Flat bar pickup

[Untitled_Project]

I'm horrible at navigating through forums, so I'm sorry if this has been answered already. I'm a total newb...

I'm making a crunch lab pickup (or trying to come close anyways), and I got a few questions...

1. Can someone explains the flat bar in the pickup? I take it that it replaces the bobbins...2. but, in your opinions, what is it made of?

3. Will I be winding around each "bobbin set"?
ie; wind around the flatbar, and wind around the 6 bobbins?

Please can someone walk me through this. I'm really lost.

But I'm not going to quit and buy the pickups, I will remake them (liquifire too)....Oh yes I will remake them....

[Peter Naglitsch]

I'd say (without actually been able to examine the pickup up personally) that is one standard screw bobbin and and one blade bobbin, meaning that the slug bobbin have been substituted by a solid steel slug bar going from top of the bobbin to the bottom of the bobbin. The magnet is ceramic according to DiMarzio's web page so I don't think that you see the actual magnet. And this is were your problem begins. It is hard to find blade bobbins available in low numbers. You need to get the bobbins from Asia and 100 is often the minimum order. And the blades are not commonly available either. I had blades done to fit the bobbins I buy from Korea. If you need only one bobbin + blade I can send you one. The blade will not have a shiny upper surface, as I have them cut with a water cutter and that leaves a interesting matte surface that I leave as is.

[copperheadroads]

Guitar Parts USA carry blades & bobbins
Humbucker Pickup Bobbin Blade - Guitar Parts
Humbucker Bobbin - Guitar Parts

[Untitled_Project]

You guys are awesome! Thank you.

So would I wind the screws+blade together?

[Untitled_Project]

Hey copperhead, how do I know which size of baseplate to buy?

Does anyone know where to get pickup screws with allen wrench heads, and ceramic magnets?

And I take it that screw placement will depend on my bridge and nut?

Hey Peter I might take you up on that offer to send a pickup blade; the ones on that website are black. I am willing to pay for the parts as well. What other parts do you have for pickups?

[Peter Naglitsch]

I didn't knew that Guitar Parts USA had expanded their line of product. Great, they carry a lipstick kit. Thanks for the info copperhead.

Untitled: I can put together a kit consisting of a blade bobbin, a blade (magnetic stainless steelwith a radiused top, not flat), a ceramic magnet, six adjustable Allen pole pieces (Solid Allen screws, not just Allen heads) or standard adjustable poles (slotted screws), and a long leg base plate for you. However the blade bobbin is a tad higher than the "normal" bobbin, meaning you will need to make a shim of some type (plastic, wood etc) to get them at the same height. That shouldn't be a problem. The magnet is a custom magnet (.5748" wide compared to the standard .5") meaning the blade and pole screw but up against each other more or less perfect.. You will have a .5 mm gap between the bobbins, but a quick stroke with a file around the perimeter on the bottom half on the screws will take care of that. I can also hook you up with the parts for a liquifire type pickup if you need that (two bobbins, twelve more screw pole pieces, alnoco 5 magnet, long leg base plate). As I first intended to just send you a blade and a bobbin, free of charge but this is a bit more parts so I'll need to calculate the price of those kits. I usually doesn't ship parts (nor sell parts, mostly completed pickups) so I need to check shipping cost too. Were in the world are you (I'm in Sweden). Better yet: PM me and well continue this as a private conversation as it just turned into a business discussion.

[David Schwab]

1. Can someone explains the flat bar in the pickup? I take it that it replaces the bobbins...2. but, in your opinions, what is it made of?

3. Will I be winding around each "bobbin set"?
ie; wind around the flatbar, and wind around the 6 bobbins?

The bobbin is the plastic part that you wind the coil onto. The blade or screws are the magnetic pole piece that goes through the bobbin, but you don't wind on those. So with a standard humbucker bobbin with 6 poles, you wind around the bobbin, and not the screws.

Two things about the GuitarParts USA blade bobbins, you might not be able to mix those with regular humbucker bobbins because they are larger in dimension, and if you use the set of two blade bobbins, you cannot use a regular humbucker magnet, as it is too narrow.

I made one of those and had to add a steel shim on one side of the magnet. Otherwise it was a nice sounding pickup. I used a baseplate I had on hand and just drilled four new holes for the mounting screws.

