Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

I built smaller, under-wound "Wide Range Humbucker"

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Mojotone makes one too.
    Here's a vid.

    "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil in the House of Commons." Winston Churchill
    Terry

    Comment


    • #17
      I'm not trying to replicate a Fender WRH in the slightest. I've never heard one, so I couldn't even if I wanted to. My goal has been to come up with a pickup that sounds similar to a strat neck pickup (one of my favorites), but cancels hum and fits in a humbucker routing. Everything beyond that is experimental and hopefully some pleasant discoveries.

      Honestly, with half of the magnets pulled on each bobbin, it sounds FAR closer to a strat neck pickup than I expected. I'm very happy with the result and currently building a couple more. I'm going to try something a bit different with the bridge pickup, using A4 rods on the bridge side bobbin. The worst thing that happens is I don't like it and try again! :-)

      Comment


      • #18
        Nice work. Have You tried wiring the coils parallel?

        Comment


        • #19
          Originally posted by John_H View Post
          Nice work. Have You tried wiring the coils parallel?
          I have not. I wound it lower with the intention of using series only. If wired in parallel it would would have a really low output and, I haven't check the math, but the resonance frequency would probably be too high to hear prominently through a guitar up.

          Comment


          • #20
            Originally posted by Bradley Perry View Post
            I have not. I wound it lower with the intention of using series only. If wired in parallel it would would have a really low output and, I haven't check the math, but the resonance frequency would probably be too high to hear prominently through a guitar up.
            try it, you may well be surprised with the outcome. all it takes is to wire the pickup 4 wire so that you can reconfigure without taking the pup apart

            i just wound a humbucking pickup i designed with 43wire with around 10000 turns and a whopping a5 magnet (different design to std humbucker), and you would swear it was a single coil. all reason and measurements would tell you that it would be dark and muddy, but it is bright and chimes just like a single
            Last edited by mr fab; 02-21-2015, 07:41 AM.

            Comment


            • #21
              Here's the 2nd neck pickup. Slightly different specs and only 3 magnets per coil. I'm calling it the "Full Range Humbucker" so it pays homage to the Wide Range's architecture without presenting itself as a clone or attempt at the exact same pickup.

              Comment


              • #22
                Cool! What are the specs on this one, then?

                I'll ask again (maybe for the engineers to answer): what's going on with the magnetic aperture/profile that allows this 3x3 design to sound like a single coil? What makes this different than one coil having all six screws and the other coil empty? Could it be done with screws every-other string (one coil odd and the other even)? Could a P-ish bass pickup be built similarly?

                Comment


                • #23
                  When you only have one magnetic pole per string the pickup will not pick up double signals, change polarity wise and still have a bit of top en cancelled (very simplified explanation). The pikcup will only "sense" one single part of the string, hence making it very similar to a SC. However the two colts make it humbucking.

                  There are suppliers (I will not mention GFS) that sell a standard HB with two rows of screw poles, no slugs and the poles configures 3+3 as a valid substitute for a WRHB. They have a distinctively more SC-ish sound although they are nowhere close to a real vintage WRHB

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Jason Rodgers View Post
                    Cool! What are the specs on this one, then?

                    I'll ask again (maybe for the engineers to answer): what's going on with the magnetic aperture/profile that allows this 3x3 design to sound like a single coil? What makes this different than one coil having all six screws and the other coil empty? Could it be done with screws every-other string (one coil odd and the other even)? Could a P-ish bass pickup be built similarly?

                    The steel in the coil affects the sensitivity to magnetic fields; therefore keep it the same in both for best hum cancelation.

                    There is a test you can do. Expose a hum bucker to a strong magnetic hum source. Listen. Remove the screws one at a time. You should hear the hum increase as each screw comes out. (Obviously electrostatic hum must be small for the effect to be noticeable, so use a careful set up.)

                    [
                    This test upsets some people. The long process that resulted in my removal from the Musical Instrument Makers Forum started when I described this test, and the head of the electronics discussion there disagreed. I, of course, did not back down.
                    ]

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      With the 3 & 3 threaded magnet setup, it would be similar electrically to a P-Bass Pickup set.
                      The difference would be the guitar pickup uses two long bobbins, the P-Bass two short ones.
                      Both only one sensing magnet per string.
                      T
                      "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil in the House of Commons." Winston Churchill
                      Terry

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Bradley Perry View Post
                        I'm not trying to replicate a Fender WRH in the slightest. I've never heard one, so I couldn't even if I wanted to. My goal has been to come up with a pickup that sounds similar to a strat neck pickup (one of my favorites), but cancels hum and fits in a humbucker routing. Everything beyond that is experimental and hopefully some pleasant discoveries.

