Mini-bucker for Luna Athena

[madialex]

It looks the same to me too. Allprts stuff. I don't like the way the pole screws line up with the cover holes though. Is that the Mojo pickup parts? I was looking at getting one just to wind and see but that looks like shit! How do you explain the holes being off that much to a customer? No thanks!! I will say I like MOJO's other stuff though, and they are great to deal with and fast shipping too.

[David Schwab]

Keep in mind that Allparts and Mojo don't make these parts. They are probably all from the same Asian manufacturer.

They probably don't match up because they may be from several suppliers. An easy fix is to use a closed cover and get rid of the poles and use two blades.

[RedHouse]

...I liked Presence a lot...

My fav Zeppelin to listen to is Presence, I feel the band was at it's peak then, Bonhams drumming was so great on those songs. My fav as a guitar player are I-V and Presence. I feel that Tea For One smokes Since I've Been Loving You as far as blues emotion.

I was originally a drummer, went to guitar later, John Bonhan and Ian Paice are on my top-2 list.

...that looks like shit! How do you explain the holes being off that much to a customer?...

I was thinking the same thing, don't they actually assemble one to see if everything looks right (and lines-up properly) before offering these parts as a whole kit?

In this case, it's not as though one can adjust the location of the poles or like that to make things right after the fact. It's pretty obvious the back plate isn't the same dimensions as the cover as far as pole location goes.

[big_teee]

So what you're telling me is when I get this Mini all built I'm going to be able to play like Zeppelin!!!

I have it wound and semi put together. In the very hot shop each coil is 3.25k .
I haven't tested or potted it.
I am going to have to cut a piece of plastic to make a home-brew pickup ring, so I can mount it in one of my lefty humbucker guitars.
I think I do have a serious Problem. The kit came with the A5 magnet charged.
I don't have a gauss meter, I use the pick things up test. It wouldn't pick up any of my deep well sockets I use for that purpose. So I charged it up and it would pick up a 24mm deep well socket last night. today it wouldn't pick up any of the sockets again. So I have it charged one more time. If it loses its charge again, Mojo is gonna have to come up with another Magnet. I have some spares just in case.
Also I think they gave me a cheap chrome over brass cover. The cover is too deep so I filed the ends bottom edge so I could seat the cover all the way down to the bobbins.
It was hitting the adjustment legs. The edge and filings sure looked like brass to me. Also when I buffed the cover with scotch brite (He wants it dull) I think I see a tent of copper. They may plate nickel with copper before they chrome it. I don't know.
So it may get tested and played and finished tomorrow.
I will let you know how it turns out later.
FYI I could have built 2 or 3 full sized Humbuckers by now. Maybe even machined some of those super duper PAF Parts. Just Kiddin.

[RedHouse]

...I could have built 2 or 3 full sized Humbuckers by now...

That's nuthiun', it takes me at least a day just to make the flatwork and aluminum baseplate bracket for my Rick button-top bridge pickups, then two more to let the paint dry, then by the 4th day, I'm finally ready to wind and assemble the darn things.
(that's why I charge a healthy price, ain't no pre-made bobbins or baseplates to be had)

[big_teee]

anybody else been having any A5 Magnets not keep a charge?
Terry

[copperheadroads]

Sounds like your having lots of fun Terry

[big_teee]

Sounds like your having lots of fun Terry

More fun than a one legged man at an A@% kicking contest!!!
How about you?
Terry

[big_teee]

I mounted the mini in my Agile Les Paul Copy, It sounded a lot better than expected. I increased the Gauss on A5 to full strength. I usually have them at medium gauss.
The Customer wanted the pickup Bright, so I set it to full strength. I potted the pickup and put it all together and tested again.
Note* Pickup was very Microphonic before potting.
IMHO Potting is a must.
Very bright and snappy After increasing Gauss, and potting. I was impressed on strength of the pickup. Sounded very nice on my Traynor YCS50 Amp.
It sounds very similar to my SD sh-2 Jazz pickup.
It goes in a box on the truck tomorrow.
They are much more trouble than a full sized Humbucker, but pleasantly surprised and has full sized sound.
A couple of improvements could be made to the kit. The Slug bar could be a bit longer and a bit wider. Sloppy fit and sits low in the coil. Also anyone that builds one of these be sure and check the depth of the cover. I had to file about 1/8 inch from each end to get the cover down against the bobbins.
Summary
A5 Magnet
42 Ga SPN Wire
6.4K DCR at Room Temp
Wax Potted for 15 min. 140-150 deg.

Later,
Terry

[David Schwab]

My fav Zeppelin to listen to is Presence, I feel the band was at it's peak then, Bonhams drumming was so great on those songs. My fav as a guitar player are I-V and Presence. I feel that Tea For One smokes Since I've Been Loving You as far as blues emotion.

I was originally a drummer, went to guitar later, John Bonhan and Ian Paice are on my top-2 list.

I started out on drums also. I got to see Paice with DP back in the 70's. I always liked his playing.

I have a lot of soloed Bonham drum tracks... I'm trying to remember what songs, but it's probably from Presence and ITTOD. You can hear a little guitar bleeding in, and Bonham made a lot of vocal noises when he played!

[LtKojak]

Bonham made a lot of vocal noises when he played!

Oh no... I've had a whole recording session ruined once because of the drummer singing outloud (no words, in falsetto and BADLY out of tune) while he played.

It took a lot of time figuring out what the hell was happening... costed me a fortune!

Bad, BAD memories...

[David Schwab]

Oh no... I've had a whole recording session ruined once because of the drummer singing outloud (no words, in falsetto and BADLY out of tune) while he played.

It took a lot of time figuring out what the hell was happening... costed me a fortune!

Bad, BAD memories...

I found the sound files... to be fair he doesn't do it all the time, but here's a few examples that are pretty funny.

I've read that the way they recorded his drums was a mic in the kick, and some over heads for everything else.

Bonham-Drum outtakes Track 14

Bonham-Drum outtakes Track 16

Bonham-Drum outtakes Track 22

[nicholaspaul]

i agree .........the only pickup i have not been asked to build is a F-150 . but i probably can ,my dad has enough parts kicking around

Haha that's great! Extra funny since whenever I Google 'pickup' I get a lot of truck references. Silly Google, can't it see I mean GUITARS?
I'm actually not too worried at this point if the pickup is not EXACTLY like a mini, but very close. It's going in a custom guitar, so the dimensions don't have to be perfect. I'm just using mini as a starting point, really.

[nicholaspaul]

Totally agree. Two guys couldn't have come up with the right answer to a problem fifty years ago and that's it. This isn't math. There are more solutions we haven't even imagined yet. Viva la originality! (or something like that)