Gibson "Grabber" Bass pickup

[NightWinder]

I have one of these pickups, and apparently the pickup cavity slides in different positions. The Problem........as you guessed, the pushback hookup broke after years of use, right at the base of the pickup where the EPOXY is. Is there any outstanding way to chizzle this shit to get enough wire to hook up a lead? This shit is terrible!!! Who the f@#! thought of potting like this? Wax man!!#Wax!! I came across some '70 gibson humbuckers like this, which had very small Ceramic magnets, and a piece of metal wedged between the magnet and the base of the screws. I suppose that was what they used as a keeper back then.
If you build guitars......Should'nt the pickups be the most important, after all... its not electric without 'em. Thats the first thing your amp sees!! Breaking your ass building guitars, and putting some emg's in does'nt register.............Needless to say........

[Spence]

You may find that you can break the bond between the epoxy and the cover. then you should be able to get at it. Use a very thin sharp knife and try not to stab yourself in the process.

[Joe Gwinn]

I have one of these pickups, and apparently the pickup cavity slides in different positions. The Problem........as you guessed, the pushback hookup broke after years of use, right at the base of the pickup where the EPOXY is. Is there any outstanding way to chizzle this shit to get enough wire to hook up a lead?

A soldering iron equipped with a knife tip (used to cut plastics) can be used to dig hard epoxy out by hand without great danger to the pickup. Use a fan to blow the smoke away, or you will get the mother of all headaches.

Weller makes knife tips for their irons; I assume that other makers do the same for their irons. Or, one can make a knife tip from a worn-out large tip. Make the knife quite blunt, is it cuts from heat only.

[NightWinder]

Geeze, just a headache!!! No buzz comes with that? What a waste. I will report back, after I try the hot knife, this seems more safe than cuts in my hands!! I just need to get at the hookup, and you can barely see where its at. Thankyou for the replys and info. Appreciated. I'll report and let you know!!!

[David Schwab]

I have one of these pickups, and apparently the pickup cavity slides in different positions. The Problem........as you guessed, the pushback hookup broke after years of use, right at the base of the pickup where the EPOXY is. Is there any outstanding way to chizzle this shit to get enough wire to hook up a lead? This shit is terrible!!! Who the f@#! thought of potting like this? Wax man!!#Wax!! I came across some '70 gibson humbuckers like this, which had very small Ceramic magnets, and a piece of metal wedged between the magnet and the base of the screws. I suppose that was what they used as a keeper back then.

Bill Lawrence designed all those pickups for Gibson. I think one of the ideas behind the epoxy was to prevent you from looking inside.... The Ripper pickups have their parts glued in with epoxy, but you can see the insides.

[soundmasterg]

The Ripper ones sound cool.

[David Schwab]

The Ripper ones sound cool.

They are sidewinders, like the ones in the Thunderbirds, and even the Mudbucker...

[soundmasterg]

The Thunderbirds pickups sound good too. I knew they were sidewinders, but I guess they did them differently than the mudbuckers that were on the EBO's? I've got some ideas for sidewinders if I ever get around to winding.

[David Schwab]

The Thunderbirds pickups sound good too. I knew they were sidewinders, but I guess they did them differently than the mudbuckers that were on the EBO's? I've got some ideas for sidewinders if I ever get around to winding.

The EB-0 has a bunch of wire wound on it! They wanted a very deep tone like a pipe organ.

I have one I partially unwound (to 12K). I never saw so much wire on a coil before!

[soundmasterg]

Was the thunderbird pickup the same but with less wire, or is the pickup different in the thunderbird? I knew the EBO's had tons of wire....I think around 22k or something right? What DCR are the thunderbirds usually?

[David Schwab]

They are similar, but not the same pickup. The EB pickup had the screw poles for one thing.

I don't know the DC resistance of the TB, but I did find some picts that I saved.

I have a EB pickup. The coils on the TB are closer together, and it looks like it has a bar magnet in the middle.... but it might just be a thick blade. The EB's coils have a thin blade as the core, with an alnico magnet on the outer end, and the ends that face each other connect to a keeper bar with the screw poles.

I'll take a picture of it when I get a chance.

[TD_Madden]

regarding the idea of using a blade-equipped soldering iron to get thru the epoxy....didn't I read not long ago NOT to get energized soldering-irons too close to a pickup? Maybe I mis-read....

[David Schwab]

regarding the idea of using a blade-equipped soldering iron to get thru the epoxy....didn't I read not long ago NOT to get energized soldering-irons too close to a pickup? Maybe I mis-read....

Soldering guns are bad... irons are OK.

[David Schwab]

Here's a Gibson EB-2 Sidewinder. You can compare it to the Thunderbird pictures.

Note that I unwound a bunch of wire and wired the coils for 4 conductor wiring. The bobbins were totally full originally. Each coil reads about 5.5K now. Those are big honking ceramic magnets!

[rocket]

Could this construction be used to get a Single Coil sounding Humbucker for guitar?

It doesn't have the "dead" coil of the stacked constructions, it has just 1 point picking up the string's movement and it's still humcancelling.

Probably no Fender Sound but a P90 should be in reach.