Pickups with secret notes inside?

[StarryNight]

this was a little surprise when I had to rewind this harmony style pickup and under the cover was a cryptic japanese note! Maybe I should start leaving cryptic notes under my covers

other odd things about this pickup: the magnet polarity is on the face and not the sides, and the keeper bar is spot welded to the baseplate. I don't think the screws on the keeperbar actually do anything!

[jonson]

Just what was lying around to wad out the foil and get the push up effect. The magnet is the pole and just a japanese version of a Rowe/Dearmond. Screws make it look business like though.

[David Schwab]

Screws make it look business like though.

They used to love to do that on those old Japanese pickups. Made them look sort of like humbuckers with the fake pole pieces.

I have written things in hollow chambers on solid body guitars before I glued the tops on.

[Bruce Johnson]

Part of my business is doing restorations and repairs on the old late 60's Ampeg Scroll Basses. Whenever I do a restoration on one, I write up a small history of that particular instrument and attach it to the underside of the pickguard. I include everything I know about it, including when it was made, a history of owners, how much is original, what repairs I've done, etc. I write it on the computer and print it out in a small size. It's usually a couple of paragraphs and about 2" square. Then I tape it to the back side of the pickguard, covering it with 3M packing tape. If that bass survives many years into the future, anybody opening it up will know its history.

[copperheadroads]

that's a very good idea Bruce it might save a ton or googling for someone in the distant future .......... i don't know if it will be googling then

[David Schwab]

That is a very cool idea. Makes me think about how much I used to love looking at old electronic things like radios and stuff. And everything looked so different and old. And they would have the little tube chart or something, and it was like archeology.

Everything was so much cooler when you were a kid! lol Then you grow up and know how it works. It's still fun, but it's not as mysterious.

Bruce, you make some cool basses too. I was checking them out before you started posting here. One of these days I'm going to make a bass and make all the hardware and stuff. It looks very rewarding.

[dai h.]

not just some impromptu "spacer"? Sort of looks like something that came with an acoustic guitar--explaining about the guitar. (Just partial bits of paragraphs, but) what looks like an explanation about how the bridge is shaped to get balance between highs and lows, something about the radius of the fingerboard to facilitate chord playing, then towards the bottom how the type and thickness of the finish was chosen to not have a negative impact on the sound.

oops sry, was already mentioned in the second post, wasn't it?

[rhoads]

We used to ALWAYS write a note for clients somewhere on the guitar prior to lacquering. Might just be 'hi simon!' or something more substantial (one bass I made has the equivalent of 120 pages of A4 text printed onto microfische film, and hidden in a chamber beneath a quilted maple top). I'd hide text under machineheads, or truss rod covers... in pickup routs, etc etc

We then started to do random stuff on the unseen side of pickup base plates. Problem is, our clients started to catch on to that one after I let it slip one day. Then we had three guys come back in to have their pickups repaired after they broke a lead wire trying to take them apart to look for messages! Was just a silly thing we did to have a bit of a laugh. Ended up biting us in the butt.

So, we dont do THAT any more

[Bruce Johnson]

Yeah, when I ship the restored Ampeg back to its owner, I tell them about the label and include a larger size printout. You don't want them pulling it apart just to read the label!

Thanks for the kind words, David. Making my own custom hardware and pickups on my instruments is a deliberate plan, for two reasons: I want to make them unique to increase their perceived value, and with every part I make myself, I'm creating paying work for me. I don't want to just buy a bridge from someone and resell it. I want to be paid to make one. Out of my $3900 bass, about $125 is purchased parts and materials. The rest is employment for me (about 100 hours per bass).

[LtKojak]

Making my own custom hardware and pickups on my instruments is a deliberate plan, for two reasons: I want to make them unique to increase their perceived value, and with every part I make myself, I'm creating paying work for me. I don't want to just buy a bridge from someone and resell it. I want to be paid to make one. Out of my $3900 bass, about $125 is purchased parts and materials. The rest is employment for me (about 100 hours per bass).

This is actually an excellent business plan. Way to go, Bruce!

[WolfeMacleod]

I used to write things on magnets for humbuckers.
Kilroy was here
Other end up (on both sides)
Warranty Void if removed
Put me back in!


various other things I can't remember.

[Bruce Johnson]

This is actually an excellent business plan.

Well, it's an excellent business plan only if your goal is to make a modest living as a craftsman, working very long hours and struggling to pay the rent!

If your goal is to be a successful wealthy business owner, the smart business plan is to buy as many parts of your product as you can from other sources, put as little of your time as possible into assembling it, and sell it for three times what the parts cost you. Then do that a hundred times per month. That's what intelligent people do.

But not me! I have the satisfaction of being a craftsman!

[chevalij]

When I first read the title, I thought you meant other notes, like an F## or something

[StarryNight]

When I first read the title, I thought you meant other notes, like an F## or something

ha! that's a good marketing idea!

[Mark Hammer]

other odd things about this pickup: the magnet polarity is on the face and not the sides, and the keeper bar is spot welded to the baseplate. I don't think the screws on the keeperbar actually do anything!

Common on a variety of pickups from that period. I have an old Teisco/Norma pickup I'm rewinding that operates the same way, and the old Epiphone New Yorker pickups are like that too. The bottom plate extends the magnetic field such that there is a primary sensing area between the top face of the magnet and the little bit of channeling where the "polepieces" screw in.