mini bucker rail/magnet

[Mike McCardle]

Thanks for the info guys - that Zhangliqun mini-humbucker idea is really interesting!

[David Schwab]

Our own Zhangliqun makes a very special mini-humbucker, no cover needed.

I thought the idea, in all its simplicity it's nothing short of brilliant.

More info in his website. Mini-Humbuckers - Zhangbucker Pickups

Nice work Zhang!

[copperheadroads]

Good old Zhang , Can come up with it
all the mini buckers are pretty much kits due to a very little selection or assortment of options & leaves you scratching heads ,W.T.F ???????
How the pole sits on top of the magnet instead of butting up to the side & the way it is oriented,where it should be

[big_teee]

That looks neat, and I thought I understood the shaving the bobbins.
Doesn't that narrow the space allowed for the magnet.
So the question now is what width, and what magnet do you use?
Maybe if you dont use the keeper bar on the adjustment screws, that would make room for a full size magnet. What do you guys think?
Also I guess the slugs would be next to the magnet like a regular humbucker, and not sitting on the magnet, like a les paul deluxe mini?
Close, but so far no cigar!
Terry

[Mike McCardle]

That looks neat, and I thought I understood the shaving the bobbins.
Doesn't that narrow the space allowed for the magnet.
So the question now is what width, and what magnet do you use?
Maybe if you dont use the keeper bar on the adjustment screws, that would make room for a full size magnet. What do you guys think?
...

I think the mini magnet bars are only .315" wide and the PAF magnets are about .500". That would allow narrower bobbins to work with the mini-base.

[copperheadroads]

That looks neat, and I thought I understood the shaving the bobbins.
Doesn't that narrow the space allowed for the magnet.
So the question now is what width, and what magnet do you use?
Maybe if you dont use the keeper bar on the adjustment screws, that would make room for a full size magnet. What do you guys think?
Also I guess the slugs would be next to the magnet like a regular humbucker, and not sitting on the magnet, like a les paul deluxe mini?
Close, but so far no cigar!
Terry

My guess is Zhang would shave the bobbins down until the poles fit tight to a minibucker magnet unless he makes some kind of ferrous spacer

[big_teee]

Well I was getting all excited thinking we could get away from the mini parts.
You still have to buy a baseplate, and a mini A5 magnet, and I would think drill more baseplate holes.
It looks like I'm fixing to build a couple of Firebird Mini's using Mojo parts.
when I get the parts in hand I will do more measuring and figuring.
It looks to me like you could grind the ends of the slugs a little and set them on the edge of a full size magnet. That would allow using and testing all different magnets.
A2,A3,A4,A5, A8, & C8. It would give the same flexibility that we have with regular humbuckers, without having to use a cover.
Hmmmm!
Terry

[copperheadroads]

Now theres using your Noggin , Terry thats a great ideal Thanks i will have to keep that in mind

[big_teee]

Our own Zhangliqun makes a very special mini-humbucker, no cover needed.

I thought the idea, in all its simplicity it's nothing short of brilliant.

More info in his website. Mini-Humbuckers - Zhangbucker Pickups

What If?
I have one of these partially made.
Ran into the problem with a regular magnet being to wide, and didn't want to place a order with mojo for just one firebird magnet.
So what if I used .187 diam. rod magnets instead.
Would probably use degaussed A5 Magnets.
A3s, or A2s may work better.
I have a market for a low wound bright mini Hum.
Anyone have any experience with using the Rod magnets for humbuckers.
Rock on!
Terry

[LtKojak]

What If?
I have one of these partially made.
Ran into the problem with a regular magnet being to wide, and didn't want to place a order with mojo for just one firebird magnet.
So what if I used .187 diam. rod magnets instead.
Would probably use degaussed A5 Magnets.
A3s, or A2s may work better.
I have a market for a low wound bright mini Hum.
Anyone have any experience with using the Rod magnets for humbuckers.
Rock on!
Terry

If you use Addiction FX, you could've get that magnet rushed to you... he's got several types you can use in stock.

[big_teee]

If you use Addiction FX, you could've get that magnet rushed to you... he's got several types you can use in stock.

