psw Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 Hi There.... Many of you will know me from my "Sustainer Ideas". I've been getting alot of questions relating to my project about magnetics and pickups and thought, rather than having everyone start there own threads or extending mine (over 14 pages long and 2000 hits), lets start a new thread on these subjects so that we can all share in the discussions and learn a bit. So, I got interested in winding pickups of an unusual nature as I have a tendancy to try to reinvent the wheel...I also have a curiosity as to why things work the way they do and the details that make something as simple in principle like a guitar pickup so ellusive when it comes to making a good one. Many people wonder why the Fender and Gibson pickups have survived as the standard for 50 years. Well, after quite a bit of research, I kind of get the feeling that they both hit upon something great through trial and error and since then everybody has been trying to emulate them. This has been further reinforced that the standard designs of guitars have not changed and so even if you wanted to try something new it would be constrained by the spaces provided for them in the instrument. Now, pickups are simple creatures... Basically the consist of a magnetic field in which the strings vibrate, and a coil that senses the disturbances caused by these vibrations within the same magnetic field creating an electrical signal analogous to these same vibrations. (And you can quote me on that!) There are essentially two main variables The Magnetic Field including the power, shape and polarity of the field or fields. The Coil or Coils including the size, shape, wire thickness, winding style number of turns and associated concequenses of these variables to frequency response. So, I could go on and on ....(as I do)....and will do, in further installments and feel free to contribute advice and debate, links etc. This tread is for everyone...not just an ask psw...though I will enjoy...so I hope you will too! psw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biohazard Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 Cool idea psw to create this thread. Well done! Your a good asset to this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asm Posted August 4, 2004 Report Share Posted August 4, 2004 im really curious about winding patterns and how they affect the sound, and why. feel free to chime in if you know anything about this! nice topic btw! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Hi guys. This is - I think - the private site of the person who seems to run AMPGE. There's specs on what type of pup has what wire, magnet etc http://mywebpages.comcast.net/skgs/sk/pickup_specs.htm Mr Litchfield is the man to thank for that one I'm getting ready to wind my pups now so any info that I find out, I will post here. I'll also try to swipe the camera from work and make a quick tutorial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A. Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Hello, everybody, I am brand new to this site, and I am glad to see this discusion taking place. I have been winding pups since about January and have had some good luck so far. I am not trying to reinvent the wheel, simply make pups that I like the sound of. I have a question, I have just wound a bridge HB, using 42 AWG, an A5 mag, to a resistance of 8.25K, with a chrome cover and wax potted it. This pup sounds good but it is a little too bright. It seems to have a hump in the hi-mids, this makes it sound very present and cut through the mix nicely but it is just a little much for my ears. I know I could go to an A2 and that would warm it up a bit but at the same time I have heard many pups with practictly the same construction that are warmer than I like. I want to find that middle ground. So, are there things like winding tension, pole piece material, base plate material and so on that would make a significant change in the hi-mids especially? Thanks, and I look forward to your replies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirit Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 while we have some knowledgeable members who shall be able to help you, the ampage forum may suit your needs better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted August 5, 2004 Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 hmm i agree. i think for the most part other than diagnosing some things you have passed me up on the whole winding and expiramenting side of the pickup driver and coil. i wish i had more time to work on such. but with limited tools and stuff its hard. however i just did install well pseudo instal some glass in the shop. i hope to get the instalation done tonight. sorry for hijacking i was goign to suggest perhaps if we could copy the html from the forum and post it on a page for quicker viewing that way we could just scroll down instead of having to keep going from page to page. i guess i could do this now that i mentioned it. lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted August 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2004 Good to see the support... Unfortunately I didn't have time to detail my intentions in my initial post... while we have some knowledgeable members who shall be able to help you, the ampage forum may suit your needs better... Quite right Spirit...that was the idea to send people to the appropriate sources... Hi guys. This is - I think - the private site of the person who seems to run AMPGE. There's specs on what type of pup has what wire, magnet etc http://mywebpages.comcast.net/skgs/sk/pickup_specs.htm Hotrock stole my thunder...SK helped me when I started and the site is a really good gateway to the subject. I was giong to post this site because of his use of Finite Elememt Method Magnetics software...FEMM FEMM is freeware and I just got the new version...great program thats helped me make the invisible, visible... There's probably a link from SK's site...if not, here it is FEMM Freeware If you refer to SK's site you'll find magnetic models of various types of pickups using this software...if you ask nice he may even email you the file. I'll try to find more links from my extensive research and post them here. The idea I think should be to refer people to the experts then meet back here for clarification, discussion and debate...there's plenty of scope for it in this forum. One good thing about this forum is that, by-and-large the people here are not condesending and are a little more open to new ideas. Many of the experts out there are without doubt fairly conservative and this can intimidate people from contributing and looking forward. I've thought of a host of pickup ideas, some of which are coming into being slowly, others yet to be realised...they're not difficult ideas...just not traditional but based on new emerging technology. It maybe just me but I'd like to see guitar technology pushed a little further bye for now psw P.S. I'm no expert!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A. Posted August 6, 2004 Report Share Posted August 6, 2004 Thanks for the support guys. I am a member of ampge, and frequent the forum there. SK is gone right now on military duty and the forum over there is rather quite. So I thought I would branch out and see what other guitar guys thought about my questions. I was able to talk to Jason Lollar a little yesterday about this. He said that it is imparitive to have a "good" gaussmeter at point. Because mag strength has so much to do with tone. And the impression I got from him was that Alnico mags may not have the tighest of manufacture tolerences. So testing the strength of every mag is important to get consistant tone. The other thing he mentioned was winding the coils unevenly. I have done this on several occasions and it sounds good. But I have not had a chance to AB pups one even and one uneven so it looks like I get to do a bit more R&D. The last thing he said was that almost everything in the pup made out of metal contributes to tone, so I need to change one thing at a time and see what happens...ie pole pieces, base plate, cover, slugs, spacer bar. At this point I have to get a gaussmeter and start back in on my R&D. I will let you guys know what happens. Thanks a lot. David A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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