Buying and inductor to make a varitone

[RoadToNever]

Maybe I'll try one of each series for future projects, they're not terribly expensive parts. I'd tip you off about using resistors in series with each pickup for a decoupling effect except that mudbucker is some monster in terms of inductance. The trick works pretty well on lower impedance pickups, though. David Schwab will have a thing of two to say about individual buffer circuits btw, he's a big fan of them.

[hpj]

Making my own inductor...

Since this thread seems active again I wonder if maybe someone has an answer for me. Can someone describe how I'd go about building my own inductor for an L6-S? Like wire spec, # turns, core diameter, etc. Someone earlier that it was simple to make... I'd like to give it a try.

[David Schwab]

Since this thread seems active again I wonder if maybe someone has an answer for me. Can someone describe how I'd go about building my own inductor for an L6-S? Like wire spec, # turns, core diameter, etc. Someone earlier that it was simple to make... I'd like to give it a try.

If you look at the photo I posted of the L9-S Ripper bass, you can see that the inductor for that and the L6-S is a 1/4" steel bolt, a nut and three washers. I know someone that rewound one, but unfortunately he didn't keep notes. I'd think if you look up info on winding wah pedal inductors, it should follow suite as far as wire gauge. The L6-S inductor was wired up as a humbucker with the two halves separated by the middle washer.

[BassDude]

Larger EI-19 core, otherwise similar specs. Chances are good they are better suited - i did not try until now.

BTW: core saturation affects low frequencies earlier than higher ones. So a bass is more demanding in this respect than a guitar.

would the TU series with the EI-24 core be even better for bass? http://www.mouser.com/catalog/specsheets/XC-600133.pdf

[bea]

Yes, probably, but possibly also no - have a look at the frequency response: it looks as if the core had pretty large losses at low frequencies. The size might also be a problem. At least in the Epiphone EB-3 it will be difficult to fit into the instrument without woodworking.

My impression from the circuitry: it sounds totally different from an active notch filter and inferior, just dark and nothing else. The impedance of the circuitry outside the notch is too low and damps the pickups too much. Hence the inductivity must be chosen significantly larger than the 1.5 H i used. I recall the Gibsen themselves used L=8H, didn't they?

BTW: larger inductivity means less current through the circuitry and less tendency toward saturation.

[cyclecamper]

Inductor perhaps from Gibson EB? Don't know what GA-90-10 means.

Vintage Gibson Choke Varitone 60's 70's EB ES 345 L6 s Ripper RARE | eBay

[cyclecamper]

I sure wish I knew EXACTLY how to wind that inductor in the original L6S. I have a new reissue L6S and it's nothing like the original. Standard tune-o-matic instead of the big high-mass bridge. The original rotary switch had EVERY possible series/parallel/in-phase/out-phase connection except NOT the possible wirings of the pickups themselves...Bill Lawrence always ran his pickups as humbuckers, and didn't offer any coil-tap. The knobs are different too, the original used that inductor.

I figure that if I rewire my new reissue like the original, I can add a switch for each pickup to handle the coil-tap.

[bea]

Small correction:

Hi there, just a quick note on the cheap Xircon transformers: i used one of the TL series (i.e., with a small IE14 core) in a Varitone of an Epiphone EB3.

That's wrong: i actually used a 42TM018 which has the larger EI19 core and 1.5 H.

They are driven into (iron) saturation, at least if the circuit is undamped, especially if the notch frequency is low. Well, an efficient method to build a passive fuzz, but that's not what i intended.

So for bass usage i would at least use a Xircon 42TU001 / ...012 / ...019 - if space is sufficient.

[bea]

Well, actually old, but i did a few measurements on the TM018. Inductance, with a simple multimeter (Peaktech 2005). Measurement frequency apparently 200 Hz - the manual is not really clear about this, and i did not try to measure the frequency yet).

The TM018 is a 1:1 transformer with both primary and secondary split.
Measurements were taken over the full primary or secondary windings.

primary: 3 H / 585 Ohms
secondary: 3 H / 525 Ohms

primary + secondary: 12.5 H