silence Kid]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Wow, a brown pickup. The late 70s were bad for colors. Remember Fender's 'International Series'?

View attachment 78363

I love those; think they're gorgeous Really want a Comp. Stripe Mustang most though.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Wow, a brown pickup. The late 70s were bad for colors. Remember Fender's 'International Series'?

View attachment 78363

Is it wrong that I actually like almost all of those colors?

 

[Mincer]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Haha, I don't like them at all! Kind of plasticy and flat, even though they are gloss. I hated the 70s Strats, but hey, I like the early 80s ones!

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: What going on with my hex poles?

Hard work picking between seventies thick-skin finish boat anchors and two-knob front-routed 'Freeflyte' models But I do prefer the seventies aesthetic; orange and brown are my two favorite colors.