Mixing wire diameters....

[Possum]

....

No this is not tapping, the wire is all going on one coil, there is a big difference between that and tapping. That is very useful information, thanks for posting that. I might have a use for this, it is a bummer they patented it as it is after all a common technique and as mentioned, Seymour uses it too. Enforcement of that would be very difficult, how would they ever know if Duncan or anyone else was doing it, you'd have to tear apart their pickups and if its not mentioned in the first place there'd be no reason to. Really its a ridiculous patent verging on the double creme thing, and there is a prior vintage patent for the same thing, an old idea.

[RedHouse]

They just patented a tapped pickup! That's way old, as Seymour and Schecter and probably a lot of others have been doing this!

Sheesh!

They who, LarryD? I have an TDS-1 which is a tapped single coil era 1979 in my "historic" box.
(sorry if I missed the gist, I've been one of the thread challenged lately)

Besides the "Dual Sound" the TDS was one of the earliest tapped pickups. Was 6K full and 3K tapped fit into a STrat cover and interestingly had a copper foil band across the coil much like an output transformer can have.

[frankfalbo]

The main crux is that at the point of the tap, they begin a new wire gauge. It's not the tap itself that's patented.

[RedHouse]

The main crux is that at the point of the tap, they begin a new wire gauge. It's not the tap itself that's patented.

Ah ha, sorry I missed that.

[David Schwab]

Right, but look at figure 4 in the patent. The show the change over point coming out as a tap labeled C.

I didn't read the patent yet, just looked at the pictures. But they clearly show both ends of the inner and outer coils connected to terminals marked "80".

I think there is sufficient prior art here. I guess the difference is they are not claiming this as a tap, even though it is.

[David Schwab]

They who, LarryD?

Peavey.

Besides the "Dual Sound" the TDS was one of the earliest tapped pickups. Was 6K full and 3K tapped fit into a STrat cover and interestingly had a copper foil band across the coil much like an output transformer can have.

The Dual Sound is not tapped. Is can be switched to series or parallel.

I always thought Schecter made one of the first tapped single coil pickups.

[Possum]

....

Don't forget Red Rhodes, made a tapped tele bridge, pretty early on...

[SJE]

The thing is if it was done purely for the Peavey EVH it wouldn't surprise me if EVH himself owns the patent - since he designed pretty much everything about the guitar and just got Peavey to make it.

[David Schwab]

The thing is if it was done purely for the Peavey EVH it wouldn't surprise me if EVH himself owns the patent - since he designed pretty much everything about the guitar and just got Peavey to make it.

His name is on the patents for that guitar, including the shape, along with Hartley Peavey.

This patent is credited to Michael V. Powers, and was filed March, 2002.

Also the patent clearly states that each coil has terminals that come out of the pickup and are attached to an amplifier. So just making a pickup who's wire gauge chances in the middle is not covered.

[Possum]

....

Yeah, its not really a "tapped" coil, it is two coils one wound over the other, each with seperate connectors. I did a tele bridge that way with the same gauge wire and it was awful.....

[imaradiostar]

The topic of this thread caught my eye...I've often wondered if a strat pickup could be wound with 42 up to a point then 43 for the finish. Maybe the smaller wire could add some output and mids without taking all the clarity of the 42.

I've heard it said that you can't tap a pickup but I've heard other guys build them that way with great results. I feel like an ideal situation would be a "vintage" single coil with extra turns of 43 or 44 to make it way hotter and add more midrange. I makes me question how it's being wound and wired in each situation.

Doesn't the seymour duncan SSL4 do this successfully? Does it have different gauges?

jamie

[restorationad]

Does any one know the actual wire gauges on the Air Norton? Is it 42/43?

BTW - Thanks for all the info on how the Air Nortons are put together it really helps.

[Possum]

...

DiMarzio puts the patent number of each pickup on his website, just look the number up and most of the details are there. Google has a patent search function....

[David Schwab]

DiMarzio puts the patent number of each pickup on his website, just look the number up and most of the details are there. Google has a patent search function....

It's mainly only a couple of patents they use over and over. One if for the dual resonance thing (4501185), and the other is for the air gap (5399802). The dual resonance is expired ('85).

The older pickups had patents for the construction.

[David Schwab]

Does any one know the actual wire gauges on the Air Norton? Is it 42/43?

BTW - Thanks for all the info on how the Air Nortons are put together it really helps.

My notes say:

• Air Norton DP193
• Green & White: 5.15K
• Black & Red: 6.75K
• 5166 turns of 43 AWG on screw coil
• 5712 turns of 44 AWG on stud coil

I'm not sure that the turns count is right, but that is the DC resistance. I wound one using this and it came up a little on the low side.