Tweet
I'm sure this isn't a new thing to the guys who've been around here a bit, but I hadn't seen one of these before. Have a few questions if anyone can answer 'em. Mostly just interested in anything anyone knows about these pickups.
I'm an amateur guitar builder, (which is what got me into pickup winding recently) I do a few repairs for local guys, and a dude brought me a beater, cheap as heck LP copy someone left in his basement of a house he moved into. It was a "Pan" brand guitar, with a headstock that was the same shape as a Gibson's, if I remember correctly. I don't know the details of the whole "lawsuit" era of copies, but I feel like that dates it a bit. It had an top formed by bent plywood over a center piece of wood. The pickup rings where stamped steel, fairly rusted, with flaking black paint. The TOM had nylon saddles. (Well, the five that were left.)
It was never claimed despite attempts to find it's owner, so he claimed it as his own. Nothing worked on it, so I got it going for him again. The bridge pickup needed a new lead, and the neck pickup was shot - we put a pickup he had kicking around in there, and I hung onto the neck pickup for him, told him if I ever started winding, I'd try and get it working for him, or he could pick it up any time.
I fell in love with the bridge pickup, it sounded like a cross between a firebird style minibucker, and that tone I always associate with Ricks - Really chimey and jangly. But it dirtied up pretty well. Maybe a little lacking on the bottom end for some guys, but just had a great snappy tone without being brittle.
The neck pickup ended up having a shorted coil - the start of the coil came out under the coil, and the lead wire was attached outside the coil and under the tape - I think the sharp, rusty edges of the metal pickup may have worked it loose.
The coils on the bridge p'up where wound to around 3K each if my memory serves me right (need to dig out my notes) the neck was around 3.6 and 4 They seem machine wound, but there was a definite lump around the bottom of the thing on one. The other seems to have been slightly off center - the lump is on the bottom on one side, and the top on the other.
They seem to be potted after they where taped, (with what appears to be masking tape) but the potting didn't penetrate very deeply - through the few layers of tape, and into the outside of the windings mostly, although it did seep into the bottom of the coil more.
No signs of them ever having had covers. The coils seemed to be potted in something like lacquer. It's quite brittle. But the pickup itself seems to be potted, or assembled, rather; in something else - Maybe lacquer or an adhesive? It seemed to be the only thing holding the whole thing together. It's got a weird brown color, which may be from all the bits that are rusting, but what looks like rust mostly scrapes away as the residue from whatever that compound that is. It's not that brown color on the coils at all, which may mean they were potted with one thing, and then the pickup assembled in something else. It's everywhere in a fashion that implies potting, but it must be an adhesive.
Measured to be 42 gauge with a thin insulation. I'm not sure the insulation, it seemed to be enamel, but I'm not good at telling these things. What are the signs? Tried to rewind with the used wire after peeling the bobbin, but that didn't work. I feel bad doing so much work on this, but this pickup was going to end up in the dumpster, and nothing I've done can be redone better in the future.
Some other things:
Nylon bobbins - these where really thin, and somewhat flared to begin with. The coil I had to rewind (I managed to get the coil unwrapped without breaking it, but that inner wire that had become detached from the lead broke too short for me to re-solder to - I managed to measure a 3.6 resistance, however.) was pretty difficult for someone with my limited skills to do without it flaring more. Both bobbins are identical. They appear to have holes for feeding the wire through at the ends, but these weren't used, and were actually at the top of the pickup, where they wouldn't have done much good. The ends of the bobbin are square, rather than rounded like standard bucker bobbins. The part of the bobbin the wire gets winded on is a bit wider than a standard one. (All pictures of parts from this pickup next to other stuff, the other stuff is from a stewmac humbucker kit)
The screws are slug sized at the top. The keeper bar is rounded, large and flat, and the slugs thread into it. THe holes in the base are oversized, and the slugs do not thread into, nor make contact. The keeper is attached to the base only by whatever adhesive or potting stuff is all over the underside of the pickup.
The slug side is made of two bars, shaped like combs. They are non-conducting with each other when removed from the pickup.
The magnet is smaller. The pull seems about A5ish, but I can't tell for certain having no gear to test this.
Questions:
So I've got the coil rewound, but I'm not sure the best way to attach all these parts again? Should I hold them together with rubber bands and then pot the whole assembly? The way that brown stuff seeps out the bottom holes, it almost looks like something was poured in the top, and that was really all that was holding it together. Should I just use some sort of heavy adhesive?
What is that brown stuff apt to be, anyway?
I really liked the sound of the bridge pickup, and would love to get that sound again. If I wanted to build something close for myself, what would be the best way to get that tone? If I replaced the weird slug/screw thing with slugs, and made a similar set of notched blades, And tried to wind to similar specs, would that get me halfway there?
Anyone know anything about these pickups, or even heard of Pan guitars? I can't find anything.
