HR design and build thread part III - The build.

muttley600 said:
You never know. One day maybe... As long as we can start with Sissy Strut and you can find a drummer to handle the stabs..;)

Other than that a nice Blue note funk outfit like Lou Donaldson's would be nice...:thumbs up:
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I've got some players here that you'd love. Not as many as back in Louisiana. Back home I could have put you with so many truly funky drumbers you'd have moved!
But here in Florida they're a bit rarer but I have a few..
 
JCH said:
The point I was trying to make is that even passively, anything in the circuit will alter the tone.
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yeah, I got that. And, once again, the reason I asked was that this is an area you obviously know about. I don't doubt you at all.

And I know some very good players that use the crap outta their controls.
It just doesn't work for me ..... vol. and tone especially ( as muttley mentions ) are subtractive controls taking away from the sound and I don't personally like that.
But many players are the opposite. Jeff Beck is constantly changing his knobs and he's awesome.

But when I sit in on someone's rig that's set up for major volume control changes I have a hard time with it.
 
Had time this week to play around with making the final bobbins for the pickups.

After a bit of trial and error I settled on Walnut for the bobbin body as it cuts well and takes threading well. I set up a jigging system that allows me to cut a load of them settled on Rosewood for the bobbin tops as it sems to match well with the f/b and the walnut top Giving just enough contrast.

The jig to cut the bobbin outline.

PICKUPBOBBINS3.jpg

I can cut a whole load of them in no time from a long strip of walnut that sits in the recess.

PICKUPBOBBINS4.jpg

Drilling good straight holes accurately through timber can be a problem as the bit often wanders where the grain wants to take it. The key is to go from both sides of the piece. The jig has holes drilled through the bottom of the board and a metal plate has the corresponding holes to mark and drill from the top.

PICKUPBOBBINS5.jpg

PICKUPBOBBINS6.jpg

Once the holes are drilled I can rip them on a bandsaw to give me the required thickness and make the spacers the same way.

When assembled this is way you get.

BOBBINS1.jpg

BOBBINS2.jpg

Hopefully I shall have time to wind them tomorrow and then they are don and its; back onto finishing the body, set up, install hardware and rock out.
 
fuzzsniffvoyage said:
WOW....nice looking p/u's muttley...
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Milnoque designed em and JCH spec'd them, I just put em together. I'm looking forward to seeing how they sound as this is the first time I've made pickups from scratch. Been a learning curve but I reckon I could now pretty much make any style quite easily and quickly..
 
muttley600 said:
Yeh, I'm quite pleased with them so far.

Winding them tomorrow hopefully. Any last changes of spec now I've wound a dummy from this reel of wire and got a DC rating?
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No, I'd stick with the original specs I gave you as a baseline, and work from there.

OK, recipe's it is.*

For a tele bridge pickup a good starting point would be IMO, you could try South polarity AlNiCo 3 or 5, 8,500 turns of AWG42 poly wound clockwise with moderate to heavy scatter. The heavier scatter will soften the resonant peak, and the slight overwind will lower it. Both of these combined will yield a pickup that is slightly mellower than a vintage 50's or 60's tone, and should blend well with a P-90.

On the P-90 at the neck. I would wind North up AlNiCo 5 CCW around 9,700 turns with a mild scatter. Be careful with the P-90 bobbins. If you use too much tension they will flare badly, and you won't be able to get the cover on. If the A5 is too harsh, try A2 magnets. This is a slight underwind which will make the pickup a little brighter.
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Masked up the primed body and shot a couple of coats of black on it. Next job is to clean up the edges and shoot a load of top coat on it.

Going to wind them bobbins now.

black.jpg


black1.jpg
 
Right. We have action on the pickup winding.

I've wound three pickups to JCH's spec

Two Tele style bridge pickups. One with Alnico 5 magnets and one with Alnico 5 magnets. 8500 turns clockwise of poly coated 42 AWG copper wire with moderate scatter. Both have come in at around 6.75k which is good for comparison.

The P90 style pickup was wound with 9700 turns counterclockwise of poly coated 42AWG and that comes in at 8.23K. I can swap the magnets out for comparison in that one as they are held in place by the base plate.

A few pics of the process on one of the pickups.

winding1.jpg

winding3.jpg

And a link to a quick video of the winder in action. It's very rough as I need two hands to wind and the vid is from my phone stuck in a boom stand. Hopefully I'll get a better vid done at the weekend when I can get some help in the workshop from one of my boys...:o

Oh and sorry about my listening choice while doing it. I forgot to drop the background volume..



Finally tested the pickups by hot wiring them up to a guitar lead and sticking them through my workshop amp. An Old Carlsboro Sherwood Jr.. Just to get because I could.

 
Now calling JCH...

What do you think would be the best way to go about potting these? In the past I've just used wax...

@ Anyone who has a preference. What about the tuners? Are we still going with the Schaller bridge milnoque picked out?
 
I've never potted with anything other than wax. I use a double boiler, and try to keep the temperature below 145*f. Too much heat could damage your bobbins, release the glue etc. Is there a baseplate on the bridge pickup? The thickness/size of it could play a big part in shaping the sound. Keep in mind that tele's have a huge amount of metal close to the coil. The bridge completely surrounds it, and there is a large plate on the bottom. If it seems overly bright, you can tame it by adding some metal underneath.
 
JCH said:
I've never potted with anything other than wax. I use a double boiler, and try to keep the temperature below 145*f. Too much heat could damage your bobbins, release the glue etc. Is there a baseplate on the bridge pickup? The thickness/size of it could play a big part in shaping the sound. Keep in mind that tele's have a huge amount of metal close to the coil. The bridge completely surrounds it, and there is a large plate on the bottom. If it seems overly bright, you can tame it by adding some metal underneath.
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I'm just going to pot with the usual mix of paraffin and candle wax I've used in the past in that case. I use an old glue post so no problem with heat control.

The bridge pickups don't have base plates yet. I was going to experiment later down the road once I have them installed. I've made this whole thing so I can tinker with it.. The P90 does have a baseplate as it won't function without one. A present it is a fairly hefty piece of bronze that I cribbed from my plane making stock. As I'm sure you will tell me I need to get this together before I can do much more in the way of experimenting. Right now I'm more about documenting the process so I can refer back. I do that all the time.
 
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