Jon Bell

I think once you have wound a few sets of single coils the answer to this question will become clear. A humbucker is not just two single coils stacked side by side. If you take two fender single coils and try to make them into a humbucker they won't fit properly and you will potentially have polarity and wiring problems. A single is bigger than half a humbucker and both singles will have magnets that have to be correctly alligned in order to acheive hum cancelling. In a humbucker both coils are usually identical (in terms of DC resistance, number of turns, wire gauge, etc.) however if you just take two single coils it is very unlikely that they will be identical (bridge, middle and neck singles usually have a different number of turns) so even if you did get it assembled and wired it wouldn't be totally hum cancelling. As I've said before wind a single coil pickup first - you will be surprised how difficult it is to get a decent result. Once you can wind a competent single coil try something a bit more ambitous. There is nothing wrong will coming up with new ideas but I think you might be trying to run before you walk. Good luck.

It sounds like that magnet may have lost some of it's charge. You could try recharging it by using some of the neo magnets mentioned above.

Who's Jimmy Fallon?

Yeah the sound will change a bit if you remove the cover. It won't neccessarily make it sound worse just slightly different.

I've done this on a few guitars. Once the cover comes off, the pickup will be coated in wax. There are several ways to remove it. Sometimes you can be lucky and all the wax will comes off with the cover but other times the pickup will be totally encased in wax.

I'd imagine that he wound 6 (or 12 if it's a humbucker) individual coils which are then sent to 6 very simple onboard distortion circuits. These six signals would then need to be mixed together and sent to the output jack. Because each string is distorted individually it means that your can play multistring harmonies, etc. without them sounding messy. But I still think it would be very difficult. If you've not got any experience with pickup winding or electronics it will be a very steep learning curve.

Have you ever built a pickup before? A hex pickup is a difficult thing to build, I'd try winding a single coil first -which can be surprisingly difficult. Once you have got the hang of basic winding you could try a more ambitious project. If you are trying to save money just buy the pickup you are trying to copy ( a Dimarzio?), it will be a lot cheaper in the long run.

I think a lot of actives use very weak coils which are boosted by the onboard preamp. If you could get them working without a battery I'm guessing the output would be very low.

You could try these guys: http://www.stickylabels.co.uk/holographic....9a87d7f06a6df70

I would assume "function" would mean parties, weddings, and the like... That is what I meant.

I used to play in a function band but I just play in small band for fun now.

There was a guitar in the 80s that used this pickup design. It had a pan control for each string so that you could arrange the 6 strings however you wanted in the stereo field. EVH briefly endorsed it but it was covered in knobs so I think people thought it was too complicated. Cool idea though. Here is a picture of a similar pickup that Jason Lollar designed. http://www.lollarguitars.com/custom_pickups.htm

If you wound two (small three string) coils in different directions, with different polarity on the magnets it would work as a humbucker. You could then stick these two smaller coils together in the v shape you've described. Some people have used a similar design to get a humcancelling single coil. Unfortunately it is quite an ambitious project so, unless you've got a lot of pickup winding experience, I'd stick with winding a few singles and humbuckers first. Any problems you have with the simpler pickups will be amplified with this complex, experimental design.

http://www.flying-v.ch/pickups/pickups.html "1982 V2 : the first batches came with boomerang shaped PU's. It is not clear if they are single coils or mini humbuckers although the timbre and output suggest single coils but they are composed of 2 coils in a chevron disposition. The lack of success of those prompted Gibson to issue the remainder V2s with regular humbuckers. "

I think I've seen pickups like that before from one of the major guitar companies, I can't remember which though. As jefm said you'd have to wind two different coils as I think it would be nearly impossible otherwise.

It could be a screw or something vibrating inside the guitar or pickups. However I've found that all pickups will start squealing if you give enough volume and gain on your amp. Try standing further from your amp and don't face it when you play (although you might be doing this already.

I know someone who used camphor for wood turning. He said it was quite hard to work and has a very strong, distinctive smell. He liked the smell but his wife hated it.

You spelt orientation wrong.

Have you got a picture of this jem? What did you use to route the pickup cavities, etc? Thanks

I've used shellac a bit in the past with good results but after a bit of research I've found that these are the downsides of it. 1) Alcohol messes it up 2) It's not water proof 3) It can scratch easily Assuming this is true could I get round it by spraying a few coats of polyurethane (from a can) on top? Would this make it alcohol and water resistant and a bit more hard wearing? Are there any downsides of this?

"maestro (for the old acorn computers.. remember that?)" I remember spending many hours trying to type in "We are the Champions" on an Acorn It sounded awful and was a bugger to edit chords if I remember rightly.

Hi, I'm looking for plastic to build a scratchplate out of. I know WDM sell blanks (and a few others places) but I've also contacted a few plastics companies and I can get blanks much cheaper from them. The companies I've contacted are selling acrylic sheets, is this what scratchplates are made from or is it some other type of material?

Anyone got a link?

The front is yellow and the back is black - do you have a side on picture to show the change?

Hi, My router has a dial that allows me to dial in a variety of diffrent speeds, presumably different speeds are needed for different jobs. What are the pros and cons of a fast or slow speed?