                        Honestly, with half of the magnets pulled on each bobbin, it sounds FAR closer to a strat neck pickup than I expected. I'm very happy with the result and currently building a couple more. I'm going to try something a bit different with the bridge pickup, using A4 rods on the bridge side bobbin. The worst thing that happens is I don't like it and try again! :-)
                        I'm not going to testify to it in court, but I seem to recall reading way back when that Jeff Beck had a guitar with WRHs on it, and he removed 3 of the polepieces from each bobbin; specifically, the ones you don't see from outside the cover, with the screw slot on the underside. Of course, since the 3 visible ones in each bobbin are on the opposite strings, it essentially turns a bridge pickup into an angled sensor, similar to a Fender Tele or Strat pickup. And of course, since it remained a 2-coil affair, even if it only had a total of 6 polepieces, it was hum-rejecting.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Originally posted by Jason Rodgers View Post
                          Cool! What are the specs on this one, then?

                          I'll ask again (maybe for the engineers to answer): what's going on with the magnetic aperture/profile that allows this 3x3 design to sound like a single coil? What makes this different than one coil having all six screws and the other coil empty? Could it be done with screws every-other string (one coil odd and the other even)? Could a P-ish bass pickup be built similarly?
                          Probably a little like pulling the screws out of a humbucker and leaving the slugs, an interesting trick to get more single coolish tones.

                          The poles on this one would just be seeing the the string in different places. I've never tried this, so I have no idea how much different it would be than just pulling the screws out of a regular HB.


                          Looks pretty cool though.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Originally posted by Jason Rodgers View Post
                            Cool! What are the specs on this one, then?
                            Resistance: 6.1K
                            Inductance: 2.36K
                            Capacitance: Tough to measure with what gear I have, but through my meter it reads almost identical to my Fender American standard Strat neck pickup compared to the value I get through some PAF style humbuckers I tested.

                            The coil on with the treble pole pieces is slightly higher wound than the lower poled bobbin.

                            I also have larger screws holding the baseplate to the bobbins to increase inductance without increasing resistance or capacitance...because I'm going more for a strat neck pickup style of sound.

                            There is also a high iron content steel bar where the typical humbucker bar magnet would be. This, also, is to increase inductance.

                            It looks like a full range, but it most definitely is not one!

                            Originally posted by big_teee View Post
                            With the 3 & 3 threaded magnet setup, it would be similar electrically to a P-Bass Pickup set.
                            The difference would be the guitar pickup uses two long bobbins, the P-Bass two short ones.
                            Both only one sensing magnet per string.
                            T
                            Exactly.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Hey Brad:
                              Where do you get the cover and baseplate for this last one you made?
                              Also by using the 3-3, you save 6 of the high dollar threaded pole pieces.
                              T
                              Last edited by big_teee; 02-26-2015, 07:42 PM.
                              "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference of the Devil in the House of Commons." Winston Churchill
                              Terry

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Originally posted by big_teee View Post
                                Where do you get the cover and baseplate for this last on you made?
                                I forget where the baseplate was from...one of Stewmac, Mojotone, or Philadelphia Luther Supply. I have to make the baseplate screw holes wider to accommodate the larger screws, and also I will need to widen the pole piece holes to fit the threaded magnets if I want a version where the magnets can be screwed down further. I personally don't need them flush, but I could see where someone else might want that. It wasn't work the extra machining time for me.

                                The cover is from Philadelphia Luther Supply. They are the only place I found with 3+3 covers, and they have a good selection of finishes. Its a good thing, because I didn't want to have to find tools and spend the time drilling holes myself. Only in 49.2mm though.

                                Both are 49.2mm spacing.

                                Originally posted by big_teee View Post
                                Also by using the 3-3, you save 6 of the high dollar threaded pole pieces.
                                It doesn't matter so much since I already bought enough magnets for a few of these pickups. The build doesn't have cost per unit in mind. If I was selling these pickups it would definitely be nice for reducing the cost/price. Those things cost like 8x what a normal alnico rod does, ha. I could actually make this pickup with regular A5 rods of the same length and be pretty happy with it...I hardly adjusted the magnets at all on both of them.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X