shakyhands

That is where the screw goes to attach the bobbin to the winder. I can't remember how big it is ... I think 1/8"

Didnt think of that. I was just thinking about using double sided tap. Now it's obvious. Thanks

Higuys. Maybe silly question but I am looking at the top of a Fender Stringmaster (steel guitar) pickup and thinking of maybe trying to wind one similar. Now in the middle of the top bobbin flange, there is a small hole in between the two centre pole pieces. Were they put there for wax potting? Can someone tell me size of hole and why its there?

Marksound's right, i've been pulling container loads of alloy wheels out of Asia for over 15 years with everything being built to order and you must stress what, where and when EVERYTIME you order...as he said, never assume ANYTHING.

Jem

I agree with both of you. That you should not assume but my point is that if sets are advertised as "Guitar Machine Heads" , Guitar Machine Heads, i.e 6 minimum should be supplied, especially Kluson styles that were made from 1925 onwards for Gibsons, Fenders etc.So although its a pain in the ginger. I have learnt a costly lesson. I suggested to the company that if only 4 pieces per set are their standard for these then they should not be advertised as sets of "Guitar Machine Heads" without some sort of statement to the effect that 4 piece sets are their standard (because one customer buys heaps to place on his 4 string ukeleles they think that 4 piece sets are standard for these.So it shows their inexperience and lack of knowledge) BTW they also sell fuel pumps, shoes and fabrics, so I am guilty of "assuming" and will not do that again. This should also be a lesson for other buyers of parts from Asian suppliers. One other thing . Lots of asian companies state that they manufacture parts, but they are full of crap. You find out later that they are actually trading companies and know nothing about guitars. One company that supposedly manufactured parts asked me to explain to them what a Tele bridge was. Even though they reckoned they made parts to suit Fender style guitars.

I know I should have specified 3 left 3 right or 6 inline etc but to get 4 pieces in each set? How many people here would expect to get only 4 pieces per set?

How about this guys?

I got onto an asian company for cheap machine heads as I wanted to buy a number of machine heads in bulk. I ordered different types and also a few sets of Kluson style machine heads. I didnt care whether they were 3 a side or 6 inline so just ordered by part no. and quantities wanted. I thought they'd send either 3 a side or 6 in line or (ask me in an email )...on plates or individual. It didnt matter to me. When I received the order, all other types of machine heads were correct but Kluson style sets were only 4 pieces to each set. I contacted the company and their reply was "We mainly sell 4 piece sets so you should have specified that you wanted 6 piece sets" I said "You have them listed as guitar machine heads and therefore one expects 6 pieces per bloody set !" They replied "Our main buyer only wants 4 piece sets for small hawaiian guitars" I said " I dont give a stuff what your main buyer wants if he's putting them on ukes thats fine but most people think of guitar machine heads sets as having 6 pieces per set. You advertised them and listed them as GUITAR mACHINE HEADS. I will look at these as 3 a side sets then and you can send me the 2 middle pieces for each set I ordered. Sorry, cant do that. Maybe we put them in next order from you. Pigs Bum !! I wont be ordering from them again. If they mainly sell 4 piece sets of these Kluson style heads, God, how many sets do they normally sell to anyone?

Allparts and Guitar Electronics also sell 250/500 concentrics, which may be exactly what you need. Hook up the neck to the 250, bridge to the 500. If the bridge is a bit bright you can use the tone control to take out the icepicks, too. That setup should get you the most compelling neck/bridge output difference you're looking for.

As for the other guy's guitar, tell him to turn down the volume on his guitar. It's that simple.

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Thanks for your advice mate. Appreciated. Better still my brother could pull the plug on him.

If you replaced the single volume control with a stacked concentric pot, you wouldn't have to drill any new holes in the control plate, either.

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Sounds a good idea. With concentric pots at 500k is each stack 250k? I have only seen 500k concentric stacked pots advertised.

While we are on the topic of volume, my brother plays in a duo and has the same amp as his partner. My brother with the tele and his partner with a 2 humbucker solid body guitar. My brother complains that although they have the same amps and the same settings. His partners guitar is excessively loud if pots on guitars and controls on amps are set exactly the same.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but would this be due to humbuckers having more output and also the use of 500k pots on Humbuckers and 250k on brothers tele single coils?

Thanks for your posts guys. Sorry I didnt respond quicker. My computer shat itself.

I've let my brother read the posts. Probably will try first, placing a resistor in series with the neck pickup. The post re wiring the pups in series makes sense too as it would act like a humbucker. With more output (If I am correct)

Thanks guys

I myself, would use a volume pedal. Or adjust pickup heights. On my brothers older axe, he changed bridge pickups and the pickup was adjusted a bit closer to the strings than the original. He loved it because it had more volume. I suggested this to him and he mentioned the guy that said you can put a switch in. For some reason (which I cant work out) my brother doesnt want to turn up volume pot on his axe when he switches to bridge pup or use volume pedal. He wants a switch.

I told him to get this guy to explain the procedure to him or me and find this guy is now in another state.