Another thing to consider is with the DiMarzio Crunch Lab they use a different gauge wire on each coil, so it's basically like one coil from two different pickups. You can tell they do this because they list patent 4501185. They are probably using 43 & 44 AWG, but it could also be 42 & 43 since it only comes to 11K.

They also list patent 5908998, which is adding slugs between the screws on the coil side to increase the inductance. Because of the extra slugs, I'd just go with two blade bobbins.

So it's going to be hard to copy without having one to examine. What gauge wire and how many turns? What strength ceramic magnet? If you don't know those, you can't copy it exactly. If you want to make one because it will be cheaper than buying on, it wont be. It you want to try making a pickup for the adventure (note I didn't say fun.. it's frustrating in the beginning) then give it a whirl. Based on a lack of info you wont be able to copy it, unless you just get lucky, but you can make something new and good.


Here's the GuitarPartsUSA blade pickup, on the bottom:

[Untitled_Project]

Thanks Dave for the info

What else would I need to know to reproduce the crunchlab?


If I was able to get my hands on a crunchlab, how would I go about gathering the proper info-what tools would I need?


From what I've gathered so far;

1. wind two single coil bobbins; one with the blade and one with the screws
-split the total winds between the two
-one bobbin with 42 and the other with 43
-tape them together and connect them to the cermamic magnet


I was given a site that estimates pickup winds based upon any given info, so I'll be using that.
Coil Estimator

[David Schwab]

Thanks Dave for the info

What else would I need to know to reproduce the crunchlab?


If I was able to get my hands on a crunchlab, how would I go about gathering the proper info-what tools would I need?

At the very least getting the DC resistance of each coil and the dimensions and strength of the magnet.

-split the total winds between the two

Not necessarily. They more-or-less wind the same number of turns on each coil, but not exactly.

-one bobbin with 42 and the other with 43

We don't know what gauge wire they are using. You can deduct that from the DC resistance of each coil.

-tape them together and connect them to the cermamic magnet

You haven't built any pickups? The bobbins get attached to the bass plate with screws. What I do is wire them up first. I use 1/16" heat shrink tube over the connections. Then you assembled the pickup on the baseplate with the magnet. Usually you need shims to keep the bobbins at the same height. Traditional humbuckers have a "keeper" bar that the threaded screw poles pass through that butts them against the magnet. DiMarzio pickups often use thicker set screw poles that don't need the keeper.

I was given a site that estimates pickup winds based upon any given info, so I'll be using that.
Coil Estimator

That will get you in the ball park.

[Untitled_Project]

Never built a pickup before...should have made that more clear, sorry.
I'm a bit confused...I'm not sure I understand correctly. (sorry for my annoyances :P )

So using the coil estimator i put in 11k for the output with 42 awg wire. It gave me 11557. would I wind one bobbin with this number and then wind the other bobbin to 9930 (43 awg).....I'm pretty sure this is wrong. What if I split each number....5779 on one bobbin and 4965 on the other....would this roughly equal 11k?

I just want to get myself all of the necessary info before I begin to build this.

I just read the patents and they helped a lot. The 5mil patent also described using a type of base plate holder beneath the bobbin...which would you suggest the baseplate holder or the slugs?

I'm trying to get my hands on a crunchlab asap...Would measuring each coil cause me to dismantle the pickup? And how can I find the magnet strength and ceramic class...

[copperheadroads]

if you want a 11k humbucker you will divide it in half so you want 5500 but wont get 5500 k of awg42 on any humbucker bobbin you can buy. it wont fit so it will have to use 43 or smaller

[Untitled_Project]

Sorry I should have been more clear....the 4965 is with 43 awg (9930). 4965 with 43 awg on one bobbin and 5779 with 42 awg on the other bobbin....

[copperheadroads]

I'm not familiar with those blade bobbins "guitar parts USA " WON'T SHIP TO CANADA DOH !!!!but i think I'm gonna nag them & see what happens ....... but getting much more than 4500k of 42 on a standard bobbin is gonna be quite the task

[Untitled_Project]

Im up to the task; I'm going to be putting a lot into this guitar! I'll be doing a lot of mock ups. The coil estimator is really helpful with specifics; it is telling me max winds is 5140.....which is less than what i thought i needed....I'll just have to compensate with the second bobbin....

PS; I was in Newfoundland last october, I loved the place!

[copperheadroads]

cool ...go get her man. get that wire running through your hand I'm a poet & don't know it