A look inside a Lane Poor MM5.

[belwar]

Where pray-tell did you learn that?

I'm going to tear apart the J pickup (narrow) I have and one of the M4.0 (Wide) this week. I just have to finish schematicing the Wal Preamp first. Too many projects on the go. :/

Well Actually im far off, i've copied the PCB's and located the parts, but havent finished the schematics, cause Im an idiot and dont know how to do that.

bel

[-Elepro-]

I just have to finish schematicing the Wal Preamp first. Too many projects on the go. :/

Well Actually im far off, i've copied the PCB's and located the parts, but havent finished the schematics, cause Im an idiot and dont know how to do that.

bel

post two big photo of top and bottom side of the original pcb.... and i try to help you....

[Possum]

....

You have to be careful with shellac. The older your stock is and the more you've opened the lid the more water gets absorbed by the alcohol. then the stuff goes into your coils and it never really dries out. This is even worse on wire thinner than 42 gauge. I used to use that stuff all the time then a couple coils that were muffled and dark, cutting them open they were wet inside, so I baked them, and that didn't help either. I quit using it and stuck with wax....

[Joe Gwinn]

You have to be careful with shellac. The older your stock is and the more you've opened the lid the more water gets absorbed by the alcohol. then the stuff goes into your coils and it never really dries out. This is even worse on wire thinner than 42 gauge. I used to use that stuff all the time then a couple coils that were muffled and dark, cutting them open they were wet inside, so I baked them, and that didn't help either. I quit using it and stuck with wax....

Don't use old epoxy either. Or old varnish. They all have a shelf life and a maximum open-can lifetime.

Baking will remove moisture, if done correctly, although it may be slower than desired if the temperature isn't high enough. Vacuum plus heat is very effective, as the low pressure lowers the boiling point of the solvent. If one is above the boiling point, dryout proceeds quite rapidly.

[Joe Gwinn]

Most epoxies wick like crazy. I can't believe a epoxied vacuum-potted PU wouldn't be completely solid. Lane had a terrible time because his outer epoxy would wick way up inside the shielded wire lead and cause it to be brittle and break. He had to use a thick cast jacketed Belden wire that was awful to work with and didn't fit down wiring tunnels.

He did finally migrate to a Mogami console wire but the wicking was still a problem.

I would be tempted to daub the entry point (where the jacket ends after the wire was stripped) with a little thick urethane floor varnish as a sealer. Epoxy will stick to urethane just fine. Floor varnish is tougher and more flexible than non-floor varnish, and thus more suited to sealing a cable.

One could probably use one of the sanding sealers to prevent wicking as well.

I suppose one could use wax, but this will prevent the epoxy from bonding to the shield braid (if any) and the vinyl wire jacket, mechanically weakening the attachment.

[belwar]

Ok, I now have an M4.0W and M4.0N. Over the next couple of weeks im going to disect them and post the results.

Anyone have any predections as to what makes it "narrow" or "wide?"

bel

[David Schwab]

Anyone have any predections as to what makes it "narrow" or "wide?"

I'm guessing how far apart the two coils are.

[tubby.twins]

Here are my completely off-the-wall predictions.

The "narrow aperture" pickup will look like a standard single-coil pickup, with a number (up to 9) of individual pole pieces surrounded by a coil of wire, with a magnet underneath. It will otherwise be similar in construction to the Precision-style Lane Poor pickup which was previously dissected, except without any type of sidewinder, split coil or humbucking arrangement.

The "wide aperture" pickup will be the sidewinder. I wouldn't expect to see any pole pieces or blades in this. It's probably going to look similar to the visible internals of the Q-Tuner.

[David Schwab]

Here are my completely off-the-wall predictions.

The "narrow aperture" pickup will look like a standard single-coil pickup, with a number (up to 9) of individual pole pieces surrounded by a coil of wire, with a magnet underneath. It will otherwise be similar in construction to the Precision-style Lane Poor pickup which was previously dissected, except without any type of sidewinder, split coil or humbucking arrangement.

But didn't he also make the single coil version?

The "wide aperture" pickup will be the sidewinder. I wouldn't expect to see any pole pieces or blades in this. It's probably going to look similar to the visible internals of the Q-Tuner.

You have to have some kind of poles or blades in a side winder. You won't get too much signal without them. Q-Tuners obviously have poles.. three rows of them. Also the magnets are facing each other, so they want to repel. It could also be a bar magnet as the pole, and two air coils.

Also a sidewinder sounds like a single coil, which is now what I hear from the description of a wide aperture LP. I think the wide will be like the P but with two coils in a typical humbucker arrangement. Probably with ceramic magnets as poles.

[Achiles]

I did open a LP 5 string jazz model.
it´s two ceramic coil centered by 9 1/8" x 5/8" slug spaced in 1/2".

[ModulusMK]

Picture 10: THE MONEY SHOT. I've sanded through the copper on the top of the bobbin, and now you can see the inside of the pickup. It's a standard humbucker, no poles, wire wound directly around ceramic magnets. Sloppy bobbins.

Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone!

I guess the magnets are standard oriented, one S up and one N up?
Btw, what are the dimensions of the magnets? It looks like they're thin.
From this can we determine what wire gauge is used?

[belwar]

The magnets are 1/4" by 1/4". Im sure you can determine the length with that information. Yes, the coils are 1 x North and 1 x south.

I've finished my disection of the M40N and N40W, and will post the results. It was illuminating on several levels. I learned alot about the effect that shielding has one the resonance peak.

Oh and both are side winders.

[ModulusMK]

Thanks for the info, the length depends of the number of strings so it can be determined by that.
Wow, you have already disected the side winders!
Can't wait for the pics and the info you have!!!
Also you can send me the high res pics to me by email, would like to have them.

[David King]

That's what I figured from Lane's descriptions over the years. I hope that 40-w wasn't mine
I'm looking forward to the shots and as always thanks for the dedication to science in the public interest. I see no reason to think these would have been wound with anything other than 42 SPN.

[belwar]

I hope that 40-w wasn't mine

Ummm welll .. heh heh .. Funny story..