Tele neck pickup

[Alabam]

Heres a cheap (about 80cents) little tele neck pickup i made some time back, if any members see any ideas in the construction that they like, feel free to use them.
Thats my Pignose Amp beside the well.

[David Schwab]

Very unusual design! Thanks for sharing.

How did it sound?

[Mike Sulzer]

Heres a cheap (about 80cents) little tele neck pickup i made some time back, if any members see any ideas in the construction that they like, feel free to use them.
Thats my Pignose Amp beside the well.

Are the string outputs balanced?

[Alabam]

Very unusual design! Thanks for sharing.

How did it sound?

Mixed with the bridge pickup i got the sound that i wanted.
I`m having fun picking up leaves today, i`ll try and put up an mp3 tonight.

[Alabam]

Are the string outputs balanced?

Yes, as far as i can tell, but the other day i got a half ton of wax sucked out of my left ear so i`ll recheck that.
I tried two heavier wound round coils (44AWG) starting out and got a drop of sound in the centre, so i put three in and got it right, also what surprised me was i didn`t need a magnet in the middle of the bottom plate.

[Alabam]

How did it sound?

Here is a short sound file of that pickup, nothing out of the ordinary.

[Alabam]

Here is a short sound file of that pickup, nothing out of the ordinary.

[David Schwab]

Nice sounding pickup!

[Stealth]

Very cool sound there. Interesting design, and apparently very practical, too.

[Alabam]

Here are a few notes that i scrawled out as i constructed it, hope you can make them out.

I realised that Leo Fender had got it right first time, way back when dirt was new, i couldn`t see the point in copying his product so thats why i started making this single? coil pickup.

Humbuckers i am not into, i look at them as a parralel to that daft old Dolby Sound system.

[David Schwab]

Humbuckers i am not into, i look at them as a parralel to that daft old Dolby Sound system.

You can make humbuckers that sound like single coils. Just not standard style humbuckers. For example, the old Bill Lawrence L-250 was a great sounding pickup.

Also, notice that many people put Gibson style humbuckers neck pickups on their Teles?

Both styles of pickups sound good. Hum doesn't sound good though. Noise is not music.

Dolby A was used in many professional recording studios. Probably on many records you own and love.

Dolby B was the one used on cassette recordings. That worked fine as long as you recorded with it. Most people didn't, and then wondered why it muffed the tone on playback. Also most commercial cassettes (and players) didn't have the Dolby calibrated correctly, or the players lacked decoding ability.

[korinastratkyle]

You can make humbuckers that sound like single coils. Just not standard style humbuckers. For example, the old Bill Lawrence L-250 was a great sounding pickup.

Also, notice that many people put Gibson style humbuckers neck pickups on their Teles?

Both styles of pickups sound good. Hum doesn't sound good though. Noise is not music.

Dolby A was used in many professional recording studios. Probably on many records you own and love.

Dolby B was the one used on cassette recordings. That worked fine as long as you recorded with it. Most people didn't, and then wondered why it muffed the tone on playback. Also most commercial cassettes (and players) didn't have the Dolby calibrated correctly, or the players lacked decoding ability.

Not to mention there was no standard motor speed for cassette tape players...


Anyways, that's an awesome pickup design! How is it's hum level compared to say the bridge pup? I would think it would be pretty low with a low inductance and ceramic magnets, no? The design reminds me of how Lace Sensors are made but it's definitely different and more practical to do it your way.

[Alabam]

You can make humbuckers that sound like single coils. Just not standard style humbuckers. For example, the old Bill Lawrence L-250 was a great sounding pickup.

Also, notice that many people put Gibson style humbuckers neck pickups on their Teles?

Both styles of pickups sound good. Hum doesn't sound good though. Noise is not music.

Dolby A was used in many professional recording studios. Probably on many records you own and love.

Dolby B was the one used on cassette recordings. That worked fine as long as you recorded with it. Most people didn't, and then wondered why it muffed the tone on playback. Also most commercial cassettes (and players) didn't have the Dolby calibrated correctly, or the players lacked decoding ability.

Never heard or tried that L-250, must check it out, thanks.

I`ve listened to non Dolby recorded music from the 40`s and 50`s, they didn`t seem to have any problems back then.
Maybe it was because they recorded everything in one take and done it great, no 24 track recording and mixing, no need for any editing and build up of background noise or hum which i think brought about the noise canceling system`s.
Your comments on Dolby B sound right, thats where i first noticed the deterioration in tone.

I liked the Les Paul single coil sound around the 1950`s. I don`t think he played any Gibsons that their engineers had put Humbuckers in.
Oh yes, what was the wink for, maybe you think i got my middle coil in upside down by mistake and created a humbucker.

[David Schwab]

I liked the Les Paul single coil sound around the 1950`s. I don`t think he played any Gibsons that their engineers had put Humbuckers in.

Les made his own pickups. They were indeed (stacked) humbuckers. Low impedance too. He probably made some single coils as well, and they were also low impedance, so you don't get as much noise.

The Gibson Les Paul Recording guitars also used stacked humbuckers.

[Alabam]

The Gibson Les Paul Recording guitars also used stacked humbuckers.

Yes, after 1957, no HB`s before that as far as i know.
The following is a comment on an article from The Chicago Tribune which had me thinking that Les Paul didn`t like hb`s.

"BTW - with regard to the comment, “And the hum starts bucking” - Les Paul had nothing to do with the “humbucking” pickup that eventually became standard equipment on the Les Paul model. That style of noise canceling pickup was designed by engineers at Gibson, and didn’t go on Les Paul models until ‘56 or ’57. (The gold-top model pictured standing in its case has the earlier, single coil pickups. The guitars posing with Jeff Beck and Mike Bloomfield have the dual coil humbuckers.) I know you didn’t say he developed the humbucker, but the reference left an ambiguity. This is also not to take away from Les Paul, himself, for his wonderful contributions toward development of the solid body guitar.
.
One should also note that Les Paul didn’t care for the SG model and asked to have his name taken off of it in its early production. Most people today don’t equate the SG with the Les Paul line. The SG model is nowhere near as heavy as the Les Paul, has a longer neck and more accessible frets (and on some models, two more frets.) Some people used to prefer the standard Les Paul to the SG because its extra weight and density allowed notes to be sustained longer. That problem has largely been fixed by the use of compression, distortion and the creative use of feedback."