My little brother can be a real pain sometimes.

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

Hi, My brother has a Tele clone and wants to be able to use a switch to go from neck pup to bridge pup, but increasing volume for lead playing without using volume pot. He then wants to be able to switch back to neck pup for rythmn playing at original volume level.

He said a guy told him about "bridging the volume and tone pots" (whatever that means) and putting another switch in.

He also wants to play around with phase switching so I thought. Maybe a 5 way switch. 1st = neck, 2nd = neck and bridge, 3rd = bridge, 4th = out of phase neck and bridge, 5th = volume boost on bridge pup (if this can be done)

appreciate any suggestions and simple wiring diagram if possible

He was hoping that he'd somehow be able to wire a socket to use an external speaker as well as the main internal amp speaker.

He can do that without too much trouble, provided his power amp will handle the lower impedance - he just can't use the headphone jack to do it. It's very easy to install an extension speaker jack that will either cut off the main speaker, or simply add another to the circuit.

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Thanks for the messages guys. Much appreciated

Thanks guys. No the speakers arent powered. I suppose the best term to use for what my brother wants is "Foldback" speaker for his guitar.

He was hoping that he'd somehow be able to wire a socket to use an external speaker as well as the main internal amp speaker.

Hi, my brother has a small Zoom brand 35watt guitar amp. If he plugs 1/4" headphone jack into head phones socket on amp he gets a nice tones and effects coming through headphones. He tried plugging a speaker into the headphone socket and it sounded real muddy. There is no other output socket on amp.

Is it possible to wire up a switch, to cut amp speaker and have a monitor speaker plugged into headphones socket ? Would this cutting out of main speaker help to retain the good tone?

I thought that maybe, plugging in to headphone socket and still having main speaker connected, the impedence of both speakers may be cause of muddy tone.

Any advice would be appreciated.

We wouldn't have so many new inventions if it weren't for those slight variations\improvements made to existing design.  We wouldn't have the humbucker, the solid body, heck, not even the electric guitar.  Saying that, I encourage people to be creative and try something new if you have an idea.

By the way, I think there is a loophole to help protect your intellectual property without having to get a patent.  Something like mailing documents describing your invention and such, saying you invented it and all that, just like patent papers pretty much, to yourself, your attorney, and an unbiased witness.  Then if you ever have to go to court over your idea being copied, you can have the postmaster general confirm that the date stamped on the packages are correct and that they were before the other made use of such technology.

Where's that dude who's taking law classes?  Maybe he can explain better or correct me.

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Jason has been putting out the book for about 8 years and although it was fun and many copies were sold, he has decided not to keep it in print. It apparently interferes with his main love, which is making pickups.

Stewart Macdonald have a few copies for sale I believe.

I have the book (wont sell it though) and its a beauty. Well worth having.

to get to the pickupmakers forum its http://www.firebottle.com/ampage/

I started out in a daze as to how to make guitars and pickups. The info I found here has helped a great deal. I wind pickups now having bought Jason Lollars book and also surfing the net for pickup info. http://www.guitarnuts.com has lots of info and tips on pickups and guitar wiring and also check out http://www.firebottle.com

and go to the pickupmakers forum.

Hope this helps a bit.

Hi, check out this site. They are on the Gold Coast, not far from Brisbane. Very helpful people and get many guitar builder hobbyists buying timber from them. One of their workers is into building guitars so very handy people to contact.

http://woodworld.com.au

Hi Lovecraft, yeah it is only a brand name, and apparently the specs are supposed to be the same but have heard that other fibreboards are not as good to work with as Forbon, but I cant see how much of a major difference there would be.

I havent got a sample of the chinese fibreboard yet, but believe that if I used it, it would appear to the naked (or clothed ) eye to be no different.

My main reason for wanting fibreboard is to make vintage style pickups.

Thanks LukeR

I thought maybe even VHS movie cases would be worth considering too.

As Forbon for making pickups is not available here in Australia, I am thinking of getting some Chinese Vulcanised Fibreboard from the manufacturer in China. The prices are pretty good and ordering from USA and Stewmac etc is too pricey due to currency conversion and shipping costs etc. Ordering the Chinese Fibreboard seems a much cheaper alternative for me.

Has anyone here ever used the Chinese Fibreboard, and if so what was it like to use? I dont imagine that it would be as good as Forbon but if you have used it I'd appreciate your comments.

Happy birthday Fiona

Your mate Billy

Hope it works for you. It should. If all you did was lower the strings and havent touched the electronics, lowering the pickups should solve the problem.

Les - O - Caster......sounds like a spam out fishing !

Sorry, the devil made me say that.

Just my 2 cents worth. My brother had same problem. Try lowering the pickup to about the same measurement as the level the strings came down. You may have to do a bit of playing around to get it right. If the strings are too close to the pole pieces, you actually reduce the amount of vibration in the string, thus volume and tone levels suffer. My brother had the same problem and just taking the pickup down slightly made a great difference to the volume level.

I'm no expert (Yet ) Hope this helps.