I asked him, and right now he doesn't stock the narrow firebird humbucker magnets.
I'm going to try the rod magnets today if I get to it. I have a couple of things I want to try. Rod magnets in both coils, Rod magnets in one coil tied to slugs, or screws in the other coil. Rods in one coil, air coil on the other side. Hum canceling, and non canceling.
I'm in that WTF? would that sound like mode...
Later,
Terry

[RedHouse]

Well I was getting all excited thinking we could get away from the mini parts.
You still have to buy a baseplate, and a mini A5 magnet, and I would think drill more baseplate holes.
It looks like I'm fixing to build a couple of Firebird Mini's using Mojo parts.
when I get the parts in hand I will do more measuring and figuring.
It looks to me like you could grind the ends of the slugs a little and set them on the edge of a full size magnet. That would allow using and testing all different magnets.
A2,A3,A4,A5, A8, & C8. It would give the same flexibility that we have with regular humbuckers, without having to use a cover.
Hmmmm!
Terry

It's what "inspires" us to fabricate our own parts, while the kit stuff is convenient, it's often lacking in something or other.

[David Schwab]

It's what "inspires" us to fabricate our own parts, while the kit stuff is convenient, it's often lacking in something or other.

This is very true. I can't buy what I use, and when I did used some commercial bobbins, they weren't the same dimensions as what I was making. Mine sounded better.

The key is to figure out how to make your parts quickly and easily.

[RedHouse]

This is very true. I can't buy what I use, and when I did used some commercial bobbins, they weren't the same dimensions as what I was making. Mine sounded better.

The key is to figure out how to make your parts quickly and easily.

+1

I totally agree David.


BigTee, don't mis-understand, I'm not saying anything negative about your post I repied to, I'm just chiming-in that we (and I do mean we) at times have to fabricate our own stuff to get past the kit-makers kind of sound.

Let me be verbose if you will, the basic pickup winder makes a pickup, it works, now he's "in business".

Then the pickup maker is asked to make a certain "tone", now he's stuck if he can only go buy what he can buy as far as materials.

Say you buy a Mojo kit or a Stew-Mac kit, well your going to get the maximum tone of that kit right?
(all things aside, as wire-type, build etc)

If you can fab your own bobbins you can break past the "tone" of the kit suppliers and go further up the road. I'm reminded of a post by 'ol Possum where he said (and rightly so) you can't really make a PAF with a Stew-Mac kit. Of course he was reflecting another point, but I'm trying to iterate that you can get a decent tone by fab'ing your own bobbins for your wind.

I've found that when breaking out of the normal "humbucking" (mini/maxi) or "F" (single coil) tone it's often better to make my own bobbin structure to get where the end-user want's to go. Think about it for a minute, if the user could get where he wanted to be with off-the-shelf pickups, he's be there by now right? so I tend to take it up a notch and make something the end-user can't buy at "Guitar Center" (or on the web).

[big_teee]

+1

I totally agree David.


BigTee, don't mis-understand, I'm not saying anything negative about your post I repied to, I'm just chiming-in that we (and I do mean we) at times have to fabricate our own stuff to get past the kit-makers kind of sound.

Let me be verbose if you will, the basic pickup winder makes a pickup, it works, now he's "in business".

Then the pickup maker is asked to make a certain "tone", now he's stuck if he can only go buy what he can buy as far as materials.

Say you buy a Mojo kit or a Stew-Mac kit, well your going to get the maximum tone of that kit right?
(all things aside, as wire-type, build etc)

If you can fab your own bobbins you can break past the "tone" of the kit suppliers and go further up the road. I'm reminded of a post by 'ol Possum where he said (and rightly so) you can't really make a PAF with a Stew-Mac kit. Of course he was reflecting another point, but I'm trying to iterate that you can get a decent tone by fab'ing your own bobbins for your wind.

I've found that when breaking out of the normal "humbucking" (mini/maxi) or "F" (single coil) tone it's often better to make my own bobbin structure to get where the end-user want's to go. Think about it for a minute, if the user could get where he wanted to be with off-the-shelf pickups, he's be there by now right? so I tend to take it up a notch and make something the end-user can't buy at "Guitar Center" (or on the web).

I'm not disagreeing with all of what you guys said about making specialized bobbins.
However you missed what I was talking about.
The problem with the mini buckers and using trimmed down bobbins, isn't the bobbins.
The whole problem is with the size of the magnets.
If you trim down the bobbins to fit on the mini baseplate, then the full sized magnet won't fit between the bobbins. What I am trying to do is get around having to buy the small firebird magnet. If you go back read my posts it is to try different magnet types with the trimmed down mini's.
Now if you guys can make magnets, I'm all in for that!
Terry