Sorry this is so long and rambly. Just curious if anyone knows anything about these. They were cool and weird and actually sounded pretty awesome.
I'm an amateur guitar builder, (which is what got me into pickup winding recently) I do a few repairs for local guys, and a dude brought me a beater, cheap as heck LP copy someone left in his basement of a house he moved into. It was a "Pan" brand guitar, with a headstock that was the same shape as a Gibson's, if I remember correctly. I don't know the details of the whole "lawsuit" era of copies, but I feel like that dates it a bit. It had an top formed by bent plywood over a center piece of wood. The pickup rings where stamped steel, fairly rusted, with flaking black paint. The TOM had nylon saddles. (Well, the five that were left.)
It was never claimed despite attempts to find it's owner, so he claimed it as his own. Nothing worked on it, so I got it going for him again. The bridge pickup needed a new lead, and the neck pickup was shot - we put a pickup he had kicking around in there, and I hung onto the neck pickup for him, told him if I ever started winding, I'd try and get it working for him, or he could pick it up any time.
I fell in love with the bridge pickup, it sounded like a cross between a firebird style minibucker, and that tone I always associate with Ricks - Really chimey and jangly. But it dirtied up pretty well. Maybe a little lacking on the bottom end for some guys, but just had a great snappy tone without being brittle.
The neck pickup ended up having a shorted coil - the start of the coil came out under the coil, and the lead wire was attached outside the coil and under the tape - I think the sharp, rusty edges of the metal pickup may have worked it loose.
The coils on the bridge p'up where wound to around 3K each if my memory serves me right (need to dig out my notes) the neck was around 3.6 and 4 They seem machine wound, but there was a definite lump around the bottom of the thing on one. The other seems to have been slightly off center - the lump is on the bottom on one side, and the top on the other.
They seem to be potted after they where taped, (with what appears to be masking tape) but the potting didn't penetrate very deeply - through the few layers of tape, and into the outside of the windings mostly, although it did seep into the bottom of the coil more.
No signs of them ever having had covers. The coils seemed to be potted in something like lacquer. It's quite brittle. But the pickup itself seems to be potted, or assembled, rather; in something else - Maybe lacquer or an adhesive? It seemed to be the only thing holding the whole thing together. It's got a weird brown color, which may be from all the bits that are rusting, but what looks like rust mostly scrapes away as the residue from whatever that compound that is. It's not that brown color on the coils at all, which may mean they were potted with one thing, and then the pickup assembled in something else. It's everywhere in a fashion that implies potting, but it must be an adhesive.
Measured to be 42 gauge with a thin insulation. I'm not sure the insulation, it seemed to be enamel, but I'm not good at telling these things. What are the signs? Tried to rewind with the used wire after peeling the bobbin, but that didn't work. I feel bad doing so much work on this, but this pickup was going to end up in the dumpster, and nothing I've done can be redone better in the future.
Some other things:
Nylon bobbins - these where really thin, and somewhat flared to begin with. The coil I had to rewind (I managed to get the coil unwrapped without breaking it, but that inner wire that had become detached from the lead broke too short for me to re-solder to - I managed to measure a 3.6 resistance, however.) was pretty difficult for someone with my limited skills to do without it flaring more. Both bobbins are identical. They appear to have holes for feeding the wire through at the ends, but these weren't used, and were actually at the top of the pickup, where they wouldn't have done much good. The ends of the bobbin are square, rather than rounded like standard bucker bobbins. The part of the bobbin the wire gets winded on is a bit wider than a standard one. (All pictures of parts from this pickup next to other stuff, the other stuff is from a stewmac humbucker kit)
The screws are slug sized at the top. The keeper bar is rounded, large and flat, and the slugs thread into it. THe holes in the base are oversized, and the slugs do not thread into, nor make contact. The keeper is attached to the base only by whatever adhesive or potting stuff is all over the underside of the pickup.
The slug side is made of two bars, shaped like combs. They are non-conducting with each other when removed from the pickup.
The magnet is smaller. The pull seems about A5ish, but I can't tell for certain having no gear to test this.
Questions:
So I've got the coil rewound, but I'm not sure the best way to attach all these parts again? Should I hold them together with rubber bands and then pot the whole assembly? The way that brown stuff seeps out the bottom holes, it almost looks like something was poured in the top, and that was really all that was holding it together. Should I just use some sort of heavy adhesive?
What is that brown stuff apt to be, anyway?
I really liked the sound of the bridge pickup, and would love to get that sound again. If I wanted to build something close for myself, what would be the best way to get that tone? If I replaced the weird slug/screw thing with slugs, and made a similar set of notched blades, And tried to wind to similar specs, would that get me halfway there?
Anyone know anything about these pickups, or even heard of Pan guitars? I can't find anything.
Sorry this is so long and rambly. Just curious if anyone knows anything about these. They were cool and weird and actually sounded pretty awesome.
Attached Files
Comment