Hex Pole Pieces

[Joe Gwinn]

Hmmmm, hardened screws aren't a good idea for pickups. You'd just have to try them and see what they sound like.

One can anneal them pretty easily, using the iron pipe trick.\ that has been discussed in prior threads.

[David King]

Kent Armstrong uses set screw pole pieces on most of his bass pickups, does anyone know if he bothers to anneal them first? I guess I could check that since I have a new sets sitting around. Any suggestions on how to check? Grinder? Center punch?
Thanks.

[David Schwab]

I doubt he anneals them. I've replaced DiMarzio poles on the bass pickups with new ones and they sounded the same.

[Joe Gwinn]

Kent Armstrong uses set screw pole pieces on most of his bass pickups, does anyone know if he bothers to anneal them first? I guess I could check that since I have a new sets sitting around. Any suggestions on how to check? Grinder? Center punch?
Thanks.

Try cutting one with a file. Do the same with a known hard setscrew. It will be obvious if one is softer than the other.

[Stealth]

To quote you from the other thread where you explained the process:

Dowel pins are cheap and available. One can anneal dowel pins. Just pack 100 of them in a piece of iron pipe with iron caps, and some paper (to burn and consume the oxygen), heat the closed pipe to red heat in a charcoal fire, and allow to cool naturally.

Just to avoid searching and sparing the server a few cycles.

[Possum]

...

You can anneal them but you're still stuck with a high carbon content which isn't ideal for guitar pickups...

[soundmasterg]

Dimarzio uses both styles. The Super Distortion, Super 2, Super 3, Evolution, Evo 2, Blaze, all use a "slug" bobbin and the bolt is like a "set screw" in that it's solid all the way down, threaded all the way down with a cone/cup tip. The other hex poles, on things like Tone Zone, Fred, PAF Pro, etc. are narrower, "screw" bobbins with keeper bars, and are only thicker at the head, just like a slotted screw pole. Our Full Shred and Screamin' Demon pickups use a hex head like that with a keeper bar, but our screws are shorter, so it's more like when someone cuts the bottom of their screws off to mod their pickup to be tighter and punchier sounding. Anyway sorry for the long rant but you need to know what kind of bobbin you're putting them in to know what diameter/style of screw you'll need.

The Full Shred is a cool pickup! Thanks for sharing....

Greg

[kevinT]

poorman,

I have a few from GJ that I can spare if you want them. let me know.

Maybe we ought to suggest to Mojo that they start carrying these hex slugs. Is this something that WSC carries in stock.

[David Schwab]

poorman,

I have a few from GJ that I can spare if you want them. let me know.

Maybe we ought to suggest to Mojo that they start carrying these hex slugs. Is this something that WSC carries in stock.

Why pay guitar part supplier prices when you can get these from McMaster-Carr or even your local hardware store.

I got a box of them from McMaster for a project. They are the same thing as used in pickups. I got a pack of 50 in black for $14. That's $0.28 a piece as compared to $0.80/ea for the set of six from GJ.

[PoorMan]

So hardened is bad. High carbon content is bad.

McMaster Carr Part 91251A131 is "heat treated alloy steel. Minimum Rockwell hardness C39, and minimum tensile strength 180000 psi."

Good for pickups?

[David Schwab]

You get a warmer tone with low carbon steel, but I think these are what pickup makers are using. All the pickups I've seen with set screw poles are just that... set screws.

[Possum]

....

Yeah those would give you a real bright tone. Are they bad? You just have to buy a few and try them in whatever you're doing. Gibson uses stainless steel slugs in some of their pickups, not sure how the carbon content compares. I may try some pickups like those at some point and will probably try the hardened set screws just to see what they do. Cheap enough to try. I'm sure the hex head screws are probably 1018 or 1010 which is commonly used for bolts and a good choice for pickups.

[David Schwab]

I've experimented with 430 stainless and found it to be very edgy sounding.

Could be good for some applications, but I changed to 1018 for this particular pickup and liked the tone better.

[PoorMan]

I'm sure the hex head screws are probably 1018 or 1010 which is commonly used for bolts and a good choice for pickups.

Turns out they are 4037.

[Possum]

....

Holy moley! You could always have some made, got a spare $1,000 lying around somewhere?